MetroLutheran

Kari Jo Verhulst

The hour of the Boston Marathon bombings I was at a playground with our seven-year-old daughter Hannah. We heard sirens upon sirens but didn’t think much of it. Sirens aren’t unusual in the greater Boston area and we weren’t close enough to realize what was happening. We got back home to multiple emails and calls from friends afar asking if we were okay; we were.

And yet, in the hours that followed, I began to worry. I worried that there would be more to come; a series of bombs, perhaps for days on end. I worried about how we would explain this to Hannah. I worried that the perpetrators would turn out to be people who identified as Muslim and claimed that the act was religiously-motivated, because this would deepen the bias and violence against a community that already suffers from such.

MIT is at heart a community of problem solvers, and to solve problems you need information.

Most particularly, I worried for those I hold close to my heart, especially the students and MIT community members I get to serve as Lutheran chaplain there. Thanks to Facebook and other electronic means, I was able to check in with them; all were safe and accounted for, but shaken. Some were awaiting word about the safety of friends who’d run the Marathon. Others were re-experiencing prior traumas and the body memory of such terror. Many spent hours plugged in to multiple news sources, social network sites, and live feeds, looking for new information or insight into what had happened. more »

This past April I chaperoned a group of youth from my church for Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative’s annual event: A Night on the Street. The day before the event brought a half-foot of snow, and a record low of 21 degrees was set before the sun came up on Saturday.

That night, we joined 268 youth and adults from 22 faith communities to sleep in cardboard boxes in Plymouth Congregational Church’s parking lot in downtown Minneapolis. Nathaniel Koch, a high school senior from our group, reflected on his experience, saying, “You don’t realize how cold it actually is until you’re out there. It felt like I could never get completely warm.”

Andrew Twiton

The youth at A Night on the Street raised more than $25,000 for housing specifically for homeless young people, and participants learned about the realities of being homeless from youth who have been there and from street outreach workers who see it every day.

Many prayers joined in a chorus at A Night on the Street, whether silently or aloud.

Just before we set up our boxes for the night, everyone gathered for prayers representing the different traditions participating in the event. One of the prayers offered was Martin Luther’s evening prayer, and it became a prayer for youth experiencing homelessness.

“I give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have graciously protected me today,” a teenager from Elk River began to read from her Small Catechism.

Lutherans may know this prayer, but it sounds different standing out in the cold air preparing to sleep on pavement. The words also mean something new after hearing the stories of youth who have experienced homelessness themselves. And we might pray it differently knowing that on any given night there are 2,500 youth facing homelessness in Minnesota. more »

Rev. Dr. Francis Monseth

Dr. Francis W. Monseth, 71, dean of the Association Free Lutheran Theological Seminary, Plymouth, Minnesota, and professor of systematic theology, died suddenly on March 29, Good Friday. Born in Minot, North Dakota, son of the Rev. Fritjof and Olga Monseth, he graduated from Oak Grove Lutheran High School, Fargo, and continued his education at the Lutheran Bible Institute of Minneapolis, Augsburg College, Valley City State College, Free Lutheran Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, and Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, the latter awarding him both the STM and ThD degree. more »

A celebration of a new partnership between Luther Seminary and AGORA, a longtime ministry providing Christian leadership training for a multicultural world, will take place at Luther on June 9. AGORA formally aligned with Luther’s Global Mission Institute, in the fall of 2012 to fulfill the shared mission of equipping congregations and leaders for expanded Christian mission and ministry. more »