Lutheran Campus Ministry (ECLA) at Northern Michigan University

It’s not uncommon for students, especially in large lecture classes, to fall asleep, a pen or pencil dropping on the floor and sometimes, when an elbow gives way, a head dropping with a thunk on a wooden desk. In both large and small Lutheran churches, this same phenomenon is not as unusual as one might think. Zen masters frequently use staffs to keep their meditators from dozing off. At times I know I, for one, have needed such a wake-up call.

In these dark days of the coming winter solstice, the question of keeping awake spiritually makes for a fascinating inquiry. At a recent Wednesday evening worship gathering at our University Center, we sat in a circle in the shadows around a makeshift altar. I asked the handful of students present if they wished to reflect on what they had been awakened to in their encounter with our ministry (Lothlorien) over the last few months.

One young woman said, “I realize that religious teachings don’t carry the certainty that I assumed. Things are more dynamic and shifting than most think.” This young woman is a gifted musician, a sharp, creative thinker. Her discovery was a reminder to the rest of us that the spiritual world is a living, moving, ever-changing experience. The truth is that churches are much more fragile communities of conviction than portrayed by popular media.

Another student offered this insight. “I awoke this year to understanding that justice is part of Christian life and spirituality.” “Had you known that before?” I asked. “Not really,” she replied. In six weeks that same young woman will be heading with another NMU student into the hills of Nicaragua with a Lutheran World Relief team to work alongside small farmers who are part of the Fair Trade coffee movement.

Still another in our circle spoke simply about the mid-week Eucharist (communion) service held at the University Center that she hadn’t participated in or even knew existed until a few weeks ago. She’d awakened to a presence of a tiny, but powerful, sacramental community hidden here, at the University, every week of the school year.

Mircea Eliade, the great scholar of religion once talked about the Cosmic Egg we all live in. He was referring to how we see the world and went on to observe that real religious life is a continuing breaking through. The egg, he reminds us, is constantly being cracked and shattered by the Divine. Spiritual life for the ego is essentially a dangerous, challenging thing. We easily forget that. We fall asleep.

Watch out for the staff. You never know who might be carrying one. I know I need a bump on the side of my head from time to time. My guess is that you do, too.

Weekly Rhythms

Gathering

Wednesdays, 9 p.m.
The Nicolet Room
University Center, 2 floor - Look for the LCM banner

Our mid-week circle of prayer and reflection concludes for the fall semester on Wednesday, December 3 at 9 p.m. We’ll meet as usual in the Nicolet Room and, honoring the tradition first began by NMU student leader Katie Gallagher (Kerschke) back in 1995, head out to a wind-swept, snow-covered barn for our Advent service, to be followed by hot chocolate at the Donut Hole.

And special thanks to Bishop Tom Skrenes who joined us as guest at our community Eucharist in mid-November.

See you next Semester—Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 9 p.m. in the University—as we continue the heartbeat of our life together.

GAUDEAMUS

(Latin for joy-filled!)
Join us every week for our Sunday evening student meal from 6 to 7 p.m. in St. Mark's Lutheran Church Fellowship Hall, 1318 Presque Isle Ave.

Our Sunday evening student dinners conclude on December 7 with an evening at the Campus Pastor’s home. Thanks to John and Linda Carlson (Messiah) and Mark Paulson (St. Mark’s) who served as coordinators this semester. Meet at St. Mark’s at 6 p.m. to car pool or join us at 403 E. Michigan, as we look back on the past months and ahead to the future. Look forward to our traditional bread bake-off between Peter Claybaker and John Nelson!

A shout of appreciation to Lothlorien’s friend Mary Kay Peterson for her annual hosting of a Malaysian dinner in November and the sharing of stories on her work as part of a mission team with refugees in that country.

INTO THE HILL COUNTRY OF CENTRAL AMERICA

Sharon Parks, a respected scholar and spiritual leader, suggests one of the major tasks for the church in its work with young adults is to offer opportunities for creative dislocation. She warns us that for too many people religious life is associated with ethnocentricism, small thinking, racial prejudice and an unthinking acceptance of the materialism of our culture.

Supporting and sending young people into the Third World to experience life in poor communities, shaped by religious life, can prove to be life-changing experiences.

In the first days of January 2009, NMU students Lisa McCarthy and Sarah Swanson will be traveling into Nicaragua, thanks to many of you, to explore and connect with a hard-hitting Lutheran World Relief Program that works with poor rural farmers and the Fair Trade coffee movement.

One remarkable part of this coming adventure is that nearly all financial support for this mission trip has come from four of the smallest congregations in our Synod!

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SHARING MINISTRY RESOURCES

Lacey Heinzelman volunteered at the community homeless shelter (Room at the Inn) these past weeks. NMU student Ben Scheelk, project leader for the NMU student interfaith Earthkeepers organized, along with Oxfam International and NMU’s Geography club, a Hunger Meal at Grace United Methodist Church on November 24, with 29 students and community folk present. This event highlighted justice issues around global economic policies.

Campus Pastor Jon Magnuson traveled in November to Thunder Bay, Ontario as a clergy representative for the Lake Superior Binational Forum to address environmental concerns. Serving as guest preacher and liturgist at Grace Lutheran Church in Gwinn and the Suomi/Palmer Parish, he co-facilitated two-day Sabbath Retreat for NGLS clergy with Lee Goodwin. He also assisted in the November funeral service for Paul Hutter.

Lothlorien’s guest accommodation (The Bonhoeffer Room) welcomed Pastor Art Weiss during the month of November. The Bonhoeffer Room continues to be a gift from our campus ministry to clergy, seminarians and church workers staying in Marquette for pastoral work. No donation is expected or requested. For reservations call (906)228-8033.

FINANCIAL NOTES

The New York Times last week gave this historical perspective on the Great Depression: Philanthropic giving (including churches) doubled from 1930-40. They remarked, “Faith communities seem recession proof.” .

That’s no news for us here at the Campus Ministry. We have a reputation for nimble, prudent, adventuresome, disciplined with the gifts given to us. For the last forty-five years we’ve weathered storms of good and bad times. Values like interpersonal integrity, ethical sensibility and a spirit of generosity, grounded in spiritual traditions, never shine more clearly than times like this in small ministries like ours.

Our program budget is $30,500 for 2008. We’re 2/3 of the way there (as of December 1) with income from parishes and individuals ($19,700).

Thank you for showing the church and the world the kind of resiliency and support that brings hope and confidence to the many folks and institutions that work alongside of us. Financial books close in January 2009. We trust we’ll continue to be shining a light in the darkness for skeptics, cynics and critics both outside and within the church!

CAMPUS MINISTRY PROGRAM BENCHMARKS (2000-2008)

3,356 individual homecooked meals at Sunday evening dinners provided for students by members and friends of St. Mark’s and Messiah.

87 students traveled on work-projects into Chicago Inner city soup kitchens, border towns in Mexico, American Indian reservations and villages in Appalachia.

21 students and community representatives traveled into El Salvador to establish relationship with the war-torn village of Oscar Romero.

138 nights provided as guest lodging for refugees, pastors, seminarians at Lothlorien.

201 students and members of Messiah and St. Mark’s participated in study groups at NMU, St. Mark’s, and Messiah on issues of faith and life.

$26,300 contributed by friends and supporters to the LCM/NMU Endowment Fund for student retreats and travel.

6 students traveled with Lutheran World Relief Projects to villages in Central America for work/study projects with the Fair Trade coffee network.

385 community members, students and friends along with 110 clergy from 7 faith traditions were present to hear Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggeman sponsored by our LCM.

38 students participated in service/learning projects, providing key leadership for Northern Michigan’s Earth Keeper interfaith environmental initiative.

$68,000 raised in 6 months during 2002 to purchase our student center (Lothlorien).

OPERATIONAL NOTES:

• We are a mission called here in formal agreements with the ELCA, the Northern Great Lakes Synod, Messiah and St. Mark’s Lutheran Churches
• We are a movement (cross-generational) not a parish or student organization
• We are a prophetic, sacramental expression of the Church’s life in the world

SERVICE * COMMUNITY * CELEBRATION

Songs of thanks, All Saints Bonfire 2008

Andrew Foster, All Saints Bonfire 2008

Sarah Swanson & Ben Scheelk - Student Earth Keeping Team with the Earth Keeper Vision Council - accepting 2008 White Pine Environmental Award from Sierra Club

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RELATIONSHIPS * FAITH * VOCATION

Student leaders Dulcey & Lacey Heinzelman

Ben Scheelk Preparing for the Hunger Meal at Grace Methodist Church

A 14-year tradition, All Saints Bonfire 2008

Jenna Geueke, NMU Symphony Concert Mistress

IMAM LEADS FIRESIDE CHAT AT LOTHLORIEN

In October, the spiritual leader of the largest Muslim community in North America sat down for tea at our Campus Ministry center with representatives that included Quakers, Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Ba’hai and Presbyterians to talk about world politics, religion and spirituality.

NMU’s Mohey Mowafy served as facilitator for the Wednesday afternoon dialogue with more than twenty people attending. Imam Sayid Hassan al-Qazwini provided unusual insights into the challenge from extremists in both Christian and Islamic traditions. It was an afternoon that will not be forgotten for years to come.

Check out our Web site at:
www.nmulutherans.org
(Webmaster Obadiah Metivier)

GOLD AND SILVER SERIES

During the month of November, Larry Pagel, faculty member with NMU’s School of Business, worked with our ministry to coordinate a Sunday evening seminar series during Gaudeamus dinners on being a wise steward with money. Practical tips on spending, saving and giving were offered Sunday evenings by personal banker Carrie Dubord, Carolyn Jean and Dr. Pagel. An award-winning workshop for young adults ready to launch themselves into the real world of credit cards, loans, pensions and investments.

STUDY SERIES ON LIFE AND FAITH

The Book of Faith

Campus Ministry settings across North America have a tradition of offering the best of the church’s theological reflection opportunities. Here at NMU this fall the following two small groups took place.

“Shadowlands”

C.S. Lewis and
The Screwtape Letters

During the weeks of November around the fireplace at Lothlorien and in the chapel at Messiah, 12 students and community members met together to ponder insights of one of the great Christian writers and thinkers of the 20 Century. Special thanks to NMU freshman Nikos Geueke who assisted the campus pastor in facilitating these discussions and to the folks who joined us—students Lacey Heinzelman, Kate Ross, Blair Sauve, Erika Niebler, Mike Larson, and community friends Jill Luoma, Myra Zyburt, Herb Grenke, Rick Pietila and Carol O’Neill.

“THE BOOK OF FAITH” was a four-session look at Scripture interpretation in contemporary times facilitated for NMU faculty, staff and community friends. Facilitated by Pastor Warren Geier from Bethany Lutheran in Ishpeming, discussions were held at the University Center and invoked a spirited, insightful exchange of views. Participants included Sandi Poindexter, Herb Grenke, Ruth Poutanen, Maryellen Charbonneau, Michael Broadway, United Methodist Pastor Gerry Hamlen, Jon Magnuson and NMU student Ben Scheelk.

COMMUNITY NOTES

Welcome to NMU student Dulcey Heinzelman who joins us as St. Mark’s representative to our NMU/LCM Board of Directors. Dulcey is an outdoor recreation major, a former staff member at Fortune Lake and a great guitar player.

Special appreciation to NMU student Jenna Geueke who is transitioning from our leadership team to focus on her music studies. Jenna has provided exquisite leadership for us these past years and represented our ministry in San Diego at our National Lutheran Student Conference, set up our office protocol and electronic communication system and continues to serve as our LCM’s Board of Directors Vice-Chair and also as our Synod’s Campus Ministry Oversight Chair. Last week Jenna also was honored by the Marquette Symphony Orchestra with a Performer Profile for her outstanding contribution as a violin player.

Our thanks to Lothlorien student tenant Brian DeJager and NMU’s Nikos Geueke who are handling our snow removal this winter. Way to go!

Our LCM Board of Directors secretary—retired librarian and El Salvador Project’s Jackie Greising—commented to the campus pastor after our last Board meeting at NMU, “I record minutes for several boards. I can tell you this one is the most fun!

NMU students Andrew Foster and Mike Larson did a dynamite job facilitating our All Saints Night bonfire at the campus pastor’s camp on the Granite Point Road on November 14. Fifty candles illuminated the room as our community shared stories of grandparents, friends, teachers and coaches that had touched their lives in lasting, positive ways. We closed the evening around a fire with cider, hot chocolate and a Druid prayer adapted by St. Patrick.

Special prayers go to NMU student Lacey Heinzelman who heads to Colorado for the winter semester. Watch the roads, Lacey! We’ll be waiting for your return in the fall.

Former LCM student leader Ryan Howe (04’) recently arrived in Fort Yukon, Alaska to work as a teacher with a Native community there. Ryan returned from two years with the Peace Corps in the Ukraine. As a student back in 2003, he first suggested Lothlorien as a name for our LCM student center at NMU.

IN MEMORIAM

PAUL ENOCH HUTTER

1952-2008

A special tribute to Paul Enoch Hutter who passed from this Kingdom into another on the morning of All Hallowed Eve (October 31). Paul was born in 1952 and was a longtime friend of this ministry. He was an extraordinary reader, drawn to worlds of diverse interests, including geography, city planning, accounting and air-conditioning repair. Paul worked as a custodian at Northern Michigan University and, on several occasions, visited our ongoing community’s theological study groups. He also donated a television set to Lothlorien to be used for educational events. Paul was a member of Messiah Lutheran Church and served as an under-the-radar connection for our campus ministry community to the staff at NMU.

We lift up Myrtle and Ray, his parents, Linda and Lois, his sisters and his brother Peter in prayer. We celebrated Paul’s life in a funeral service on November 2, 2008 in the sanctuary of Messiah Lutheran church.
God go with you Paul!

NOTES ON LOTHLORIEN

The name of our student center, Lothlorien, comes from the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, a translator of the Jerusalem Bible and the author of the beloved series Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien, a close friend of C.S. Lewis, portrayed Lothlorien as part of a mythical and magical (spiritual) landscape, a place “Where time passes differently.” We honor that, having two wooden clocks on the wall in our office, mounted under each other. One is upside down. Toilken also wrote that Lothlorien was ” born out of a song.” We seek to provide just such a place where worlds meet. Where students, staff, faculty and friends find rest and, after hearts break and hopes lost, courage to dream again.

Campus Ministry Staff & Volunteers

Lutheran Campus Ministry (ECLA)

A Ministry of the Northern Great Lakes Synod & Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

Earth’s crammed with heaven and every common brush
a fire with God. But only he who sees takes off his
shoes. The Rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.
—Elizabeth Barret Browning

Jon Magnuson, Campus Pastor
Carolyn Jean, Ministry Associate

Student Leadership Team

Sarah Swanson
Lacey Heinzelman
Jenna Geueke, Board Vice-Chair

Board of Directors

Rev. Warren Geier, Chair
Peter Claybaker, Treasurer
Jackie Greising, Secretary
Helen Koski
Lesley Putman
Dulcey Heinzelman
Rev. Virginia Eggert
Michael Broadway
Jill Krah, Financial Secretary
Tom Reed, Naturalist

Covenant Congregations: St. Mark's and Messiah