Seeds of Hope in New England

I heard a great seeding story last week that took place where I had never been before – Providence, Rhode Island. Not exactly the center of the Lutheran Christian church world, I suppose. This isn’t a story about seeds planted by Wheat Ridge Ministries, although it was told to me by two generous and faithful supporters of Wheat Ridge, Edwin and Margaret Boger. 

We were in the midst of a lively conversation about the work of Wheat Ridge, the changing state of the Lutheran church, and the good work of Ascentria Care Alliance on whose board of directors Ed served when it was still known as Lutheran Social Services of New England, when Margaret mentioned that they were long-time members of St. Paul Lutheran Church in Providence. She shared how disappointed they were that the Lutheran school that operated at the church closed. This happened over 20 years ago, but this still saddens them.

Then Margaret shared a wonderful story. A short time after the school closed, a young priest, who called himself Brother Larry, stopped by the church. He wanted to establish a special school in the neighborhood that would provide a quality education for boys who came from challenging circumstances and needed extra help and support. Brother Larry knew that St. Paul Lutheran’s school facility was vacant and was hoping they might allow him to use the facility to establish his school. The leaders at St. Paul at that time decided that Brother Larry could use the school’s facility rent-free until the school could secure the funding it needed.

As Margaret was sharing this, I was thinking that something about the name “Brother Larry” was very familiar, so I asked Margaret what he named the school. She said, “San Miguel.” Then it dawned on me.  She was talking about Brother Lawrence Goyette, who is well known in Christian education circles as the founder of the San Miguel schools.  Today, there are 12 San Miguel schools across the country, all focused on providing quality education to underserved kids. One of the schools is in Chicago. In fact, the executive director of the school in Chicago for a period of time recently was a member of Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Illinois.

Since Margaret and Ed shared this story with me, I’ve been thinking a lot about this act of generosity by St. Paul Lutheran Church. After all, he was a Catholic priest and the school he wanted to open certainly was not a “Lutheran” school. How easy it would have been to insist that Brother Larry pay rent in exchange for using the classrooms. Instead, God’s Spirit moved the leaders to this act of generosity and helped them see how the church could help serve needy children in the community. Here’s the impact of their decision as described by Brother Larry on the school’s website: “The greatest single gift to our small school during its infancy was the rent-free use of St. Paul's former school building. The Lutheran Parish also charged no fee for utilities during our first couple of years. Without the generosity of St. Paul's parishioners, it is doubtful that the school would have made it past year three.”

Experts often talk about the importance of congregations as centers of health and healing in their community and the assets they bring to a neighborhood, including stability and economic value. It’s likely that none of these “strategic” considerations were on the minds of the leaders at St. Paul Lutheran when they made the decision to allow Brother Larry to use the church’s classrooms. In all likelihood, they just knew it was the right thing for them to do and they did it. As a result, their act of generosity helped make possible an impactful, new education ministry for children and their families in Providence and, eventually, in 11 other locations in the United States.

At Wheat Ridge, during our weekly devotion and prayer time, we are currently studying the well-known “dry bones” story from Ezekiel 37. While the story of St. Paul Lutheran Church’s role in the founding of the San Miquel schools is not as dramatic as Ezekiel’s vision of the valley of dry bones coming to life at God’s command, it is another reminder that God is always at work in our broken world, breathing new life where there is pain and destruction and bringing hope where there was despair so that we can better grasp the miracle of God’s power, Christ’s victory over death for us.

Thank you Ed and Margaret for sharing this inspiring story and thanks to the good people of St. Paul Lutheran Church for your spirit of generosity!