Lutheran Church of the Master – April 19

Posted on May 5, 2026 by megganmanlove

LCM.Coeur d’Alane – April 19, 2026 (Quilt Blessing Sunday)

Luke 24:13-35

“We had hoped,” wow does that phrase resonate with me. We had hoped that progress could continue in this country and that we all agreed on what progress looked like. We had hoped that after the pandemic, people would return quickly to weekly worship patterns. We had hoped that national, state, and local leaders would care for all of their constituents and not be influenced by out-of-state money. We had hoped that our kids would never have to worry about another school shooting ever again. We had hoped that social media could be a place of real connection and not a place where people use hateful rhetoric. We had hoped the diagnosis would be different. We had hoped the marriage would not end. 

Being a guest preacher is an honor, but it is also an odd experience because I don’t know your community in the same way I would if I was shepherding you week after week. I don’t know what you had hoped for, but my guess is you have had hopes unmet. Today is the third Sunday of Easter. Just because we live as Easter people, followers of Jesus who celebrate the resurrection, does not mean all heartbreak is gone, all hopes suddenly fulfilled. And yet, Easter does change everything, for those travelers on the road to Emmaus and us. 

I think what is most challenging to me about this story is the important place of memory and remembering. Jesus, who they at first do not recognize, goes back through the scripture and reveals things to them. Memory can be powerful. 

But it can also be manipulative, because when we tell myself a story of how something happened, sometimes it is accurate, and sometimes it is not—that’s human nature. I can romanticize a story about myself. I can also demonize a story—making it worse than it was. We do this to make sense of our lives.

But when we tell stories as the church, as the people of God, we do it most faithfully like Jesus and the two on the road to Emmaus—we do it in community. Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I will be in the midst of them.” I am all for individual prayer, individual reading of scripture, and individual acts of charity. But the church is the Body of Christ, not a single member. We remember and discern best together. Even the early desert fathers and mothers who spent months in solitude came back to community. This is why I am so excited for next weekend’s Synod Assembly. It’s why I am so grateful for the grant our synod received from Wartburg Seminary for rural ecumenical experiments, which is funding a rural ecumenical gathering the last Saturday in June in Sandpoint, Idaho! 

One of the things we do when we are together in worship is remember, as Jesus and the two disciples did. This deep, faithful remembering is not the same as nostalgia. Webster defines nostalgia as a wistful or sentimental yearning for a return to or the return of some real or romanticized past period or some irrecoverable past condition or setting.

But to remember God’s faithfulness is at the center of worship and actually at the center of the life of faith. In the center of our story today, we read, “Then [Jesus] said to them, ‘Oh, how foolish you are and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah[e] should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?’ Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”  

Worship is not an exercise in nostalgia. It is faithful remembering set within a conversation between the assembly, you, and God. The words the presider speaks before we feast on the bread of life and cup of salvation are words of deep and long memory—from creation to the Exodus, through the lives of the prophets to Jesus’ own life, death, and resurrection, and finally God’s activity through the church empowered by the Holy Spirit. God’s faithfulness is sure.

In weekly worship, we move straight from the Words of Institution to the Lord’s Prayer. That prayer also helps us remember so much. We remember how we ought to pray and for what. We again remember God’s gifts to us of daily bread, forgiveness, new life, healing. And sometimes we might remember the company of saints, all the people who have prayed that prayer down through history and pray it each day around the entire globe. 

What is all of this remembering good for? It helps you treasure religious experiences in retrospect. Further, remembering God’s activity throughout all of history helps you recognize God’s presence, elusive or fleeting as it might be, in our own lives. We get better at distinguishing between happy coincidences and God’s presence. We begin to live with more gratitude. And then, in worship and prayer, we give thanks for God’s real presence in our lives.

The practice of remembering God’s presence throughout history also reminds you that the experience of the presence of God is not a private gift. It is never for us alone. It is not something to be horded. Neither in the discovery of the empty tomb nor in the discovery of the fellow traveler to Emmaus is there the familiar command to go and tell, that is typical of other resurrection appearance scenes. Nevertheless, in both instances the recipients of the revelation immediately and spontaneously return from the liminal tomb to share their experience joyfully with others.

Finally, remembering God’s presence in history and in your own stories, prepares you to perceive God’s fleeting presence in real time. There is so much that can keep us from this activity. Our lives are filled with distractions, information, data, competing stories, nostalgia, shouting, advertising, promises of what will fulfill us. We are programmed now to skim and scan and breathe shallowly rather than to drink deeply from the water of life—Jesus Christ.

Worship, prayer, meeting our neighbors, serving those on the margins, we do all of this to remember the God of history and to prepare to perceive God’s fleeting presence in real time. We do this, as Jesus did with those two disciples, most often around the meal of Holy Communion. The meal redefines the disciples’ understanding of Jesus. Jesus takes, blesses, breaks, and gives the bread to them (Luke 24:30), the same sequence of actions we recall from his final meal (22:19). 

Holy Communion is more than bread and wine. It is a means of God’s grace. It is an event in which we receive forgiveness and new life. As we return to this table again and again, I really do believe we build our capacity to perceive God in our other places, to perceive forgiveness, grace, and new life in daily encounters. Most often we will name it later, that was a grace moment, that was God’s love, that was God’s mercy, that was life given from God. And we give thanks.

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April 2026 Report to Synod Council

Posted on May 4, 2026 by megganmanlove

Bishop’s Report to NWIM Synod Council – April 2026

27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. (John 14)

Since our January meeting online, I have been with the following congregations on a Sunday morning or for an ordination: Fairfield Community Church, King of Glory in Boise, Kuna United Methodist Church (served by ELCA Pastor Mia Crosthwaite), Good Shepherd in Pocatello and Emmanuel in Blackfoot, Salem Lutheran (with All Saints in attendance), St. Luke in Spokane, American Lutheran in Newport, Cameron Emanuel, and somewhere on April 19.

Our Candidacy Committee continues to do the good work of walking with our 11 candidates and is preparing for our first retreat—Lutherhaven in July with Deacon Tammy Devine presenting. We welcomed two new members at our February meeting: Pastor Nathaneil Christman (Ritzville and Sprague) and Mondo Davilla (Celebration, East Wenatchee). Just a reminder: Candidacy Manager is part of Cathy Steiner’s large portfolio. One synod from each of the nine regions is part of the Candidacy Launch pilot. I am grateful Northwest Washington Synod is part of the pilot and giving us a preview as they live into competency-based candidacy.

With the January trip to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and Holy Land, I was not as proactive in writing an issue letter anticipating the Idaho legislative session (like I did last year). However, I did make it to Olympia for Faith Action Network’s Interfaith Advocacy Day. I spent much of the day with two women from East Wenatchee (UMC and UCC-Brethren—ELCA Pastor Dane Breslin’s church) talking to legislators from Washington’s Seventh Legislative District (which includes East Wenatchee, Colville, and much in between). I have been on Zoom calls and in meetings about protesting the building of the death chamber in Idaho (to execute people using the firing squad) and supporting the Idahoans United for Women and Families (reproductive health ballot initiative). And I sat in the Idaho capital for Hunger Awareness Day with Pastor Bob Lewis (Immanuel) and Sunshine Evetts (Hope). 

In my capacity serving the larger ELCA, I finally went on a bishop seminary visit (to Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago). LSTC’s new president, Dr. Shauna Hannan, recently a professor at PLTS in Berkeley, has a big job—new space, shifting landscape of theological education, and a recent history of low enrollment. 

I also continue to serve on several committees and task forces:

  • Seminary Debt Reduction Task Force of the ELCA Church Council
  • Outdoor Ministry Sites-ELCA Affiliation Task Force of the ELCA Church Council
  • F.S.I.C. Standing Committee of ELCA Church Council (same committee Rev. Dr. Barb Rossing sits on)—A new ELCA social message on rural life should come out in 2027!
  • Good Samaritan Committee of the Conference of Bishops 

Retreat Season

Deans’ Retreat at the Grunewald Guild: During this annual gathering of our synod’s cluster deans each dean gets to report on all the ministry sites in their cluster. We also had two really generative discussions, one about the upcoming Synod Assembly (specifically how we are going to use small group time during the plenaries) and another about how our ministry sites can support the fall elections (prayers, being present at polling places, encouraging discussions in homes about local issues). I led and planned our closing Holy Communion worship, but three other deans volunteered to plan and lead morning/evening prayer. I always love watching their personalities shine when given these opportunities. The first night some of us played games and others enjoyed the sauna. The second night we enjoyed a hymn sing, turning to both of our hymnals. It was such a gift to both laugh and sing together.

ELCA Church Council Retreat in St. Charles, IL: At the triennial ELCA Churchwide Assembly (most recently in Phoenix in summer 2025) half of the ELCA Church Council is elected to six-year terms. So, every three years, in the spring, there is a retreat so relationships can be nurtured and trust can be built. Though I left the retreat (Thursday night – Sunday morning) quite exhausted, I am humbled and grateful to be a liaison bishop. This is a wonderful way that I get to serve the larger church and tell the larger church stories from Region 1. The group of pastors, deacons, and lay leaders who have volunteered and been elected are remarkable humans so committed to the ministry we do as the ELCA. It was a joy to get to know many of them at table discussions, over meals, and even during some physical team building activities. We also had many ELCA Churchwide staff with us, and I was able to have some helpful conversations with several of them as well. Some of that wisdom will show up in our spring synod council meeting.

Region 1 Staff Retreat in Federal Way, WA: Last Spring our region had four bishop elections. We won’t have any more elections until 2029, when NWIM Synod will have an election, so it seemed like the right time to invest some time and money in an in-person gathering. We spent four days at the recently refurbished Archbishop Brunette Retreat Center at the Palisades, very accessible from SeaTac Airport and right on the water. Our days were framed by simple worship services. We had time in affinity groups (DEMs, admins, bishops, assistants to the bishops…). We Zoomed in Bishop Curry for about 20 minutes to hear his vision and perspective right now. We gave every synod about 30 minutes to introduce their synod to everyone else. We had a few conversations about discipleship formation and training Synod Authorized Ministers. There were trails to explore in the mornings and during breaks. The hospitality was wonderful and we had lots of conversations over tea or coffee. During the final morning, we harvested what we could collaborate on easily that would have a big impact. Stay tuned for more!

Looking ahead to the fall elections and listening to the ELCA Witness and Society Office:

  • I will try to meet with, have contact with, both the Washington and Idaho Secretaries of State to offer support and prayers as they go about managing the midterm elections.
  • Could synod council members and cluster deans make a point to meet with county clerks and ask how the faith communities can support their work and make sure they know they are in our church’s prayers?
  • I commend two of our ELCA Social Statements and their accompanying study guides: Economic Life and Civic Life. 

I continue to explore grant opportunities for our synod and specialized ministries. I have, since summer 2023, made 15 asks of specific congregations to increase their Mission Support (with moderate success). Our synod staff does a great job managing expenses through following budgets and thrifty travel. 

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Easter Sunday-Palouse and Clearwater

Posted on May 4, 2026 by megganmanlove

I enjoyed the sunrise service at Cordelia on the Palouse. Christ is risen indeed!

Magical to drive from Lewiston to Cordelia at dawn
Pastors Sierra (Moscow) and Pat (Troy) were appropriately bundled!

Then I drove over to Cameron Emmanuel Lutheran to preach and preside for their Easter Worship Service. Cameron Emmanuel will be a detached internship site (with supervisor in Moscow) starting sometime this summer!

Cameron Emmanuel – April 5, 2026

Matthew 28:1-10

This is such a great resurrection scene, in large part because of verse 2. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary have gone to the tomb and suddenly there is an earthquake. An angel of the Lord descends from heaven and rolls back the stone in front of the tomb and sits on it. His appearance is like lightening, and his clothing is as white as snow. 

Confronted by the blinding light of this angel, the guards who had been posted in ensure that nothing would happen to Jesus’ body were so gripped by fear that they shook and became like dead men. Someone this week suggested we compare the men to fainting goats. 

Jesus’ resurrection already creates a life freed from the death that grips our everyday lives. This is life reborn, revealing to us how death has determined our living. And yet it is possible to remain dead, to live as dead men, as the behavior of these guards will make clear.

The guards are frightened to death. But the angel tells Mary Magdalene and the other Mary that they do not need to be afraid: “I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’” 

The angel’s speech contains all of the gospel. “Do not be afraid.” Jesus has made it possible to live unafraid. The disciples, followers, of Jesus are often afraid of the elites and the crowds, but Jesus has given them all they need not to be afraid. He has done so by drawing them, and us, into a way of life so compellingly true that we have no time to be afraid.

We read that Mary Magdalene and Mary left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy. The fear is that paired with joy. They leave the tomb in awe, knowing that they are now participants in the reign of God, which their teacher Jesus has spoken of so often. They fear they have as they leave the tomb is the fear that protects them from the fears that would have us deny the resurrection. Our human nature wants to create lives of security in the face of death. The joy filling the women saves them from this kind of fear.

The fear and joy they now experience is made possible by the resurrection. Mary Magdalene and Mary have seen the crucifixion; they have now seen the empty tomb. They are our first witnesses to the good news that the one crucified has been raised.

Jesus was handed over, made subject to sinners and death itself. But he has been made victorious. But the resurrection of Jesus cannot be seen. As one scholar [Hauerwas] says, we can no more see the resurrection than we can see creation. We can see only the empty tomb and the resurrected Jesus. 

The resurrection is not a resurrection of one who had lived, died, and then lived again. Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead. But Lazarus was still to die. Resurrection is not the resuscitation of a corpse. Jesus is raised from the dead to be freed from death itself. He will never die again. Jesus has been raised from the dead, defeating death itself. 

Mary Magdalene and Mary rush from the tomb to tell the disciples, but suddenly, in an almost comedic encounter, Jesus meets them. It is Jesus, resurrected. It is the crucified one who is resurrected. Jesus greets them in a familiar way, and they come to him. They saw him and recognized him. They took hold of his feet. The resurrected Jesus can be touched. 

The resurrection of Jesus is not an idea. His body has been raised. The one born of Mary, the one baptized by John, the one who called the disciples, the one who delivered the Sermon on the Mount, the one who cured the lame, the blind, the deaf and mute, the one who disputed with the Pharisees and Sadducees, the one who endured humiliation by trial and cross—he has been raised.

Jesus’ bodily presence does not prevent Mary Magdalene and Mary from worshiping him. One worships only God. Yet they worship him. They had not worshiped the angel who announced Jesus’ resurrection. But they now worship Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.

That they worship Jesus marks the central activity of the new reality of the body of Christ, the church, us! What makes the church the church is the worship of Jesus. The worship of Jesus will take many different forms across time and space. But where the word is preached and the sacraments are enacted, we know that Jesus is present among us. By baptism and communion, we participate in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, making us an alternative to the world. An alternative of life, abundance, and deep abiding love.

Being the alternative is not, however, an invitation for self-righteousness. Instead, it enables us to worship, just as Mary Magdalene and Mary do. We take time to worship in a world that thinks it has no time to worship Jesus.

Jesus tells the women not to be afraid, but to go tell his brothers to go to Galilee where they will see him. Jesus’ disciples—brothers and sisters, will bring forth life. Again, we see the beginnings of the church, the same church you embody today. And Jesus is returning to Galilee, where he began his ministry. Jesus unleashes the disciples to go into the world not from Jerusalem, the center of power, but from Galilee. Galilee becomes the staging area for the disciples to go to the nations to announce the new age begun by Jesus.

For us today, as for Mary Magdalene and Mary, Jesus goes ahead of us to lead us into the world. Jesus leads us into a transformative way of life that testifies to the power of resurrection wherever we live. “Jesus is going ahead—not going away,” one scholar [Schuessler Fiorenza] said. The empty tomb does not signify absence but presence. It announces the resurrected one’s presence on the road ahead.

If Jesus is indeed going ahead, then we are asked to look for experiences of resurrection presence not only in Galilee but also in Cameron, Kendrick, Lewiston—on all the roads of our lives. Resurrection means that Jesus, the Living One, goes ahead of you. Jesus can be found only when we experience that “he is ahead of us” and he opens up a future for you. Like Mary Magdalene and Mary, you can run to meet that liberating future. The stone has been rolled away. 

Finally, the command to go to Galilee does not erase the experience of death and violence. Resurrection comes to us first of all in our most broken and unexpected places, breaking the structures of the Roman occupation regime in Jerusalem and the structures of every regime of death in our lives today. As we announce at every grave—death does not have the final word. Death itself has been swallowed up.

Jesus is going ahead. He continues into the future God has in store for the creation.  In the meantime, there is only the Word, the bread, and the wine, and the promise that “you will see him.”  We walk by faith and not by sight.  We can only trust that God will one day finish the story, as God has promised.

You can see Oregon, Washington, and of course Idaho from Cameron’s cemetary.
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Brendan’s Ordination

Posted on March 28, 2026 by megganmanlove

March 28, 2026, St. Luke Lutheran, Brendan Wiechert’s Ordination

John 21:9-17

Peace and joy to you all on this celebratory day. It is so good to be with all of you who have walked with Brendan to this, his ordination day. The constellation of people here today reflects what ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiehl Curry often emphasizes: we are a connected church. 

We have people from your home church St. Luke (and we thank you St. Luke for the many ways you have supported Brendan). There are folks from the Northwest Intermountain Synod’s Candidacy Committee, who accompanied you through formal years of formation. The communities that were part of that formation are represented here to: your place of employment–Camp Lutherhaven, your contextual education site—Salem Lutheran, your Clinical Pastoral Education site of Riverview Retirement Community (started by Lutherans many years ago), and your internship site—Advent Lutheran. There are even parishioners from the congregation you have already begun to serve—American Lutheran, Newport. Beyond all these, there are other friends as well – connections beyond the formal church that have laughed and cried and held your wonderings with you. Last, but not least, your family who has experienced this journey most intimately, is here. What a great cloud of witnesses is gathered today.

Now, Easter isn’t until next week, but today Brendan is helping us celebrate early. Indeed, the gospel we just heard is an Easter story – an appearance of Jesus to his disciples after the resurrection. 

Brendan shared with me that Pastor Jim Johnson, lead pastor here at St. Luke, read these verses while a group of you stood next to the Sea of Galilee during a Holy Land trip. That pilgrimage is woven into Brendan’s experience of Christ. 

It is also an ordination story. This passage is why we often say that a pastor shepherds a congregation; why we will call American Lutheran Brendan’s “flock.” Shepherding language will be used later in the Ordination rite. Simon Peter is being called into ministry. “Tend my sheep.” Jesus says.

At first, Peter and Jesus’ conversation about shepherding might seem odd. Aren’t we next to a sea? What’s all this about feeding my lambs and tending sheep?

But Peter has been following Jesus for years. This is not a new conversation, but a building from Jesus’ earlier teachings. Jesus identified himself as “the good shepherd.” He had modeled costly love, laying his life down for the sheep – including Peter. He used the metaphor of a shepherd knowing his sheep, and the sheep knowing the shepherd to describe his relationship with the disciples. He knew them deeply, and let himself be known to them. And now, resurrected, Jesus returns to the metaphor, but this time inviting Peter to shepherd, too.

Jesus has already shown Peter what to do, and it is Christ’s own example that I pray will always both fill and inspire your ministry; will inspire all of us who serve as pastors in this synod. That when temptations and dangers stalk your flock, you stick with them – seeing them and loving them even when it is painful or messy or hard. That you know them, and that they know you. Not that the pastor and congregation are best friends or know everything about each other, but that on the deepest level you know each other as children of God and allow that love to spill into how you are together and in the world.

It is so important to remember Jesus’ own words about shepherding. It reminds us of what it means to shepherd and how all of us can follow Jesus. But even more is happening on the beach today. We need to turn back the pages and remember why it is that Jesus asks Peter three times “Do you love me?”

The night Jesus was arrested, before his actual crucifixion, Peter had boldly declared that he would stand by Jesus even in the face of death. Then Peter denied knowing Jesus three times, yes, three times. When it finally dawned on Peter what he had done, he went out and wept bitterly. He was convinced he had ruined the best thing he had every known, the friendship of Jesus. There was no hope that he would ever walk with his teacher and friend again. 

But things are not always what they appear to be. In Jesus we meet the God of second chances. After the amazing catch of fish, Jesus asked Peter three times, “Peter, do you love me?” Three times Peter is able to say, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” and Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Peter was restored as a disciple and a friend. 

God’s abundant love, evidence in that same miraculous catch of fish, is for Peter and for each of you gathered here today. The vast quantity of fish in the disciples’ net and the gracious meal of bread and fish show that God’s gift is available in the risen Jesus just as it was in the incarnate Jesus who walked with those first disciples. Just as Jesus’ ministry was inaugurated with a miracle of unprecedented abundance at the wedding at Cana, so is the church’s ministry, our ministry, your ministry! Each congregation and the church universal’s ministry is grounded in an experience of God’s fullness and unprecedented, unexpected gift.

Pastor or deacon or bishop or camp director or chaplain. Ordained people and lay people. Children of God, God’s abundant love is for each of you. 

When I was a few months into my second call as a pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Nampa, Idaho, I was leading a Sunday morning Bible study. Somehow, the call processes I had been in came up. I mentioned that some of the other churches I had interviewed at seemed to want perfection—they wanted Jesus to be their pastor. A woman in the Bible Study who had been part of the call process looked me straight in the eye and declared, “Don’t worry about that here. We told the congregation, ‘Jesus already came.’” We have laughed about that moment many times. But in all seriousness, it was incredibly freeing. 

As we will hear in the most full and humbling way this upcoming week, Jesus alone is the savior, healer, redeemer, forgiver. His love for you is abundant. When you forget him, betray him, deny him, disobey him, he is always there offering mercy and abundant life. How badly the world needs to hear that good news, and how grateful I am today to ordain one who will faithfully, if imperfectly, proclaim God’s love and grace. Amen.

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“Retreat” season for a bishop

Posted on March 28, 2026 by megganmanlove

The last month, since my bishops visit to our Lutheran seminary in Chicago and Spring Conference of Bishops, has been filled with three important retreats.

After Conference of Bishops, I flew to Spokane. March 8, I led worship at Salem Lutheran in Spokane, WA. All Saints Lutheran, which recently sold their building, is worshiping occasionally with Salem. It was a wonderful morning. Then I drove to Wenatchee and met some of our newer to the synod pastors for dinner. The next day I had lunch with Pastor James, who serves Grace Lutheran in Wenatchee.

Pastor Kirsten and I walking in a winter wonderland Tuesday morning

Monday afternoon I headed up past Leavenworth to the Grunewald Guild for the annual Deans Retreat. During this annual gathering of our synod’s cluster deans each dean gets to report on all the ministry sites in their cluster. DEM Pastor Liv Larson had to be in Chicago, but Assistant to the Bishop Pastor Phil Misner was also along. We were only missing one dean. In addition to hearing from each dean, we had two really generative discussions, one about the upcoming Synod Assembly (specifically how we are going to use small group time during the plenaries) and another about how our ministry sites can support the fall elections (prayers, being present at polling places, encouraging discussions in homes about local issues). I led and planned our closing Holy Communion worship but three other deans volunteered to plan and lead morning/evening prayer. I always love watching their personalities shine when given these opportunities. The first night some of us played games and others enjoyed the sauna. The second night we enjoyed a hymn sing, turning to both of our hymnals. It was such a gift to both laugh and sing together.

Love these faithful leaders

I had about a week at home in the Treasure Valley and then it was back to Chicago for the ELCA Church Council Retreat. Each of the ELCA’s nine regions sends a liaison bishop to ELCA Church Council and beginning last fall, I am the liaison bishop for Region 1 (Alaska, Montana, NWIM, Oregon, Northwest WA, and Southwestern WA). I gave up my position on the Pacific Lutheran University board which I held for two years and have this assignment instead.

At the triennial ELCA Churchwide Assembly (most recently in Phoenix in summer 2025) half of the ELCA Church Council is elected to six-year terms. So every three years, in the spring, there is a retreat so relationships can nurtured and trust can be built. I was at the fall meeting before Presiding Bishop Curry’s installation in Minneapolis, but that was quite rushed.

Though I left the retreat (Thursday night – Sunday morning) quite exhausted, I am humbled and grateful to be a liaison bishop. This is a wonderful way that I get to serve the larger church and tell the larger church stories from Region 1. The group of pastors, deacons, and lay leaders who have volunteered and been elected are remarkable humans so committed to the ministry we do as the ELCA. It was a joy to get to know many of them at table discussions, over meals, and even during some physical team building activities. We also had a number of ELCA Churchwide staff with us and I was able to have some helpful conversations with several of them as well. Some of that wisdom will show up in our spring synod council meeting.

The full ELCA Church Council plus Churchwide staff and bishops

I needed to be in the Seattle area Monday morning, so instead of flying home Sunday, I stayed with an old roommate and her family near O’Hare. We hadn’t seen one another for two years so it was great to catch up (and see how much her kids have grown!).

Six years ago, right before the pandemic, Region 1 held an all staff retreat. For the last few years, I’ve heard about how generative that time together was. Last spring our region had four bishop elections. We won’t have any more elections until 2029, when NWIM Synod will have an election, so it seemed like the right time to invest some time and money in an in-person gathering. We spent four days at the recently refurbished Archbishop Brunette Retreat Center at the Palisades, very accessible from SeaTac Airport and right on the water. Our days were framed by simple worship services. We had time in affinity groups (DEMs, admins, bishops, assistants to the bishops…). We Zoomed in Bishop Curry for about 20 minutes to hear his vision and perspective right now. We gave every synod about 30 minutes to introduce their synod to everyone else. We had a few conversations about discipleship formation and training Synod Authorized Ministers. There were trails to explore in the mornings and during breaks. The hospitality was wonderful and we had lots of conversations over tea or coffee. During the final morning we harvested what we could collaborate on easily that would have a big impact. Stay tuned for more!

I rode back to Spokane with Phil Misner and then spent Friday in the office with Cathy Steiner. Today was Brendan Wiechert’s ordination- see the next post.

These times of deep connection and relationship building are what I love and what I know how to do. At the same time, I will admit to craving some solitude and of course my own bed.

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COB Spring 2026

Posted on March 16, 2026 by megganmanlove

March 3-7 I was in Chicago with the ELCA Conference of Bishops. You can read the press release below. We have had a great deal of transition with many new synod bishops elected last spring and a new presiding bishop and secretary elected last summer at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. There are also retirements, resignations, and new hires among the ELCA Churchwide staff. It was good to be together and to have some longer and more in-depth conversations.

The room we spent most of our time in together–singing together at the end of a Bible Study

We said goodbye to three retiring bishops, including Bp Patricia Lull, completing 12 years serving St. Paul Area Synod.

ELCA Conference of Bishops Elects Chair and Vice Chair

Itasca, Ill. (March 13, 2026) — The Conference of Bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) met March 3-7 at the Eaglewood Resort and Conference Center in Itasca, Ill. The conference is an advisory body of the ELCA that comprises 65 synod bishops, the presiding bishop and the secretary.

In his presiding bishop’s report to the conference, the Rev. Yehiel Curry reinforced the priority area he has identified for his first three years in office: A connected church and sustainable church: Raising the bar together.

Curry described his vision of connection as a shared ownership across the church. “It is not mine. It is yours. It is ours,” he told the conference. “It is one of the three priorities that we lifted up as the ELCA that we said were important priorities to us. How do we take this one priority and in three years be certain that we [embody] it?

“Raising the bar together [ensures that] we know who we are, where we’re going, and we do it as a collective. I think that’s built for a better connection.”

Curry’s report also addressed the 2026 churchwide organization budget decrease of $3 million that resulted in reductions in staffing, grants, and travel and administrative costs. These shifts were designed to align personnel and resources with core mission priorities while minimizing disruption to essential functions.

An encouraging sign, he noted, was that the percentage of Mission Support received in 2025 surpassed the amount anticipated, allowing the churchwide organization to recalibrate projected budget gaps for 2026. But he also noted that the churchwide organization may face a $6.8 million budget decrease in 2027 and asked for the conference’s help in preparing for the future.

“I want to hear from you about how we can be nimble,” he said. “Many of you have asked me, ‘What should we do? What can I do to help?’ And I’m going to say to you today, the churchwide organization needs you. … I need to hear from you about those things we have to do and [what] we’ve been doing.”

Curry also updated the conference on the Vision team, now referred to as the Exploration team, which is working alongside the ELCA’s Research and Evaluation and Innovation teams on its current grant to support a unified approach to future-focused work.

In key business, the conference elected the Rev. Deborah Hutterer, bishop of the ELCA Grand Canyon Synod, as its chair. The Rev. Greg Busboom, bishop of the ELCA Central/Southern Illinois Synod, was elected as vice chair. Both positions are effective July 1. The conference adopted new three-year terms for these positions during this meeting. Previously, Curry and Hutterer were elected to four-year terms as the respective chair and vice chair in 2023.

Reflecting on the spring meeting Hutterer said, “Throughout the week we were reminded that our ministry as bishops is deeply relational. Through worship, Bible study, prayer, conversation and honest listening, connections were strengthened to one another, with ELCA seminary presidents and with the churchwide organization. We left encouraged by the Spirit’s work among us and by the shared calling that unites us in Christ.”

During the meeting, the conference:

  • Approved recommendations from the Roster Committee on granting extensions of leave, non-stipendiary calls, and exceptions to the bylaw that requires an initial three years of congregational service. It also received a report of actions taken by the Roster Committee in the interim between conference meetings.
  • Discussed a revised candidacy process proposed by the candidacy leadership development working group. Established during the conference’s spring 2022 meeting, the working group is exploring ways to adapt the candidacy process to the church’s current and future needs. The discussions resulted in modifications to the proposed revisions, with the conference continuing its work toward a more flexible, competency-based, relational candidacy process.
  • Engaged in conversation with the seven leaders of ELCA seminaries about the future of theological education and leadership formation in the church. The conference and seminary leaders are committed to engaging in ongoing study and discernment together on these topics.
  • Received a presentation on the ordination and installation process from Deacon John Weit, executive for Worship. The report focused on the bishop’s responsibility to oversee and preside at ordinations to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament and Ministry of Word and Service, and to provide for the installation of pastors and deacons.
  • Received reports from the ELCA secretary and treasurer and updates from the conference’s various committees.

ELCA Conference of Bishops Elects Chair and Vice Chair

– – –

About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.7 million members in more than 8,400 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of “God’s work. Our hands.,” the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA’s roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.

For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org

Region 1 Bishops
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Pocatello and Blackfoot – March 1

Posted on March 2, 2026 by megganmanlove

Good Shepherd, Pocatello and Emanuel, Blackfoot – March 1, 2026

John 3:1-17

There are things I absolutely love about this morning’s gospel passage (the promises, the abundance, the curiosity), and I promise I will get to them. But I think we first must contend with how harmful interpretations of this story of Nicodemus and Jesus nighttime conversation has been to some. This is the passage of scripture, after all, where we get the phrase Born Again. I have rarely been able to satisfy people who have asked me if I have been born again. 

My story is utterly boring. My parents took me to the Baptismal Fount in Roseville, Minnesota when I was two months old. They read the scriptures to me at home, took me to worship and Sunday School, taught me how to pray. They encouraged my questions and inquiry. Along the way, I had some mountaintop experiences, moments when I felt particularly close to God and to the Body of Christ, the church, but I never had one born-again moment.

The problem with born-again moments is not the experiences people had. I never want to discount that people have experiences like the one the Apostle Paul had on the Damascus Road or maybe even the immediate conversion or born again experience one of you had. They are real! The problem is when those experiences are the measure of authentic faith. The problem is when the born-again moment, or lack of, becomes one more reason to say that some people are in and other are out. 

Nothing about Jesus’ ministry indicates that he wanted to build up the Body of Christ simply so that human beings will break it apart. This is the same Messiah, the same Christ, who will break several rules for the sake of relationship when he talks with a Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus will heal a man born blind, restoring him to community. He will even raise a man from the dead. This is a Messiah whose agenda is restoration, transformation, and abundant life for all of creation. It is not an agenda of shame or division or cutting people or entire communities down. 

It does little good and can actually lead to a great deal of harm, to compare stories of how precisely we experience new life in Jesus Christ. Jesus also is clear that “the wind blows where it will.” People who try to dictate the activity of the Holy Spirit are asking for trouble. We can be sure that we do receive abundant life through Jesus. We can be sure of this without dictating how it happens for each individual. What is certain is that Jesus offer to be born anew or born from above is for everyone, including you, and it is pure gift. 

At the center of this story of Jesus and his night visitor is the beloved John 3:16, perhaps the best-known verse is the New Testament, if not the Bible. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him many not perish but may have eternal life.” Is it enough to say we believe Jesus? Is that faith? Yes, we trust God for mercy and abundant life. There’s nothing we can do to earn such gifts, ever. And usually, we get in trouble when we put our trust in only ourselves, when we turn in on ourselves and forget to trust God. To be born anew or born from above is to be reoriented—to trust God above all else. 

When parents bring a child to the baptismal font or when an adult comes to the font, they come putting their trust in God as the source of mercy and abundant life today, born anew. Baptism is then once and for all—you are baptized once and that sign on your forehead is never erased—sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.

And at the same time, we remember our baptisms daily. In many ways our understanding of remembering our baptismal identity daily is mirrored by people who are going through addiction recovery. People in Alcoholics Anonymous never quit introducing themselves as alcoholics. They are never cured. Their introduction at each meeting is the same. “My name is …. And I am an alcoholic. And every time they are triggered, they work the twelve steps.” What’s more, they know that they cannot do any of their recovery work in isolation. 

Likewise, each day we remember our identity as a child of God. We will encounter adversity, evil, temptation. We will, as the old confession states, sin against God and one another. We will hurt individuals in our lives and we will participate in cultures and communities that hurt people, some of which we are aware of and some of which we have to be made aware of. But sometimes we get it right, sometimes human beings do bear fruit in acts of kindness or advocacy or solidarity with the downtrodden. We also become followers of Jesus in community. And in the midst of all of it, our sinfulness and our fruit-bearing moments, we remain God’s beloved children. I was reminded of this a few days ago.

Friday night I went with a friend to see the Broadway musical The Lion King. I listened to the Broadway soundtrack often during my first call in rural Iowa and Friday night I realized the music is still in my bones. My favorite song is sung during the second act.

Rafiki, the sort of shaman figure, finds a lonely and forlorn young adult Simba in the jungle and explains to the lion that his father Mufasa lives on through the song He Lives in You. Simba follows Rafiki to a pool of water, which always reminds me of baptism, in which Simba sees only his own reflection at first and is skeptical. As the song becomes quieter, however, the face of Mufasa appears above the stage in the starry night sky. He tells Simba to “remember who you are” before fading away. 

He lives in you
He lives in me
He watches over
Everything we see
Into the water
Into the truth
In your reflection
He lives in you

It’s an imperfect comparison, but I often substitute God lives in you for He lives in you. We believe that in the waters of Holy Baptism we are united with Jesus Christ. We are bold to say that we attempt to be Little Christs in the world. Created in God’s image, marked with the cross, you are never separated from the love of God and you never lose your identity as a child of God. You are born anew to this identity each day. God lives in you. If that isn’t new life, I don’t know what is.

We may laugh at Nicodemus, who is trying to imagine crawling back into a womb and seems to misunderstand Jesus at every turn of phrase. I am thankful for the way today’s story makes room for some wonder. Somehow it allows me to trust that the Holy Spirit is as active today as it was that night so long ago. “The wind blows where it chooses and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.” 

We do not have to have PhDs in theology to trust the triune God who sustains you and gives you faith when we are unable to believe or trust on your own. Please keep asking questions even as you trust the God who took on human flesh and began turning the world order upside down, was crucified and then rose from the dead. God said yes to the abundant life in the age to come but also in the here and now. God’s big yes at the resurrection makes your ongoing yes at the font possible. Amen.

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Ecumenical and Interfaith in the Treasure Valley

Posted on February 28, 2026 by megganmanlove

I’m a week behind on posts!

Last Sunday, the First Sunday in Lent 2026: ELCA Lutheran Pastor Mia Crosthwaite serves Kuna United Methodist Church in Kuna, ID. This is possible because the ELCA and UMC are in full communion–we can share clergy. I also happened to serve as one of Mia’s internship pastors (Trinity, Nampa and Immanuel, Boise each administered half of her internship) back in 2019. Thank you Kuna UMC for the warm hospitality. It was a joy to worship with you on this First Sunday in Lent. Blessings as you continue to explore your Lenten theme: “Roll down like water.”

Next I was off to Boise’s historic synagogue for the celebration for Rabbi Johanna Hershenson, newly installed rabbi of Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel in Boise. This historic congregation was founded in 1895 by German-Jewish immigrants who built the Temple Beth Israel synagogue at 11th and State streets in downtown Boise. It is the oldest continuously operated synagogue west of the Mississippi. In 1987, Beth Israel merged with Ahavath Israel and in 2003, the congregation moved its historic building from State Street to the Boise Bench. Rabi Fink served the congregation for 30 years until his retirement in 2024. Since I moved to the Treasure Valley in 2010, I have read many of Fink’s opinion pieces in the local newspapers. Now I join the rest of the Treasure Valley faith community in welcoming Rabbi Hershenson to Boise and Idaho.

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Two Capitols – One Synod

Posted on February 23, 2026 by megganmanlove

Thursday, February 12 was Faith Action Network’s Interfaith Advocacy Day in Olympia! I’m grateful for the pre-sessions, their weekly updates, the welcome today, and all of the work behind the scenes all year long. As the bishop of NWIM Synod, I’m particularly grateful for your attention to issues impacting residents of Central and Eastern Washington. Check out photo captions for more.

ELCA Bishops from NW WA, NWIM, and SW WA Synods
With two residents from East Wenatchee and Rep. Andrew Engell (state legislative District 7)
State district 7 is huge geographically compared to many districts on the West Side

From the 1991 Social Statement Church in Society

“The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is called to be a part of the ecumenical Church of Jesus Christ in the context in which God has placed it—a diverse, divided, and threatened global society on a beautiful, fragile planet. In faithfulness to its calling, this church is committed to defend human dignity, to stand with poor and powerless people, to advocate justice, to work for peace, and to care for the earth in the processes and structures of contemporary society.”

Tuesday, February 17 was Food Insecurity Day at the Idaho State Capitol. I was honored to be here with Pr Lewis from Immanuel, Boise (weekly community meal) and Sunshine from Hope, Eagle (Give Hope Food Pantry). I also caught up with Kevin Bailey from the Idaho Nonprofit Center and Community Foundation. Another week, another capitol.

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King of Glory, Boise – Transfiguration Sunday

Posted on February 15, 2026 by megganmanlove

This congregation is in a pastoral transition. The end, each worship service in a circle proclaiming the blessing to one another and singing. I stayed after worship for their campership Shrove Tuesday pancake fundraiser grateful for their partnership with Luther Heights by Camp. I snapped a photo with Church member and synod ministry candidate Mary Riedl.

Part of the congregation speaking the blessing.

Feb. 15, 2026 – Transfiguration

Matt. 17:1-9 

Thursday, I drove down from the Seattle Tacoma airport to Olympia with Bp Shelley Bryan Wee of Northwest Washington Synod and her Assistant the Bishop, Pastor Andy Yee. We joined many other people of faith for Interfaith Advocacy Day at the Washington capital. It was a beautiful clear day, and we left our hotel at 6:30am. Andy was sitting in the backseat and every so often I would turn back to look at him, as he and Shelley told me about their recent work trip to Chicago. At one moment I just stared at Andy, except it wasn’t really him I was staring at. You see, Mount Rainer was out in full glory and the sunrise pink, yellow, and orange hues were breathtaking. On the trip home, the same thing happened in reverse, so this time driver Shelley just kept saying, “Wow! The mountain is so beautiful today!” Like us, they have had plenty of cloudy days this winter. I tried to take a picture with her phone but finally said, “you may just have to take a photo in your mind.”

Of course, today’s festival has us celebrating on top of a mountain, not looking in awe at one from a distance. This being a Treasure Valley congregation, I assume some of here have climbed a peak, whether in the Sawtooths, White Clouds, Lost River Range, or a peak somewhere else in the world. When I climbed Mount Borah about ten years ago, I remember it being so cold on top that I just wanted to start back down. Fortunately, my hiking partners and I knew we needed to spend at least some time up there not just resting but taking in the view, the wonder, really the glory.

Our narrator today, the Gospel writer Matthew, refers to what occurred on the mountain as a vision. He does not mean an inner psychological experience. He does mean that the “seeing” is not a natural function of ordinary eyes but is God-given. God grants the disciples the power to see what otherwise would have been invisible to mortal perception.

The inside group, Peter, James, and John are asked to see before listening, to see past it all–Jesus’ words, his ministry, his teaching, his healing, his preaching, his friendships, his prayer, his wisdom. Jesus invites them now to see through and beyond all that. He invites them to see something that can be caught most accurately not by ear or eye, but by the heart and soul: his true identity. We read, “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”

This transfiguration comes at a critical point in Jesus’ life, a point of major transition. Here he shifts from his active ministry among the people and toward Jerusalem, the place of his death and resurrection, the place where human and divine will intersect. And knowing how hard it would be for his disciples to understand and witness this, Jesus takes his closest disciples and heads up a mountain. 

There they come into the presence of God in a new way. Their hearts and souls are opened to see what their eyes can barely believe. Their friend and teacher, the very human Jesus, is transfigured. The appearance of his face changes. They sense the presence of Moses and Elijah. And God perceives their fear and responds by speaking to them. God wants them to begin to understand how this Jesus, fully human, is also fully divine.  

The story of the transfiguration of Jesus functions, according to one writer [Henri Nouwen], as something of an icon. The transfiguration offers access through the gate of the visible to the mystery of the invisible. There, high on the mountain, the familiar face of their beloved friend and teacher is revealed in a new light, and in that light their hearts can hear the voice of God saying: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  

Icons have long been important to the Orthodox churches of the Christian family.  Painted in egg tempura on wood, these tools for prayer and liturgy most often depict scenes of Jesus, Mary and the saints. Created according to rules handed down from generation to generation, icons are venerated as representations of the divine, windows through which the soul can see the realities of the kingdom of heaven. Their purpose is to pull one into the image in order to see through it, and beyond it to the heart of God, to the reality of the great Mystery.

The story of the transfiguration becomes a luminous narrative icon, a painting in words that points beyond the text to the true reality of Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Its aim is to help us see beyond Jesus of Nazareth, the Galilean, to see him radically transformed into the Son of God, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Only then will we begin to take in the foreshadowing of his resurrection and future glory.  

Transfiguration Sunday sits differently for me this year. It has something to do with Peter’s suggestion to build the three booths. With so much brokenness and injustice in the world right now, I find it ever harder to carve out times to just be, instead of to do. I’m more sympathetic to Peter this year than I normally am. Because of my own experiences taking campers up mountains in Montana and helping them experience their own epiphanies, I know the importance of Mountain Top experiences. But this year, I’m a bit more like Peter. Those experiences seem frivolous, unproductive, not a good use of time and energy.

But that’s a problem. I could miss a defining moment, like Peter almost did. One of my favorite New Testament scholars (Powell) explains that “Peter did not seem to understand that in order to be a witness for Jesus, he must first witness Jesus. He has been invited to the mountain to listen, not to speak; to receive something he needs, not to offer something he thinks others might need. The drive to be useful derives from a commendable desire to serve Jesus, but Jesus did not come to be served; he came to serve others, including Peter.” Including you and me.

Oh, that stings for me. There are so many times when I am busy accomplishing something and I am called to slow down, maybe not for a full-blown epiphany as on the Mount of Transfiguration, but to receive and to listen, to remember and behold that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God.

God’s gift is in the transfiguration icon, the intense light that allows vision and insight. God permits us from time to time to see through to the heart of the matter.  God permits us to see purpose and future, hope and possibilities for meaningful action and participation. And God’s gift is that God is there, waiting to be seen.  God is the reality behind the icon. The challenge to us is to be committed enough and bold enough to keep our eyes open. Will we dare to look, to pass through the gate of the visible to the mystery of the invisible, and then to accept responsibility for everything we see. 

The truth is that every time we gather around the table for the Lord’s Supper, we enter into a bit of a mystery. I have studied scripture, church history, and numerous theologians, and still I am overwhelmed with the Lord’s Supper. How can these great gifts be given so freely through words and ordinary bread? Because Christ promised it would be so. God chooses to bestow God’s grace through these mysterious and marvelous sacraments. The table has already been set. You need only come with open hands and receive the gifts for you! Like the Transfiguration, this meal is a glimpse and then it is over. After Communion we give thanks for the healing that springs forth abundantly from this table and ask God to renew our strength to do justice, love kindness, and journey humbly with you. 

With Mary Riedl after worship
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