In a great city……

a great Christian tradition…

deserves a great seminary!

With these words, we launch the public phase of LSTC’s comprehensive campaign, “Equipping the Saints for Ministry.” Chicago is this great city, Lutheranism is this great Christian tradition, and LSTC is this seminary whose greatness this comprehensive campaign intends to enhance.

Earlier this month, Sotheby’s spring sales of Contemporary Art in New York made auction history with a record amount of sales. In particular, two pieces of art, two masterpieces, sold for tremendous amounts. Mark Rothko’s “White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose)” from the collection of David Rockefeller sold for $ 72,800,000. Another artistic gem, Francis Bacon’s “Study From Innocent X” sold for a mere $ 52,680,000. The calling of stewards of such masterpieces is two-fold. The calling is to benefit from the gift of its rich beauty. Beyond this, the calling is to preserve them for future generations.

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is a masterpiece in the ministry of theological education, in the mission of preparing women and men to proclaim the Good News of God’s love in Jesus Christ. It is a masterpiece framed by its unique location and various commitments or “marks,” all of which make the seminary an excellent crucible for understanding and shaping Christian witness in these days.

With this wonderful frame, this masterpiece focuses on and emphasizes students. These are women and men who, having been nurtured in and drawn to the story of God’s love in Christ, have been led by the Spirit to prepare for ministry. These are women and men who hope someday to stand in pulpits and behind altars, to kneel at bedsides, to teach in classrooms, to serve in a variety of diaconal settings, to embody and incarnate the love of God in ways that nurture faith and make a difference in people’s lives. This seminary exists to form leaders that will benefit God’s people, and they exist at the heart and center of our masterpiece.

This masterpiece also includes its excellent faculty. They are the women and men who daily gather with students in the classroom to engage in the key task of teaching and learning. While they vary greatly in years of teaching and have developed expertise in different disciplines, they are united in their commitment to benefit the church by bringing the best of their scholarship and experiences and commitment to the faith to bear upon those who would be servants of the Gospel. LSTC is a masterpiece substantially because of them and they are found, along with students, in the foreground.

This masterpiece extends to the staff as well who are very much visible in the background. The Apostle declared that there are varieties of service, and these are the women and men who seek to support what is the central calling of the seminary. They contribute greatly to the masterpiece that is LSTC.

This masterpiece is made complete by those who guide and give, by those who commend and pray. LSTC’s friends and partners in ministry are with us in spirit each and every day because they care deeply about Jesus Christ, the church, its ministry, and its leadership. They are integral to the valuable masterpiece that is LSTC.

Masterpieces benefit, and LSTC has provided the church with faithful and creative leadership while also sharing its teaching gifts with the whole people of God in numerous ways. Now, through “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” we invite the church to preserve this masterpiece for the benefit of future generations.

Through “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” gifts to the LSTC Fund will make it possible for the seminary to . . .

• establish endowed scholarships that will translate into more generous financial aid for master’s and advanced level students who genuinely need it as the cost of tuition continues to rise.
• create more endowed faculty chairs to ensure that the size of the faculty will be stable and that the quality of the faculty will remain at the highest level.
• modernize the academic complex so that the task of teaching and learning occurs in state of the art 21st century facilities.

And through “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” gifts to the Annual Fund will make it possible for the seminary to. . .
• cover the annual costs associated with providing world class theological education in Hyde Park.

At the end of this academic year, the faculty was treated to a wonderfully hilarious skit written, produced, and directed by a group of talented students. The skit set forth an alternate title for this comprehensive campaign. Instead of “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” from Ephesians 4, it was suggested that the title should really be “Through the Eye of the Needle” from Luke 18. Of course, these words, “Through the Eye of the Needle” are spoken by Jesus in the course of a conversation with the rich young ruler. When Jesus told him to go and sell all that he possessed, he was confronted with what had become an idol in his own life, an idol he could not relinquish. And so, the Christ declared that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for those wedded to their wealth to enter the dominion of God.

No doubt, our students were poking a little fun at the ambitious pursuits of “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” perhaps doubting whether this masterpiece can fulfill its $56 million dollar goal. But to read that story from Luke 18 is to realize that the words “Through the Eye of the Needle” are words of law and are not the last or most powerful words of that passage. No, the most powerful words of that passage, words of promise are summarized as, “With God, all things are possible.” Easter proclaims that God brings life out of death and hope out of despair. And our life in Christ testifies to the truth that love can prevail in the midst of hatred and that forgiveness can free the sinner. What may seem a stretch for us is well within God’s reach through prayer, hard work, and divine blessing.

And so, sisters and brothers, trusting that in a great city…..a great Christian tradition…..deserves a great seminary, we launch the public phase of LSTC’s comprehensive campaign, “Equipping the Saints for Ministry,” knowing and believing that “With God, all things are possible.”

It is possible for us to succeed if. . .

• we begin in this room tonight with our own prayers and generous commitments. I ask that all of us pray without ceasing for its success. And even as I have made my pledge, I urge you to do the same for the sake of preserving for future generations the benefit of this masterpiece.
• we all boldly reach out to those whom we know, telling the story and describing the masterpiece that is LSTC, inviting family, friends, and congregational members to consider becoming partners in this ministry.

“With God, all things are possible.” In the strength and confidence of the Savior’s words and in the assurance of God’s presence and encouragement, we go forth to seek and secure for the work of ministry.

This page was posted to the LSTC.edu website on June 21, 2007