wfn.org | Lutheran College Students Explore Borders and Boundaries

[ELCANEWS@ELCASCO.ELCA.ORG]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 10, 1997

EXPLORING BORDERS AND BOUNDARIES
97-01-001-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Under the theme, "A Line in the Sand: Borders,
Boundaries and Belief," Lutheran college students from across the
country met Dec. 28-Jan. 1 in San Antonio for the Lutheran Student
Movement-USA's annual national gathering.
     Through speakers, worship and small group discussions, 360
students and Lutheran campus ministry staff learned about boundaries
drawn because of differences in culture, economics, gender and many
other issues.
     "Hundreds of Mexican people are dying every day on the United
States-Mexico border as they make their trek to the United States.
Who we are as a people, why we are here and what we want as a
people comes from the fact that we are a product of a conquest," said
Rogelio Nunez, founder and director of  the Narciso Martinez Arts
Center, San Benito, Texas.
     "In my mind, there are no borders or boundaries," said Nunez.
"When we work together, we accomplish many good things.  That is
why I think there are no borders.  If I think we have borders and
boundaries, then you and I cannot work together."
     For Ralston H. Deffenbaugh Jr., executive director for Lutheran
Immigration and Refugee Service, New York, "borders and boundaries
are necessary parts of human life."
     People are "territorial creatures.  We like to have a sense of
security and a sense of  knowing that this is my place or this is my
house," said Deffenbaugh.  "I don't think borders and boundaries are
bad.  They are part of our reality.  The question is not whether we
have borders or boundaries but what kind of borders or boundaries
exist.  Are they flexible or rigid?  Are they open or closed?  Are
they hostile or hospitable?"
     "The world has a special concern for refugees -- those who are
fleeing persecution," said Deffenbaugh.  "A refugee is a person who is
outside his or her own country and cannot return because of a
well-founded fear of persecution," he said.
     "Refugees ... are very important for Lutherans.  In 1945, at the
end of World War II, one out of every six Lutherans in the world was a
refugee or displaced person," said Deffenbaugh.  "The devastation of
World War II and what effect it had on Lutheran people was a very
important and informative fact when it came to the thinking of that
generation of Lutheran leadership," he said.
     The gathering program featured the opportunity for students to
see and experience boundary issues as they are played out in the four
distinct cultural regions of San Antonio.
     Sara Rasmussen, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, visited the west
side of San Antonio.  "We traveled to a shelter.  It was very
depressing, and I felt helpless.  We also went to the  barrios' to
learn about gangs.  The guide on our tour said buses do not usually
travel in this area.  We had so many kids come out into the street to
look at us, I was scared.  I felt that I was prying into their life.
What if a bus-load of people drove past my house?"
     "Some students on the bus were taking pictures, and this was not
a place to take  pictures. This is real life," said Rasmussen.
     The Rev. Mar?a D. Valenzuela, Cristo Rey Lutheran Church, El
Paso, Texas, led the Bible study.  "We have a responsibility to love
our neighbor because God commanded us to do so," said Valenzuela.
"We have basic human rights, but not all people share those rights. We
need to be aware of that and work to change that," she said.
     "Cristo Rey Lutheran Church, San Juan, Texas, is in need of our
help as it struggles to build itself up from mere cinder blocks into a
vibrant and permanent worship community," said Siwa Msangi, secretary
for LSM-USA's International and Multicultural Concerns.  Msangi,
originally from Kenya, is a student at Stanford University, Stanford,
Calif.  "We will help Cristo Rey by collecting money to purchase
Spanish liturgy books and Bibles for the congregation.  We've
collected nearly $1,000 for Cristo Rey."
     In other business, students passed a resolution to promote campus
ministry in the Lutheran church.  "We are the academic arm of the
Lutheran Church," says Kirsten Boyd, president of LSM-USA.  Boyd is a
senior at the University of Colorado-Boulder.  "For the Lutheran
church not to consider that arm is crazy," she said.
     Matthew Mather, a junior at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa,
was elected president of LSM-USA for 1997.  "My central message to
members of LSM-USA is ministry at home.  I believe that in order to
have any kind of evangelism it has to take place in one's own everyday
life," he said.
     LSM-USA is an independent organization of Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and Wisconsin
Evangelical Lutheran Church students at public, Lutheran and other
private colleges and universities across the United States.  Next
year's gathering will be held in Washington, D.C.

For information contact: Ann Hafften, Dir., ELCA News Service, (312)
380-2958 or AHAFFTEN@ELCA.ORG; Frank Imhoff, Assoc. Dir., (312)
380-2955 or FRANKI@ELCA.ORG; Melissa Ramirez, Assist. Dir., (312)
380-2956 or MRAMIREZ@ELCA.ORG