{"id":5541,"date":"2018-12-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/story\/2018\/12\/06\/a-journey-of-sustainability-and-vocation\/"},"modified":"2021-08-27T18:10:53","modified_gmt":"2021-08-27T18:10:53","slug":"a-journey-of-sustainability-and-vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/story\/2018\/12\/06\/a-journey-of-sustainability-and-vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey of sustainability and vocation"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 27-year-old Dane Breslin \u201922 M.Div.<\/strong>, receiving the Jubilee Scholarship from Luther Seminary was a timely stroke of God-given fortune, allowing him to pursue his Master of Divinity degree at the seminary beginning this fall. The scholarship, designed to help incoming students avoid crippling student loan debt, provides a full-tuition scholarship to all incoming Master of Divinity and Master of Arts students at Luther Seminary.<\/p>\n

And for Breslin, that funding was critical.<\/p>\n

After completing his first year of theological training at Iliff School of Theology, Breslin was dismayed this past spring to learn that his and others\u2019 scholarship funding would not be renewed. That left him in a difficult position. He and his wife, Kirsten, live in rural Vermont, where she is working on a residency in pediatric medicine and he recently completed his clinical pastoral education training as a hospital chaplain.<\/p>\n

Breslin says the debt that the couple incurred for Kirsten\u2019s medical school made it impossible for them to take on additional loans to support his theological study. Without the financial support of the Jubilee Scholarship, his dream of becoming a pastor would have been sidelined.<\/p>\n

Expanding perspectives<\/h2>\n

Although Breslin was eager to begin his studies at Luther Seminary this fall, his spiritual path has been far from straightforward. His journey began with his childhood experiences in the Roman Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always really fascinated by priests and very drawn to church in general,\u201d Breslin says. \u201cHowever, I knew that I wanted to be married and have kids. I liked what priests were doing\u2014walking with people, blessing them, naming these really dynamic parts of their lives\u2014but I also thought, \u2018This doesn\u2019t make sense for me.\u2019 At that time, I didn\u2019t even know what a pastor was and had never been to a Protestant church.\u201d<\/p>\n

After being active in youth ministry throughout high school, Breslin attended Gonzaga University, a Jesuit institution in Spokane, Washington. While there, he met his wife and earned a degree in environmental studies and public relations.<\/p>\n

It was also at Gonzaga that his theological outlook expanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn college I encountered the Jesuits,\u201d Breslin says. \u201cI remember being charged by one of the priests to find God in all things and that kind of opened my world. I\u2019m deeply passionate about food systems and farming and sustainability. I took a lot of environmental ethics courses and an Old Testament and Eco-Justice course that blew my mind. That\u2019s what got me into the environmental\/ sustainability realm\u2014the Old Testament.\u201d<\/p>\n

During college, Breslin spent a year as a Jesuit volunteer in Hillsboro, Oregon, doing stream restoration with youth. It was interesting work, he says, but it also raised a significant amount of spiritual conflict. He had difficulty reconciling what he was learning through his work and studies with the theological traditions of his upbringing that seemed disconnected from the real world.<\/p>\n

He decided to take a \u201cchurch sabbatical\u201d to give himself time to process his experiences and reflect on his faith. Little did he know that his time away from church would eventually lead him to a call to full-time ministry.<\/p>\n

Hearing the call<\/h2>\n

One evening during his break from church services, Breslin wandered into Calvary Lutheran Church down the street from his home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an ELCA church, and they were having an Agape supper,\u201d Breslin says, recalling a communal meal modeled after time Jesus shared with his disciples. \u201cI had never experienced anything like that, with people talking about their spirituality so openly.\u201d It was another turning point for Breslin\u2014a moment that expanded his theological and spiritual horizons. He went to the suppers every Wednesday for the rest of Lent, although he says he didn\u2019t go back to \u201cchurch-church\u201d for another year or two.<\/p>\n

After his college graduation, Breslin took on a number of jobs. He spent time in Zambia serving as a cook for a group of 25 college students studying biology, and he worked as a stonemason. He also continued his ecological studies and became a certified permaculture designer, which prompted him to found a small education farm to teach sustainability principles.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the venture was a financial disappointment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started my farm, which failed,\u201d Breslin says. But along the way, he connected with Nativity Lutheran Church, which runs a permaculture food forest ministry just down the street from his in-laws in Bend, Oregon. It was this connection that led him to discern a call to ordained ministry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was unemployed and wondering what to do next,\u201d he says, reflecting on a time when he took a walk with Nativity Lutheran\u2019s pastor, Chris Kramer, to discuss Breslin\u2019s future. Kramer told him, \u201cI think you should consider working with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breslin took a position as the co-director of the Bend Youth Collective, a progressive, ecumenical youth ministry focused on \u201cbelonging in community, becoming more whole, and participating in the peacemaking way of Jesus.\u201d The collective is sponsored and supported by four different denominations and churches, including Nativity Lutheran.<\/p>\n

During that work, Breslin says the church community and leaders \u201ckind of lifted me and said, \u2018We think you should be a leader in the ecumenical church and go to seminary.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding vocation<\/h2>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s fitting that a person whose story has been so wrapped up in environmental sustainability found his way to Luther Seminary through the Jubilee Scholarship. The scholarship, of course, is all about financial sustainability and takes its name from the biblical practice of economic justice through the restoration of land.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce I found out Iliff wasn\u2019t going to renew my funds, I reached out to [Kramer] and said, \u2018What do I do now?\u2019\u201d Breslin recalls. \u201c[Kramer] said, \u2018Apply to Luther Seminary! You\u2019re going to love it, and this Jubilee award is perfect timing for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

After a long and winding path of exploration, study, and service, Breslin feels hopeful about his vocation. \u201cI now plan on being a Lutheran pastor, God willing,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s something really beautiful about being able to mark people\u2019s lives, to name their essential worth and goodness and dignity, and to back that up with a 2,000-year-old tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dane Breslin ’22 M.Div. received a Jubilee Scholarship from Luther Seminary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"issue-fall-2018","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA journey of sustainability and vocation - Luther Seminary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.luthersem.edu\/story\/2018\/12\/06\/a-journey-of-sustainability-and-vocation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A journey of sustainability and vocation - 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