12 April 2007

PreviewPLTS

A few times a year, apart from individual visits, PLTS hosts a group of prospective students for PreviewPLTS. This 3+ day experience gives people the chance to visit PLTS and get a sense of what seminary would be like for them here. they viist classes, stay in PLTS housing, eat with students, faculty, and staff, and worship with the PLTS community. Many people, over the years, have said that visiting PLTS has been a definitive moment in their discernment . . . check it out!

Rocky Mountain Synod Discernment Retreat

I had the honor of being asked to be a speaker at the Rocky Mountain Synod's Spring Discernment Event. about 25 people gathered at Augustana Lutheran Church in Denver to consider their place and role in announcing God's kingdom of peace in the world. I was able to spend time talking with them about Luther's theology of vocation and the Biblical witness of being called, and responding to that call. We looked at Bible stories that don't often get lifted up in talk about vocation . . . ones in which the characters do not respond well. In all, it was a focused time to acknowledge that God calls all kinds of people in all kinds of ways and that we respond with all kinds of responses. It is this reality that opens up for each of us the possibility of recognizing God's call in our lives and the possibility that that call is to public ministry. I'm always honored to be asked to spend time with people who are wrestling with these questions!

(Here stands Madelyn Busse, a Diaconal Minister, next to a "Thinking Seminary" poster that the RMS puts up at gatherings of those thinking that way.)