Pilot

Greetings,

This blog details the happenings of the annual Lutheran Campus Ministries trip to New York City, occurring during Spring Break of 2013.  The purpose of this trip is to serve at volunteering opportunities across the city, appreciate the non-Kansas environment, and reflect on the experiences rendered.

The group, consisting of 17 members, will sleep on the floor of Trinity Lower East Side Lutheran Parish, located in Lower Manhattan.  During the day, members will trek out to different volunteer opportunities such as the soup kitchens at Trinity or the Catholic Worker, an after school program at Transfiguration Lutheran located in the Bronx,  and the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center.


The rest of the day is open for members to explore the city and enjoy the nuanced New York culture.
Each night, a discussion will be held to reflect on the day's experiences and discuss them through topics of Lutheran theology.  These group discussions will bring up themes Luther and other church fathers have pondered upon, with the intent of cultivating a better understanding of these topics and expanding members' worldviews.  Members will write reflections on the discussion each night as guest writers on this blog.

Throughout the week, paradoxes of these theological topics will be emphasized.  A quote from Luther summarizes the paradoxical nature of the trip, with members seemingly both vacationing and serving: 

"A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject of all, subject to all."

Getting past the medieval language, this statement would seem to raise queries appropriate for the trip.  What is freedom? What is servitude? Are we, materially privileged middle class folk, freest through serving?