Southern Seminary

plans open house events

            Southern Seminary will hold two open houses for prospective students on Saturday, Feb. 18, and Sunday-Monday, April 22-23, at its campus in Columbia, S.C. Prospective seminarians will be able to experience life on the seminary campus and talk to students, faculty and others as they discern God's call. For more information and registration, visit www.ltss.edu. 

Lutherans in the news

           George "Skip" Zubrod has announced his retirement as president of Virginia Lutheran Homes, effective on employment of a successor. A Georgia search group has been employed to find a candidate, according to Dr. Paul White, VLH board chairman. Zubrod came to the post in October 2006 after serving as a vice president at Roanoke College.

            Pastor Deborah Frye has resigned at Our Saviour, Warrenton, to accept a call to Calvary, Concord, N.C., effective March 4. She has served as dean of the Germanna Conference. Her husband, Pastor James Fore, also of Our Saviour, will be on leave from call.

Pastor Costa with Bishop Mauney.

Pastor John Herman has announced that he will retire from fulltime ministry on Sept. 30 after 91/2 years at Peace, Charlottesville. Herman plans to work in discipleship, teaching and writing. He will lead a discipleship workshop for the Florida-Bahamas Synod on Feb. 11.  In January, Peace congregation approved a $600,000, 4,000-square-foot expansion, adding three meeting/classrooms, a kitchen, large basement youth room and additional storage. Construction is expected to start in April.

Irish theologian Peter Rollins, a leader of the emerging church movement, will speak at St. Mark, Yorktown, on April 27-29. The Community Outreach Committee of St. Mark planned to stuff 75 pillows for open-heart surgery patients at Riverside Regional Medical Center in recognition of Heart Month in February. In Kairos Ministry, men of St. Mark are making weekly visits to Nottoway Prison, providing financial support, cookies, posters and prayers for 42 residents.

Dr. Jennifer Braaten, the Lutheran president of Ferrum College, a United Methodist school, was credited by The Roanoke Times with overseeing a renaissance in her almost 10 years of service. In her tenure, Ferrum enrollment has grown from 900 to 1,500, energy-efficient dormitories have been built, work is under way on a large athletic center and and the college has used local foods in its cafeteria. Her husband, the Rev. Conrad Braaten, has retired as pastor of Reformation, Washington, D.C., and moved to Ferrum.

Two spring tours of the Holy Land have been combined, under the leadership of Dr. Monte Luker, professor of Hebrew studies at Southern Seminary, for a trip leaving on April 15. One group, to be led by Luker and retired Pastor Jean Bozeman, had planned a March trip but that has been combined with a group led by Pastor Chris Price, Epiphany, Richmond,  after Easter. The combined group will have about 34 participants.

Muhlenberg Players of Muhlenberg, Harrisonburg, have been practicing for their 2012 production, Journeys..Transitions and Transformation, to be presented Feb. 25-26. The theme is the transitions of life-growing up, marriage, parenting, death and self-transformation.

 Trinity, Pulaski, has launched a Dollar-A-Mile Campaign to raise funds to pay expenses of seven youth and Pastor Terrie Sternberg to travel the 1,608 miles, round-trip, to the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans in July. A bus is pictured on a map and the congregation learns that "For each dollar you donate, the bus moves one mile closer to our destination." Trinity also plans a service of favorite hymns on each fifth Sunday.

Christ, Fredericksburg, reports that its quilting group in 11 years of work has made 1,691 quilts and walker organizers that have been distributed to Lutheran World Relief and local shelters and hospitals.

New River Valley Lutheran Youth are planning a second annual Fools for Christ Service Day on March 10. They plan service for the Blacksburg Interfaith Food Pantry and Literacy Volunteers, followed by a tour of the Roanoke College campus.

Sarah McPherson, Our Saviour, Christiansburg, has developed SMILES (Simple Meals Impacting Lives Every Saturday/Sunday). A weekend food program for Christiansburg Elementary School. She planned the program as a Girls Scout project.

St. Mark,Charlottesville, reports that it is one of 46 congregations supporting an Alliance for Interfaith Ministries which gave assistance for rent, utility bills or other financial aid to 627 households from January through October, 2011.

The Day Care Center at Mount Cavalry, Mt. Jackson, reported the arrival of Gus Bus, a bus which visits schools and day care centers in a program to start children reading at an early age. The  bus operated in Harrisonburg, Rockingham and Page counties before starting in Shenandoah County.

            Marco Grimaldo, a regional organizer for Bread for the World, will begin service this week as the new president and chief executive officer of Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP). He follows C. Douglas Smith, who left the post in September to become executive director of the Center for Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier in Orange County.

            Grimaldo formerly was director of the Bread  for the World Institute and national organizer for the Alliance to End Hunger. He has more than 20 years of experience in politics and non-profit advocacy, including work on national campaigns related to international development assistance, HIV/AIDS, debt relief and domestic hunger and poverty concerns.

 The Rev. Charles Swadley has been interim CEO and president. The VICPP serves as a voice for justice and compassion with the General Assembly. It is the ELCA's public policy office for Virginia. 

Two seminarians and three pastors from the Virginia Synod joined a biennial Holy Land tour of 28 people led by Dr. Monte Luker, professor of Hebrew studies at Southern Seminary, in January.  The seminarians are Keith Long, St. Luke, Richmond, a senior at Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., and Richard Goeres, First, Norfolk, a middler at Southern Seminary. They were accompanied by Pastor Chip Gunsten, assistant to the bishop, and Pastors Rick Goeres, First, Norfolk, and Katie Gosswein, St. Jacob, Edinburg.

Keith Long gave this account of the trip:

Holy Land travelers were (from left) Pastor Chip Gunsten, Kris Gunsten, Pastor Rick Goeres, Richard Goeres, Pastor Katie Gosswein and Keith Long

"It started out as a nudge. Over the next two years that nudge would grow into a full- fledged push. Then when the invitation came around last summer to visit the Holy Land, I just couldn't pass on the opportunity to go in the middle of my final year at Luther Seminary. At first it all seemed very surreal as I walked amidst ancient ruins and sacred sites I only previously had visited in my imagination.

"Highlights included praying at the Western Wall of the Temple and in the Garden of Gethsemane, and reflecting on Jesus' ministry in Capernaum and other small Galilean villages.

           The greatest thrill of the trip occurred in the wilderness on a breath-taking (literally!) hike to the top of Mt. Zeruya, a mountain overlooking the Dead Sea. This climb further solidified the promise of God's presence in this land both then and now.  I will not soon forget the exhilaration of reaching the summit (just ask Chip Gunsten and Southern Seminary's Sammy Wertz!)

"In addition to stirring my Biblical imagination, our time in Israel was also personally challenging as we grappled with a very tense and complex Israeli-Palestinian relationship and my role as a leader in the ELCA regarding it. So I am taking with me questions, hundreds of photos, many new insights gleaned from Dr. Luker's expertise and most importantly, an eagerness for parish ministry and the teaching of God's living word.  I am very grateful for having shared this experience with such a joyful and friendly group of clergy, seminarians and everyday Christians who made this pilgrimage worth the wait."

Richard Goeres of First, Norfolk, a middler at Southern Seminary, gave this report:

"As I write this just two days after our return from over two weeks in the Holy Land, I am still working to grasp all the ways in which the trip has impacted and formed my life and work moving forward.  It seems that we had once in a lifetime opportunities with at least daily regularity.

 "Ultimately, I believe this trip will be best remembered as life-giving.  It has breathed life into my study and sharing of Scripture through a profound education on the geography and archaeology found in the land.  It has vitalized the living Body of Christ through shared experiences both with those we already knew (I got to share this trip with my Dad, Pastor Rick Goeres, First, Norfolk) and those with whom new connections were made, both within our group and between our group and the Israelis, Palestinians and other pilgrims we met along the way.  Above all, our experience was a great witness to the story and life of Jesus Christ, the living one through whom all life is given." 

            Trinity, Roanoke, received a novel fund-raising query from Gloria Dei Lutheran in Anchorage, Alaska.  The folks at Gloria Dei "are turning our chilly, January eyes toward the warmer months of summer" by seeking support for a camping trip to Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp outside Kalispell, Montana," according to Jess Throlson, director of youth and family ministry at Gloria Dei.

            To pay for the camping trip by a small group of 4^th-8^th graders, Gloria Dei is asking for a package from each of the 50 states containing something unique to that area or something creative or silly. The unopened packages will be sold at auction to pay for the Flathead camp trip. The packages are to be sent to Gloria Dei, 8427 Jewel Lake Rd., Anchorage, AK 99502, "ATTN: Parcel Auction.

The Learn Today Lead Tomorrow (LTLT) after-school program at Holy Trinity, Wytheville, was recently placed on an Opportunity Hall of Fame, part of the Initiative Team Effort sponsored by Virginia's first lady, Maureen McDonnell, wife of Gov. Bob McDonnell. Kimberly Ring, director of the program, went to Richmond to receive the award.

            Started in 2006 with two children, LTLT is operating at capacity of about 20 youngsters, mainly aged 7 to 10. Volunteer tutors and mentors help the children with homework, physical exercises and such self-enrichment activities as tips on healthy eating. Special emphasis is placed on activities to reduce childhood obesity.

            Ring said 80 percent of the children are on the A-B honor roll. She works closely with school teachers "to know the areas in which the children need help."  Kim Ring, an elementary principal, said she has "definitely seen improvement in the children's graades and behavior. They do a great job in building confidence in the children."

            McDonnell's Initiative Team Effort was started to recognize programs, activities, organizations and individuals that embody the ideal of creating a Commonwealth of Opportunity in communities.

            LTLT also received the 2011 Community Impact Award from the Wythe-Bland Chamber of Commerce.

Morehead endowment supports college outreach

Paul Henrickson stands in front of the newly-named John Alfred Morehead Hall on the Roanoke College front campus.

The Roanoke College building housing the chaplain's office and Center for Community Service has been named for Dr. John Alfred Morehead, fourth president of the college, who served from 1903 to 1920.

A new Morehead Community Service Endowment, honoring the college president, will underwrite off-campus service trips by students, according to College Chaplain Paul Henrickson. "We want to get the students truly immersed in service," he said. Relatives and friends of the Morehead family have contributed to the endowment.

For some time, the chaplain has led student trips to work on Habitat houses in Columbia, S.C.  They also have worked in New Orleans, in Guatemala on winter breaks and Nicaragua on spring breaks. All students work on a campus Habitat project at the opening of the fall semester.

Henrickson also is taking a group of choir members to services across the Synod "to get Roanoke College out in front of congregations. It is their Lutheran college."  Eight or 10 choir members go along and "they sing and I preach" at Sunday services, Henrickson said.

            Their tour went to Grace, Rural Retreat, and St. Mark, Springfield (Metro D.C. Synod) last semester and visits are planned for Epiphany, Richmond, Grace, Winchester, and St. Michael, Blacksburg. They have already been to First, Norfolk.

            "We want to be face to face" with Virginia Lutherans, the chaplain said. The visits, including meetings with Sunday School classes, are "an adventure."

Pastor Rick Gates dies at Chesapeake 

Pastor Rick Gates

Pastor Rick Gates, longtime Navy chaplain and pastor of Grace, Chesapeake, died Dec. 18 at his home in Chesapeake after a long bout with cancer. He was 65.

Gates retired as a Navy captain after serving as a chaplain among Marines and Navy personnel. He served at Grace from 2006 until his resignation in November. Surviving are his wife, Donna Gates, and a daughter, Emma.

A memorial service was held at Grace, Chesapeake, on Dec. 29.

"Chilly" cookoff raises

funds for Human Warmth Fund

            More than 100 people from seven Lutheran churches in the Tidewater region came out Jan. 21 for the first "Chilly" Cook-off at St. Timothy, Norfolk. Bringing chili or their appetites or both, chili lovers helped raise almost $700 for the Human Warmth Fund, an all-volunteer energy assistance program staffed by Southside Lutheran churches.

            So far this year, the fund has assisted 160 families to keep the heat on, with the help of energetic cook-off volunteers and enthusiastic chili consumers. Plans are already in the works for a 2013 Chilly Cook-off. The three 2012 winners-Wally Erb and Jacob Debban, both members of St.Timothy, and Pastor Harry Griffith, Our Saviour, Virginia Beach, will have to defend their titles for hottest, most unique and overall best chili.

            The Human Warmth Fund is administered by Lutheran Family Services of Virginia.

New video shows off Roanoke College

            Jason Jones, an award-winning photographer in Toronto, has made a two-minute video of the Roanoke College campus to highlight the landscape, the range of learning environments and variety of student activities (click here to watch).

            After being named the 18^th most beautiful campus by the Princeton Review, "we wanted to create a video with no other agenda than to show off our campus and give prospective students a feel for Roanoke College," said Whitney Anderson, Internet communications manager for the college. "We wanted prospective students to picture themselves here and for alumni to feel nostalgic about their alma mater," said Blair Garland, director of marketing.

            A corrective restoration of a chimney and the west wall of the college's Administration Building is scheduled for completion in February. The 1847 structure, oldest on campus, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The wall, facing Miller Hall and bulging about 4 inches, had to be replaced brick by brick. It is not load-bearing.

            Religion Prof. Gerald McDermott will be joined by Michael McClymond of St. Louis University, in a celebration of their The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, recently published by Oxford University, on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 4:30 p.m. in the Colket Center. Responses to the book will be offered by James Peterson and Brent Adkins of the Department of Religion and Philosophy.

            David Dunford, former ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Oman, will talk about the Arab awakening on Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Olin Hall. He is a scholar in residence at the college from Jan. 29 through Feb. 4.

            Starting Feb.2, a series of coffee shop talks, led by faculty members, will discuss such topics as social media, Renaissance art, fish hormones and determinism and ethics. The talks, open to the public, will start at 8 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month

at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea on Main Street in Salem.

            Blake Robinson, a 1993 Roanoke graduate who is a film production executive in Los Angeles, planned a seven-day climb of Mount Kilimanjaro, the 16,000+ peak in Tanzania to raise an awareness of a genetic disorder afflicting his 11-year-old nephew.

Writing a biography of a saint: Dag Hammarskjold

     by Pastor David Drebes, Prince of Peace, Basye

Dag Hammarskjold

Every issue of Lutheran Forum includes a hagiography-a biography of a saint-selected from the last 500 years of Lutheran history. It was a challenge to write a hagiography of famed United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. Not only is it tough to sum up any person's life, but his saintliness was tough to capture because it was largely unknown during his life. In other words, while a typical saint witnesses to her faith during her life, Hammarskjöld's witness began only after his death.

            In 1961, Hammarskjöld died in a still-mysterious plane crash while attempting to broker peace in Congo. It was only after his death that his diary was discovered, published, and his Christian faith revealed to the public at large. Titled Markings, Hammarskjöld's diary included heavy theological reflections on how his public political work was rooted in a deep and personal faith.

            In an entry dated less than a year before his death, Hammarskjöld reflected on his life as an answer to a calling. "I don't know Who-or what-put the question, I don't know when it was put. I don't even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone-or Something-and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender had a goal" (Markings, trans. Leif Sjöberg and W.H. Auden [New York: Vinage, 2006], 205).

            Hammarskjöld elsewhere makes clear that the "Who" of his calling was Jesus Christ. And while it would be possible to criticize a Christian like Hammarskjöld for not being more open about his faith during his life, some Christians have callings in this world that are very secular-looking from the outside.

            Inspired by recent works of theologian Oswald Bayer, I came to see Hammarskjöld as one faithfully serving others "as if there is no God." That's Bayer's provocative phrase for describing how justification by grace through faith means freedom for the Christian from the need to achieve anything for one's own sake. Hammarskjöld's "self-surrender" to the needs of his global community, then, included surrendering the desire to save himself.

       While many Christians offer public witness to Christ, that was not primarily Hammarskjöld's calling-and it would have been a mistake for him to think he was not serving God just because he was not constantly talking about God. We can't always know why someone serves their neighbor, their country, or-in the Secretary-General's case-their world.

            The publication of his diary means that we can know why he did what he did-that it was a response to Christ's call to love and serve one's neighbors. But there are others who serve their communities and look from the outside like secular servants. Maybe they don't talk about Jesus a whole lot, but they serve in his name. The Church on earth may not know the names of such outwardly secular servants, but they are known to God. And Dag Hammarskjöld is their patron saint.

Global mission is walking, breaking bread

     by Jackie Bourque, St. Paul, Strasburg

 I am happy to report the Global/Glocal/Local Mission Gathering at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Cary, N.C. was everything it was advertised to be and more.   I may have been the only person from the Virginia Synod to attend, but there were some excited folks from North and South Carolina. 

 The worship was extraordinary. We sang songs from cultures around the world, some with calypso sounds, others with South American or African sounds, still others that were new sounds of our own country.  

            The first keynote speaker was Pastor Rafael Malpica Padilla, executive director for the Global Mission unit of the ELCA.  He oversees the ELCA's world-wide program, international disaster response, sustainable development and global advocacy. 

            Pastor Rafael guided the conference through an understanding of what "mission" really is.  By introducing the Emmaus story, he helped us see how mission is really a journey and when taken with many companions, it shows us the unexpected and sometimes unrecognized Christ who walks with us.  It is accompaniment.

 He asked if the Church of Jesus Christ has a mission.  When we all answered "yes," he said "no."   It's not our mission, it's God's mission. From the gospel and the stories of our faith, we understand God's mission is reconciliation.  All of us are broken before God.  We are alienated from God and from one another.  Jesus came to reconcile us with God. 

            In the past, a lot of mission work looked like this: God's story, my story and your story.  Mission meant me bringing God's story to you.  That puts God's story on my side and you on the other side.   Accompaniment helps us see mission differently.  In reconciliation, we realize that my story and your story are not divided by boundaries, but are both reconciled within God's story.  We are not taking God to others, God is already there.   We are walking with each other, breaking bread together, and forming community together. 

            The second keynote speaker was Pastor David Vasquez, a campus pastor at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, originally from Guatemala.  He talked about immigration as a central image in sacred texts.  He said every student who comes to Luther College or any college is an immigrant. They have left the place they were raised and entered into another community.

            Pastor David asked for a show of hands of the folks in the room who were living in the same place they were born.  Only one hand was raised, indicating that in a way, we have all been in a process of migration.  Trade routes have traditionally been the path of vast migration, because where the products were going is where the people went. The jobs are where the products are going, and we are going where the jobs are. The products are going to the U.S., so that's where the people want to go, too, including people from other cultures.

            Pastor David told how dismally we have treated immigrants to our country.  Did you know that there are presently 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. today?  That's the equivalent of the total population of Iowa, Minnesota, and half of Wisconsin.   Pastor David said, "If that many people are breaking a particular law, don't you think it's time to take another look at that law?"  Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson has written to President Obama, calling for the need to overhaul the U.S. immigration system. 

            Sunitha Mortha from the ELCA Global Mission teams helped us understand the differences in culture.  Sunitha, originally from India, talked about the differences in U.S. and Indian culture.  She said culture is like an iceberg.  Some aspects are easily seen, above the waterline, like dressing modestly, way of eating or getting married.  If we drive on the "right" side of the road, do the people in England drive on the "wrong" side or do they drive on the "left" side?   Other aspects are ingrained and not so easy to see, below the waterline.

            One thing some missionaries did wrong in the past. They went into a culture and tried to change the people to their own culture. For example, in the book Hawaii, James Michener shows the New England missionaries insisting the Hawaiians wear the dress and all other trappings of New England, instead of leaving their culture as it was and walking with them (accompaniment) in God's story. Today's ELCA missionaries are doctors, teacher and engineers who walk together with others telling God's story.

            The gathering had workshops like Music and Mission, Growing a Missional Congregation, and Cross Generational Engagement.  I attended one on Stewardship, Using the Gifts of Diversity. We also heard global and local mission stories.

Four Germanna churches hold joint celebration

For the first time, four Virginia Synod churches of the Germanna Conference - Christ and Resurrection in Fredericksburg, Our Saviour in Warrenton, and St. Peter's in Stafford - came together for a fellowship meal and shared worship, on Sunday, October 23, at Resurrection. 

            The event, entitled "Revive! Refresh! Rejoice!" featured Pastor Lucille "CeCee" Mills, associate pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Norfolk, as guest speaker on the Spirit's gifts for inclusive mission and ministry.  Choirs from the four churches each provided one of their favorites, and also combined for a special mass choral performance directed by John Irby of Resurrection.

            In all, 150 parishioners responded to an invitation to "Come thirsty," and be refreshed through worship and the opportunity to meet and greet their fellow area ELCA Lutherans.  An Evangelism/Outreach gathering and workshop, and a mass choir rehearsal kicked off the event at 2:30 p.m., followed by a meal of barbecue and the "fixins" at 3:30 p.m., and worship at 5:00 p.m.