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An address by Bishop Cindy Halmarson

Grace to you and peace in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ. And greetings on behalf of 26,000 Sask Synod Lutherans in 127 congregations in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Today we celebrate with Luther College the installation of a new President, Bryan Hillis, and in our celebration we rejoice in the relationship of church and school, partners in the mission of God to love and bless this world. 

St Paul said in more than one place that the one body in Christ is blessed with many members who exercise a variety of gifts. Just like a body has arms and legs, feet and hands, eyes and ears, so too does the body of Christ have “specialty parts” with functions that differ according to the work that is to be done. But no matter how different the functions may be, we are, in Christ, united in our calling to make God’s love known in the world around us. 

Synod and School are members of the one body in Christ with gifts that differ according to our function. 

The gifts of the church through the Saskatchewan Synod have to do with supporting and encouraging local communities of faith, representing the Lutheran perspective in ecumenical and interfaith conversations, equipping leaders to practice ministry that is faithful to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and partnering with others to alleviate suffering and injustice in our world. It’s rich and rewarding to see the church engage in theological reflection and the faithful practice of our calling, and to see God acting through the church to make grace and mercy become real in the lives of those we serve. 

The gifts of the school through Luther College are different… and for that reason, interesting to me. Luther College is a wonderful window on the world around the church. Luther is a place of inquiry and discovery, a place for growing minds and shaping lives that will enrich our world by their contributions to society. At Luther, theologians and scientists and mathematicians work side by side to make sense of the world, and together they raise up scholars who ask wise and wonderful questions about life in all its dimensions. 

When Jesus calls his disciples to follow him, he cautions them that it may cost them their lives. But he never says that they will have to sacrifice their minds. Curiosity and imagination are gifts of God. How could anyone not think so when you consider the diversity of creation, the expanse of the universe, and the complexity of life in all its forms? 

But with all the gifts God has given us – intelligence, reason, insight and foresight – we fail to make the most of God’s creation. We turn the good gifts of God around to our own advantage. We squander the rich abundance of God’s creation in wasteful living for selfish ends. It’s the story of our lives. It’s the story of human history. Read about it in the world’s great literature. See the unmistakable signs in the melting ice caps and acidic rains. Trace the reasons behind world wars and regional conflicts, and we see ideologies in conflict, but also, the struggle for control of natural resources and shipping routes and, if some scientists are to be believed, soon control of fresh water sources. 

The bloom is off the rose. God’s good creation and the human family entrusted with its care are in crisis. As optimistic as some would like to be, as hopeful as we once were that science and technology would show us the way to renew the earth, the salt has already lost its saltiness. Paradise is lost. 

How can Synod and School together exercise our calling as the hands and feet, the arms and legs, the mouth and mind of Christ in our world? In Christ can we be truth-tellers in our world, to name the brokenness of our sin and our utter dependence on God to make us the salty, light-bearing, life-affirming people that God intended for us to be? 

By God’s grace we are saved. And the salvation God gives us is a seal and a promise that in the midst of our brokenness, while we are yet tasteless and in the dark, God is with us, incarnate in Jesus Christ, present in our despair, shining light that gives us hope. 

Luther College is a place of hope and promise, at the intersection of church and world, where Christian faith meets the inquiring minds of a new generation, and God is at work to renew the world. Our congregations are places of hope and promise, where people of faith are nurtured and fed to carry God’s good news of grace into their daily lives. The church is a community of many members, congregations and schools and care homes and more, each one built upon the Word of God and committed to God’s mission to restore the flavour of God’s good creation in each one of us, and in all the people we meet. 

Luther College: let your light so shine. Dr Hillis: tend the fire and let it light the community around us. Faculty and staff: offer your gifts freely so this place of learning will shine. Board and supporters, students and parents, alumni and friends: tell others about the good news that happens here. 

Luther, let your light so shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to our God who blesses this world and makes of it God’s new creation. May God make it so. Amen.