Kneading Bowls and Bread to Offer
The Egyptians urged the people to hasten their departure from the land, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
Exodus 12:33-34
We have been dwelling in the book of Exodus as a staff this year. I have loved inching my way through this biblical book. I can hardly make it a couple of verses without exclaiming out loud at a nudge from the Spirit. The other day, I had just such an exclamation when finishing up chapter 12. (Yes, it is taking us a long time; no, I do not mind a bit; yes, I highly doubt that we will finish the book this academic year.) I knew that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was connected to the Exodus story, but I had never quite noticed this particular verse: So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their cloaks on their shoulders (Exodus 12:34).
I adore this image: the majority of Israelites dance around, tossing belongings into ancient valises, crying, “Huzzah, we are free, let us flee from Egypt!” The bakers, for their part, sling their bowls on their shoulders, muttering, “I don’t care if we’re free or slaves, I am not wasting perfectly good dough.”
The details of this image are evocative. Hauling something on our shoulders creates a natural limit to the amount we can shoulder. Yet being limited in size does not necessarily limit the power of that which is carried. The bakers knew that what they carried would be necessary. When the people were in need, those single-minded chefs had food to provide (Exodus 12:39). The dough that they strapped to their backs became the bread of life for the people in the wilderness.
I think about this verse in terms of our work here at Trinity Lutheran Seminary. We are a small seminary. There is a limit to what we can sustain. Yet, like the bakers in Exodus, being limited in size does not limit the power of that which we carry. I see this power especially in the ways our faculty and staff have thrown themselves into what we have dubbed our “Energy Projects.” At our Fall Faculty-Staff Retreat, we each identified something about which we are passionate and into which we would love to pour our energy. We knew that these projects would demand work above and beyond our job descriptions; still, these were initiatives that we were willing to carry on our shoulders. They were unleavened bread that, we just knew, had the potential to become bread of life for our community.
Let me offer you a brief glimpse into these Spirit-driven Energy Projects. Along the way, allow me to introduce (or re-introduce) you to our faculty and staff:
Rev. Dr. Kevin Dudley has created a program called “Seminary without Walls.” 1 He brings bite-sized workshops of seminary classes out into the community, hosted by various churches. This fall, he led a Preaching Practicum seminar. (The Spring seminar will focus on Spiritual Wholeness.) The impact has been amazing. Interest in attending seminary – not just interest, but actual applications, matriculations, and new students! – has shot up. More importantly, Dr. Dudley is bringing seminary education directly to the community. The hunger for access to theological education in our surrounding community is real.
Rev. Dr. Baiju Markose and Rev. Dr. Olehile Buffel are taking the year to explore establishing an Interfaith Hub here at Trinity.2 Their project centers student well-being through practices of care rooted in global spiritual wisdom. They also hope to empower those future and current leaders with practical training for peacemaking and justice in diverse contexts. In the last weekend of February, they hosted a two-day Interfaith Peacemaking Training in Koinonia (TLS basement), led by the renowned expert Rev. Dr. Shanta Premawardhana. Drs. Buffel and Markose have chosen to shoulder peacemaking this year. Are there any of us who are not hungry for that which they bear?
One of the most common requests I have heard from our region’s bishops is for graduate certificates. These certificates could serve a variety of purposes: continuing education for rostered ministers, complements to synod lay theological trainings, potential offerings to prospective seminary students, etc. Professor Denise Rector has been investigating the accreditation possibilities for graduate certificates, as well as imagining what certificates we might be able to offer (Business, Law, Social Work, Family Counseling, Art Therapy etc.).3 Being a seminary embedded in a university offers manifold opportunities to those who are hungry for creative theological education.
Professor Rector’s work has dovetailed nicely with the project Elli Cucksey and I chose, called “Capital Collaborations.” 4 We aim to better leverage the resources of the whole university on behalf of our students and communities. This fall, we worked with the undergrad Religion and Philosophy department to successfully pass an initiative that allows undergraduates to take up to 9 credits of seminary classes to count towards their bachelor’s degree. We are already fielding requests from undergrads for seminary classes next semester. We have also been in conversation with other undergraduate departments, members of the provost’s office, leaders of the university’s six graduate programs, and professors who are currently developing new graduate programs. We have yet to be turned down when asking for partnership. Our university community is hungry for collaboration.
Chaplain Kerstin Hedlund, Rev. Mary Ann Siefke, and Dr. Suzanne Schier have begun a project called “E.T.A.: Everyone a Trinity Ambassador.” 5 They have thrown themselves into equipping our seminary to better tell our story. Appropriately, they are using tagline “Small Seminary. Big Impact.” As a faculty/staff team, we have preached, presided, or presented at over 20 congregations since July 2025 (and counting!). Those churches are encouraging others to extend us invitations. Conversely, we have started inviting local congregations to come and lead a Tuesday worship service with us. These services have been utterly delightful and have spawned collaborations on an individual, congregational, and synodical level. We as a community have been hungry to tell the good news of what the Spirit is doing here among us.
So much of this work has been made possible because of those who labor behind the scenes. Emily Clausing, our Administrative Assistant, has carried the majority of these logistics on her shoulders since her arrival in November.6 Her joyful spirit, creative mind, and relational disposition have fed all of us at Trinity and in our larger Capital community.7
Which of these Energy Projects seem most likely to feed you? What are the “Energy Projects” in your own life to which the Spirit might be driving you? And what are the kneading bowls that you bear on your shoulders that might turn into bread of life for a neighbor who is hungry? In a world of deadlines and urgency, remember that pouring yourself into that which feeds you truly is a beautiful way to feed this wilderness world.
May Christ's blessings precede you,
Dean Wrenn