Representing the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, 12th President, and the Rev. Glenn Ludwig, chair of the Board of Directors, issued the following statement following the August 2009 churchwide assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
September 14, 2009 (Gettysburg, Penna.) As it has for nearly two centuries, Gettysburg Seminary continues preparing faithful Christians who will serve the Church as pastors and other leaders. The Seminary is centered around the Word of God, grounding students in the Holy Scriptures, and enabling them to be faithful proclaimers of the gospel. Together with persons of varying perspectives in the ongoing discussions regarding human sexuality, we rely upon the Bible as the “inspired Word of God” and “the source and norm for proclamation, faith and life,” as our approach to Scripture is described in the constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
As a Seminary of the ELCA, we are guided by its policies and teaching stances. At the same time, as a school solidly grounded in the Lutheran tradition, which while “catholic” is also “reforming,” we value academic freedom and uphold the right of all—students, faculty, staff and our many partners—to express their views regarding official church policies and social statements. This seminary has always been a place where informed discussions of vital issues can take place, and where differences of opinion can be expressed, valued and embraced.
Amidst a variety of responses and reactions to recent decisions by the 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA, the Seminary is committed to offering the many resources developed by faculty, guest lecturers and others who have addressed matters related to human sexuality over the past several years. We are providing seminarians with multiple opportunities to discuss ELCA decisions and how those decisions might affect their future ministries.
We seek to honor and live out among us the call issued from Minneapolis to work and serve together in mutual respect, honoring conscience-bound convictions that result from differing interpretations of Scripture, the Lutheran Confessions and Christian tradition.
We recognize the Church, and our Seminary, have moved through many periods of conflict and controversy over a host of issues down through the decades. And we are confident that just as God has brought us “thus far by faith,” so God’s guiding hand will enable this “school for the prophets” to continue fulfilling our mission now in the 21st century.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
A Christian Positioning System: Navigating by Faith and Reason
From the Gettysburg PO
by Michael L. Cooper-White, Seminary President
mcooper@ltsg.edu www.Ltsg.edu
A greenback I’ve saved for several years now was defaced by some prior possessor, who crossed out “God” on the dollar bill’s backside and wrote in “reason.” “In reason we trust,” was this anonymous (and perhaps agnostic or atheist?) spender’s creed.
Theological debates over the appropriate boundaries of faith and reason date back centuries, and are associated with the names of some of the great thinkers of earlier times. Often the debates are cast in either/or dichotomies. One either trusts reason, scientific facts and the laws of physics OR one places faith in a Divine power and doesn’t worry much about the reasonableness of conclusions reached. These debates have not lessened in intensity across the centuries.
Today’s contentious struggles over the teaching of evolution vs. “creationism” or “intelligent design,” for example, continue unabated. Often the polarized parties talk past one another and do not really enter into deep dialogue that just might alter perspectives all around.
Lest we raise our eyebrows over “those other folks” engaged in tension-filled faith/reason discussions and even diatribes, it must be acknowledged we “mainliners” have our own squabbles, which often degenerate rapidly into name-calling and other unchristian behaviors. As the ELCA prepares for important decisions related to human sexuality and ethical conduct—first in synod assemblies and then at the Minneapolis Churchwide Assembly in August—one hears and reads a variety of statements. Sadly, some assert that those who come to different conclusions are not just wrong, but unchristianly wrong in their convictions. Some are convinced that the Bible is unequivocal about how we must steward our sexuality; others see ambiguities and conflicting scriptural “vectors” that point one in various directions, with considerable need for reasoned communal discernment.
Surely, people of faith must heed Jesus’ mandate that we not be conformed to commonplace convictions that appear entirely reasonable. Clinging to faith convictions, perhaps especially in times like the present, is not altogether reasonable. The resurrection of a crucified dead man cannot be proven by the regular rules of science, which among other things demand repeatability and external verification. Regardless of one’s conclusions on the timing of the original creation (whether in six 24-hour days as we know them or through prolonged eons of prehistoric periods), is it reasonable to cling to promises of a New Creation that God holds in store at the end of time as we measure it now?
Luther and other theologians have suggested (wisely in my judgment) that the faith-reason dialectic is just that—a pulsating rhythm back and forth on a spectrum whose opposite ends may not be all that far apart. If a good God created the universe, as we confess in our creeds, would such a loving Creator stack the deck in unreasonable and indecipherable ways so as to cause us human ones to always be in a state of confused chaos? On the other hand, wouldn’t the one who surprised the whole creation on Easter morn not be holding some cards yet to play that we cannot begin to imagine and must anticipate in faith?
To determine a precise location and reliably chart a course toward an intended destination, Global Positioning systems must locate and receive signals from at least 3 different satellites orbiting high in outer space. The great “catholic” tradition claims that revelation comes to us through the Scripture (Word of God) as we embrace the Bible and broad Christian tradition with reason in communal discernment. By means of receiving and reading signals sent to us from the Bible, backed up by the wisdom of the ages and our best reasoning, however stormy the current environment, we can navigate our way toward a faithful future.
While I will be attending several Region 8 synod assemblies, I’m eager to hear reports from others far and near on what transpires, and how you find the “state of the church” in your corner. Would you send along some brief reflections?
by Michael L. Cooper-White, Seminary President
mcooper@ltsg.edu www.Ltsg.edu
A greenback I’ve saved for several years now was defaced by some prior possessor, who crossed out “God” on the dollar bill’s backside and wrote in “reason.” “In reason we trust,” was this anonymous (and perhaps agnostic or atheist?) spender’s creed.
Theological debates over the appropriate boundaries of faith and reason date back centuries, and are associated with the names of some of the great thinkers of earlier times. Often the debates are cast in either/or dichotomies. One either trusts reason, scientific facts and the laws of physics OR one places faith in a Divine power and doesn’t worry much about the reasonableness of conclusions reached. These debates have not lessened in intensity across the centuries.
Today’s contentious struggles over the teaching of evolution vs. “creationism” or “intelligent design,” for example, continue unabated. Often the polarized parties talk past one another and do not really enter into deep dialogue that just might alter perspectives all around.
Lest we raise our eyebrows over “those other folks” engaged in tension-filled faith/reason discussions and even diatribes, it must be acknowledged we “mainliners” have our own squabbles, which often degenerate rapidly into name-calling and other unchristian behaviors. As the ELCA prepares for important decisions related to human sexuality and ethical conduct—first in synod assemblies and then at the Minneapolis Churchwide Assembly in August—one hears and reads a variety of statements. Sadly, some assert that those who come to different conclusions are not just wrong, but unchristianly wrong in their convictions. Some are convinced that the Bible is unequivocal about how we must steward our sexuality; others see ambiguities and conflicting scriptural “vectors” that point one in various directions, with considerable need for reasoned communal discernment.
Surely, people of faith must heed Jesus’ mandate that we not be conformed to commonplace convictions that appear entirely reasonable. Clinging to faith convictions, perhaps especially in times like the present, is not altogether reasonable. The resurrection of a crucified dead man cannot be proven by the regular rules of science, which among other things demand repeatability and external verification. Regardless of one’s conclusions on the timing of the original creation (whether in six 24-hour days as we know them or through prolonged eons of prehistoric periods), is it reasonable to cling to promises of a New Creation that God holds in store at the end of time as we measure it now?
Luther and other theologians have suggested (wisely in my judgment) that the faith-reason dialectic is just that—a pulsating rhythm back and forth on a spectrum whose opposite ends may not be all that far apart. If a good God created the universe, as we confess in our creeds, would such a loving Creator stack the deck in unreasonable and indecipherable ways so as to cause us human ones to always be in a state of confused chaos? On the other hand, wouldn’t the one who surprised the whole creation on Easter morn not be holding some cards yet to play that we cannot begin to imagine and must anticipate in faith?
To determine a precise location and reliably chart a course toward an intended destination, Global Positioning systems must locate and receive signals from at least 3 different satellites orbiting high in outer space. The great “catholic” tradition claims that revelation comes to us through the Scripture (Word of God) as we embrace the Bible and broad Christian tradition with reason in communal discernment. By means of receiving and reading signals sent to us from the Bible, backed up by the wisdom of the ages and our best reasoning, however stormy the current environment, we can navigate our way toward a faithful future.
While I will be attending several Region 8 synod assemblies, I’m eager to hear reports from others far and near on what transpires, and how you find the “state of the church” in your corner. Would you send along some brief reflections?
Monday, February 16, 2009
Response to Reed's "The Difference"
An alumnus, Jim Brandis, writes:
Kathleen, I appreciated your comments in the Alma Mater News. I was a bit surprised that you recalled one Dr. Ridenhour’s bold expressions. I graduated a few years before you but I was part of the same era. I am a ’75 graduate. As for an incident, I remember visiting with Dr. Bengt Hoffman. I was already in the parish and was in a difficult situation at the time. I visited with Dr. Hoffman, looking for some wise, fatherly guidance and support. We were in his office. It was in the summer. At the close of the visit, Dr. Hoffman offered prayer. There was something about his prayer that was unlike other experiences I have had.
Through his simple words and his humble presence I felt as if Dr. Hoffman had just invited the Holy One to be with us. There was a sense in which Dr.Hoffman, like Moses, was speaking with God face to face. Dr. Hoffman ended the prayer as simply as he began it, but something unusual happened in that brief moment. A few years ago, I filled out a student recommendation form. One of the questions on the form was, “Is this person intellectually curious?” I thought to myself, “This is a wonderful question.” This is a rare quality to be found in individuals, even among those who commit themselves to the academic rigors of seminary. So many, it seems, stop learning as soon as they graduate from seminary.
I think the seminary experience is designed to create an atmosphere for the discipline of study of a wide variety of topics related to ministry, but also to invite people into the process of being perpetual students whose curiosity never ends. How our American culture today has squelched the love of learning and the intellectual disciplines. After completing the M.Div. degree I went on to complete an S.T.M. at LTSG, completed clinical training and became board certified as a chaplain. I also appreciate the seminary’s integration of spiritual formation into the curriculum. That is so important for the task and process of ministry. That is what Dr. Bengt Hoffman embodied in his teaching and in his personal life. I must say that after 30+ years of ministry, I find myself saying, “Now I understand what my professors were trying to teach me!”
Gratefully yours, Pastor Jim Brandis
Kathleen, I appreciated your comments in the Alma Mater News. I was a bit surprised that you recalled one Dr. Ridenhour’s bold expressions. I graduated a few years before you but I was part of the same era. I am a ’75 graduate. As for an incident, I remember visiting with Dr. Bengt Hoffman. I was already in the parish and was in a difficult situation at the time. I visited with Dr. Hoffman, looking for some wise, fatherly guidance and support. We were in his office. It was in the summer. At the close of the visit, Dr. Hoffman offered prayer. There was something about his prayer that was unlike other experiences I have had.
Through his simple words and his humble presence I felt as if Dr. Hoffman had just invited the Holy One to be with us. There was a sense in which Dr.Hoffman, like Moses, was speaking with God face to face. Dr. Hoffman ended the prayer as simply as he began it, but something unusual happened in that brief moment. A few years ago, I filled out a student recommendation form. One of the questions on the form was, “Is this person intellectually curious?” I thought to myself, “This is a wonderful question.” This is a rare quality to be found in individuals, even among those who commit themselves to the academic rigors of seminary. So many, it seems, stop learning as soon as they graduate from seminary.
I think the seminary experience is designed to create an atmosphere for the discipline of study of a wide variety of topics related to ministry, but also to invite people into the process of being perpetual students whose curiosity never ends. How our American culture today has squelched the love of learning and the intellectual disciplines. After completing the M.Div. degree I went on to complete an S.T.M. at LTSG, completed clinical training and became board certified as a chaplain. I also appreciate the seminary’s integration of spiritual formation into the curriculum. That is so important for the task and process of ministry. That is what Dr. Bengt Hoffman embodied in his teaching and in his personal life. I must say that after 30+ years of ministry, I find myself saying, “Now I understand what my professors were trying to teach me!”
Gratefully yours, Pastor Jim Brandis
The Difference An Hour Makes
Reprinted from ALMA MATER NEWS
by Kathleen Reed ('80)
The Difference An Hour Makes It was the first month of my first semester 32 years ago. I can still hear the tremolo in a classmate’s voice as he said to the professor, "Dr. Ridenhour, I have to admit that I have some days when I am not sure that I believe in the Resurrection." To which Dr. Ridenhour responded: "You’ve had days? I’ve had weeks! I’ve had months! I’ve had years!"
I don’t recall how the classmate took that comeback, but for me its implicit permission to risk raising fundamental questions in matters of faith without fear of being silenced or condemned was a revelation.
To this day, whenever I enter a room as a teacher, I strive to extend to others the same hospitality of authentic inquiry that Dr. Ridenhour extended in that hour to all of us. My list of the memorable seminary hours which continue to shape my ministry is pretty long. I won’t bore you. Instead, I invite you to start making your own list. Whether you graduated recently or 60 years ago, it is possible to see how the number of lives touched by one such hour grows exponentially, according to a kind of "loaves and fishes" math.
As these memories occur to you, consider sharing them! Send me a note, an e-mail, or pick up the phone, and we will print them here for appreciation and thanksgiving.
Kathleen Reed, Director of Advancement: kreed@Ltsg.edu.
ON VALENTINES AND CHURCHLY MATCH-MAKING
by President Michael L. Cooper-White
Little cellophane-wrapped boxes of valentines in the late 1950’s came in standard lots. Each contained 20 or so small roughly 3-inch square cards printed with an endearing message on one side, leaving room on the other for one to sign before inserting in the envelope and addressing to a classmate. In our grade school classrooms, “mailboxes” created by covering common shoeboxes with colorful paper awaited the delivery of valentines from all the classmates. Each box of valentines also included a couple of special cards. One was for the teacher, which required no deliberation, unless one was on the outs with her (few men taught elementary school in those days in our parts) and contemplated tossing the teacher’s greeting in the trash. But the other was an oversized card quadruple in size to all the rest. Therein lay the delicate decision. Upon whom should I bestow the special valentine? And will s/he reciprocate or leave me embarrassed by bestowing hers/his on someone else? Ah, the anguish of childhood infatuations or lack thereof . . .
Well, it’s the annual season of multiple “match-making” processes that I’ve discovered spreads an unusual level of anxiety here on campus and around the church. First-year students await their selection for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) summer assignments in hospitals, nursing homes and other settings. Our “middlers” or second-year theologs are about to plunge into the internship matching workshop. This brings to campus several dozen pastors and lay leaders from congregations that will serve to mentor future pastors during a crucial portion of their ministerial formation. And our ELCA seniors, of course, now await assignment to regions, synods and ultimately call by a congregation, while our ecumenical students likewise may be wondering where they will serve post-graduation.
By and large, the church and our seminary seem to do fairly well in these important match-making processes. When I served as the ELCA’s director of synodical relations, the churchwide unit then responsible for the first call assignments, a survey revealed 90% of the newly rostered leaders had landed in a setting of their preference, albeit seldom the “ideal call” (there really are none!). Likewise, the vast majority of internships proceed rather seamlessly to mutually satisfying conclusions. While an intense growth-producing CPE is seldom without some measure of challenge, again most students return to campus in the fall saying something like, “If I had it to over again, I’d choose the same place.”
There are, of course, both modest and glaring exceptions. Sometimes a candidate, bishop, call committee or others involved in churchly match-making processes “read” one another wrong, and favorable first impressions give way to the reality that this is not a match made in heaven. If important information is withheld in a process of mutual discernment, disillusionment can set in quickly after a ministry or learning covenant is actually set in motion. And for some there’s the inevitable disappointment of “unrequited love” akin to that experienced back in grade school when the beneficiary of a scholar’s big valentine failed to reciprocate. A half-dozen classmates may desire the same internship. Congregations perceived as “plum calls” (I’ve discovered there really are none of those either—every place has its challenges and problems) are sought by dozens of rostered leaders whose annual reports to their bishops indicate “open to a new call.” In a bishop’s election or other “selective/competitive” process, many well-qualified candidates make themselves available, and only one finally can be chosen.
How one responds amidst all this flurry of ecclesiastical and academic match-making may depend on the operative theology of call or vocation. If you believe that there are perfect matches made in heaven, then the failure to land a place of preference may cause a theological and even existential crisis. Personally, I’ve always thought God has bigger things to deal with most days than my personal preferences or search for a perfect parking place; in most big lots there are a lot of them! Likewise, given a measure of openness and flexibility, in a church with more than 10,000 congregations, a host are places of good and vibrant ministry where one’s gifts may fully flourish and a good time may be had by most on most days. If disappointment comes, one must also allow that in very human selection processes, human errors are made with some regularity. If you feel you would have been a “better match” than the one ultimately chosen for that perceived “perfect” internship or call, you’re probably right. But rather than wallow in bitterness or languish in regret, move on and embrace the place and people who did recognize your gifts and are eager to embrace you. A few decades down the road, you’ll probably not even recall the names of most places and people who caught your fancy in a moment of infatuation. You will remember those who gave you the big valentine and invited, “be among us.”
Little cellophane-wrapped boxes of valentines in the late 1950’s came in standard lots. Each contained 20 or so small roughly 3-inch square cards printed with an endearing message on one side, leaving room on the other for one to sign before inserting in the envelope and addressing to a classmate. In our grade school classrooms, “mailboxes” created by covering common shoeboxes with colorful paper awaited the delivery of valentines from all the classmates. Each box of valentines also included a couple of special cards. One was for the teacher, which required no deliberation, unless one was on the outs with her (few men taught elementary school in those days in our parts) and contemplated tossing the teacher’s greeting in the trash. But the other was an oversized card quadruple in size to all the rest. Therein lay the delicate decision. Upon whom should I bestow the special valentine? And will s/he reciprocate or leave me embarrassed by bestowing hers/his on someone else? Ah, the anguish of childhood infatuations or lack thereof . . .
Well, it’s the annual season of multiple “match-making” processes that I’ve discovered spreads an unusual level of anxiety here on campus and around the church. First-year students await their selection for Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) summer assignments in hospitals, nursing homes and other settings. Our “middlers” or second-year theologs are about to plunge into the internship matching workshop. This brings to campus several dozen pastors and lay leaders from congregations that will serve to mentor future pastors during a crucial portion of their ministerial formation. And our ELCA seniors, of course, now await assignment to regions, synods and ultimately call by a congregation, while our ecumenical students likewise may be wondering where they will serve post-graduation.
By and large, the church and our seminary seem to do fairly well in these important match-making processes. When I served as the ELCA’s director of synodical relations, the churchwide unit then responsible for the first call assignments, a survey revealed 90% of the newly rostered leaders had landed in a setting of their preference, albeit seldom the “ideal call” (there really are none!). Likewise, the vast majority of internships proceed rather seamlessly to mutually satisfying conclusions. While an intense growth-producing CPE is seldom without some measure of challenge, again most students return to campus in the fall saying something like, “If I had it to over again, I’d choose the same place.”
There are, of course, both modest and glaring exceptions. Sometimes a candidate, bishop, call committee or others involved in churchly match-making processes “read” one another wrong, and favorable first impressions give way to the reality that this is not a match made in heaven. If important information is withheld in a process of mutual discernment, disillusionment can set in quickly after a ministry or learning covenant is actually set in motion. And for some there’s the inevitable disappointment of “unrequited love” akin to that experienced back in grade school when the beneficiary of a scholar’s big valentine failed to reciprocate. A half-dozen classmates may desire the same internship. Congregations perceived as “plum calls” (I’ve discovered there really are none of those either—every place has its challenges and problems) are sought by dozens of rostered leaders whose annual reports to their bishops indicate “open to a new call.” In a bishop’s election or other “selective/competitive” process, many well-qualified candidates make themselves available, and only one finally can be chosen.
How one responds amidst all this flurry of ecclesiastical and academic match-making may depend on the operative theology of call or vocation. If you believe that there are perfect matches made in heaven, then the failure to land a place of preference may cause a theological and even existential crisis. Personally, I’ve always thought God has bigger things to deal with most days than my personal preferences or search for a perfect parking place; in most big lots there are a lot of them! Likewise, given a measure of openness and flexibility, in a church with more than 10,000 congregations, a host are places of good and vibrant ministry where one’s gifts may fully flourish and a good time may be had by most on most days. If disappointment comes, one must also allow that in very human selection processes, human errors are made with some regularity. If you feel you would have been a “better match” than the one ultimately chosen for that perceived “perfect” internship or call, you’re probably right. But rather than wallow in bitterness or languish in regret, move on and embrace the place and people who did recognize your gifts and are eager to embrace you. A few decades down the road, you’ll probably not even recall the names of most places and people who caught your fancy in a moment of infatuation. You will remember those who gave you the big valentine and invited, “be among us.”
Monday, August 18, 2008
Signs of Spring in South America
From the Gettysburg PO
By the Rev. Michael L. Cooper-White, M.Div., D.D.
www.Ltsg.edu Mcooper@ltsg.edu
Here in mid-August, for the third time in the past year, it is my privilege to sojourn for a few days among the saints of Argentinas Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida (United Evangelical Lutheran Church). IELU leaders and executives of the ELCA’s Global Mission unit have kindly invited me to serve as consultant or "coach" for an ongoing process of strategic planning and ecclesial restructuring--part of a comprehensive effort to achieve long-term sustainability amidst a challenging context of limited financial and human resources.
With all genuineness, I conclude each session with our Argentine sisters and brothers assuring them that I receive far more from these encounters than I could possibly contribute. Such is the nature of the ELCA’s approach to global mission, encapsulated and summarized succinctly in one unusual word: "accompaniment." We accompany one another on the journey of faith, as Luther put it, "showing one another where to find bread."
South of the equator, where the seasons are reversed from the northland cycle, my "summer sojourn" occurs late winter, on the verge of springtime in Buenos Aires. As I ponder all I have seen and heard over the course of the past 13 months since first coming back to South America (after a hiatus of more than three decades since I interned in Chile), I am struck that "springtime" is an apt metaphor for much that is occurring, both in the churches and wider societies.
Both Chile and Argentina are ahead of the global curve, served by women presidents. Unthinkable in societies dominated by "machismo" just a generation ago, what many thought impossible seems to be working out quite well. This societal embrace of women’s leadership is mirrored in the churches, with Pastor Gloria Rojas the Lutheran bishop in Chile, and women a majority in the lay leadership gathering I co-keynoted here in Argentina with ELCA colleague Raquel Rodriguez, who heads the Latin America work for Global Mission.
Church leadership has shifted in just one generation from being "foreign missionary dominated" to indigenous and contextual. Whereas I served my South American internship in the mid-1970s surrounded by American and German pastors, today the churches leadership is solidly in the hands of South Americans. Yet these are by no means mono-cultural faith communities. The clerical cadres in each country contain the names of pastors from other Latin American nations. And students from all over Latin America, as well as "overseas" study here at Argentinas ISEDET seminary, my base of operation while in Buenos Aires.
Just as they have swirled among us in the ELCA and broader North American scene, so the Spirit-winds of liturgical and evangelical renewal are blowing in the southern hemisphere. In every IELU arena where I have been privileged to observe and interact, I hear and see signs of renewal and a passionate mission-mindedness. The questions raised in the leadership development retreat for congregational presidents and treasurers were exciting ones: "How can our parochial schools develop a greater sense of evangelism and community outreach? What concrete steps can we take to welcome spiritual seekers from our neighborhoods and broader communities? What changes do we need to make in our parish life in order to deconstruct barriers that are keeping non-members from crossing the threshold?
In this one short P.O. piece with a Buenos Aires "postmark," it’s simply not possible to share all I’m seeing, hearing and feeling. Upon my return to the U.S. and LTSG campus, I will seek opportunities to share further my “learnings” from this South American sojourn. Suffice it for now to pass along these few reflections and glimpses into the signs of impending springtime, hoping that as the fall season is upon us in the northland, you too are seeing many signs of ever-greening Gospel!
P.S. When you see me, ask about my encounter with the world’s oldest living Olympic gold medalist, followed in short order by my first tango lesson . . .
Friday, August 15, 2008
A Marriage of Seven Decades
A Marriage of Seven Decades
From the Gettysburg PO by Michael L. Cooper-White
Gettysburg Seminary President
www.Ltsg.edu
At the end of the service, the pastor offered an addendum to Jesus’ long list of parables in Matthew 13 concerning the nature of the Realm and Reign of God: “The Kingdom of God,” Kirk Anderson declared, “is like a couple married for 70 years!” The couple to whom he referred are my parents, Alice and Bennie Cooper, married in Milbank, South Dakota on July 30, 1938.
A GOOGLE search reveals the nature of the times in that year when Time Magazine concluded Adolf Hitler was “man of the year” who most influenced the world for good or evil. War was on the near horizon. That the Great Depression still lingered was evident both societally, with unemployment at 19%, and personally, with my folks “hiring out” together to a local farmer for $450 per year. Their early decades together were ones of perennial hardship. Their stories still abound with recollections of scarcity, back-breaking farm labor on summers’ most sweltering afternoons and winters’ coldest mornings, and periods of prolonged prairie isolation for a teen-age bride and her young husband.
On occasions like the one we celebrated the last weekend in July, it is only natural to pose questions to and seek wisdom from the actors at center stage. “So tell us the secret to staying married for 70 years.” “What were the hardest times? How about the best?” As the years have gone by since we celebrated Mom’s and Dad’s 50th two decades ago, I have noticed each has gradually become a person of fewer words. Often the response to our queries these days is only a smile, a nod, or a sigh. “We just kept on loving each other through thick and thin,” is about the essence of their testimony. Perhaps Alice offered the most profound witness at Emmanuel Church when prayer concerns were invited by the assisting minister: “I want to thank God for our 70 years together,” she said simply, then added, “I have thanked God every morning for this man named Bennie.”
Among the cardinal virtues long espoused by Christians and others are the tandem pair of constancy and fidelity—“staying put, hanging in there, keeping on keeping on”—however you wish to define them. They can, of course, be exercised to a fault and exploited to an unhealthy or even dangerous degree. No one should stay in a relationship that has become abusive or death-dealing. Even a vociferously anti-divorce theologian/professor once said to a group of us seminarians about marriage and divorce, “We promise ‘til death do us part and if it’s killing you, you may need to get out.” Perhaps it is because they recognize a long-lasting marriage is more gift than something merited or even earned by fidelity and constancy, my parents have long been among the most understanding and accepting of others whose relationships end painfully.
In this year’s Summer Institute at the Seminary, Roy Oswald reported on the decades-long research he and others of the Alban Institute have conducted surrounding “long-term pastorates.” “We learned of their value for vital, thriving congregations,” would be a succinct summary of a far more complicated conclusion. Rome was not built in a day. Significant pastoral and leader-follower relationships do not deepen to the point of fostering long-term systemic congregational health and vitality in even a few years, the typical duration of a vast majority of pastorates. “Go and plant your feet with a commitment to constancy,” is the advice of the Alban folks, many bishops, and this seminary president who in one fashion or another tries to include that message in almost every annual commencement address.
I am fully and humbly cognizant of the extraordinary gift my brother and I and our large extended family enjoy in the continuing presence among us of Bennie and Alice (now—following our sister’s death a decade ago—known to us alone as Mom and Dad). Given life expectancies in his era, of course Jesus did not include in his laundry list of “like-the-Kingdom” parables one about a couple married for 70 years. But if he knew back then, what Dave and I and a small minority of other children whose parents reach such milestones in marriage know now, I suspect our Lord might have added Pastor Anderson’s example to his declarations about mustard seeds, yeast, pearls, nets and hidden treasures . . .
Thursday, May 03, 2007
You Were Really Good!
From the Gettysburg PO
by Michael L. Cooper-White,
Seminary President
www.ltsg.edu
In a baccalaureate sermon to the Gustavus Adolphus College class of 1980, the Rev. Richard Quentin Elvee, GAC chaplain at the time, recounted a hurried graduation week encounter with another member of the college staff. “Only Thursday, on my way to the Barn, after declining to come with me, Hamrum shouted after me, ‘Padre, tell them that they were good’!” *
Undoubtedly, it could be said of the student body of each and every one of our Seminary’s 180 years, “You were good!” For so indeed they all have been. Each year has been marked by many days full of grace and goodness. Amidst the inevitable tensions and conflicts, challenges and difficulties that arise within any Christian community, every year there are the healers and helpers, those whose calm steady presence encourages others when times are tough, when the waters rage turbulent. As we once again welcomed so many alumni back home to campus for our Spring Convocation and Alumni Banquet, I caught glimpses into just how good were their classes, even those who sojourned here in the turbulent times of the 1960’s and 70’s.
But this year, you were really, really good! In classroom, coffee shop and quiet one-on-one conversations that occur on a daily basis, you listened and learned from our faculty, but also from one another, and most of all, from God. There seemed to be a special measure of fellowship in some quarters, extended to others last fall in the touch (well, by the end more mud-wrestling!) Lutherbowl tourney. It continued throughout, manifested again at year’s end in another Crump-crowned croquet contest.
When faced with disappointment at the announcement that the campus pastor position will be suspended at least for a while as Pastor Kathy Vitalis Hoffman concludes her marvelous tenure, student leaders went to work with the dean and others to find new ways of providing pastoral care and mission-mentoring. In the aftermath of last summer’s multiple retirements coupled with painful “downsizing” and increased workloads for continuing staff and those newly hired, everybody pitched in and kept us marching full swing in our mission.
Theologically, of course, we acknowledge that all goodness comes from God. Properly humble, we are appropriately reticent to claim too much credit for our feeble efforts to foster community, encourage one another spiritually, lead vigorously and at times even courageously. But, dear friends of this great and growing Gettysburg Seminary community, remember those times when Jesus said to one or another of his followers, “Good job! You got it right this time! Not perfect, but good enough to offer up to God.”
So in this final P.O. entry of the 180th academic year, allow me as your president to offer this benediction on the LTSG community of 2006-07: You were good. You were really, really good! Thanks, and have a great summer.
* Richard Quentin Elvee, Kingdom of Identity, Gustavus Adolphus College 1987, p. 125
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
The Search for Words
By Christine Reimers
As a member of the seminary staff I had the privilege to meet and get to know [Gettysburg Seminary's late 10th President] Herm Stuempfle a little over these last four years. Today, the day after the tragic shooting at VA Tech -- as on other days when I have been at loss for words and filled with emotion – I found myself at my piano looking through Stuempfle hymns for one that spoke to the pain, grief, and violence of these recent events. I found two. On Emmaus’ Journey is a wonderful witness to our human struggle to meet the risen Christ: “Who are you who walk in sorrow down Emmaus’ barren road, Hearts distraught and hope defeated bent beneath grief’s crushing load?’ Nameless mourners we will join you, we who also mourn our dead, We have stood beside graves unyielding, eaten death’s bare bitter bread.” This is, of course, only the first verse and Stuempfle moves from this poignant description through to the resurrection appearance and in-breaking of new hope. The second text is for choir, A Christmas Dialog and brings to life the power of the incarnation in the midst of the violence of the world: “Where nights are torn by siren’s wail an din of blaring horn, on streets where threats of violence lurk, the Child again is born. . . where life is harsh and hard, he comes with love for all.” This text is in dialogue through the piece with the vision of the Peaceable Kingdom where beast and humans alike will “all live in peace.” I give many thanks for the poetic gifts and vision of the Gospel in the world expressed by Herm Stuempfle in many many beautiful hymn and anthems.
The Rev. Christine E. Reimers, Ph.D.
Advancement Associate
Lutheran Theological Seminary Gettysburg
Saturday, April 14, 2007
New from the Faculty
See New Faculty Publications Case for recent additions:
Congratulations to
Jack Lundbom has a new article "The Lion Has Roared"
Gil Waldkoenig has four entries in a massive Encyclopedia of Appalachia
Lutheranism A to Z is now in paperback (Gassmann, Larson, Oldenburg)
(and more affordable, too)
Church Administration by Bacher and Cooper-White hit the streets this week.
____________________________
The Rev. John R. Spangler
Friday, April 13, 2007
Spring Semester's Tired Time
Spring Semester’s Tired Time
Those who serve in institutional presidencies soon learn how ours is a “sheltered existence.” For various reasons, many in an academic community hesitate to bring everyday happenings or even news of greater consequence to the president’s attention. In other words, I’m often the last to know, and I’m quite sure there are many things both insignificant and important that never come to my hearing or seeing at all. In my younger years I had a greater need to be “in the know” about everything. Now I’m quite content to let the many other capable hands, heads and hearts that surround me respond and support those whose needs escape my attention.
Since Easter Sunday I have overheard a couple of conversations relative to the current “student state” on campus. “They’re tired,” is the synopsis. I’m sure many of you student readers are no more tired than usual at the end of days crammed with classes, course work, commuting for some, and all the ordinary events and deeds of daily life. But perhaps there is a collective fatigue that sets in midway in second semester. While I don’t exactly recall such feelings in Seminary, I know that a couple of college spring times brought depression and deep struggles to press toward the goal line of summer vacation.
When I teach about conflict, students, parishioners or other hearers are always stunned to see Speed Leas’ research on the most conflict-prone times in parish life. Number one on the list is Easter. Easter!? The most joyous of all days for the Christian community; how can it be the time of year when church conflict spikes? The simple short answer: it comes at the end of Holy Week when everyone, including the pastor, is fatigued and maybe famished for rest and family time. Besides, all those C&E (Christmas and Easter) Christians have descended in droves, upsetting normal patterns of parish life. And the post-Easter let-down sends some into the doldrums. A close reading of the gospels suggests it may have been so for the first resurrection celebrators as well. “Thomas, where the heck have you been?” “Oh, come on, you foolish women, stop telling these idle tales . . .”
Hearing or reading simple exhortations to “cheer up” or “get over it” probably are not helpful. With your nose to the grindstone, hearing the perspective of one who finished the Seminary marathon three decades ago counsel “it will pass soon enough” likely offers little relief. As your president, there’s probably precious little I can do—in that recognition centers my fatigue and sense of failure. Does it help simply to know that at times I do sense and “hear” the collective sounds of silence and sighs too deep for words?
I pray for warm sunny days, and soon—they do help many of us! I encourage sharing one with another. If the end-of-winter and not-close-enough-to-end-of-semester blues are of deep hue, I strongly suggest seeking professional counsel or conversations here on campus with those who can help by listening. A bit of corporate “realized eschatological” cheerleading might be in order, too. The end is already upon us. Seniors, the diplomas will soon be signed and in your hands. As for the rest of you, I can only speak of what I know from personal experience: Your 31st anniversary of graduation will be here before you know it!
Michael L. Cooper-White, D.D.
Seminary President
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
My Holiday Reading List
By President Michael Cooper-White
mcooper@ltsg.edu
Here’s hoping that for you and yours Christmas 2006 brought a goodly measure of joy, and that this new year of 2007 begins with hope and energy for our common calling.
The advent of Amazon .com and its “wish list” posting possibility results in a far higher percentage of Christmas gifts hitting my strike zone. This year’s list was heavily weighted with books, the sum total of which amount to several pounds and two or three thousand pages. A good ten-day stretch of travel and at-home leisure provided ample hours to make my way through a heavy dose of the new pile. In this first P.O. column of 2007, I share a few highlights and recommendations for your own reading.
“Ten Poems to Change Your Life” (2001 by Roger Housden) may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this gift book from our daughter’s California godparents brought delight. One entry, by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, reminded me of viewing his home on the rocky coastlands near El Tabo where, while on internship, I welcomed in the new year of 1975. In “Ode to My Socks” Neruda celebrates the simple joys of life, and how “what is good is doubly good when it’s a matter of two woolen socks in winter.”
In the same vein of reverie for past times that are unrecoverable, and lost loved ones who live on in memory alone, Will Weaver’s “Sweet Land” is both a charming collection of short stories set in Minnesota, as well as a current highly acclaimed big screen movie. Also by this Bemidji State University professor, “The Barns of Minnesota” captures both in print and photograph so many memories of the countless hours spent in father Bennie’s barn on our farmstead, of which now no trace is visible to any but the sharpest eyes.
Always good for a quick read are the novels of Nicolas Sparks, best known for “Message in a Bottle,” “The Notebook” or “A Walk to Remember.” In his most recent book, “Three Weeks with My Brother,” Sparks shifts from fiction to autobiography, describing both an around-the-world trip with his sibling, and the pain and poignancy of their childhood and young adult years that involved burying both parents and a sister at young ages. In a burst of true confession, I herewith acknowledge that this book was part of my Christmas gift to my own brother Dave. Late at night and early in the mornings I slipped it from under the Christmas tree and read it ahead of its recipient—may he forgive me!
The heavier and more serious Christmas reading took me into two books on most bestsellers’ lists: Bob Woodward’s “State of Denial,” and Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat.” Volume III of his trilogy on Bush at War, “State of Denial” is a kind of postmortem on a presidency still breathing and kicking, even if barely by some assessments. And “flat” surely does not describe the writing style of Friedman, whose 600-pager finally explained for me why phone calls to United Airlines or many other purveyors of goods and services seem to connect with call centers in foreign lands (they do, in fact!) Among his many claims and calls, Friedman’s guide to the new flat world sounds a strong plea for more attention to education that embraces multicultural realities and the prospect of an unparalleled global future. These are themes we’ve already begun discussing in earnest as we engage in planning for the future of education at Gettysburg.
While there were other books and wider browsing over the holidays just past, let this suffice for a whirlwind tour based on one reader’s Christmas wish list. I’d like to hear what you have been learning in your own readings of late.
mcooper@ltsg.edu
Here’s hoping that for you and yours Christmas 2006 brought a goodly measure of joy, and that this new year of 2007 begins with hope and energy for our common calling.
The advent of Amazon .com and its “wish list” posting possibility results in a far higher percentage of Christmas gifts hitting my strike zone. This year’s list was heavily weighted with books, the sum total of which amount to several pounds and two or three thousand pages. A good ten-day stretch of travel and at-home leisure provided ample hours to make my way through a heavy dose of the new pile. In this first P.O. column of 2007, I share a few highlights and recommendations for your own reading.
“Ten Poems to Change Your Life” (2001 by Roger Housden) may be a bit of an exaggeration, but this gift book from our daughter’s California godparents brought delight. One entry, by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, reminded me of viewing his home on the rocky coastlands near El Tabo where, while on internship, I welcomed in the new year of 1975. In “Ode to My Socks” Neruda celebrates the simple joys of life, and how “what is good is doubly good when it’s a matter of two woolen socks in winter.”
In the same vein of reverie for past times that are unrecoverable, and lost loved ones who live on in memory alone, Will Weaver’s “Sweet Land” is both a charming collection of short stories set in Minnesota, as well as a current highly acclaimed big screen movie. Also by this Bemidji State University professor, “The Barns of Minnesota” captures both in print and photograph so many memories of the countless hours spent in father Bennie’s barn on our farmstead, of which now no trace is visible to any but the sharpest eyes.
Always good for a quick read are the novels of Nicolas Sparks, best known for “Message in a Bottle,” “The Notebook” or “A Walk to Remember.” In his most recent book, “Three Weeks with My Brother,” Sparks shifts from fiction to autobiography, describing both an around-the-world trip with his sibling, and the pain and poignancy of their childhood and young adult years that involved burying both parents and a sister at young ages. In a burst of true confession, I herewith acknowledge that this book was part of my Christmas gift to my own brother Dave. Late at night and early in the mornings I slipped it from under the Christmas tree and read it ahead of its recipient—may he forgive me!
The heavier and more serious Christmas reading took me into two books on most bestsellers’ lists: Bob Woodward’s “State of Denial,” and Thomas Friedman’s “The World is Flat.” Volume III of his trilogy on Bush at War, “State of Denial” is a kind of postmortem on a presidency still breathing and kicking, even if barely by some assessments. And “flat” surely does not describe the writing style of Friedman, whose 600-pager finally explained for me why phone calls to United Airlines or many other purveyors of goods and services seem to connect with call centers in foreign lands (they do, in fact!) Among his many claims and calls, Friedman’s guide to the new flat world sounds a strong plea for more attention to education that embraces multicultural realities and the prospect of an unparalleled global future. These are themes we’ve already begun discussing in earnest as we engage in planning for the future of education at Gettysburg.
While there were other books and wider browsing over the holidays just past, let this suffice for a whirlwind tour based on one reader’s Christmas wish list. I’d like to hear what you have been learning in your own readings of late.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Top 10 Seminary Stories for 2006
From the Gettysburg PO
by President Michael L. Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
www.ltsg.edu
As occurs in many newsrooms, toward the end of every year our Seminary’s chief communication professional, Pr. John Spangler, and I confer on what we consider the LTSG Top Ten stories of the year. In so doing, we are well aware that the most important things are often neither “newsworthy” nor able to be captured in a headline or succinct summary. The ongoing teaching and learning, mentoring and modeling of ministry happen on a daily basis in countless unseen encounters both on campus and distant, through quiet conversations in classroom, chapel or coffee shop. With these disclaimers, I nevertheless offer the following list, recognizing that others will generate your own.
1. Luther Institute Comes Home to Seminary Sponsorship: Over a quarter century ago, the Washington-based Luther Institute (tLI) was founded by several partners, including the Seminary’s Lutheran House of Studies. In mid-2006, tLI’s board sought a new strategic partnership, and the Seminary brought it under our umbrella as an added vehicle for a fortified presence in the nation’s capital.
2. Joint Venture Launches Voices of History Campaign: Another long-standing partnership—with the Adams County Historical Society (ACHS)—moved to a new level as together we launched an ambitious effort to rehabilitate the Seminary’s “Old Dorm” building and convert it into a world-class Civil War and religious history museum. Fund-raising toward an ultimate $22 million goal was initiated.
3. Faculty and Spring Convocation Propel Seminary More into Public Square: Leadership by adjunct faculty member Dr. Warren Eshbach captured national media attention over the so-called “intelligent design” controversy. The president published an op ed piece in the state capital’s leading newspaper, quoting faculty colleagues on the importance of religious leaders “going public” on critical societal issues. And the 2006 Spring Convocation brought to campus noted scholars and Lutheran federal district court Judge John Jones who rendered a key decision related to the intelligent design conflict in an area school district.
4. Most Historic Seminary Featured on ELCA Yearbook Cover: In recognition of our 180th anniversary and the Seminary’s unique role in American civic and religious history, the Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America featured a picture of LTSG on the cover of the church’s annual yearbook, its most frequently consulted directory of congregations and rostered leaders.
5. Largen and Stevens Join Faculty; Olsen Leads Admissions Office: Retirements, administrative restructuring and acceptance of new positions by several Seminary staff members over the summer months was followed in short order by the arrival of a number of new colleagues. In the faculty arena, Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen began teaching in the field of systematic theology, and Dr. Marty Stevens became both registrar and instructor in Biblical Studies. Coming from a Virginia pastorate to head the Admissions Office was Pastor Mark Olsen, an LTSG alumnus.
6. Alumnus Pledges Potentially Largest-Ever Gift: In response to a call for major gifts to grow the endowment, Pastor Vic Myers of Ohio, a 1969 graduate of the Seminary, through careful financial planning and an inspirational act of generous stewardship, made commitments that ultimately could bring the Seminary as much as $3 million in support of faculty, scholarships and creative lectureships.
7. Restructuring and Budget Reduction Cause Controversy: Faced with a $400,000+ deficit as the Seminary budget was being developed, the president declared a hiring freeze, followed by an administrative restructuring that eliminated several staff positions. Affirmed in some circles as painful but prudent stewardship measures and positive administrative streamlining, the decisions were troubling to others on campus and in broader arenas.
8. Students Lead in Wellness Emphasis and Ecumenical LutherBowl Extravaganza: A campus-wide emphasis on nutrition, exercise and other dimensions of wellness was led by the Student Association in collaboration with the campus pastor. The SA worked hard in hosting seven other schools for the annual touch football tournament, with Trinity Lutheran of Columbus taking home the trophy.
9. Red Books Replace Green as Primary Worship Resource: As have many congregations, the Seminary recently dedicated the new red (some call it cranberry-colored) Evangelical Lutheran Worship book. Among the ELW’s delights are eight hymns authored by president emeritus Herman Stuempfle, as well as one by campus resident, Pastor Beth Bergeson Folkemer.
10. Endowment Foundation and Crossroads Campaign Primed: Major fund-raising efforts usually are not newsworthy until big success stories can be published. But the formation of a separate corporate entity for endowment oversight, to be stewarded by its own Board of Trustees, holds promise in an era when most seminaries find themselves resource-challenged. Throughout the year, preparations were ongoing for an expanded current funds and endowment appeal that begins in earnest as the year of 2007 dawns.
While challenging in many ways, 2006 was on balance another good year for the Seminary. As its final days are crossed off the calendar, we entrust it with both praise and penitence into God’s history-holding hands.
by President Michael L. Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
www.ltsg.edu
As occurs in many newsrooms, toward the end of every year our Seminary’s chief communication professional, Pr. John Spangler, and I confer on what we consider the LTSG Top Ten stories of the year. In so doing, we are well aware that the most important things are often neither “newsworthy” nor able to be captured in a headline or succinct summary. The ongoing teaching and learning, mentoring and modeling of ministry happen on a daily basis in countless unseen encounters both on campus and distant, through quiet conversations in classroom, chapel or coffee shop. With these disclaimers, I nevertheless offer the following list, recognizing that others will generate your own.
1. Luther Institute Comes Home to Seminary Sponsorship: Over a quarter century ago, the Washington-based Luther Institute (tLI) was founded by several partners, including the Seminary’s Lutheran House of Studies. In mid-2006, tLI’s board sought a new strategic partnership, and the Seminary brought it under our umbrella as an added vehicle for a fortified presence in the nation’s capital.
2. Joint Venture Launches Voices of History Campaign: Another long-standing partnership—with the Adams County Historical Society (ACHS)—moved to a new level as together we launched an ambitious effort to rehabilitate the Seminary’s “Old Dorm” building and convert it into a world-class Civil War and religious history museum. Fund-raising toward an ultimate $22 million goal was initiated.
3. Faculty and Spring Convocation Propel Seminary More into Public Square: Leadership by adjunct faculty member Dr. Warren Eshbach captured national media attention over the so-called “intelligent design” controversy. The president published an op ed piece in the state capital’s leading newspaper, quoting faculty colleagues on the importance of religious leaders “going public” on critical societal issues. And the 2006 Spring Convocation brought to campus noted scholars and Lutheran federal district court Judge John Jones who rendered a key decision related to the intelligent design conflict in an area school district.
4. Most Historic Seminary Featured on ELCA Yearbook Cover: In recognition of our 180th anniversary and the Seminary’s unique role in American civic and religious history, the Secretary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America featured a picture of LTSG on the cover of the church’s annual yearbook, its most frequently consulted directory of congregations and rostered leaders.
5. Largen and Stevens Join Faculty; Olsen Leads Admissions Office: Retirements, administrative restructuring and acceptance of new positions by several Seminary staff members over the summer months was followed in short order by the arrival of a number of new colleagues. In the faculty arena, Dr. Kristin Johnston Largen began teaching in the field of systematic theology, and Dr. Marty Stevens became both registrar and instructor in Biblical Studies. Coming from a Virginia pastorate to head the Admissions Office was Pastor Mark Olsen, an LTSG alumnus.
6. Alumnus Pledges Potentially Largest-Ever Gift: In response to a call for major gifts to grow the endowment, Pastor Vic Myers of Ohio, a 1969 graduate of the Seminary, through careful financial planning and an inspirational act of generous stewardship, made commitments that ultimately could bring the Seminary as much as $3 million in support of faculty, scholarships and creative lectureships.
7. Restructuring and Budget Reduction Cause Controversy: Faced with a $400,000+ deficit as the Seminary budget was being developed, the president declared a hiring freeze, followed by an administrative restructuring that eliminated several staff positions. Affirmed in some circles as painful but prudent stewardship measures and positive administrative streamlining, the decisions were troubling to others on campus and in broader arenas.
8. Students Lead in Wellness Emphasis and Ecumenical LutherBowl Extravaganza: A campus-wide emphasis on nutrition, exercise and other dimensions of wellness was led by the Student Association in collaboration with the campus pastor. The SA worked hard in hosting seven other schools for the annual touch football tournament, with Trinity Lutheran of Columbus taking home the trophy.
9. Red Books Replace Green as Primary Worship Resource: As have many congregations, the Seminary recently dedicated the new red (some call it cranberry-colored) Evangelical Lutheran Worship book. Among the ELW’s delights are eight hymns authored by president emeritus Herman Stuempfle, as well as one by campus resident, Pastor Beth Bergeson Folkemer.
10. Endowment Foundation and Crossroads Campaign Primed: Major fund-raising efforts usually are not newsworthy until big success stories can be published. But the formation of a separate corporate entity for endowment oversight, to be stewarded by its own Board of Trustees, holds promise in an era when most seminaries find themselves resource-challenged. Throughout the year, preparations were ongoing for an expanded current funds and endowment appeal that begins in earnest as the year of 2007 dawns.
While challenging in many ways, 2006 was on balance another good year for the Seminary. As its final days are crossed off the calendar, we entrust it with both praise and penitence into God’s history-holding hands.
Transition Means More than Change
From the Gettysburg Seminary President's Office
by President Michael Cooper-White
by President Michael Cooper-White
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of facilitating a two-day retreat on the theme of “transition” for the 9 bishops in Region 3 of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and their assistants. In that part of the upper Midwest (Minnesota and the two Dakotas), a number of the synods have “term limits” beyond which a bishop may not continue serving. So at least three of the bishops will conclude their service in the next year or so, thereby guaranteeing that they, their staff colleagues and the synods served will be in a time of transition.
Being invited to enter into conversations involving discernment of next call, how to “end well” effective long-term episcopal ministries, and personal “letting go” and grieving the loss of close collegial partnerships indeed felt like being invited into the holy of holies in these folks’ lives. In preparation for this challenging assignment, I reread some familiar resources and researched a few new pieces as well on the theme of “transition.” Perhaps the foremost expert transition consultants in the corporate world today are a husband-wife team, William Bridges and Susan Mitchell Bridges. The Wall Street Journal lists Mr. Bridges as one of the top ten executive development presenters in the U.S. In a very helpful article, “Leading Transition: A New Model for Change,” the Bridges make a distinction between change and transition. Change, they suggest, is external—a new policy, a merged corporation, or in our world, a new congregation or the state of being newly ordained, commissioned or consecrated perhaps.
For some of the synodical servants I addressed out in Minnesota and the Dakotas, a forthcoming change will be the morning they wake up and are no longer a bishop or assistant.By contrast to change, an external matter, say the Bridges, “transition is the state that change puts people into.” It involves psychological and spiritual reorientation. Ordination—the change from being Ms. or Mr. to being “the Rev.”—happens in an instant when a bishop lays hands on head. But the transition into being a pastor is probably a lifelong journey after the moment of ordination.
According to the Bridges’ article, transitions normally progress through three distinct phases. First, there must be a time of saying goodbye to what has been. They repeat the old adage that to steal second base, you must finally take your feet off first and run! Following the goodbyes, which are often prolonged and painful as well as rewarding and satisfying, there may be a long time of moving through a “neutral zone.” This is a time of confusion, of wandering in the wilderness, discerning new directions. Finally, one moves forward into the new phase of life or work. A period of grieving is concluded or diminished. You arrive safely at second base, now beginning to focus on advancing toward third or home plate.
Six plus years into my current calling, I have learned that a seminary community is constantly in transition. While some of us are more or less permanent (faculty and staff), we too are aware that here we have no abiding place, and that even the most senior among us have served for only a brief period in the long-term sweep of institutional history. Those of you who are students are in a constant state of transition—from one semester to the next, preparing for or recovering from (!) CPE, internship, diaconal project or first call. Along the way, candidacy committees, faculty advisers and others are frequently monitoring progress and checking in on both changes and transitions going on in your lives.
The constant changes involved in a seminary sojourn, be it for a brief one-year student stint or for several decades as faculty or staff member, can grow wearying. When they do, it may be helpful to ponder the Emmaus road story that served as the centerpiece for our two-day transition workshop out in Region 3. Along the journey, an unknown Stranger saunters up and joins us on the journey. So often, we do not recognize Who it is in the moment. Later, looking back on a season of external change and internal transition, recognition dawns: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he walked among us along the way?” (Luke 24:13-35)
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
A Month in the Life . . .
From the Gettysburg Seminary President's Office
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
On a leisurely stroll a few days ago, a friend who is considering the possibility of a college presidency asked me, “So what does a president really do?” In responding, I first had to acknowledge I’ve never been a college president, and imagine his/her world to be quite different from mine in certain respects. Especially for major university presidents, relating to legislators who vote on funding, negotiating with labor unions (that in some cases include the faculty), and diplomatically coping with alumni donors whose primary concern is funding high profile athletic teams are part and parcel of the job. In a recent gathering with outdoor ministry executive leaders, I shared that while there are undoubtedly similarities between their callings and mine, I’m thankful not to have to manage an outdoor swimming pool!
The conversation prompted me to wonder if at least a few folks—perhaps including seminarians—wonder about the work of the one who inhabits the president’s office. While there is no typical day, week or month, a review of some October highlights may grant a glimpse into my world for any who may be interested in taking a peek.
Early in the month a visit to a huge local dairy operation provided opportunity both to observe the wonders of robotic milking equipment (quite a sight to this dairy farm boy!) and to engage in dialogue with the chief managing owner-partner. Such visits generally combine expressing thanks to Seminary supporters and presenting them with new opportunities as they consider future stewardship of the gifts entrusted to them. A few days later, a similar visit (this one to a beautiful new home, not a farm) in company with a colleague yielded a pledge of a six-figure gift to the rehabilitation of “Old Dorm.” While sometimes we specifically ask for a generous contribution (and even go so far as to suggest an amount we deem commensurate with the donor’s giving capacity), on this particular call we simply told the exciting story of the Seminary’s vision shared with our local Historical Society to convert the Old Dorm into a world class museum. Before we could return to ask, the generous alumna responded—what a gift!
October was a month with multiple celebrations and major events both on campus and in broader circles. My role is generally minimal in greeting those who attend our Luther Colloquy; however, this year’s Colloquy was preceded by a wonderful evening in which we conferred the Bertha Paulssen award for distinguished Christian service and two presidential leadership awards. Emceeing such events on campus often falls to an institution’s presiding officer, as does the delight of hosting receptions in the presidential residence for many groups who visit. Together with others, I regularly represent LTSG in the celebrations of other parts of the Church or in community events. The past four weeks included two bishops’ installations (one ELCA and the other the new Episcopal bishop of our local diocese); preaching at morning worship for the outdoor ministry folks from around the country; greeting the local district convention of the African Methodist Episcopal church held on our campus; representing LTSG as one of my predecessors, Dr. Herman Stuempfle, was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Award for humanitarian service; and inaugurating the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in Chicago at a joint worship of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Cabinet of Executives, and Seminary Presidents.
Never-ending on the schedule are meetings at which so much of the work of Seminary, church and public groups are (hopefully) advanced. In October, I met for three days with my colleague seminary presidents; spent two days with our Board of Directors and its several committees; joined in a one-day faculty retreat and planning session held off campus; engaged in staff planning sessions where we prepared for our upcoming financial campaign and began the process of developing the 2007-08 budget; reviewed student life in a lunch meeting with our student association president; and represented LTSG as a board member of the Washington Theological Consortium.
Around the edges of the daily and weekly scheduled events and meetings are the countless small tasks—correspondence, including 40-50 daily emails; phone calls and scheduled or impromptu meetings with students, staff and faculty colleagues; and informal conversations that range from cheerleading to engaging in the mutual consolation of the saints. The past month required final editing of a book manuscript in partnership with my coauthor. And I try to keep a book or two going at all times—either on the nightstand or car CD player as I roam about on my travels.
So, that’s an abbreviated succinct summary of one month in the life of this seminary president. After six plus years in this calling, I’ve concluded it’s seldom a boring job for long! As I conclude this P.O. piece for posting on All Saints Day, I am so grateful for the privilege of this calling, and for all the saints in whose company I travel.
www.ltsg.edu
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
On a leisurely stroll a few days ago, a friend who is considering the possibility of a college presidency asked me, “So what does a president really do?” In responding, I first had to acknowledge I’ve never been a college president, and imagine his/her world to be quite different from mine in certain respects. Especially for major university presidents, relating to legislators who vote on funding, negotiating with labor unions (that in some cases include the faculty), and diplomatically coping with alumni donors whose primary concern is funding high profile athletic teams are part and parcel of the job. In a recent gathering with outdoor ministry executive leaders, I shared that while there are undoubtedly similarities between their callings and mine, I’m thankful not to have to manage an outdoor swimming pool!
The conversation prompted me to wonder if at least a few folks—perhaps including seminarians—wonder about the work of the one who inhabits the president’s office. While there is no typical day, week or month, a review of some October highlights may grant a glimpse into my world for any who may be interested in taking a peek.
Early in the month a visit to a huge local dairy operation provided opportunity both to observe the wonders of robotic milking equipment (quite a sight to this dairy farm boy!) and to engage in dialogue with the chief managing owner-partner. Such visits generally combine expressing thanks to Seminary supporters and presenting them with new opportunities as they consider future stewardship of the gifts entrusted to them. A few days later, a similar visit (this one to a beautiful new home, not a farm) in company with a colleague yielded a pledge of a six-figure gift to the rehabilitation of “Old Dorm.” While sometimes we specifically ask for a generous contribution (and even go so far as to suggest an amount we deem commensurate with the donor’s giving capacity), on this particular call we simply told the exciting story of the Seminary’s vision shared with our local Historical Society to convert the Old Dorm into a world class museum. Before we could return to ask, the generous alumna responded—what a gift!
October was a month with multiple celebrations and major events both on campus and in broader circles. My role is generally minimal in greeting those who attend our Luther Colloquy; however, this year’s Colloquy was preceded by a wonderful evening in which we conferred the Bertha Paulssen award for distinguished Christian service and two presidential leadership awards. Emceeing such events on campus often falls to an institution’s presiding officer, as does the delight of hosting receptions in the presidential residence for many groups who visit. Together with others, I regularly represent LTSG in the celebrations of other parts of the Church or in community events. The past four weeks included two bishops’ installations (one ELCA and the other the new Episcopal bishop of our local diocese); preaching at morning worship for the outdoor ministry folks from around the country; greeting the local district convention of the African Methodist Episcopal church held on our campus; representing LTSG as one of my predecessors, Dr. Herman Stuempfle, was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Award for humanitarian service; and inaugurating the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in Chicago at a joint worship of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Cabinet of Executives, and Seminary Presidents.
Never-ending on the schedule are meetings at which so much of the work of Seminary, church and public groups are (hopefully) advanced. In October, I met for three days with my colleague seminary presidents; spent two days with our Board of Directors and its several committees; joined in a one-day faculty retreat and planning session held off campus; engaged in staff planning sessions where we prepared for our upcoming financial campaign and began the process of developing the 2007-08 budget; reviewed student life in a lunch meeting with our student association president; and represented LTSG as a board member of the Washington Theological Consortium.
Around the edges of the daily and weekly scheduled events and meetings are the countless small tasks—correspondence, including 40-50 daily emails; phone calls and scheduled or impromptu meetings with students, staff and faculty colleagues; and informal conversations that range from cheerleading to engaging in the mutual consolation of the saints. The past month required final editing of a book manuscript in partnership with my coauthor. And I try to keep a book or two going at all times—either on the nightstand or car CD player as I roam about on my travels.
So, that’s an abbreviated succinct summary of one month in the life of this seminary president. After six plus years in this calling, I’ve concluded it’s seldom a boring job for long! As I conclude this P.O. piece for posting on All Saints Day, I am so grateful for the privilege of this calling, and for all the saints in whose company I travel.
www.ltsg.edu
A Month in the Life . . .
From the Gettysburg Seminary President's Office
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
On a leisurely stroll a few days ago, a friend who is considering the possibility of a college presidency asked me, “So what does a president really do?” In responding, I first had to acknowledge I’ve never been a college president, and imagine his/her world to be quite different from mine in certain respects. Especially for major university presidents, relating to legislators who vote on funding, negotiating with labor unions (that in some cases include the faculty), and diplomatically coping with alumni donors whose primary concern is funding high profile athletic teams are part and parcel of the job. In a recent gathering with outdoor ministry executive leaders, I shared that while there are undoubtedly similarities between their callings and mine, I’m thankful not to have to manage an outdoor swimming pool!
The conversation prompted me to wonder if at least a few folks—perhaps including seminarians—wonder about the work of the one who inhabits the president’s office. While there is no typical day, week or month, a review of some October highlights may grant a glimpse into my world for any who may be interested in taking a peek.
Early in the month a visit to a huge local dairy operation provided opportunity both to observe the wonders of robotic milking equipment (quite a sight to this dairy farm boy!) and to engage in dialogue with the chief managing owner-partner. Such visits generally combine expressing thanks to Seminary supporters and presenting them with new opportunities as they consider future stewardship of the gifts entrusted to them. A few days later, a similar visit (this one to a beautiful new home, not a farm) in company with a colleague yielded a pledge of a six-figure gift to the rehabilitation of “Old Dorm.” While sometimes we specifically ask for a generous contribution (and even go so far as to suggest an amount we deem commensurate with the donor’s giving capacity), on this particular call we simply told the exciting story of the Seminary’s vision shared with our local Historical Society to convert the Old Dorm into a world class museum. Before we could return to ask, the generous alumna responded—what a gift!
October was a month with multiple celebrations and major events both on campus and in broader circles. My role is generally minimal in greeting those who attend our Luther Colloquy; however, this year’s Colloquy was preceded by a wonderful evening in which we conferred the Bertha Paulssen award for distinguished Christian service and two presidential leadership awards. Emceeing such events on campus often falls to an institution’s presiding officer, as does the delight of hosting receptions in the presidential residence for many groups who visit. Together with others, I regularly represent LTSG in the celebrations of other parts of the Church or in community events. The past four weeks included two bishops’ installations (one ELCA and the other the new Episcopal bishop of our local diocese); preaching at morning worship for the outdoor ministry folks from around the country; greeting the local district convention of the African Methodist Episcopal church held on our campus; representing LTSG as one of my predecessors, Dr. Herman Stuempfle, was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Award for humanitarian service; and inaugurating the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in Chicago at a joint worship of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Cabinet of Executives, and Seminary Presidents.
Never-ending on the schedule are meetings at which so much of the work of Seminary, church and public groups are (hopefully) advanced. In October, I met for three days with my colleague seminary presidents; spent two days with our Board of Directors and its several committees; joined in a one-day faculty retreat and planning session held off campus; engaged in staff planning sessions where we prepared for our upcoming financial campaign and began the process of developing the 2007-08 budget; reviewed student life in a lunch meeting with our student association president; and represented LTSG as a board member of the Washington Theological Consortium.
Around the edges of the daily and weekly scheduled events and meetings are the countless small tasks—correspondence, including 40-50 daily emails; phone calls and scheduled or impromptu meetings with students, staff and faculty colleagues; and informal conversations that range from cheerleading to engaging in the mutual consolation of the saints. The past month required final editing of a book manuscript in partnership with my coauthor. And I try to keep a book or two going at all times—either on the nightstand or car CD player as I roam about on my travels.
So, that’s an abbreviated succinct summary of one month in the life of this seminary president. After six plus years in this calling, I’ve concluded it’s seldom a boring job for long! As I conclude this P.O. piece for posting on All Saints Day, I am so grateful for the privilege of this calling, and for all the saints in whose company I travel.
www.ltsg.edu
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
On a leisurely stroll a few days ago, a friend who is considering the possibility of a college presidency asked me, “So what does a president really do?” In responding, I first had to acknowledge I’ve never been a college president, and imagine his/her world to be quite different from mine in certain respects. Especially for major university presidents, relating to legislators who vote on funding, negotiating with labor unions (that in some cases include the faculty), and diplomatically coping with alumni donors whose primary concern is funding high profile athletic teams are part and parcel of the job. In a recent gathering with outdoor ministry executive leaders, I shared that while there are undoubtedly similarities between their callings and mine, I’m thankful not to have to manage an outdoor swimming pool!
The conversation prompted me to wonder if at least a few folks—perhaps including seminarians—wonder about the work of the one who inhabits the president’s office. While there is no typical day, week or month, a review of some October highlights may grant a glimpse into my world for any who may be interested in taking a peek.
Early in the month a visit to a huge local dairy operation provided opportunity both to observe the wonders of robotic milking equipment (quite a sight to this dairy farm boy!) and to engage in dialogue with the chief managing owner-partner. Such visits generally combine expressing thanks to Seminary supporters and presenting them with new opportunities as they consider future stewardship of the gifts entrusted to them. A few days later, a similar visit (this one to a beautiful new home, not a farm) in company with a colleague yielded a pledge of a six-figure gift to the rehabilitation of “Old Dorm.” While sometimes we specifically ask for a generous contribution (and even go so far as to suggest an amount we deem commensurate with the donor’s giving capacity), on this particular call we simply told the exciting story of the Seminary’s vision shared with our local Historical Society to convert the Old Dorm into a world class museum. Before we could return to ask, the generous alumna responded—what a gift!
October was a month with multiple celebrations and major events both on campus and in broader circles. My role is generally minimal in greeting those who attend our Luther Colloquy; however, this year’s Colloquy was preceded by a wonderful evening in which we conferred the Bertha Paulssen award for distinguished Christian service and two presidential leadership awards. Emceeing such events on campus often falls to an institution’s presiding officer, as does the delight of hosting receptions in the presidential residence for many groups who visit. Together with others, I regularly represent LTSG in the celebrations of other parts of the Church or in community events. The past four weeks included two bishops’ installations (one ELCA and the other the new Episcopal bishop of our local diocese); preaching at morning worship for the outdoor ministry folks from around the country; greeting the local district convention of the African Methodist Episcopal church held on our campus; representing LTSG as one of my predecessors, Dr. Herman Stuempfle, was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Award for humanitarian service; and inaugurating the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship book in Chicago at a joint worship of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, Cabinet of Executives, and Seminary Presidents.
Never-ending on the schedule are meetings at which so much of the work of Seminary, church and public groups are (hopefully) advanced. In October, I met for three days with my colleague seminary presidents; spent two days with our Board of Directors and its several committees; joined in a one-day faculty retreat and planning session held off campus; engaged in staff planning sessions where we prepared for our upcoming financial campaign and began the process of developing the 2007-08 budget; reviewed student life in a lunch meeting with our student association president; and represented LTSG as a board member of the Washington Theological Consortium.
Around the edges of the daily and weekly scheduled events and meetings are the countless small tasks—correspondence, including 40-50 daily emails; phone calls and scheduled or impromptu meetings with students, staff and faculty colleagues; and informal conversations that range from cheerleading to engaging in the mutual consolation of the saints. The past month required final editing of a book manuscript in partnership with my coauthor. And I try to keep a book or two going at all times—either on the nightstand or car CD player as I roam about on my travels.
So, that’s an abbreviated succinct summary of one month in the life of this seminary president. After six plus years in this calling, I’ve concluded it’s seldom a boring job for long! As I conclude this P.O. piece for posting on All Saints Day, I am so grateful for the privilege of this calling, and for all the saints in whose company I travel.
www.ltsg.edu
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Chicago Fall Triple-Header
From the Gettysburg President's Office
Six years after moving away, it no longer feels like coming home when I land at O’Hare Airport in the Windy City. As with Minnesota, Washington, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago now feels like a place I used to live. Oh, it’s still familiar enough that I can whiz around on the freeways and get to various destinations without too much difficulty. And I always look forward to Chicago visits since son Aaron and his wife Melissa call Chicago home, and both work at the ELCA Churchwide Office.
A triple-header finds me in Chicago in as many weeks this fall. The first occasion was for a consultation on “leadership” convened by the Office of the Presiding Bishop. The identification, preparation and support of “faithful, wise and courageous leaders whose vocations serve God’s mission in a pluralistic world” is one of the major strategic directions established in an ELCA-wide planning process a few years ago. Of course, that’s right up the alley for those of us who work in seminaries, and we were well represented among the 45 or so participants who spent a weekend pondering what makes good leaders tick and how they can be found and equipped. In his introductory remarks, Bishop Mark Hanson told the group (I hadn’t arrived yet due to weather-related travel delays) that “leaders need to be known for their unquenchable curiosity.” In our small group conversations, I had the delight of sitting with old friends and new acquaintances, hearing their wisdom gained from experience teaching and leading colleges, seminaries and churchwide units. My small group included Gettysburg colleague, Dr. Bill Avery, an astute student of leadership even as he is widely known for his own in areas of stewardship, evangelism and field education.
The second Chicago touchdown, which followed intervening days visiting generous donors and seminary supporters in Illinois, was for a meeting centered on stewardship. Joining me for both the visits and stewardship consultation was seminary Vice President for Advancement, Mr. Em Cole. Some of the best teachers of good stewardship work in institutional development offices where they daily help devoted Christians determine how to be good stewards of what God has entrusted into their care. One of the factors prompting this consultation is the unrelenting diminution of dollars which flow from congregations to synods and churchwide ministries. I was reminded of my early days in ordained ministry when some of the veteran pastors I encountered insisted that their congregations pay church benevolence first, even before their salaries when cash flow was scare. Nowadays, such insistent leadership seems sadly lacking in many quarters. On a positive note, comparative data shows that Gettysburg Seminary grads have the strongest track record leading congregations in generous sharing with the wider church. We’ll be discussing these matters more in upcoming faculty and board of directors meetings, to ensure that LTSG continues to lead the way in this important aspect of ministry.
As I write this P.O. column, the third Chicago trip awaits me—this one for our annual fall meeting of ELCA seminary presidents, a portion being joint sessions with the Conference of Bishops. We’ll be discussing areas of common concern, including how the seminaries are meeting the current and anticipated future leadership needs of the church. Some time will be spent in cluster caucuses, with regional bishops hearing updates on life at the seminaries this fall, and presidents in turn listening to bishops describe the joys and challenges in their synods.
While these trips take me away from campus a goodly amount, I never fail to gain new insights that assist me in my leadership and stewardship. Feel free to corner me around campus or check in electronically if you’d like to learn more. And be sure to keep abreast of what’s happening in the ELCA (or your church body if you’re one of our ecumenical students) by regularly reading The Lutheran magazine and press releases on the website. So doing reminds us that even as we may be committed to and leaders within a community of God’s faithful called a congregation, we are also always members of and servants in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church on earth!
President Michael L. Cooper-White
mcooper@ltsg.edu
See all of the 2006 PO Columns at http://www.ltsg.edu/db/index.htm?dir=pubs&page=articles&cat=po&year=2006
Six years after moving away, it no longer feels like coming home when I land at O’Hare Airport in the Windy City. As with Minnesota, Washington, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago now feels like a place I used to live. Oh, it’s still familiar enough that I can whiz around on the freeways and get to various destinations without too much difficulty. And I always look forward to Chicago visits since son Aaron and his wife Melissa call Chicago home, and both work at the ELCA Churchwide Office.
A triple-header finds me in Chicago in as many weeks this fall. The first occasion was for a consultation on “leadership” convened by the Office of the Presiding Bishop. The identification, preparation and support of “faithful, wise and courageous leaders whose vocations serve God’s mission in a pluralistic world” is one of the major strategic directions established in an ELCA-wide planning process a few years ago. Of course, that’s right up the alley for those of us who work in seminaries, and we were well represented among the 45 or so participants who spent a weekend pondering what makes good leaders tick and how they can be found and equipped. In his introductory remarks, Bishop Mark Hanson told the group (I hadn’t arrived yet due to weather-related travel delays) that “leaders need to be known for their unquenchable curiosity.” In our small group conversations, I had the delight of sitting with old friends and new acquaintances, hearing their wisdom gained from experience teaching and leading colleges, seminaries and churchwide units. My small group included Gettysburg colleague, Dr. Bill Avery, an astute student of leadership even as he is widely known for his own in areas of stewardship, evangelism and field education.
The second Chicago touchdown, which followed intervening days visiting generous donors and seminary supporters in Illinois, was for a meeting centered on stewardship. Joining me for both the visits and stewardship consultation was seminary Vice President for Advancement, Mr. Em Cole. Some of the best teachers of good stewardship work in institutional development offices where they daily help devoted Christians determine how to be good stewards of what God has entrusted into their care. One of the factors prompting this consultation is the unrelenting diminution of dollars which flow from congregations to synods and churchwide ministries. I was reminded of my early days in ordained ministry when some of the veteran pastors I encountered insisted that their congregations pay church benevolence first, even before their salaries when cash flow was scare. Nowadays, such insistent leadership seems sadly lacking in many quarters. On a positive note, comparative data shows that Gettysburg Seminary grads have the strongest track record leading congregations in generous sharing with the wider church. We’ll be discussing these matters more in upcoming faculty and board of directors meetings, to ensure that LTSG continues to lead the way in this important aspect of ministry.
As I write this P.O. column, the third Chicago trip awaits me—this one for our annual fall meeting of ELCA seminary presidents, a portion being joint sessions with the Conference of Bishops. We’ll be discussing areas of common concern, including how the seminaries are meeting the current and anticipated future leadership needs of the church. Some time will be spent in cluster caucuses, with regional bishops hearing updates on life at the seminaries this fall, and presidents in turn listening to bishops describe the joys and challenges in their synods.
While these trips take me away from campus a goodly amount, I never fail to gain new insights that assist me in my leadership and stewardship. Feel free to corner me around campus or check in electronically if you’d like to learn more. And be sure to keep abreast of what’s happening in the ELCA (or your church body if you’re one of our ecumenical students) by regularly reading The Lutheran magazine and press releases on the website. So doing reminds us that even as we may be committed to and leaders within a community of God’s faithful called a congregation, we are also always members of and servants in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church on earth!
President Michael L. Cooper-White
mcooper@ltsg.edu
See all of the 2006 PO Columns at http://www.ltsg.edu/db/index.htm?dir=pubs&page=articles&cat=po&year=2006
Sunday, September 17, 2006
On Pluto’s Feelings and Small Congregations
From the Gettysburg Seminary PO
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
After 75 years of appearing on the solar system’s planetary players roster, on August 24th of this year poor little Pluto got dropped from the team. There had long been an ongoing debate about its status among astronomers and others who worry about such things. In part, I suppose, because Pluto was first “discovered” in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh of Illinois, Chicago’s Adler Planetarium rushed to issue a kind of pastoral statement on the reclassification. It noted that “the concept of a planet has changed throughout history.” Before it was realized that our planet Earth orbited the sun, this revolving, rotating very mobile terra firma on which we live and move and have our being was not afforded planet status. Further attempting to soften the blow for our tiny feeble friend who had just been demoted, Dr. Paul H. Knappenberger, Jr. (isn’t that a great name for an astronomer?!) gave assurances that Pluto surely will continue “inspiring and engaging young and old alike in the interesting progress of science!”
Well now, you know that I know that a cold inanimate flying sphere 4.5 billion miles from our terrestrial ball does not have hurt feelings over its reclassification. Pluto didn’t grow smaller, thereby perhaps contributing in some measure to its loss of former status. But if it did have feelings, would Pluto welcome and celebrate or rue and be saddened to now be regarded by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a “dwarf planet”? Perhaps Pluto would simply ignore the whole silly debate, and in defiant retort to IAU echo the words of Job 38:4: “Oh high and mighty IAU, where were you when God laid the foundations of the earth (and other planets too)?”
No indeed, planets downgraded to dwarf category don’t have feelings. But congregations do! And millions of members in thousands of small congregations have feelings. There are warm and friendly feelings about the kind of deep and abiding fellowship that is possible when everybody knows everyone else’s name, personal and family history, and often much, much more. While typically unable to muster huge programmatic activity, for many persons small congregations make up for it relational quality, and in enabling members to share their gifts in multiple arenas. Many pastors intentionally forego calls to bigger and better-paying churches because they enjoy and find themselves deeply fulfilled serving faithful flocks in smaller corrals.
But there is the other side, the other set of feelings that go largely unexpressed by members of small congregations. “We’re not important. ‘They’ (especially synod or national church staff) don’t care about us. We can’t afford our own pastor, or maybe even regularly have one fill our pulpit at all. We’re probably dying out here in our little church in our tiny burgh. Sadly, we may have to close our doors before too long. Who will then take care of the cemetery where our loved ones are buried (and where I may be taken before long, too)?
In recent days, I have been privileged to be given a peek through the window into the worlds of some church leaders who really do care about small congregations, and who realize that often their mission outreach and impact, and their benevolence which flows from generous big hearts that beat in the pews of small congregations, are huge. At a gathering of bishops and other synod leaders from Region 8, I discovered the major topic was caring for, supporting and assisting smaller congregations in fulfilling their mission. These regional leaders were joined by ELCA churchwide staff from Chicago who have given much attention and thought to ways small congregations might be helped in discovering sustainable styles of staffing and creative ministry. These folks are motivated by pastoral instincts flowing from deeply driven theological foundations. They take seriously that the church exists where the Word is preached and Sacraments administered (Augsburg Confession VII), regardless of the numbers of hearers and receivers. They take seriously Jesus declaration that where two or three gather, he is in our midst.
Here at the Seminary, we also have a longstanding tradition of taking seriously the people in every place, regardless of congregational size or setting. Especially through our Town & Country Church Institute, hundreds of pastors and other leaders have been prepared and better equipped for service in small congregations. If demographic trends persist and the predictions are borne out, there will be more and more of these communities in the years ahead that are Pluto-sized rather than giant Jupiterian behemoths. Let’s not regard them as dwarf congregations, but as full members of the communion of saints!
by President Michael Cooper-White (mcooper@ltsg.edu)
After 75 years of appearing on the solar system’s planetary players roster, on August 24th of this year poor little Pluto got dropped from the team. There had long been an ongoing debate about its status among astronomers and others who worry about such things. In part, I suppose, because Pluto was first “discovered” in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh of Illinois, Chicago’s Adler Planetarium rushed to issue a kind of pastoral statement on the reclassification. It noted that “the concept of a planet has changed throughout history.” Before it was realized that our planet Earth orbited the sun, this revolving, rotating very mobile terra firma on which we live and move and have our being was not afforded planet status. Further attempting to soften the blow for our tiny feeble friend who had just been demoted, Dr. Paul H. Knappenberger, Jr. (isn’t that a great name for an astronomer?!) gave assurances that Pluto surely will continue “inspiring and engaging young and old alike in the interesting progress of science!”
Well now, you know that I know that a cold inanimate flying sphere 4.5 billion miles from our terrestrial ball does not have hurt feelings over its reclassification. Pluto didn’t grow smaller, thereby perhaps contributing in some measure to its loss of former status. But if it did have feelings, would Pluto welcome and celebrate or rue and be saddened to now be regarded by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as a “dwarf planet”? Perhaps Pluto would simply ignore the whole silly debate, and in defiant retort to IAU echo the words of Job 38:4: “Oh high and mighty IAU, where were you when God laid the foundations of the earth (and other planets too)?”
No indeed, planets downgraded to dwarf category don’t have feelings. But congregations do! And millions of members in thousands of small congregations have feelings. There are warm and friendly feelings about the kind of deep and abiding fellowship that is possible when everybody knows everyone else’s name, personal and family history, and often much, much more. While typically unable to muster huge programmatic activity, for many persons small congregations make up for it relational quality, and in enabling members to share their gifts in multiple arenas. Many pastors intentionally forego calls to bigger and better-paying churches because they enjoy and find themselves deeply fulfilled serving faithful flocks in smaller corrals.
But there is the other side, the other set of feelings that go largely unexpressed by members of small congregations. “We’re not important. ‘They’ (especially synod or national church staff) don’t care about us. We can’t afford our own pastor, or maybe even regularly have one fill our pulpit at all. We’re probably dying out here in our little church in our tiny burgh. Sadly, we may have to close our doors before too long. Who will then take care of the cemetery where our loved ones are buried (and where I may be taken before long, too)?
In recent days, I have been privileged to be given a peek through the window into the worlds of some church leaders who really do care about small congregations, and who realize that often their mission outreach and impact, and their benevolence which flows from generous big hearts that beat in the pews of small congregations, are huge. At a gathering of bishops and other synod leaders from Region 8, I discovered the major topic was caring for, supporting and assisting smaller congregations in fulfilling their mission. These regional leaders were joined by ELCA churchwide staff from Chicago who have given much attention and thought to ways small congregations might be helped in discovering sustainable styles of staffing and creative ministry. These folks are motivated by pastoral instincts flowing from deeply driven theological foundations. They take seriously that the church exists where the Word is preached and Sacraments administered (Augsburg Confession VII), regardless of the numbers of hearers and receivers. They take seriously Jesus declaration that where two or three gather, he is in our midst.
Here at the Seminary, we also have a longstanding tradition of taking seriously the people in every place, regardless of congregational size or setting. Especially through our Town & Country Church Institute, hundreds of pastors and other leaders have been prepared and better equipped for service in small congregations. If demographic trends persist and the predictions are borne out, there will be more and more of these communities in the years ahead that are Pluto-sized rather than giant Jupiterian behemoths. Let’s not regard them as dwarf congregations, but as full members of the communion of saints!
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
On Fresh Floors and Faithfulness
From the Gettysburg PO
See other columns at www.ltsg.edu
Fifty years after my first day of first grade, I can still see the shiny floors of Wendell Elementary School as we marched in to begin our educations. The freshly polished planks were products of Henry Soliah’s summer labors. My, how he could make those well-worn wood floors shine! And oh, what pride he took in the overall spic-and-span condition of that little two-story brick schoolhouse entrusted to his stewardship! As the remaining five years of elementary school proceeded, I recall never failing to be impressed on the first day of school by the fruits of Mr. Soliah’s summer spit-shining. “How can he make these old floors shine like that?” I wondered each first fall morning as we un-boarded our buses and dutifully paraded into the schoolhouse with that unique post-Labor Day mixture of sadness that summer was ending coupled with excitement about the new school year up ahead.
What most amazes me in my recollection reverie five decades after first setting foot in that little school house, is that I can still recapture the scent of Henry Soliah’s newly-polished floors. The building itself is no longer standing, having gone the way of thousands upon thousands of small-town schools that have closed or been merged during the past half-century. When I return to the place where my roots remain deeply planted, I can no longer see the old schoolhouse. But here a thousand miles to the east of where it once stood proud in the little prairie village, I can still smell the place, especially in this first fortnight of September. And though his bones have long lain buried in one of the little rural cemeteries near Wendell, I can still picture the gentle faithful custodian Henry who loved that schoolhouse, but even more us ragamuffin pupils whose work boots and sneakers would, he knew, soon undo all his summer labors.
You’d think that after a few years, Henry Soliah might have just given up. Oh, to be sure, for the health and well-being of the students and the school’s six teachers, it was important that the building be thoroughly cleaned over the summer break. But he could have started to let slide just a bit the spit-shine routine that left those floors so polished you could comb your hair just by looking down wherever you might be standing on the first day of school. It would not be so for such a self-respecting Norwegian custodial caretaker! No matter how fast his summer labors would be forgotten come the September onslaught of the Crayola-toting pupils, Henry Soliah’s countless hours of summer sweat-drenched labor polishing floors in that un-airconditioned brick building was worth it to him.
Down the road now five decades, I am sadly quite confident that during those half-dozen elementary school years I never once thanked Henry Soliah for all he did for me and my classmates. So, Henry, good and faithful servant, wherever you are in the larger life of God, I thank you now. Henry’s floor-faithful witness might serve us well as a new school year begins here in our own brick buildings miles and decades distant from Wendell Elementary. Work worth doing is worth doing well. “Good enough” papers and presentations can be polished just a bit longer to really shine and make a professor’s heart sing. So in ministry “out there” wherever you might be reading. Just a bit more effort might make that good sermon really great. Or knocking off a half-hour earlier at the office could put a spit-shine on the face of a family member yearning for more time with you at home.
Finally, here on this hilltop, I thank all my good coworkers for the labors of summer past spent spit-shining campus facilities, filing and catching up on record-keeping, polishing syllabi and preparing lectures, getting ready to welcome all our students to the new academic year now beginning. Henry Soliah would be impressed—and Henry’s would be an opinion worthy of our attention!
Michael Cooper-White, President
mcooper@ltsg.edu
See other columns at www.ltsg.edu
Fifty years after my first day of first grade, I can still see the shiny floors of Wendell Elementary School as we marched in to begin our educations. The freshly polished planks were products of Henry Soliah’s summer labors. My, how he could make those well-worn wood floors shine! And oh, what pride he took in the overall spic-and-span condition of that little two-story brick schoolhouse entrusted to his stewardship! As the remaining five years of elementary school proceeded, I recall never failing to be impressed on the first day of school by the fruits of Mr. Soliah’s summer spit-shining. “How can he make these old floors shine like that?” I wondered each first fall morning as we un-boarded our buses and dutifully paraded into the schoolhouse with that unique post-Labor Day mixture of sadness that summer was ending coupled with excitement about the new school year up ahead.
What most amazes me in my recollection reverie five decades after first setting foot in that little school house, is that I can still recapture the scent of Henry Soliah’s newly-polished floors. The building itself is no longer standing, having gone the way of thousands upon thousands of small-town schools that have closed or been merged during the past half-century. When I return to the place where my roots remain deeply planted, I can no longer see the old schoolhouse. But here a thousand miles to the east of where it once stood proud in the little prairie village, I can still smell the place, especially in this first fortnight of September. And though his bones have long lain buried in one of the little rural cemeteries near Wendell, I can still picture the gentle faithful custodian Henry who loved that schoolhouse, but even more us ragamuffin pupils whose work boots and sneakers would, he knew, soon undo all his summer labors.
You’d think that after a few years, Henry Soliah might have just given up. Oh, to be sure, for the health and well-being of the students and the school’s six teachers, it was important that the building be thoroughly cleaned over the summer break. But he could have started to let slide just a bit the spit-shine routine that left those floors so polished you could comb your hair just by looking down wherever you might be standing on the first day of school. It would not be so for such a self-respecting Norwegian custodial caretaker! No matter how fast his summer labors would be forgotten come the September onslaught of the Crayola-toting pupils, Henry Soliah’s countless hours of summer sweat-drenched labor polishing floors in that un-airconditioned brick building was worth it to him.
Down the road now five decades, I am sadly quite confident that during those half-dozen elementary school years I never once thanked Henry Soliah for all he did for me and my classmates. So, Henry, good and faithful servant, wherever you are in the larger life of God, I thank you now. Henry’s floor-faithful witness might serve us well as a new school year begins here in our own brick buildings miles and decades distant from Wendell Elementary. Work worth doing is worth doing well. “Good enough” papers and presentations can be polished just a bit longer to really shine and make a professor’s heart sing. So in ministry “out there” wherever you might be reading. Just a bit more effort might make that good sermon really great. Or knocking off a half-hour earlier at the office could put a spit-shine on the face of a family member yearning for more time with you at home.
Finally, here on this hilltop, I thank all my good coworkers for the labors of summer past spent spit-shining campus facilities, filing and catching up on record-keeping, polishing syllabi and preparing lectures, getting ready to welcome all our students to the new academic year now beginning. Henry Soliah would be impressed—and Henry’s would be an opinion worthy of our attention!
Michael Cooper-White, President
mcooper@ltsg.edu
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Letter to an Anonymous Donor
From the Gettysburg PO
By Michael Cooper-White, Seminary President
mcooper@ltsg.edu
Dear Friend in Christ:
Shortly before a recent day at the office concluded, as I was wrapping up some pending matters prior to a few days of vacation, the call came from our mutual friend in Chicago, Pr. Don Hallberg, director of the Foundation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Don’s call and your generous intent made my day, and I lift prayers of thanksgiving to God for you!
Pr. Hallberg explained that it is your desire to remain “anonymous” in your extravagant generosity. Following our standard protocol, Gettysburg Seminary would issue a letter of thanks if your gift were $3 or $300 or $3,000. The fact that ultimately it will be a gift of $300,000 upon the completion of your life’s journey means that your donative intent will make a BIG difference for the Seminary in perpetuity. You and I share a common commitment to ecumenism, and your gift to the Seminary’s permanent endowment will ensure ongoing ecumenical education that will broaden the horizons of future generations of students.
You have chosen well in your selection of Gettysburg Seminary for this marvelous gift. The biography of our founder, Samuel Simon Schmucker, is entitled “Pioneer in Christian Unity.” Since the beginning, this school has heeded our Lord’s yearning “that they may be one” as God’s people. For nearly two centuries, ecumenical impulses have emanated from this institution into wide-ranging arenas. We were one of the founders of the ecumenical Washington Theological Consortium. The keynoter for our 2006 opening Academic Convocation is its current director, Father John Crossin, a Roman Catholic priest. Back in the late 1960’s, a Roman Catholic bishop was invited to preach in our chapel—a radical move at the time! All students are required to take at least one course in a school of another C hristian denomination. Here on campus we offer courses in practical engagement with our full communion partners, as well as a new course on major world religions taught by a professor joining our faculty this fall. While the large majority of our students are Lutheran, we are blessed every year by a rich sprinkling of present and future ministers from many traditions. You can be assured that the intended purpose of your gift—offering courses in ecumenism—will be honored.
How I wish I could know your name and call you on the phone or pay a personal visit! But in humility, you have chosen to be anonymous in this incredible act of Christian stewardship. Perhaps you are a regular reader of our Seminary website and will come across my “anonymous acknowledgement” in this venue. In any case, I trust that in the larger life of God there may be a day beyond our days here on earth for me to express gratitude on behalf of Gettysburg Seminary.
Oh, and one final note: Might it be possible without compromising your anonymity to offer several friends and relatives a word of encouragement? In other words, can you quietly share your commitment to such lavish generosity, with a gentle but firm urging, “Go thou and do likewise”?! God bless you, dear anonymous saint and supporter of Gettysburg Seminary, whoever and wherever you are . . .
By Michael Cooper-White, Seminary President
mcooper@ltsg.edu
Dear Friend in Christ:
Shortly before a recent day at the office concluded, as I was wrapping up some pending matters prior to a few days of vacation, the call came from our mutual friend in Chicago, Pr. Don Hallberg, director of the Foundation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Don’s call and your generous intent made my day, and I lift prayers of thanksgiving to God for you!
Pr. Hallberg explained that it is your desire to remain “anonymous” in your extravagant generosity. Following our standard protocol, Gettysburg Seminary would issue a letter of thanks if your gift were $3 or $300 or $3,000. The fact that ultimately it will be a gift of $300,000 upon the completion of your life’s journey means that your donative intent will make a BIG difference for the Seminary in perpetuity. You and I share a common commitment to ecumenism, and your gift to the Seminary’s permanent endowment will ensure ongoing ecumenical education that will broaden the horizons of future generations of students.
You have chosen well in your selection of Gettysburg Seminary for this marvelous gift. The biography of our founder, Samuel Simon Schmucker, is entitled “Pioneer in Christian Unity.” Since the beginning, this school has heeded our Lord’s yearning “that they may be one” as God’s people. For nearly two centuries, ecumenical impulses have emanated from this institution into wide-ranging arenas. We were one of the founders of the ecumenical Washington Theological Consortium. The keynoter for our 2006 opening Academic Convocation is its current director, Father John Crossin, a Roman Catholic priest. Back in the late 1960’s, a Roman Catholic bishop was invited to preach in our chapel—a radical move at the time! All students are required to take at least one course in a school of another C hristian denomination. Here on campus we offer courses in practical engagement with our full communion partners, as well as a new course on major world religions taught by a professor joining our faculty this fall. While the large majority of our students are Lutheran, we are blessed every year by a rich sprinkling of present and future ministers from many traditions. You can be assured that the intended purpose of your gift—offering courses in ecumenism—will be honored.
How I wish I could know your name and call you on the phone or pay a personal visit! But in humility, you have chosen to be anonymous in this incredible act of Christian stewardship. Perhaps you are a regular reader of our Seminary website and will come across my “anonymous acknowledgement” in this venue. In any case, I trust that in the larger life of God there may be a day beyond our days here on earth for me to express gratitude on behalf of Gettysburg Seminary.
Oh, and one final note: Might it be possible without compromising your anonymity to offer several friends and relatives a word of encouragement? In other words, can you quietly share your commitment to such lavish generosity, with a gentle but firm urging, “Go thou and do likewise”?! God bless you, dear anonymous saint and supporter of Gettysburg Seminary, whoever and wherever you are . . .
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