FROM THE
JESUS CHRIST forever DRAWING CLOSER TO
CAMPUS LIFE
AN UNCHANGING CHRIST
DURING THE PANDEMIC
SHARING THE WISDOM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT FOR TODAY
ON THE THE COVER COVER ON
First-year Master of Divinity caption student Case Farney listens to a presentation during Orientation in August. Photo: Jill Gray
INTERIM PRESIDENT Dr. Daniel Preus
EXECUTIVE EDITOR PUBLISHER Vicki Biggs
Dale A. Meyer
MANAGING EDITOR
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Melanie Ave Vicki Biggs ART DIRECTOR Jayna Rollings MANAGING EDITOR Melanie Ave
DESIGNER
Courtney Koll ART DIRECTOR Jayna Rollings
WRITERS
Melanie Ave DESIGNERS Rebekah Lukas Michelle Poneleit Sarah Maney Jayna Rollings Dr. Jeffrey Oschwald Dr. Travis Scholl
WRITERS Sarah Maney PHOTOGRAPHERS Daniel HeatherMattson Bozarth Lisa Mills Jill Gray Travis FrankScholl Kohn
Rebekah Lukas PHOTOGRAPHERS Bridgette Sharp
Jill Gray Sid Hastings Courtney Koll Sarah Maney Michelle Poneleit Harold Rau
Concordia Seminary magazine magazine is is a a Concordia Seminary member of of the the Associated Associated Church Church Press Press member and the the Evangelical Evangelical Press Press Association. Association. and
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INTERIM PRESIDENT Dr. Daniel Preus. Photo: Jill Gray
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 ESV). How do we think during times of turmoil? The coronavirus pandemic continues to create uncertainty for at least the immediate future. Emotions were high for the presidential election. In the last several months, people have been hurt, stores have been looted and buildings have been burned. Racial relations are front and center in many discussions. And what are our reactions? Anxiety? Anger? Fear? Despair? I, for one, can sympathize with the sentiments of Martin Luther who wrote in one of his hymns:
In the very midst of life Snares of death surround us; Who shall help us in the strife Lest the foe confound us?
Yes, we who are Christians also experience distress as a result of turmoil in the world around us. But “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” How very comforting is this theme for our 182nd academic year! Christians do not wander aimlessly through life hoping against hope that somehow they may gain some small solace. No, we have a Savior who has washed away our sins, promised us the gift of everlasting life and sent His Spirit to comfort us and sustain us by His Word until the day He returns. And this message about Jesus and what He has done for us never changes! He is the same yesterday and today and forever. Although many serious challenges may confront us and confuse us, we remain safe in the hands of our Savior. Thus Paul Gerhardt writes:
Entrust your days and burdens To God’s most loving hand. He cares for you while ruling The sky, the sea, the land. For He who guides the tempests Along their thund’rous ways, Will find for you a pathway And guide you all your days.
It is a wonderful gift from God that we can live with the assurance that the Creator Himself loves us and in His Son promises that His grace toward us will never end. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. With this theme before us, it is very gratifying to see such a strong emphasis on the person of Jesus portrayed in the new stained glass windows being installed in our chapel. Those already in place depict our Lord being crucified and then rising from the dead. The next to be installed will show Him on His throne of glory. Certain Greeks once came to Phillip and said to him, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” We have listened to that request and answered it in these works of art being installed in our chapel. Those who worship here will see Jesus in the sermons, in the hymns and in the windows. And in the classrooms. Perhaps here more than anywhere else will our students see Jesus as the Scriptures are opened to them more fully, as they discover the richness of theology in our liturgies, as they see how faith in Christ has been preserved through the centuries in spite of persecution and heresy and plague. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. And no plagues, as nasty or pervasive as they may be; no elections, as fractious or divisive as they may be; no attacks, as painful or destructive as they may be, can separate us from the love of Jesus our Savior who is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Dr. Daniel Preus CSL.EDU