Max Holt ('23

Our Wittenberg Door

by MAX HOLT, '23

Good morning everyone. My name is Max Holt. I am a senior here at Luther and this year’s Student Senate president. I want to start off by thanking Pastor Melissa Bills and the rest of Campus Ministries for the opportunity to speak here today. We are an ELCA Lutheran-affiliated college, but we are a community of many religious traditions. I want to call attention to the work that Campus Ministries has recently done in regard to supporting interfaith traditions and initiatives. As a non-Christian, nonLutheran student, I see this work as incredibly important for Luther College’s identity. I would also like to welcome any Luther community members or Luther parents here for Parents Weekend. For today’s message, I want to highlight Ephesians 6:12 but spin it in a different light. It reads...

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. While Paul meant this in a different context, I am Jewish so I feel like I can bend the rules a little bit here. I don’t know if we can find G-d or what that would even mean to find G-d but what I do know is that we can find ourselves. The way I see it, Paul is saying the true enemy is not that of other people or our bodies but rather it is the struggle in the discovery, molding, and acceptance of our mind and our spirit. One of the most important times for this self-discovery is in college. What is education’s purpose if not for the progression of knowledge of the world both around us and within ourselves? I think back to my time in high school and working through the awkwardness of living in my own body. Going through high school, you learn to accept your physicality and I see that in college one learns to accept their mind and spirit. However, the way I see it, it is only in the unification of these three—body, mind, and spirit—that we discover who we are. In doing the work of discovery, one may find it best to work in selfreflection, but I have found that some of the most powerful and influential moments in my life have come in community with others. We are at Luther College so I feel that I am obligated to mention Martin Luther at least once in my talk today. One of the hallmarks of Lutheranism is the imagery of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg as an act of rebellion. Instead, rather, Martin Luther put his ideas on the Church door for debate, because apparently that is where you did that in Wittenberg in 1517. In the continuing spirit of self-discovery, my question is, where do we do that at Luther College? Where is our Wittenberg door? It’s a difficult question to answer, especially in a place as diverse as Luther. People all think, engage, and associate with people differently based on their values, culture, and even language. In psychology, we hear it all the time that people associate with those most similar to them, not in debate but in affirmation, which... is still a very important thing. However, how often do you browse the internet looking for the representation of two sides only to see an echo chamber on one site and the other perspective on another site? In our media, it’s now reached a point where discourse has reached such polarization that many, most, are turned away from it entirely. America needs and the world needs a place like Luther College where individuals from all over the globe can come together to freely and openly discuss ideas that aren’t shared in other spaces, and where all people have the freedom to respond. Now when I talk about these things I imagine one of two things pop into your head. You’re either thinking of where your Wittenberg door is or that that door doesn’t exist at all. This is what colleges and universities are for. Now more than ever, spaces for discourse, for opening the eyes of our hearts, are needed for all of our journeys into becoming better people. In doing so, we can discover more about ourselves, others, and the natural world around us than we would have ever thought possible. College is not only a time to exercise the mind but also to work out who we are and who we want to become as individuals. Students here today, I urge you to take today as a chance to engage your peers in meaningful conversation. Find your own Wittenberg door, whether that be on or off campus. For any staff, faculty, and parents here today, please continue to assist in the journey of all Luther students. Together we can all help one another to fully realize our potential as lifelong learners. Again, I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to speak here today. Thank you for your time and attention.

SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

Max Holt