The YDS community will have numerous opportunities to interact with the Divinity School’s Luccock Visitors for 2021-22, Debra Samuelson and Miriam Samuelson-Roberts ’15 M.Div. The mother-daughter pair will be at YDS on March 7 and 8.
The Rev. Dr. Samuelson is Senior Pastor Emerita of Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Minneapolis. She served as a pastor and leader in the Lutheran Church for 36 years before retiring in 2018, becoming a Benedictine Oblate shortly before retiring. In church contexts ranging from small and rural to large and urban, Samuelson has helped congregations navigate upheaval and chaos and has trained and mentored church leaders in executive leadership.
The Rev. Miriam Samuelson-Roberts, a 2015 YDS graduate, is Senior Pastor at Christ Church Lutheran, a small/mid-size congregation in Minneapolis. She took this position mid-pandemic in 2020, having previously served at a large suburban church as an associate pastor. In this current season, she is balancing parenthood with two young children, pastoring in the midst of change and upheaval, and facilitating conversations about racial justice in her congregation and city (her church is just a few blocks from where many of the Minneapolis uprisings for racial justice took place in 2020).
Members of the YDS are welcome to engage with the Visitors at the following events. With the exception of the Marquand service, please make informal reservations for the events you plan to attend by sending an email to Lynn Haversatin the YDS Events Office (lynn.haversat@yale.edu).
MONDAY, March 7
- Lunch discussion, 12:15 –1:25 p.m. “Preaching to a Weary People,” hosted by Donyelle McCray and Joanne Jennings, Old Common Room
- Tea, 4–5 p.m. “Conversations across Generations,” considering the worldviews of parishioners and colleagues from different generations, hosted by Maria LaSala, Old Common Room
TUESDAY, March 8
- Chapel, 11:30 a.m., Miriam and Debra to preach and lead prayers, Marquand Chapel
- Lunch, 12:15 p.m., “Worship Now! Stretching Beyond Tradition,” a conversation with Marquand Dean Awet Andemicael and the Chapel team. Old Common Room
- Tea for Lutheran students, 4 p.m., hosted by Revs. Tim Keyl and Kari Henkelmann Keyl at Bethesda Lutheran Church
The Luccock Visitorship was established in 1963 in memory of Halford E. Luccock, professor at the Divinity School from 1928 to 1953, by gifts from alums and other friends. The Luccock Visitor, usually a parish minister, is invited to spend several days at YDS. This visitorship is given every second year, alternating with the Hoskins Visitorship.