Pastoral Reflections | Spring 2025

Written by Pastor Kate Reuer Welton

In mid-February, when the temperature was below zero, just before our pause worship at 8pm on a Wednesday night, I noticed a newer student lingering by the entrance to the sanctuary at Grace University Lutheran Church. I introduced myself and asked her how she found us. She simply said, “I’m not religious at all, but I just thought I should start coming to church.”

Over the course of this semester, as our country has become increasingly cruel and chaotic, students have been showing up to worship in greater numbers than I’ve experienced in my almost 15 years on campus. Some are coming by themselves, others are bringing friends, and most are consistently sticking around. They are hungry for the Gospel, for a word of challenge and a word of hope, for ancient practices that help them experience the presence of God, and for a community that shares and embodies values the unconditional love of God for them, and for all of God’s creation. I am so grateful for the cloud of witnesses that surrounds this ministry with your generosity. More than ever, I am so grateful that we are present, at this time, and in this place, able to respond to this clear longing among so many.

As our community has grown, our core community has had to rapidly shift their expectations about what this community is and who it is for. And, our servant leaders have continued to be adaptive and creative as we discern how to continue embodying God’s grace and mercy in our community and on campus. As Christians, we are called into a rhythm of dying and rising, of faithful discernment to where God might be calling us. And sometimes, it seems, we are called to simply be who we are, open to what God is doing in our midst, and present enough to respond when our next call emerges. God is always making something new, in us and around us. It is simply up to us to open our eyes.

These students have grown up with active shooter drills, pandemic shutdowns, racial reckonings and increasing polarization in families and communities. They’ve watched our government rapidly shift priorities, the climate crisis deepen, and economic markets rise and fall. It is clear that we are living in times of great uncertainty.

And, just as that is clear, it is also clear that our call as Christians remains an Easter call. We are called to bear witness to both suffering and new life, clinging to the promise of Christ’s resurrection. And, we are called to live as resurrection people, generously and faithfully, showing up time and time again, especially when life feels uncertain.

As the pastor of this transitional, ever dying, ever rising community, I get to be the proclaimer of good news that God is, indeed, at
work on campus and at work in this world. I get to proclaim the counter cultural story that the church, isn’t, in fact dead – but that God is at work, making something new. As I encounter students, and bear witness to their compassion, their courage, and their deep hunger for God, it is my great pleasure and call to share their stories with all of you – the people who make our work on campus possible.