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Mission Statement
The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago forms visionary leaders to bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.
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 One thousand cranes
Every day after worship, Miho Yasukawa is outside the Augustana Chapel doors inviting members of the LSTC community to write prayers for Japan on the back of small squares of colored paper and to fold them into origami cranes. She is creating a string of one thousand cranes to send to her native Japan.
Cranes are one of the mystical creatures in Japan, said to live 1,000 years. Tradition says that folding 1,000 paper cranes will make a person's wish come true. In Japan, 1,000 cranes are given as wedding and baby gifts with wishes for long life and happiness. In western countries, they are sometimes given to cancer patients or laid on a grave as a symbol of hope and peace.
Through the story of Sadako Sasaki, the origami cranes became a symbol of world peace. Sadako folded 1,000 cranes, trying to stop her death from leukemia caused by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II.
Miho Yasukawa began the M.Div. program this year, returning the LSTC after earning a Master of Arts in Biblical Studies in 2006. She will be sending the one thousand or more cranes from LSTC to the Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church.
In these symbols of peace, healing, good fortune, and good wishes we at LSTC draw close to the people of Japan, praying as we fold the small squares of paper, reminded of how we are connected, one to another, around the world.
Blessings to you this Holy Week,
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News from LSTC
Bishop Munib Younan to speak at LSTC's 151st Commencement and Peace and Justice events
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Munib A. Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) and president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), will return to the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), where he had studied in the late 1980s, to preach at the school's 151st commencement on Sunday, May 15, 2011. The worship service and commencement will take place at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 5472 South Kimbark Avenue, Chicago, at 2:30 p.m.
At 7:30 on May 15, Bishop Younan and Mrs. Suad Yacoub Younan will be speaking at a Peace and Justice Event at the Lutheran Church of the Atonement, 909 E. Main St, Barrington, Ill. On Tuesday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m., Bishop and Mrs. Younan will speak at a Peace and Justice Event at Grace Lutheran Church, 200 N. Catherine Avenue, LaGrange, Ill. Both events are free and open to the public. An offering to support the work of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL) will be gathered.
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 Stewarding Your Financial Future
The Metropolitan Chicago Synod Stewardship Strategy Team and LSTC's Tithing and Stewardship Foundation are hosting "Stewarding Your Financial Future" at LSTC on Saturday. April 30. Speakers and workshop leaders are Polly Bergerson, a chartered retirement planning counselor, and the Rev. Robert Buschkemper, senior gift planner with the ELCA Foundation. They will lead sessions on financial wellness and stewardship and planned giving and faith - including planned giving programs to benefit congregational ministries.
Cost for the conference is $30 per person (lunch included). Register by April 20 to receive a $5 discount. Go to www.mcselca.org to register online. For more information call Steven Homberg at 773-248-0021 or email shomberg@mcselca.org.
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June online conversation will explore wealth and poverty in the Bible and American Culture
 During the month of June, LSTC is offering the opportunity to participate in online conversations with other people of faith to consider how Christians should think about and act on the economic disparities that continue to widen in the United States and around the world.
This online conversation facilitated by Dr. Carol Schersten LaHurd will explore multiple meanings and views of wealth and poverty through biblical texts, theological and social commentary.
Cost to enroll is $100 and limited to 15 participants. Participants will need access to a computer and a high speed internet connection in order to participate in the course. Course provides 15 contact hours, 1.5 CEUs. For information about enrollment, contact leadershipconference@lstc.edu or call 773-256-0741. [ Read more ]
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| Wear your LSTC pride!
There's now a way to stock your wardrobe with LSTC logo apparel and other accessories like duffel bags, backpacks, headgear and more. Like many other institutions of higher learning, LSTC has partnered with an "eStore" provider to make it possible for us to offer high-quality items - including sweatshirts, t-shirts, hoodies, fleece items, and much more.
The items featured on the LSTC eStore are available with embroidered logos at any time, but there will also be occasional sales which will allow us to offer items printed with a silk-screened logo for an even lower price.
Look for the LSTC "Spring Sales Event" and show your school spirit!
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Professors Menn and Rossing planning
January tour to the Holy Land
You don't want to miss this study tour! Dr. Esther Menn, Ralph W. and Marilyn R. Klein Professor of Old Testament and the Rev. Dr. Barbara Rossing, professor of New Testament at LSTC will be leading a 12-day study tour to the Holy Land in January 2012.
World of the Bible: Ancient Sites and Current Struggles in the Holy Land Travel Seminar will be January 10-23, 2012. The approximate price per person is $3,500 with an optional extension to Jordan and Egypt (for additional cost). Includes lodging at church guest houses with private bath (double occupancy; single supplement available), breakfast and dinner daily, transportation and entrance fees, tips for guides, and fees.
The tour is described as "fast-paced and strenuous!" The group will:
- Fly from Chicago to Tel Aviv, where they will stay at a convent on the site of Elijah's cave (Mt. Carmel, Haifa) and visit Caesarea;
- Spend four days touring in Galilee, including Nazareth, Capernaum, Caesarea Philippi, Megiddo - staying at a kibbutz on the shore of the Sea of Galilee
- Travel south to Bethlehem for three nights
- Spend six nights in Jerusalem, staying at the Lutheran guest house; meeting with contemporary Jewish, Christian, and Muslim leaders; visit biblical sites such as the Via Dolorosa, Church of the Holy Sepulcre.
Contact Esther Menn at emenn@lstc.edu or Barbara Rossing at brossing@lstc.edu to receive more information.
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Opportunities at LSTC
April 30, 8:45 a.m. - 3:15 p.m. Stewardship Conference, "Stewarding Your Financial Future"
May 15, 2:30 p.m. LSTC Commencement, Bishop Munib A. Younan, preaching
June online conversation, Wealth and Poverty in the Bible and American Culture
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