In Matthew 14, Jesus feeds a crowd of more than 5,000 people. When Jesus notices they are hungry, he has compassion for them and challenges the disciples to feed them. Overwhelmed, the disciples place their trust in Jesus and begin feeding the people with the little they have. Everyone is fed—with an abundance of leftovers.

As Christians on a journey of faith in Jesus Christ, sometimes we too are pulled between hunger and hope. Like the disciples, we feel both overwhelmed and fed as we peer into a murky future holding onto that little word of promise: Jesus died and overcame death and despair in rising again. This gives us all the promise of the future filled with hope we can trust.

The educational mission at the heart of Luther Seminary grounds us in God’s promise never to forsake us. This is theology in action, as we live out each day trying to serve—and teaching our students how to serve—in all the gnarly places where God has promised to be.

Last month we held our first off-site residential focus session (RFS), an intensive three days of learning, worship, and fellowship at Mount Olivet Lutheran Church, one of our partners in the large-scale collaborative Lilly grant we received in December. It worked better than we imagined thanks to our partners at Mount Olivet who lived out their mission of “becoming like Jesus Christ through servanthood” in the generous ways they welcomed our students, faculty, and staff.

This fruitful RFS was held in the midst of ongoing tensions in Minneapolis. And while we are grateful for the safety of our students and the opportunity to come together in community, the juxtaposition was a stark reminder that Christian leaders are called to step into places of grief and heartbreak, including the cities, neighborhoods, and local communities we inhabit.

God’s abundance is made clear to us each day in ways that we could not have imagined ourselves. Through all of life’s transitions and into a world full of pain, conflict, and injustice, God promises to renew, redeem, and restore us. When we are hungry and overwhelmed, we count on God’s promise—we count on community to share that promise when weariness threatens to overwhelm. I give thanks for the community of our resilient students, faithful staff and faculty, and for you, our many friends and colleagues who hold us in prayer and support us in all seasons.

Peace,
Robin Steinke
President

Read more: Meet current M.Div. student Keturah Raabe.