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Wartburg Theological Seminary will bestow a posthumous degree in honor of Ben Larson, a student killed in the January earthquake in Haiti.

The degree will be awarded during the school’s May 16 commencement in Dubuque, Iowa.

This month, Larson is being celebrated by the La Crosse (Wis.) Area Synod. The gathering, “Sharing Stories and Songs,” is at 5 p.m. April 11 at Bethel Lutheran Church, 1931 Loomis St., La Crosse.

To read more about Larson, go here.

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Photo by Victor Bezruko. Creative Commons license.

(Editor’s note: Dr. Brad Binau led several seminary students on a January term course to Haiti, which was struck by a massive earthquake after their arrival. Below is an excerpt from a sermon he recently delivered at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.)

The Bible tells the story of Abram and Sarai, an elderly couple without children. This had been a great source of pain and sadness for them. Then God promised them many descendants. At the time, it seemed God had promised the impossible.

“PRACTICING THE PROMISE”
Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18
By Dr. Brad A. Binau

Weeks ago I came forward, as many of you did, and got “dusted” on Ash Wednesday with the sign of the cross. I entered Lent, as did we all, with the sobering words of the Lenten promise that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return.”

On Jan. 12 at 4:53 p.m., I was “dusted” in a different way.  I did not come forward to be “dusted” but the dust came to me in my room at the Florita Hotel in Jacmel, Haiti. No earthquake I had ever experienced during my years in California lasted more than a few seconds. Don’t panic, I thought. It’ll stop any moment. Foolishly, but fortunately, I stayed put until the dust, and the screams, and the exploding sounds of collapsing buildings nearby made me realize that the likelihood of my being returned to dust then and there was very real.

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(Note to readers: Jared Witt was among the ELCA seminary students in Haiti for a  January term course when an earthquake struck.)

“Why I Need Haiti”

By Jared Witt
Student, Trinity Lutheran Seminary

In seminary we use a lot of words — words about God.  But it would be difficult for me to explain with mere words why I need Haiti in order to really know God.

It would be difficult to explain why I need to go to the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to experience true wealth. It would be difficult to explain why I need Haitian Creole to help me understand the scriptures as well as any biblical language I might learn in school.

It would be difficult to explain why I need the gentle smile of an elderly woman on an overcrowded airstrip in Jacmel to show me how an empty tomb changes everything.  I could never explain these things, but I can at least tell a story.

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By Heather Morgan Dethloff
Doctoral candidate
systematic theology

Church should not cause me more anxiety. I went to church last Sunday, since I hadn’t been since before Christmas. And I left discouraged, frustrated and sad.

Problems with the national church body?

 I was impressed that our pastor actually mentioned what’s going on in Haiti. He even fit in pictures of televangelists (including Pat Robertson) to show — who is not necessarily a “super fan” of Jesus. (Our sermon series is about being an “over the top fan.”)

Heck, I was even impressed that he gave information about Lutheran disaster relief, as sometimes we have been directed to some other Christian non-profit. Yet, when giving information about Lutheran disaster relief he said, “For as many problems as our national church body has, this is something they do really well.”

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The roof collapsed on the building that housed Ben Larson during Haiti’s earthquake last week. Yet, the cross atop the Port-au-Prince building remained upright.

Larson, 25, a student from Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, is believed to have been killed in the quake. His body has not been recovered, according to the ELCA.

Larson’s wife, Renee Splichal Larson, and a cousin, Jonathan Larson, escaped from the building without physical injury. They were in Haiti doing mission work for a January term seminary course. Ben Larson had also spent time in Haiti last year.

A memorial service for Larson will be held Friday at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. The service will be streamed live over the Internet at 1:30 p.m. here.

Larson graduated from Luther College in 2006. The school has posted an obituary on its Web site.

Links to Ben Larson news and tributes

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Other YouTube links

“A Song for Renee”
“Opening for Peter Mayer – 1″
“Opening for Peter Mayer – 2″
“High School Solo”

Other video links
Wartburg seminary: “Prayer Service” (1/15/10)

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Several ELCA seminarians in Haiti when the earthquake struck were participating in a January study program coordinated with Abiding Hope Lutheran Church in Littleton, Colo.

Today, Abiding Hope Pastor Chad Johnson posted this message on the church’s Web site:

“Pastor Doug, Interns Laura and Sarah, and the group involved with the January Academy … have now boarded a boat headed to the Dominican Republic, from which they will take a bus to Santa Domingo where they will make travel arrangements to fly home … “

Saturday update (8:22 p.m.):

Another Web message posted by Johnson:

“The boat ride took longer than anticipated as one of the boats ran out of gas so they had to refuel and then catch back up. The anticipation is that they will now get to the airport at Santo Domingo in the mid day to mid afternoon time frame tomorrow.  They will then book available flights for home.”

Saturday update (10:51 p.m.):

“Pastor Doug [Hill, Abiding Hope Lutheran, Littleton, Colo.] and crew are currently at the Haiti/DR border tonight in Anse-a-Pitre. They had an interesting boat ride from Jacmel and made it after running out of gas and arriving after dark. Tomorrow they will cross the border and then travel to Santo Domingo and be there by tomorrow night. Then they will have to make arrangements to return to the States, hopefully on a plane on Monday.”

To read more about the seminarians’ journey, go here. (Note: Saint Joseph’s is where Wartburg seminarian Ben Larson had been staying.)

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A note to readers:

After the Haiti earthquake, word came initially that the Wartburg Theological Seminary students there were safe.

That report was wrong.

Pastors April and Judd Larson of Duluth, Minn., shared with others that their 25-year-old son Ben was dead. They wrote:

“In his young death his life joins the bodies of the poor. In the Haitian rubble Ben’s life joins these dear beloved people of God: all those parents crying for their children; young widows calling out for their husbands; new orphans searching for their parents.”

Duane Larson, president of Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, spoke publicly of Ben Larson’s death. He held a press conference. The school held a prayer service. A tribute to Larson was posted on the school’s home page.

Word of Larson’s death spread quickly around the world via the Internet. Synods and churches issued messages. Some congregations held prayer services.

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