Our Lutheran Identity

In Lutheran theology, God is always the actor and initiator. We believe that God’s love is a free gift of grace that does not depend on our actions. Everything necessary for life and salvation has already been accomplished by God in Christ Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we think of our relationship with God, it is helpful to understand that the direction is always down and out. We can only receive God’s love, but God doesn’t intend us to keep this love to ourselves. Instead, we are called to let that love flow through us into the lives of our neighbors. As Lutheran theologian Gustaf Wingren once said, “God does not need our good works, but our neighbor does.”

The primary goal of Lutheran higher education is to help students, faculty, and staff identify the gifts that God has given them and discern how to use them to be a blessing to the world. This approach is rooted in the Lutheran understanding that all people, not just professional church workers, have holy callings. Christians have an acute sense that their lives are meant to be an extension of God’s love. Others may not realize that God is working through them when they show love for their neighbors, but nonetheless, a Lutheran education directs them toward the same ends.

The down-and-out nature of our relationship with God is central to the Valpo experience. The Chapel of the Resurrection proclaims the beauty and grandeur of God’s love for the world that we receive through Word and Sacrament. This love is not kept to ourselves. It spills out into the community through acts of service and love. 

One of the best ways to understand this begins in the Chapel. When you come to the altar, your gaze is drawn up to the glory of the stained glass windows and embodied in the bread and wine. When you leave the altar, the windows are clear to remind us that what we have just experienced is meant to be shared with the world. We are commissioned to take what we have received and share it with our neighbors.

This ethos undergirds the Valpo experience. Even students who do not worship in the Chapel will experience a measure of God’s love for them through the community that supports them. And they are constantly reminded that this love compels them to share it with others.

Thanks be to God.