I guess I've been something of an anomaly in the ULM crowd. I was a late bloomer, and I bloomed big. I didn't even attend services my freshman year, but I received a title already in my sophomore year and was eventually elected President. Well, one of four co-presidents anyway. Pastor Carl and I have often tried to determine just how that happened in so short a time. How did I get in so deep and so quickly? We attempt to trace the growth in my participation, to remember just what happened when, but so far it's proved too difficult. So, I'm glad of this opportunity to figure it out finally, so that I can tell the story to you.
Regular Sunday church attendance has been one of the constants in my life. I even went when I was at camp. I received letters from University Lutheran Ministry the summer before I came to Yale and was quite touched. However, when I went to Luther House for worship that first Sunday away from home, I was a little skeptical. I think the informality of it must have put me off. Entrenched in tradition and the LBW, I was a little disdainful of the more modern and lively liturgy. The peppy and affectionate hugs during the exchange of the Peace intimidated me. In retrospect, I can say that it was all too different from what I was used to at home. In my freshman year, I needed church to be a sign of consistency; it needed to be like home. So, during freshman year, I attended services with the Episcopal Church at Yale. You see, all campus ministries are a notch down in formality than a typical denominational church. The Episcopal campus ministry just about matched old St. John's Lutheran at home. I was Episcopal for a year, though Pastor Carl kept track of me nevertheless.
I kept receiving the newsletters for Luther House activities, and sometime - I think it was late in my freshman year - I decided to try out the Undergraduate Bible Study Group, otherwise known as the Mustard Seed Conspiracy. Here was the hook that caught this little fish. How exciting to get a bunch of Yalies together to discuss scripture. Each Bible study began with an exchange of news. We would all simply report what was on our minds at the end of an invariably hard week and the beginning of an invariably light weekend. Carl calls this "What's On Top." (The first thing to learn about Luther House: everything must have a title, the sillier the better.) Besides sharing our faith, we were sharing our worldly trials and triumphs, no matter how small. I was quickly becoming friends with my fellow conspirators. Our traditional prayers at the end of Mustard seed proved to me what was happening, for everyone else's personal petitions became persons to me. We were true friends in Christ.
By sophomore year, I was a complete Luther House devotee. Now that I'd made close friends in the group, the huggy exchange of Peace became a highlight of each Sunday. If I was ever unsure about social events with the group, my doubts were erased when I heard The Grinch was shown annually at the Christmas party. I started attending just about everything. Now, as I said before, everything associated with Luther House must have a title. It wasn't long before I had one, as well. I can't remember exactly what the elaborate wording of it was, but in effect it meant I was in charge of finding someone to lead the prayers for each Sunday. A small office, but indicative of the magic that Pastor Carl works. No one can attend services for long without being given a small responsibility, and usually a big title to go along with it. There is a Minister of the Bread, who brings the bread for communion every Sunday, a Lesson Coordinator, who types up and distributes the Bible lessons before church, and even a Random Acts of Kindness Coordinator, who bakes birthday cakes. Students' participation is solicited early and is strongly secured. In this way, each member feels a sense of ownership in the group. I already mentioned that there are presently four presidents. Too many people are active to pick only one leader.
Prayer brought me in to the group even more persuasively in my junior year. (It seems to be becoming a theme. One of my good friends from Mustard Seed Sherri Sandifer and I received new titles when we became prayer partners. This program has been described in the Legacy before, I believe. We met once a week to pray together. Eventually, as we became extremely close, the gossip portion of our meetings often outlasted the prayers. We also developed the ability to look at each other and burst out laughing at any moment, much to the bewilderment of our fellow Lutherans. I'm afraid we even infected Mustard Seed. Sometimes bible study was completely usurped by What's On Top. The chatter and sharing became extremely important. It is unusual at Yale to have dear friends in a purely Christian context, and this was our cherished time together. I think we bewildered Carl in our giddiness and energy, but we were just always excited to be together. This spilled into Cabinet meetings too, of course. Socializing over dinner always preceded the agenda or, rather, it always topped the agenda. I became a regular at these meetings as well. We took on greater and greater responsibility to give Carl the freedom to enjoy his baby, born in March, conveniently over Spring Break. Of course, we felt like it was just as much our baby as his.
Now, at the very end of my senior year, I'm utterly amazed at what I have done in the name of Luther House and what it has done for me. I've approved a Church budget as a member of the Directing Committee. I've discussed synod matters. I've gone on multiple retreats with the New England Lutheran Student Movement. I've canted on Easter Sunday. I've coordinated a chorus to sing for the Easter Vigil. I've led prayers and liturgy during worship. I've planned receptions. However, all this is overshadowed, I think, by Reformation Sunday. Tim Clark and I are bible study friends through and through. We were always the ones to bring in Reformation history or theology into the discussion. Both deutschophiles, we were taking German History and Faust classes together last semester. We are academics. Yet we found ourselves preparing a German dinner for thirty on Reformation Sunday. And we did it, much to our mutual surprise. Now, I know I can do anything. (The most recent title Carl has bestowed on me is Matriarch.)
Finally, I come to what strikes me most about ULM. I talk about it all the time, and it is the reason why Carl asked me to write this article. (Won't he be surprised to find it contains my entire Luther House History!) We are, every one of us, church leaders in training. Some of us will become pastors, but they are a minority, just as the pastor is a minority in any congregation. However, the overwhelming majority of us will participate actively in our congregations. I have no doubt that Tim will be the President of his congregation at some time of another - he's already led Cabinet meetings. Won't Kenny, the Minister of Bread, be a lay minister? Surely, Julian, after dutifully finding readers every Sunday, will be a ready volunteer to be a lay reader. Melissa in her freshman year, is already the Secretary of the New England Lutheran Student Movement. She's an officer of her future church in training. In these college years, we're all getting a feel for who we will become as adults. Since church is such a big part of our time here, it will be only natural for us to continue our active participation in the future. Campus ministry is no obligation away from home; the students who participate want to worship together. They will bring that sparkle and enthusiasm to churches all over the country as they graduate and disperse. I cannot imagine many things as important to the Church as a whole as the cultivation of these ministries. They not only nurture a distinct population of Lutherans, but they ensure the future health of the Church. They train the presidents, lay ministers and readers, and even Reformation dinner planners of the future. They also create friendships in Christ. I'm not sure that I'll miss heading up receptions and meetings as I go on to law school next year. I'm sure I can replace those in a new campus ministry. But the friends I don't know how I'll do without. So, finally, I'd like to thank Pastor Carl, my Luther House buddies, and all the friends and donors of Yale's Lutheran Ministry for providing me an opportunity to strengthen my spirit, my smile, my Sauerkraut, and my soul among fellow Lutherans.