Easter greetings
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Have you ever felt restless? I don’t mean the “This movie is boring” restless or the “I can’t wait for good weather so I can get outside into my garden” restless. No, I mean a restlessness in your heart that is hard to identify and even harder to soothe.
As a child I grew up with one foot in two places. One home was in the U.S.—where we visited grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, and cousins and friends. The other home was in Africa—where the sun was bright, the people were warm, and the languages were rhythmic and musical. I loved both places very much. But I never felt settled. I was restless.
When I came to the seminary as a student I felt I had finally come home—and it wasn’t on either continent. I found peace in the living water of the gospel. As the psalmist writes, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.”
Years later, when I came to the seminary to teach, I was reminded again of how thankful I am for this place. As a synod we have the treasure of the pure gospel to share. And as a seminary we are privileged to study it daily on this hill. It is our mission to shape the messengers who will carry this lifesaving water to others. Others who may be restless. Others who may be hopeless.
We also have the blessing of working alongside God’s people like you. You are our partners in this gospel mission. Together, we can make certain that Christ’s messengers are properly prepared to carry this lifesaving gospel to the generations to come. It is good work. It is important work.
Many of you are so convinced of the urgency of this work that you have chosen to leave a gift to the seminary through your will, your estate plans, or other means. Thank you. Your planned gifts, acknowledged through our newly founded Legacy Society, allow you to bear witness to future generations even after you go home to glory. The gifts you offer in support of our Scholarship Fund help us provide much needed and much appreciated financial assistance to men studying for the gospel ministry. Gifts to the Seminary Fund offset our day-to-day operating expenses and allow us to keep tuition rates low. Your gifts and your prayers make a difference!
Today, I still feel a peace found not on continents or campuses. It is a peace I want to share with others. And together, we can do just that. Together we can prepare gospel messengers to lead the unsettled and the restless to the soothing waters of God’s Word, here at home and around the world.
May God grant you his peace as we journey to the cross this Lenten season.
Paul O. Wendland, president