For honors graduate Karen Safstrom
a playtime vision is about to become real

The Worcester, MA, area native received her degree May 22
from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
and looks forward to serving a church soon in her native New England

PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 6, 2005) --Karen Safstrom of Rutland, MA, fondly remembers the childhood days when she "played church" with her friend, Shawn Bracebridge.

Their childhood vision is taking real world shape these days. Shawn has been a United Church of Christ pastor and is currently working as a music therapist and also as musician at an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation. And when Karen was discerning her future several years ago, Shawn was instrumental in persuading her to consider seminary. Now, Karen graduated May 22 from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP). A one-time pharmacist, Karen graduated with honors and will be called to serve a parish somewhere in her native New England.

Karen Safstrom, a graduate of Northeastern University, has always been interested in science and the environment. "I've always wanted to do something where I could have an impact, make the world a better place," she says. Working at a pharmacy during high school, someone advised her that that a career as a pharmacist could be the answer. "You get to really help people and earn good money at the same time," she was told. So Karen went to pharmacy school and for six years worked for the Fallon Clinic in the Worcester, MA, area. She taught the medication portions of classes on topics like living with congestive heart failure. "In spite of my dread of public speaking, I found I enjoyed getting up in front of people who needed help and communicating with them in this way," she says.

But Safstrom explains she wasn't happy. "Something was missing," she recalls. During those days she was active in her home congregation, Zion Lutheran Church in Worcester. She served as vice president of the Congregation Council, chaired the Stewardship Committee and belonged to the Altar Guild. She recalls an exchange during a Bible study led by the Rev. Robert Goehrig, Zion's interim pastor, in which participants discussed "things God is calling you to do, but which you don't want to do." Safstrom says, "I didn't think I had the gifts to serve as a pastor." But others in the group were enthusiastic about the idea for her. So was old friend, Shawn. "Shawn guessed what was on my mind, and he and Pastor Goehrig both gave me a push. I visited LTSP, and I felt at home here right away."

She remembers the challenge of early studies at seminary. "The first year was tough," she says. "The intensive study of Hebrew was very difficult. I kept asking if I had what it takes. It is also a challenge to study theology. I was used to science in which sometimes there are very definite answers. In thinking through theological questions, the answers aren't always so specific, or there may be several possible answers to a situation. But I really enjoy the challenge of expressing theology into language people can understand. I'm passionate about translating church into what is relevant for people's lives."

Studying "God and Creation," an intensive course with the Rev. Nelson Rivera, assistant professor of Systematic Theology, helped, she says. Rivera, a scholar of science as well as theology, says Safstrom is a strong scholar who is "very thoughtful. She doesn't rush to answer a theological question. While some others are giving their answers right away, you can tell she is being careful. She is really thinking about it. But when she gets around to speaking, she is very thoughtful in what she says."

Karen Safstrom examines a memento of gratitude given her by members of her internship congregation, Luther Place Memorial Church, Washington, DC. The pastor is the Rev. Robert Holum.

Safstrom calls transformational the internship experience she had at Luther Place Memorial Church in Washington, DC, under the direction of Pastor Robert Holum.

She was profoundly inspired by what she learned in exchanges with women in a homeless shelter at Luther Place's N Street Village. "No matter what the difficulties many women were having in their lives I was amazed at how they were able to talk about what God was doing in their lives," she recalls. "They talked about God in terms of small opportunities in their lives even as they described their battles with drug addiction or prostitution. Some had a child in prison. They were really suffering, but they were getting by because they had the gift of faith and could sense God was working in their lives as they tried to recover from their situations." She said Shenandoah Gale, then director of the congregation's Steinbruck Center for Urban Studies, "taught me about the mutuality of ministry. Those who walk with people as they experience troubles in their lives also benefit from the encounters. God is acting through them to minister to us too." Safstrom says she has come to understand the value of relationships as "a way to meet Christ in our lives."

One way that has happened for Safstrom is through the LTSP community. "I find the time and conversations with others at lunch in the Refectory to be invaluable," she explains. She remembers with special fondness the experiences with the Rev. Dr. Gordon Lathrop in teaching about "Baptism in the Evangelizing Parish," and her experience with Professor Timothy Wengert, who was advisor to the Inter-Seminary Seminar involving scholars from different theological schools meeting together to discuss challenging topics. Teaching about ecumenism at LTSP has helped her value ecumenical relationships involving her home church, which is involved in conversations with St. Michael's on the Heights, an Episcopal congregation in Worcester. "I'm thankful for that ecumenical witness," Safstrom says. "It is an important aspect of our witness to Jesus Christ and our mission in Christ in a post-modern world. Our vocabularies are different and ecumenical dialogue can be difficult. There are challenges to all being one in Christ, but it is important to work at building relationships," she says.

Of LTSP, Safstrom says, "The quality of education really stands out here. The teaching of the Lutheran Confessions is very strong. You can tell right away that members of the faculty really love what they do. And they challenge us to think out of the box a lot. I've especially experienced this as they have emphasized how we can be faithful to our own tradition and communicate our beliefs while respecting other religions." She says Dean J. Paul Rajashekar has influenced her greatly through the teaching of major Doctrines and through a ministry seminar she took with him on Interreligious Dialogue.

Safstrom awaits news about a call opportunity in her native New England. "I'm open to anything," she says. "I love the idea of urban ministry because throughout my education it has challenged me to step outside of my comfort zone, but we'll see where I end up. If I try to restrict what might happen I won't be giving the Holy Spirit room to work in my life."