When the Story Blesses the Kingdom- Number 14 #becauseofconcordia

                                                                                       Baptism of Alfonso- Sea of Galilee

The Concordia Ann Arbor community has spent time

 in the past two weeks with many reflections of memories and 

  time and life spent on this campus. The question hovering for many 

of us is the question of the lost future. The loss of church workers is a given, 

as well as the loss of overall students in the Concordia University System.

But, what about the Kingdom loss? 

CUAA has been a place where students just might stumble across

 the subtle work of Gospel centered lives. 

It has also been the outright manifestation of lives captured 

and readjusted by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. 

Here, Pastor Dan gives a glimpse of just one of those classes at CUAA

where you walk where Jesus walked, and leave "forever changed."

   

When the Story Blesses the Kingdom

Dan Flynn

I have been blessed to take around 250 students and chaperones from CUAA and 

CUW to the Holy Land. Each trip has its own personality and its own experience that have always blessed me beyond words. I have watched two different sites of the same university unify and bond into a community that I never anticipated. 

Negev Desert

My deepest desire is that my students have an encounter with Christ. We travel throughout the Holy Land encountering Biblical sites as well as cultural experiences. Riding a camel in the Negev Desert or floating in the Dead Sea or doing a jeep ride in the Golan Heights with a lecture by an Israeli are powerful. These experiences create amazing conversations. Of course, we step into the Scriptures and walk where Jesus walked. 

Yes, I did baptize Alonzo last January 2023 at his request. The 40 of us were deeply moved watching Alonzo and me step into the Sea of Galilee and immersing Alonzo in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The class applauded and we wept. Communion at the Garden Tomb always brings tears as they encounter the resurrection. 

Church of the Nativity Bethlehem

The relationships sustain past the trip to Israel. Either at Mequon or Ann Arbor, students continue to talk and share. Often their faith is encouraged well beyond a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Concordia Invitation Tourney (CIT) became a reunion, and the stories live on. 

So now, because of Hamas, twenty-four of us are going to Greece to explore the cities of the Apostle Paul.  The conversations of faith will happen. My deepest desire is what Paul writes in Ephesians 4:3-6, 

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

Now all of this is at risk and I’m grieving. The CUWAA President, the administration and Board of Regents are moving so quickly.  I can’t get a handle on how to manage the hurting students and how the staff must feel. Yes, the hurt I’m feeling. I delight in my students, and I am passionate that they would know Jesus.  Whether it is walking down the Mt. of Olives or instructing in my classroom- Jesus is the center of the Concordia Ann Arbor experience.

So, I pray and hope.

Rev. Dan Flynn

is an Adjunct Theology Professor 

at CUAA. He also serves as the 

vacancy pastor at Cross of Christ Lutheran Church 

in Bloomfield Hills. Michigan.