On seeing - and being - community of hope

This past week I spent a few days in Minneapolis for class. Each semester many Luther Seminary students get together for a few days of intense classes. 8 hours in a classroom surrounded by people that feel much smarter than me. Sometimes I sit there in awe and wonder that I am in the space. At times I feel overmatched by my fellow students' knowledge and wherewithal. These rooms are filled with people from all over the country and the world.

Some of my closest friends at seminary reside in Portland, Seattle, Vermont and Nigeria. When you put 50 people in a room with 50 different life experiences, reading a passage from the Bible, you will likely get 50 different commentaries. That’s the beauty in the Bible shining through.

It’s tough to read the Bible objectively and without personal preferences. I would argue it probably isn’t intended to be read as such.

This time around in MSP was different. Normally we are in classrooms on campus in St. Paul.

This week we were having classes at Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church in southern Minneapolis. It was an experiment to see what classes would look like without a campus.

Classes in the communities that we serve, not in the echo chamber of an institution. Making the experiment a little more complicated has been the turmoil with the presence of ICE in the MSP metro. Renee Nicole Good was shot only a couple of miles from the church we were having class in.

To say the area is tense is an understatement. I felt safe in the area, but let’s face it, I’m in a privileged demographic. This doesn’t excuse me from the strife and struggle however. In the back of my mind was the feeling that some of my classmates were not there because they did not feel safe, and rightfully so.

What I did find this week were two different communities of hope. The first being the community that is Luther Seminary. From the President of the University all the way down to us first year students just starting out, there is a community of support, perseverance, standing up and being heard. Each morning we started classes in the chapel. We sang as a collective, read the liturgy, prayed and heard the Good News. We heard sermons from three of their pastors.

Three sermons from people in the thick of it, trying to hold their community together. Trying to find the light in the darkness. Looking for a way to spread the hope. I sat in the space thinking about how I am the next generation to take the torch of hope to communities. Not only to pray and stand in solidarity, but to act and be the change. To be the hands and feet of Jesus, spreading the Gospel of love for not only God, but your neighbor too. Armchair quarterback isn’t going to cut it in the world today.

The second community of hope I encountered was that of Mt Olivet itself. We were able to stay and experience their Wednesday night Confirmation activities.

Between the three grades (6th thru 8th) they had around 300 youth in the space. 300 kids who, in the midst of it all, still feel comfortable and safe to be at church on a Wednesday night.

They had every excuse to stay home. To hunker down and return back to their turtle shell. But they didn’t. They still showed up as if to say the weight of the world won’t get in their way.

We all could use that strength. As a parent, it takes a lot of trust and faith to leave your kids in that space, too.

We want to protect our kids. We don’t want them to be in harm’s way. Yet the line of cars dropping kids off was still incredibly long.

They still find hope in the space. I found it too. This community is hurting. It is bending, but it is not breaking. It is doing its best to still show up and be present. It is a beacon of light in a sea of darkness.

I hope to see that in our communities too. Division is not community. Taking advantage of others is not community. We can have our differences, but we need to respect each other in the process. We need to be better. The world deserves it.

I will close with words from Jesus in the book of Mark. In chapter 12 he is asked by the disciples what commandments are the most important. His response in verses 30 and 31: “ 30 you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Faith. Hope. Love.