President's Message

During the academic year, daily worship at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago begins promptly at 11 a.m. On Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, our diverse, creative and traditional liturgies last approximately thirty minutes. On Wednesdays, we normally gather for twice that length of time to hear the Word proclaimed, to participate in the celebration of the Eucharist, and to be inspired by the wonderful music alternately offered by the Chapel Singers, the Gospel Choir, a praise team, or a rock band. Whenever I am on campus, a priority for me is to attend worship, for there the community is reminded anew that it is in God that “we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).”

All who gather in the Augustana Chapel for all the saints for daily worship pass by the impressive baptismal font and are reminded of both God’s gracious love for all in Jesus Christ and of God’s constant call to each of us to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed.

From year to year, one of the community’s most favorite hymns from With One Voice has been “I, the Lord of Sea and Sky,” hymn #752. I suspect this is because its basic and foundational message resonates deeply in the hearts of students, faculty, and staff. Following each verse of the hymn, the refrain declares:

            Here I am Lord. Is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night.
            I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.

In the seminary’s viewbook, that we are eager to share with you, I state what I am convinced is absolutely true, namely this:

            There’s no doubt that people who come to seminary do so at the
            prompting of the Holy Spirit leading them to the conclusion that
            God is calling them to proclaim Jesus Christ by preparing for some
            form of ministry.

Have you heard God calling you in the night or in the day? At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, are you increasingly persuaded that God is calling you to proclaim Jesus Christ by preparing for some form of lay or rostered ministry? If you discern, both individually and in conversation with the church, that the potential answer to both of these questions is “yes,” then I offer the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago as a wonderful place to grow in faith, to engage in the illuminating academic process of what St. Augustine termed “faith seeking understanding,” and to be equipped practically and professionally for the work of ministry. It has been said that only Rome, Italy surpasses Chicago in terms of the number of people studying theology.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, or LSTC, as it is popularly known, a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is richly blessed because of its location and setting in one of the largest, most exciting, and livable urban areas in the United States. The world in which we live and do ministry, whether in rural or suburban contexts, increasingly manifests urban realities and dynamics, and I believe all who would lead God’s people and serve God’s purposes in the world do well to prepare at LSTC.

The Church Catholic in which we live and do ministry is increasingly ecumenical, Christians joining together in common witness and work. LSTC students are introduced and immersed in such a rich academic and ecumenical atmosphere by proximity to McCormick Theological Seminary (Presbyterian Church, USA) and its resources just across the courtyard and walkways from our buildings. In addition, the seminary campus is within a mile of Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Theological Seminary, the University of Chicago Divinity School, and Meadville/Lombard Seminary. With cross-registration privileges among the seminaries in Hyde Park, LSTC students are exposed to the best of both worlds, a solidly Lutheran confessional and significantly ecumenical theological education.

The world in which we live and do ministry is increasingly concerned to understand the relationship between the truths of faith and the truths of science, the truths of divine revelation and the truths of human discovery. While geographically the LSTC campus is literally across the street from the University of Chicago, programmatically it is even closer through our religion and science emphasis.

The Church Catholic in which we live and do ministry is a global, multicultural community composed of people of every tongue and nation. From year to year, this gift of God is embodied in the LSTC community by students from India and Israel, Latvia and Lithuania, Madagascar and Myanmar, Palestine and Peru and Puerto Rico, South Korea and the Sudan, Tanzania and Thailand, as well as Brazil, Croatia, and Germany. Together with a diverse group of students from the United States, LSTC students prepare for a variety of ministries as members of God’s global community of faith.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is a seminary with clear commitments, a seminary dedicated to the academic, professional and spiritual formation of women and men for ministry, a servant seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a good seminary at which to pursue God’s call. If you are seeking such a place, I invite you to consider LSTC both here on the website and in person.

            Here I am Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night.
            I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.

Blessings and Best Wishes,
James Kenneth Echols
President

 

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