Fairfield Community Church – Feb. 8

Posted on February 8, 2026 by megganmanlove

Wonderful to preach and lead the congregation in Affirmation of Baptism at Fairfield Community Church in Fairfield, WA south of Spokane Valley. This is one of our PCUSA-ELCA congregations, fully a member of both church families. They are in a season of pastoral transition and are served by Presbyterian Lay Pastor Joe Bruce. Historically a farming community, Fairfield is not surprisingly becoming more of a bedroom community for Spokane, and this church is reaching out consistently to newer residents. They are helped in that outreach by their well established pre-school, a ministry of the church. Thanks for a wonderful morning Fairfield.

Matt. 5:13-20, Isaiah 58:1-12

This was one of those weeks during which I was reminded how much a congregation is captive to the type of week or weeks the preacher had. A friend and I are re-reading an old leadership book, and it has made me think about every mistake I’ve ever made and all of my inadequacies. At the same time, I am shepherding pastors, deacons, and lay leaders across the synod who struggle with their own feelings of enoughness. They feel this way because they know the church has a different place in society than when many of us were growing up. As the epidemic of loneliness spreads, they yearn to bring a cure to all people—a herculean task.

I have often suffered from what one of my best friends calls a case of the shoulds. I should be doing this or that, I should have done this. I should do this one thing and then I will be enough—for myself, the universe, in the eyes of God. And we live in a society which seems to demand the lethal combination of perfection and productivity. How much weight are you supposed to lose in the new year? How many hours are you supposed to put in at your job? Are students achieving the right test scores? Are you making enough money? 

And sometimes, if we are not careful, our theology gets mixed up with these earthly expectations which are so antithetical to the gospel. We think we will only be right with God if we accomplish x, y, and z. This of course makes everything all about us—it shows, at least in my own case, how I am curved in on myself rather than looking to the triune God. This becomes its own idolatry.

So, in other years my sermon on these verses from Matthew might go a very different direction, this week I find it utterly life-giving and I experience pure joy to hear Jesus’ declaration this morning. You are the salt of the earth. Period. You are the light of world. Period. There is no you are salt and life IF or, you will be salt and light AFTER. It’s pure declaration. As one author put it, “The office of the prophet has now fallen on this new community, who has become salt and light for the world. (Hauerwas)” 

All we did was say “Yes. I will and ask God to help and guide me” at our baptisms, and yet through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus makes us salt and light. It is so. In our passage from Matthew, Jesus addresses his disciples and the crowd. The “you” is a “you all.” In other words. You all are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. At other times in his ministry, Jesus will warn about the public practice of one’s righteousness. But today Jesus encourages the people to let others see their good works. Why? Not for their or our praise, but for the praise of God.

And I love that I get to preach on this text in a congregation where I can say with deep integrity, you have been salt and light. Towards the end of this same gospel, Jesus will tell his famous parable explaining that the righteous, those right with God, will be those who fed, gave drink, welcomed the stranger, gave clothing, visited those sick and in prison to the least of these brothers and sister, you did it to me, to Jesus himself.” You are a congregation that takes seriously food and hunger ministry: community meals, meals for kids, food drives, and more. But you don’t just give food as charity, you provide space for bread to be broken around the table, for conversations, for relationship, and for belonging. You are the light of the world.

Speaking of children, at least from the outside, you seem to have found a way to provide space for children from all across the Fairfield community to be welcomed and loved just as they are. And you have found gentle and honest ways to tell them that Jesus love is for each of them. Child development experts have long contended that in order to thrive, every child needs five consistent caring adults in their lives in addition to their parents. For the kids you walk with, you are a real part of making that a reality. You all are the salt of the earth.

My assumption is that this is also a place of acceptance and belonging for adults in the community, both church members but also others who help with your outreach, service, or fun community gatherings. In a world where we think we should feel connected to the world because we have access to so much through the internet, but our souls long for in person embodied fellowship, your church again provides something essential, space where people feel truly seen. You all are the light of the world.

Finally, I know that you live your faith out in your daily lives. Like the farm families I served as a young pastor in Western Iowa, so much of that faith is connected to your relationship to the land—to being stewards of God’s good creation, to contending with commodity markets, weather, scientific advances, and so much more as you care for land passed on to your families. That in itself is holy work. You are the salt of the earth.

In our introduction to the sacrament of Holy Baptism, the leader proclaims that “We are united with all the baptized in the one body of Christ, anointed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and joined in God’s mission for the life of the world.” Y’all are salt of the earth. Y’all are the light of the world.

What is Jesus’ own context for today’s teaching? Jesus preaches as a teacher who is steeped within the Jewish tradition and Jewish faith. That is, Jesus should not be understood as offering something that supersedes the law. Instead, his teaching should be viewed as that of one who holds the law in the greatest respect. 

One scholar suggested that “Jesus’ teachings, then, are best understood as those of a Jewish reformer, not as those of one who is attempting to denigrate and displace an ‘outdated’ religious system.” Jesus is at once doing something new; he is God incarnate after all, and Jesus is one in a long line of Jewish teachers and prophets.

We keep Jesus’ own company by looking at a text he would have known, our scripture passage from Isaiah. Jesus himself is looking at a crowd of people who are in many ways being crushed by the power of the Roman Empire. His audience would have resonated with Isaiah’s situation. It’s a time and place when the people wonder how is God present in a context with so much misery, poverty, injustice, and infighting? And in these conditions, what does salty salt taste like? What does light that is allowed to shine do?

Isaiah 58 shares the condemnation of hypocritical worship practices found so often in the prophets. Proper fasting, says Isaiah, is to loose the bonds of injustice, let the oppressed go free, feed the poor, and clothe the naked. In other words, fasting is not simply a ritual exercise done by an individual for his or her own benefit. By freeing the worshiper from concern for the self, fasting contributes to God’s mission of justice and liberation for all people.

Isaiah calls the people to restore and mend the divided community, mirroring God’s restorative action outlined earlier. The community will “represent and resemble God in the world.” This is a perfect place to lift up the Jewish notion of Tiqum Olam, the mending of the world. How might our actions, great and small, play a role in mending the world? What does it look like to follow God in building, restoring, feeding, clothing, caring, and repairing individuals and a community in need?

Before we get too far building that long list, it is good to hear one more final word of promise, this time from Isaiah, who declares, “You shall cry for help, and [God] will say, Here I am” (v. 9). “Here I am” is the typical and appropriate biblical response of a person called by a superior or by God. It was in fact Isaiah’s response when God commissioned him to be a prophet. But now, surprisingly, God takes those words of quintessential human response into God’s own mouth. Now, God says, “Here I am.” 

I assume many of you have experiences with Camp Lutherhaven and Camp Spaulding. I know you provide camperships for youth attending Lutherhaven. I served as a pastor in the Boise area for 12 years before being elected bishop, Our camp in southern Idaho, up in the Sawtooth Moutains, is Luther Heights Bible Camp. Back in 2016, then Luther Heights program coordinator (and gifted musician) Allie McIntosh was commissioned to compose a blessing for the end of the camp week. These verses from Isaiah 58 inspired the bridge of the blessing she composed. Now, at the end of each week of camp, campers going down the mountain hear their counselors remind them, “Then you will call. And the Lord will answer. You’ll cry for help, and he will say “Here I am!” Thanks be to God for the one who answers all our cries as we try to help usher in the reign of God.

With Synod Council member Ronda Veile and Pastor Joe Bruce
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Bishops and ELCA Staff Trip to the Holy Land

Posted on February 7, 2026 by megganmanlove

Dear Northwest Intermountain Synod: ELCA (and other readers),

It was an honor to represent our synod and the larger ELCA on a bishops accompaniment visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land (ELCJHL). One big highlight of our visit was the consecration of their new bishop, but there was so much more to this trip and so much to share. For much of our trip, we were accompanied by ELCA Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry, Nation Bishop Larry Kochendorfer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC), Bishop Carla Blakely (Eastern Synod of the ELCIC), Pastor Amy Reuman (Senior Director for Witness and Society in the ELCA), Pastor Khader El-Yateem (Director of the Service and Justice home area of the ELCA), Alison Richard (Program Director for Companion Synod Engagement), Maddi Froiland (Program Director of the ELCA’s Sumud: for Justice in Palestine and Israel), Pastor Gabi Aelabouni (Director, Middle East and North Africa), and Pastor Khader Khalilia (Program Director, Arab and Middle Eastern Ministries). 

First, this was my first trip ever to the Holy Land. If you have gone, based on my conversations with others who have gone on trips to visit the holy sites, this trip was probably different. We did visit the Church of the Nativity, Shepherds Field, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and Galilee. However, we were primarily there as guests of the ELCJHL Much as my trip to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese of Tanzania (our global companion synod), this was about meeting our siblings in Christ and doing a lot of deep listening. 

Jan. 7 and 8 – I had spent a wonderful 2+ weeks over Christmas with my mom in Minnesota. Instead of heading back to the Mountain West, I departed from Minneapolis, met more people in Chicago, and met everyone at Newark for the flight to Tel Aviv. We then boarded our bus and made our way to the guest house at Beit Ibrahim. The guest house was simple and beautiful and the food was consistently delicious! 

Guest house at night, photo credit to Bp Scott Johnson

Jan. 9 – After getting rest and have breakfast, this rainy day started in the chapel, where we heard from then Bishop-elect Rev. Dr. Imad Haddad. Bishop Haddad gave us a short but fascinating history of the Lutheran and Anglican churches in the Holy Land, which actually started together–Prussians and English. Bishop Haddad was clear that the mission of the current ELCJHL is not conversion of Muslims and Jews to Christianity but loving their neighbors, whoever they are. The church is not there to stay behind closed doors but to be sent out. We learned throughout the rest of our time that these are not mere words–we saw how this vision and mission are lived out daily in extraordinary ways. We ended our time with Bishop Haddad by offering him a humble blessing. 

Next we were introduced to brand new ELCA Missionary Rev. Christy Sapp and her husband Pastor Paul. Rev. Sapp and just been installed a few days earlier. She brings a wealth of ministry and academic experiences with her and I look forward to watching her ministry to the English speaking congregation of Redeemer Lutheran church unfold. Paul is a theater teacher and will be working in the schools to help youth dealing with trauma (most of them) process and work through the trauma through the arts of theater–so exciting and such hopeful work. 

The rain prevented us from visiting the ELCJHL’s Environmental Education Center (EEC), which opened 40 years ago, but the staff came to our guest house and told us all about their work: educating, banding birds, and helping with water conservation. As someone who was going to be an environmental studies major and cares a lot about creation care, this was such an inspiring few hours. It was also incredibly heartbreaking–how do settlements, checkpoints, and gates impact the natural environment and Palestinian farms? EEC’s Executive Director Simon talked about the gazelle population shrinking from 10,000 to 3,000 in 10 years. But what broke my heart the most was his telling us of the many olive tree farmers who are now only able to visit their trees once a year. I can’t imagine! He went on to talk about the millions of olive and other threes uprooted–their own form of deforestation. 

Entire Group in front of the Nativity Church

We visited Nativity Church, which everyone who had been there before thought felt quite empty in comparison to previous trips. It’s fascinating to me, as with most pilgrims, how different portions of the different holy sites are tended to/managed by different churches. Because of the lack of guests and some luck, we got to go down to the grotto where Jerome is supposed to have translated the bible into Latin.

Pastor Gabbi tells the story of Jerome translating.

We then made the quick trip to The Shepherd’s Field. I thought the chapel built at the shepherd’s field was quite stunning and brilliant with its dome windows facing the heavens, ready for the angels’ songs and radiant light to come through. 

Next we headed off to the Prayer Service and Reception in honor of ELCJHL retiring Bishop Dr. Sani Ibrahim Azar. At the prayer service we heard from many international guests, including our own Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry and New England Bishop Nathan Pipho (New England and Southeast Michigan Synods are companion synods with the ELCJHL like NWIM Synod is with the UKD in Tanzania). The reception was very loud and you could tell people from the ELCJHL, Europe, and North America were catching up. I ended up talking with a Lutheran from Bavaria (who had some choice and accurate words about the United States right now) and the UCC and Disciples of Christ representatives from the United States there for the occasion. Palestinian Christians had been granted special permits to travel to Jerusalem for the duration of the Christmas season, something I’ll come back to when I report on Sunday’s events. 

Jan. 10 – The day started with devotions and then we dug into theology, Gaza, and occupation by listening to Dr. Munther Isaac, pastor in the ELCJHL serving the church in Ramallah. Rev. Isaac became well known around Christmas 2023 when he preached his sermon Christ in the Rubble, now a book. I took so many notes during Rev. Isaac’s time with us and will be unpacking them internally for months.  

I want to take a moment here to say my thanks again to Pastor Gabi Aelabouni, Director, Middle East and North Africa, ELCA and our guide for this accompaniment trip. Our agenda was so intentional, again and again. January 10 is just one example. Hearing from Dr. Isaac set us up for our next three visits. He gave us the frame and then we got to see what he was talking about through real people’s lives. Thank you Gabi! 

We visited two of the ELCJHL schools: Dar Al-Kalima Lutheran School and Evangelical Lutheran School in Beit Sahour. We heard from principals, teachers, and most importantly students themselves, who told us about the barriers to the educations, the stereotypes they fight against, and the joy of learning and participating in various activities. 

We also visited Anar, not a direct ministry of ELCJHL but certainly a partner, and heard from Mr. Rami Khader. Anar is dedicated to empowering Palestinian children who have been adversely affected by oppression and conflict. “Our goal is to foster their wellbeing, support their healing process, and assist them in realizing their full potential. By prioritizing the psychosocial wellbeing and empowerment of these children, we believe that we can make a positive impact on their lives in their community.” The statistics they shared were sobering and heart-breaking. The work they are doing with so little is no less than mind-blowing. I lament that we may need to learn from Anar as ICE continues to wreak havoc on the lives of Latinos and Indigenous kids in the NWIM Synod geography. 

Our final visit of the day was Aida Refugee Camp, established in 1950. You can read more about this camp on the website of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. It’s a small camp (.071 square kilometers), too small for the growing refugee population. At the top of the gate at the entrance is a large key, a symbol of the Nakba, as many Palestinians kept the keys to their homes when forced into exile in 1948 because they thought it would be a short exit. Fortunately, after this very long day, we had an extensive time for debriefing and reflection when we got back to the guest house. 

Jan. 11 – On Sunday morning we attended worship at Lutheran Church-Beit Sahour–lovely. We then departed for Jerusalem. We walked through the Old City in Jerusalem, including a visit to the Church of Holy Sepulcher. Soon we headed back to Church of the Redeemer and the main event: the Consecration of Bishop Dr. Imad Haddad at Church. We actually assembled at the Jaffa Gate for a long procession. I’ll let by sister Bishop Meghan Johnston-Aelabouni (Rocky Mountain Synod) narrate this part for me: 

“At 1:30 in the afternoon on the day of the consecration, hundreds of local church members and international church leaders, both Lutherans and ecumenical partners, gathered to join a procession from Jaffa Gate to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer for the consecration service. Christian youth scouts with drums, bagpipes, and brass instruments waited to lead us. We met in a buzz of excitement: greeting old and new friends, taking selfies, waiting for the Bishop-elect to arrive. And waiting. And waiting. Then an alarming word started to spread through the crowd: Bishop-elect Imad’s 70-year-old mother had been detained at the checkpoint and denied entry, despite having a valid permit to enter Jerusalem. Elsewhere, checkpoints were closing arbitrarily at 1:30pm, with no advance warning, blocking people on their way to the church even though Palestinian Christians had been granted special permits to travel to Jerusalem for the duration of the Christmas season. Later, we learned that Bishop Imad’s mother had not only been refused entry but that a young solider at the checkpoint had held a gun to her head. It was, Bishop Imad reflected that evening at dinner, a day of anger and humiliation as well as joy; but as Bishop Imad declared to us, “it is a choice to rejoice in the day that the Lord has made, or to succumb to the brutality of human beings.” When, after hours of phone calls and negotiations, Bishop Imad and his family—including his mother—finally arrived at Jaffa gate and the procession began, with the scouts playing Christmas music in the streets of the city, Bishop Imad chose to rejoice.” 

Bp Jen Nagel and my view from behind the Baptismal Font

Jan. 12 – Monday began with hearing from Dr. Mitri Raheb at Dar Al-Kalima University. What an amazing institution focused on art, culture, and design, “because of identity,” Raheb said. The school started in 1995, became a community college in 2006, and more recently became a full university. I have so many notes from our time with Raheb and he helped me start make connections within the trip and the context I serve. What I loved most was seeing what the arts (especially visual art and film) can do to tell a story. Not everyone can go on the trip I went on, but so many people can look up an art piece, read a novel, or watch a film. I also loved his belief in all of us being interpreters of scripture. 

Comparative Washings by Lucy Janjigian

Next we were off to visit, as I commented on Facebook, a place I have heard of my whole life as a Lutheran: Augusta Victoria Hospital, another remarkable place full of amazing people. We went to St. George for a meeting with Anglican Archbishop Hosam Naoum, who had taken part in the consecration. It was fascinating to learn that the Lutherans and Anglicans began ministry together, with the same bishop (a Lutheran from Geneva), in 1841. They still collaborate a great deal. Before WWI they divided and the Anglicans area became Jerusalem to the north and the Lutheran area became Jerusalem and to the south. 

Grounds of Augusta Victoria Hospital-ministry of LWF

At dinner at the guest house that evening, we heard from Deacon Rana Zeidan of the ELCJHL Diaconal Ministry, a new ministry that has simply taken off. This was everything Bishop Imad had told us about–ministry outside the church walls to anyone and everyone in need.  

Jan. 13 – We were supposed to visit the Tent of Nations and plant an Olive Tree but rain again prevented us. This was so disappointing. Next best thing, the Nassar family came to us. The Tent of Nations stands on a 100-acre (about 400 dunams) family farm named Daher’s Vineyard, located about six miles (about 10 km) southwest of Bethlehem in the West Bank. The land was purchased in 1916 by the Nassar family, and the family holds original registrations and deed documents dating from the Ottoman era, through the British Mandate (registration in 1924-25), and Jordanian administration. Despite these registers, in 1991, the Israeli authorities declared the Nassar family farm (and surrounding lands) as “state land”. Since then, the family has engaged in protracted legal proceedings in the Israeli Military courts, the Appeals Committee, and the Israeli Supreme Court to re-register and protect their land.  

The farm is surrounded on all sides by illegal, under international law, Israeli settlements, including those in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, and has faced repeated settlement-road encroachments, bulldozing and burning of orchards, and access restrictions. In the Spring of 2024, the most recent outpost began with containers. Now, in the Fall of 2025, there are around five families in fully fitted homes, with continued construction of new builds taking place daily. This outpost is merely feet from the farm’s fence. Since the Nassar family began the re-registration process for their land, the case has been repeatedly delayed and deferred by the Israeli authorities. In 2019, the family finally received confirmation that their application was complete, but progress stalled again. A meeting of the Israeli Registration Committee in February 2021 was meant to determine the next steps; since then, no official results have been released. Between 2021 and early 2023, a series of hearings were scheduled and repeatedly postponed — from May 2021 through January 2023 — as the state’s representatives failed to appear or requested more time. The family’s attorney has filed multiple appeals to compel a decision, yet the case continues to cycle between committees and courts without resolution. 

Here was the most amazing thing to me, despite this ongoing struggle and encroaching settlements, the Nassars are committed to nonviolent resistance, faith-based community building, and connecting other people to the land. Their faith and hope was palpable—new oxygen, at least for me. I was honored to give the Nassars a water color painting by retired pastor Ladd Bjornby of Steptoe Butte, a place from which you can see many many farms. First inhabited by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, that area is near where some of the first Lutheran (Volga Germans) congregations in our synod build their churches.  

Out into the rain we went for our meeting at the U.S. Embassy where we spoke to several embassy staff. We were all grateful for Pastor Amy Reuman’s orientation about the meeting and the way she helped prepare those who spoke. After the meeting we exited, boarded the bus, and rode to Galilee. 

Jan. 14 – I assume most visitors spend much more than a day in Galilee. We visited Tabgha, perhaps the site of miracle of the multitude of loaves and fishes; the Mount of Beatitudes; Capernaum; and Nazareth. I loved the landscape, especially the lake or Sea of Galilee. It was quite green and the natural beauty was quite a contrast to the urban landscape had been in and were returning to (Amman). I was also fascinated by the more recent histories of each place: who had excavated, who had built the church, who was tending the place now….. 

Jan. 15 – We crossed into the country of Jordan and visited several of the supposed baptismal sites. What I appreciated most was the sites where several churches (including one by the ELCJHL–Bethany Beyond Jordan Baptismal Site) had been build and the view from there across the Jordan River all the way to Jerusalem. Again, the natural landscape and view of the farms was lovely. We also met REv. Dr. Mark LaChonce and his wife Dr. Jennifer LaChonce from the ELCA who serves as the site director for the site.  

Jan. 16 – Pastor Mark also leads an international congregation of worshipers hosted by the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Amman, which we visited on Friday. We also took a tour into the Old City of Amman, seeing Roman ruins, and markets. We had a delicious meal. 

It’s important to note here that the day we started traveling was Jan. 7, the day Renee Good was shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Minneapolis Area Synod Bishop Jen Nagel was on our trip and even if she had not been, the occupation of Minneapolis and really of the entire state was on our minds for the entire trip. Is this where we were supposed to be during such a time? It’s where we were and I am so grateful for the trip planners and leaders and my conversation partners along the way who helped me, if not make sense of this dissonance, at least helped me be fully present for the rich and life-changing experience I was having. 

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January 2026 Synod Council Report

Posted on January 25, 2026 by megganmanlove

Bishop Meggan’s Report to Synod Council – January 2026

On Dec. 9, 2025, after just over a year with a cancer diagnosis, synod Vice President Lisa Therrell died. Lisa lived life fully that last year, including a dream trip with husband Rich to Hawaii and serving as our vice president. Lisa had become a trusted colleague and I already find myself wondering “what would Lisa say?” or “how would Lisa approach this?” As noted in correspondence with you earlier I am thankful that Jeff Campbell has agreed to serve as our interim vice president, though he had a previous commitment and will not be able to lead our January meeting, so I’ll be doing that. We will honor Lisa’s life during opening worship of Synod Assembly and, assuming you follow the exec committee’s recommendation at our January meeting, install our newly elected vice president during closing worship Sunday of Synod Assembly. I am holding my grief gently while pressing on for the sake of the synod.

Our synod staff’s purpose continues to be to serve, accompany, and equip ministry sites and leaders of the NWIM of the ELCA so they can point to and participate in the gracious work of Jesus.

Since our synod council meeting in mid-September, I have visited the following congregations on Sunday mornings or for an installation: Troy Lutheran, Salem in Spokane (rite of welcome for UCC Pastor Ian Carr McPherson), Faith in Leavenworth (installation of Pastor Aaron Musser), Immanuel in Grandview, Grace in Cashmere, Faith in Caldwell, Grace in Wenatchee, New Day in Idaho Falls, King of Glory in Boise, Trinity in CDA, Riverview Retirement Community, Peace in Otis Orchards, and Lord of Life in Kennewick (installation of Deacon Karleigh Crepin). 

This fall, I also represented our synod at three bishops’ installations: Montana Bishop Ben Quanbeck in Billings, Presiding Bishop Yeheil Curry in Minneapolis, and SW WA Bishop Keith Marshall in Olympia. I also attended my final PLU board meeting and first ELCA Church Council meeting. I preached at the ecumenical Outdoor Ministry Connections Great Gathering at Lake Junaluska near Asheville, NC (and also spent time with Rebecca Smith and Maddie Glantz). I served on the Seminary Debt Reduction Task Force which gave its final report to the ELCA Church Council in November. I also sat on the 2025 LuMin strategic grant review team. First Call Theological Education for Region 1 (including Montana!) was in early November at Seabeck. Former D.C. bishop Leila Ortiz was a fabulous presenter. She’ll be the keynote speaker at Fall Convocation 2026 in Lewiston. I am writing this before my January trip to the Holy Land with other bishops and ELCA Churchwide staff but will report on it after I return. Every bishop is supposed to make that trip and visit a seminary during their term. I am scheduled to visit LSTC in Chicago in February with Bp Edison Albright from Wisconsin. 

Around the synod, we had a wonderful Bishop’s Fall Convocation in Richland with Dr. Anthony Bataeza. Pastor Liv put together a stellar Preach, Pray, Preside, and Polity retreat at the Grunewald Guild (see her report). We now have around 15 lay people in some kind of certificate program/formation. We started the retired pastor/deacon gatherings again (Riverview in Spokane Oct. 20 and looking to Boise in February). 

I was able to spend some good time with Pastors Ezekiel and Wilson during their Treasure Valley visit. We are all indebted to retired Deacon Heidi Cryer for helping them navigate the most challenging trip home (due to violence in Dar es Salaam after the national election) that any of us can remember. Tanzania was recently added to the list of countries “now banned from all immigrant visas and all tourist, student, and exchange visitor visas.” This should not impact our people traveling to Tanzania this summer but could impact future visits to us by our companion synod guests.

I am grateful to Pastors Phil and Liv for being with Central Lutheran for their final worship service (when I was in N.C.). All Saints, Spokane is in the process of selling their building and deciding what’s next for them as a congregation. It was good to meet with their council in December. 

A huge part of the fall for our synod staff was implementing the United at the Font: Partnering for the Future events in Moses Lake, Clarkston, Pocatello, and St. Gertrude’s Monastery (ecumenical leaders). Our host congregations provided wonderful hospitality and though the days were long, our facilitators did a wonderful job leading; new relationships were formed and old ones were nurtured. I am still pondering all I learned at St. Gertrude’s from our full communion partners. Hopefully you read the news in the synod e-newsletter that we will receive a $30,000 grant from Wartburg’s CaSTLE project in 2026. 

And of course, December included correspondence with those in our synod impacted by the atmospheric river and other storms. Pastor Liv and I were on a call with other bishops and staff serving Washington, Lutheran Disaster Response, Ray Shjervan (our WA VOAD rep), and Holden Village. I’ll be back in touch with Ray after the Holy Land trip. 

As we look ahead to 2026, there seems to be a great deal on the calendar and a great deal to do. My goal is to make sure we keep Jesus Christ, whose coming we have just celebrated, at the center. I write this as much for my own accountability as for anything else. None of us needs more work for work’s sake. However, if in-person Synod Assembly, additional United at the Font events, more people in lay leadership formation and ELCA Candidacy (working towards ordination), and new ministry explorations can help us share the life-giving gospel of Jesus Christ, then that is work I am grateful to be freed by God’s mercy to do with this synod.

Addendum: Central Lutheran, Spokane’s Legacy – from Pastor Dave Kappus

Here is a listing of our legacy gifts. Pretty sure these are final numbers as banking business has been pretty much concluded.

The Central Lutheran Mission Endowment Fund with the ELCA Foundation will be sending quarterly distributions of about $600 each to five beneficiaries:

  • World Relief Spokane
  • Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery
  • Northwest Intermountain Synod
  • Mid-City Concerns
  • Second Harvest Inland Northwest

If one of these beneficiaries ceases to exist, its share will be equally distributed among the remaining beneficiaries. Also, these same five beneficiaries will split equally the remains of the checking account upon closure. That one-time payment will amount to about $445.

Our Faith Forward Legacy Fund contained the proceeds from the sale of the building and was used to support Central’s general fund since 2022. Remaining funds in that account are being distributed as follows:

  • Riverview Retirement Community (which Central helped start) – $50,000 to capital project for the “Central Lutheran Learning Center” which will be used to train and equip those called to serve residents in retirement and nursing facilities
  • Lutheran Community Services of Spokane (I have served on their “Leadership Advisory Council” for many years) – $64,417.04
  • Lutherhaven Ministries (which Central helped start) – $80,521.30 for general fund purposes
  • Northwest Intermountain Synod – $16,104.26 for “Fund for Leaders” and other purposes as the Synod Council deems fit

Our Christianson Endowment Fund was given by member Warren Christianson for the express purpose of supporting Central’s general fund. In consultation with the remaining trustee, its remaining balance has been given to Lutherhaven Ministries to fund their “Leadership Initiative.” The Leadership Initiative captures what we have long loved about this camp. It is not just about a week in the summer. It is about walking alongside young people over time—nurturing their faith, encouraging their gifts, and helping them grow from campers, to counselors, to leaders in their communities and in the church. It is about forming disciples who know they are loved by God and called to serve with courage and compassion. A case in point was in the room as Donor Engagement and Events Manager Sarah Jones was once a young camper, then a leader in a certain pastor’s youth group (mine!), and now a camp staff member. The transfer of the Christianson Endowment funds of $417,000 to Lutherhaven to support this program (staff position and resources) will help keep Central’s legacy alive in the lives of young people who will lead, serve, and share the good news in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Installation of Pastor Aaron Musser at Faith Lutheran, Leavenworth
United at the Font even in Pocatello, Idaho
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Dec. 20 – Installation at Lord of Life

Posted on December 20, 2025 by megganmanlove

Deacon Karleigh Crepin’s Installation

John 13:12-17

Presiding Bishop Yehiel Curry has said that in this first year of his time as presiding bishop of the ELCA, he will be emphasizing that we are a connected church. That can mean many things, but here’s one thing I know. As much as you all from Lord of Life are celebrating today, many others around the ELCA are celebrating as well. 

Pastors, deacons, and lay people across the Northwest Intermountain Synod have been praying for your call process since it began. Pastor Kirsten serves as one of our deans and the other deans she meets with regularly have been on this journey with her. The ELCA deacon community is connected to you through this call and is celebrating today. Deacon Karleigh’s home synod of St. Paul and her seminary classmates are celebrating. Further on in Jesus’ farewell discourse, which begins with his washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus will speak of himself as the vine and his followers as the branches, connected. Today is a day for us as a synod and congregation to give thanks for and celebrate the many ways we are connected to one another and to the love of God in Christ Jesus.

Many of us gathered for worship this afternoon probably know our gospel story so well that we gloss over how radical Jesus’ actions really are.  Here is a God who comes in human form and kneels at the feet of others. He holds his friends’ dirty, tired, callused feet in the palms of his hands and washes them clean. It’s as far from anything the world would expect in an almighty god. It’s as unexpected as God being laid in a manger, sharing meals with criminals, or being friends with foreigners.  

In 2025 we are invited to imagine what might take the place of such an act today. It is a tough question. We are far enough from first century Palestine and places and times like Regency England that servants or slaves are not so normalized. Certainly, there are people who take what we might see as less-desirable jobs. But that is not an accurate comparison with today’s story. Jesus shares these moments with the people that have been following him, eating with him, and journeying with him. Though the love command is something we carry with us outside our faith community, it is truly about the faith community itself.

Jesus knows his followers so well that his decision to include them all in these acts of holy intimacy is profound. Gathered in that place are those with strong faith in Jesus’ mission, though they do not yet know the costs that will come with following him. Judas is known, washed, and fed in all his fear and duplicity. Peter is known, fed, and loved despite his impending denials. 

All the rest will, in their own ways, flee in fear, leaving Jesus accompanied only by the women in his life and by his fellow condemned. But Jesus does not cancel this intimate evening to distance himself from those who will flee. Instead, he draws them that much closer to his soon-to-be-wounded side.

This is helpful context as we consider what it means to wash another’s feet today. Each of us is different and has different barriers. On the one hand I think that intimacy with others comes easier to some of us than others. And yet this story is a reminder that all disciples are called to this work, to be open to moments of closeness and intimacy and acts of love.

I can only speak for myself that what most often has prevented me from acts of intimacy is the fear that I don’t have enough: enough energy, enough good answers, enough time, or enough compassion. Teachers and mentors wiser than me, plus some experience, have taught me that just showing up is often more than enough. People long to be really and truly seen. We don’t have to have answers or special training to be present in another person’s life.

Throughout the pandemic, I led groups online through different spiritual practices. One of the favorite practices was titled, “Gazing at a beloved or friendly other.” What participants shared with me was how much they appreciate the questions. While imagining in their minds eye a person they have recently encountered, they are asked to ponder what fears the person carries/ what unmet longings do they hold, what ancient wounds haunt them, what gifts or joys light them up and yearn to flourish more fully? 

We all want someone to wonder those things about each of us. And you, gathered today, believe that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, already knows all the answers. But you who hear Jesus’ voice, who follow him, who obey his command to love one another, then are called to be compassionately curious about others, both those in our community of faith and those beyond. What fears the person carries/ what unmet longings do they hold, what ancient wounds haunt them, what gifts or joys light them up and yearn to flourish more fully?

I actually think this is part of your role as a deacon, Karleigh, to invite people from Lord of Life into this intimacy and holy knowing, as an end in itself, but also for the sake of the gospel and the reign of God breaking in here and now. This congregation knows better than most the role of a deacon and Pastor Kirsten gave us some helpful reminders at the beginning of worship. And yet, all of us who wear stoles, pastors and deacons, know that the roles are not what they were 100-50-or even 20 years ago. As the world changes, so do the calls of pastors and deacons.

In a world where the other is dehumanized through language, legislation, andvsocial media posts, who better than the deacon, who stands at the threshold of the church door and the world, to help us remember that each person is made in the image of God, the imago dei? And at the same time, in a world that continues to accelerate, in a time when it is so easy to feel that you are not enough and never will be, who better than a deacon, who kneels at your feet, to proclaim that you also are made in the image of God?

Jesus’ new commandment to love one another can only be lived with the help of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit empowers us to share in Christ’s vision of communities where vulnerability and intimacy are embraced, not for themselves but for real beloved community. God’s own abundant love makes this possible. That same Holy Spirit will be with you Deacon Karleigh, and you Lord of Life Lutheran in Kennewick, WA, as you continue to faithfully follow Jesus in your neighborhood and the world we all share. Thanks be to God.

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Dec. 14 – Otis Orchards

Posted on December 20, 2025 by megganmanlove

On the Third Sunday in Advent, I joined the saints saints of Peace Lutheran, Otis Orchards north of Liberty Lake, served by Pastor Dave Olson. They just voted to proceed with a prairie restoration project for much of their acreage.

Isaiah 35:1-10

“The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and shouting.” The prophet Isaiah paints a beautiful tapestry with words of the natural world flourishing. It is not very often that I get to visit a congregation that is making a text actually come alive, but that’s what I get to do today. Among other things, I want to say Thank You, Peace Lutheran for your prairie restoration project. Through Pastor Dave’s Facebook posts and emails, I have watched this ministry be planted as a seed, now watered, and with you I wait to watch it flourish completely. 

Church property the congregation hopes to restore to prairie

Of the desert blossoming is only part one of Isaiah’s vision. Further on we hear the verses which I have sung in my head all week. Verse five is so synonymous with the well-known alto recitative in George Frideric Handel’s Messiah that we may not even think about the actual words, “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened.” The God of our Advent waiting promises transformation. Eyes that have been closed shall be opened to really see! Ears that have never experienced sound shall hear harmonious oratorios! The lame will leap like deer on the heights! The voiceless will sing at the top of their lungs! Handel first offered his Messiah in 1742 in a church in Ireland, a vulnerable island where people had been expended and used again and again by force and slavery and mercenary reprisal. That is where God goes—where the human soul longs for new life.

The poet Isaiah returns then to the natural world where burning sand shall become a pool, and thirsty ground springs of water. In a season in which so much of our synod is saturated and flooding, these may not be welcome words. And yet we in the Mountain West also know too well the reality of drought and high desert. We have stood outside in a spring rain or a late fall snow, grateful for life-giving water. 

And it’s not a hard for us to translate this poetic imagery into the innermost parts of our life. Perhaps it is stubbornness or self-righteousness that has hardened our hearts. Maybe we have turned our back on any one of the relationships in our lives. Our empathy, our compassion, our ability to connect seems to have dried up like desert sands. Then, something changes our perspective, and we remember the abundant mercy and love of God; it feels like springs of living water.

Next, we hear the poet invoke a human structure: “A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray.” Because of this highway image the other song ever present for me this week was The Impressions’ 1965 hit, People Get Ready, not about a highway, but certainly about a journey.

This is a train song; this is a gospel song delivering good news. But 1965 was the height of the Civil Rights Movement, when the suppression of Black voters spurred the march from Selma to Montgomery and police assaulted peaceful marchers. To be confined in segregated schools, jobs, or neighborhoods is to lack freedom of movement. To be incarcerated, terrorized or dispossessed—and thus all too often to be Black in America—is to lack the mobility others take for granted. 

African American music has repeatedly linked liberation to images of mobility: highways, marching, biblical exodus, space travel and trains. This is some of what Curtis Mayfield captures in his song. (Brad Erickson)

People get ready, there’s a train a-comin’
You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’
Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord

Music critic Stanley Crouch explains Mayfield’s response to those events: “…by saying ‘There’s a train a-coming, get ready’ that was like saying, okay, so regardless of what happens, get yourself together for this because you are going to get a chance. Your chance is coming.” The train that is coming in the song speaks to a chance for redemption — the long-sought chance to rise above racism, to stand apart from despair and any desire for retaliation — an end to the cycle of pain.

Mayfield, who was living in Chicago at the time of the march, had grown up in the black church singing gospel. He said the song was a subconscious product of “the preachings of my grandmothers and most ministers when they reflect from the Bible.”


“It is a song of faith really, a faith that transcends any racial barrier and welcomes everyone onto the train. The train that takes everyone to the promised land, really.”  Since its debut in 1965, “People Get Ready” has become a classic for many musicians. Bruce Springsteen has quoted from “People Get Ready” as part of his concert performances in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Curtis Mayfield died in 1999. “People Get Ready,” the song inspired by the March on Washington, lives on. Its idealism and optimism make it the ultimate crossover — crossing not only racial barriers but generations.  

At the center of the song’s redemption and at the center of our text from Isaiah and its restoration of creation and humanity is God. “Here is your God,” announces the prophet, God coming with power to overcome the wickedness, disease, and disorder that stand in the way of God’s breathtaking new age. Salvation, this passage shows us, is not something that relates only to individual souls. Salvation is a transformation of humanity and creation that enables all to sing together in present and eternal joy.

The scripture tells us that God is the one with power to transform creation and humanity-and, look, here God comes! This is not an abstract or even eternal truth. It is a present announcement: God is showing up. 

And where does this happen? The text is clear: it happens as people are given eyes to see and ears to hear. God is in our midst, and amazing things are possible. People of God have known this in every generation. And also in every generation, people have wondered how to see it more clearly and believe it more firmly, given the desert realities in which we live. 

People in Jesus’ day were no different, and so the disciples of John the Baptist were sent to ask Jesus whether he was the one “who is to come” (Matthew 11:3). They were asking nothing less than whether or not they could announce what Isaiah had claimed: “Here is your God.” In response, Jesus pointed to this text: Watch what’s happening. Things are being transformed. The sick are healed and creation obeys my voice. God is at work here, and wonderful things are happening.

Can we believe this, that God has shown up in Jesus and stands today in our midst? It can be really hard to believe sometimes. The gift of this role is traveling around to different ministry sites, meeting individuals, sharing Holy Communion almost everywhere I go. God is absolutely showing up. My prayer today and always is that everyone in our synod be given eyes to see and ears to hear, and that our eyes and ears be opened to discover what God is doing in God’s Son Jesus and in the world around us. 

At the same time, I give thanks that Peace Lutheran and so many other ministries are signs of the reign of God to those who are watching and waiting for God. It’s why we call our ministry sites Wellsprings of God’s Love. The world is transformed when you pass through, as it was when the Israelite pilgrims made their barren world a place of springs as they journeyed to Jerusalem. In Jesus Christ, God is in your midst, in the center of our lives and our world-just as God stands in the center of our text-and God means to do surprising things there.

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Dec. 7 with Riverview Retirement Community

Posted on December 8, 2025 by megganmanlove

Sunday evening I had the honor of preaching and helping distribute Holy Communion at Riverview Retirement Community in Spokane. Rev. Yvette Schock serves as the chaplain for this community started years ago by Spokane Lutherans.

Matthew 3:1-12

I want to admit upfront that preaching on John the Baptist’s own message of repentance to members of a retirement community is a bit daunting to me, and I do quite a bit of guest preaching. If repentance is about a having a new perspective, what can I possible say to those of you who have likely been adopting new perspectives for decades. My own 85-year-old mother just moved into a 55 and older co-operative and we have had many conversations about how her perspective has been altered and then altered again over the years of her life.

Of course, at the heart of today’s scripture passage is the perspective to change all perspectives. It’s not a simple jump from two-dimensional to four-dimensional. It’s the old view to something radically new. The absolute power and authority that God exercises in heaven are now close to being exercised on earth. The second and third petitions of the Lord’s Prayer are about to be granted: May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Repentance is both possible and imperative. 

I also want to name here that repentance itself can be a tricky thing to talk about. For some of you, it might dredge up feelings of guilt and unworthiness. It may even evoke a deathly fear of a day of judgment when God will separate good people from bad people. Didn’t we do away with repentance during Advent in the early 2000s when we tried to differentiate it from that other penitent season of Lent?

On this Second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptist reminds us that repentance is not primarily about our standards of moral worthiness. To repent is to take a clear-minded look at the ways in which one’s life colludes with the assumptions and behaviors of the old age, to turn away from such complicity, and to turn towards God and the attitudes and actions of the realm of heaven. Repentance is about God’s desire to realign us to accord with Christ’s life. Repentance is not about our guilt feelings.  It’s about God’s power to transform us into Christ’s image—an image of love, abundant life, enough for all, flourishing for all creation.  

The truth is, it is God who gets to determine the character of repentance. John the Baptist was not offering a better way to live, although a better way to live was entailed by the kingdom that he proclaimed was near. But it is the proclamation of “the kingdom of heaven,” or the reign of God, that creates the urgency of John’s ministry. 

Such a reign does not come through out trying to be better people. Instead, the reign comes. Period. It’s coming makes imperative our repentance—our new lenses—new perspective. John’s call for the people to repent is not a prophetic call for those who repent to change the world. Rather, he calls for repentance because the world is being and will be changed by the one whom Johns knows is to come. To live differently, then, means that the status quo can be challenged because now a people are the difference. In so many ways, this Sunday is not about anticipating the birth of Jesus, but anticipating Jesus coming again in the fullness of time.

Preparing for this evening, I could not help but thinking about the most recent novel I read: Barbara Kingsolver’s Pulitzer Prize winning 2022 work Demon Copperhead. Yes, Kingsolver’s novel is inspired by Dicken’s David Copperfield, but instead of being set in old-England, her novel is set in present-day Appalachia. Damon Fields is born to a single teenage mother in a trailer home in Lee County, in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. He is nicknamed “Demon Copperhead” for his red hair, which he inherited from his father, who died in a drowning accident. Demon’s life and the novel touch on child poverty, rural America, and drug addiction, specifically the opioid crisis. 

What makes this novel relevant to Advent and our gospel text is that though Demon is resilient and shows grit, what transforms him and his perspective on the world are the moments when other people show him love, we might even call them moments of holy grace. Demon’s life is one tragedy after another. But also making appearances are people like Coach Winfield, the coach of the Lee High football team who takes Demon into his home and eventually coaches him. Winfield’s daughter Angus becomes Demon’s steady friend. There is also Art teacher Annie nurtures Demon’s artistic abilities. And always there is June, his childhood friend’s aunt, always a protective and steady presence especially when he hits rock bottom. It’s the cumulative impact of each of these people helping Demon see his community and himself differently that eventually makes possible his own healing, or salvation. As people of faith, we would say they proclaim to him, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus’ reign of love and life abundance is for you. And each time someone encounters Demon with that love and reign, his life bears fruit.

The potential problem with using a story like Kingsolver’s to draw a comparison is that we can think the Gospel is only for those who have really hard lives. I’ve experienced hardships, but nothing like Demon’s. And yet, I still hunger for Jesus’ vision of the reign of God coming soon. I still yearn for hope. My idols aren’t drugs or money but I put my trust in plenty that is not God—political parties, movements, my own skills. I long for God’s transforming power to intercede. I am grateful when I catch glimpses of God’s reign breaking in. 

Here are some examples. A few weeks ago, I was at a congregation in a different part of our synod talking to some people who were going to join the church, from a different tradition, this week. One after the other, the three of them said something like, “we never knew we could feel such peace in worship.” I think of our synod ministry Cultivating Justice out in the Wenatchee area, a community of contemplation and action gathering around the ongoing work of true welcome and inclusion rooted in the teachings of Jesus. They have been harassed for standing with the marginalized in their community, but they do not back down. And I think of the recent visit of our two guests from the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese of Tanzania. For 30 years we have been sending people back and forth between that diocese and our synod—building real relationships, celebrating our differences and our unity in Jesus Christ.

We are called to prepare, even as God is already preparing us, usually when we are unaware. This happens in radical trust that Jesus Christ himself is working to purify us and the world around us. Christ is equipping us to become a dwelling place fit for himself. When we remember God’s promises, we nurture this trust and God grows us into faithful servants.

At our baptism we are joined with Christ to bring God’s will into the world.  Baptism does not so much welcome the baptized into an institution (as we might think of the church) but into an alternative (or countercultural) community empowered by the Holy Spirit for life and witness. Isaiah’s prophecy from today is read at baptisms. “Pour your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” 

The Holy Spirit is poured in, and we are washed into a baptismal life in Christ–life in a wilderness with deprivations and hard lessons, but also everlasting joy in the kingdom. We are promised forgiveness and eternal life, and we are called to imagine a new community now, in this life.  

Newly prepared to meet God-With-Us this season, we can pray with the Apostle Paul that “the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  We will be changed, transformed, renewed by the gift of grace.  Anne Lammot wrote, “I do not understand the mystery of grace—only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us.”  My prayer for you this Advent that God’s grace will not leave you where it found you.

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Ecumenical Leaders Retreat

Posted on December 8, 2025 by megganmanlove

Two Episcopal bishops, one UCC Conference Minister, one Exec Presbyter, one Stated Clerk, three United Methodist current/future conference staff, and three NWIM Synod: ELCA staff were together last Monday through Wednesday. We spent three days together at St Gertrude’s Monastery. Thanks to Wartburg Theological Seminary‘s The CaSTLE Project Grant for funding our rural ecumenical experiments, including this retreat. We taught one another about our worship, preaching, and polity/governance. As we wrote in our grant proposal, we are deeply committed to partnering so we can better share Jesus and Jesus’ love.

It was also delightful to pray Morning and Evening Prayer with the Sisters of St. Gertrude’s and to see the monastery and Camas Prairie blanketed in snow!

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United at the Font – Pocatello

Posted on November 23, 2025 by megganmanlove

Last Saturday, Nov. 15, I joined the third and final United at the Font: Partnering for the Future event at First UMC in Pocatello. We held previous United at the Font events in Moses Lake (Oct. 25) and Clarkston (Nov. 1). In Pocatello, 42 people from four denominations from Twin Falls to Star Valley gathered to build relationships, pray, dream, learn, and plan. Thanks to Wartburg Seminary’s The CaSTLE Project grant for making this possible.

Our goals were to foster relationships across denominations, deepen understanding of context, and discern next steps together. We began with Dwelling in the Word, using the body of Christ metaphor from Romans 12. We spent time talking about and listening to others explain what’s meaningful in our denominations’ practices. We mapped our contextual realities. In the afternoon we spent some time telling faith stories. We then returned to our mapping to discern themes and start thinking about deeper collaborations. We ended in the sanctuary with Affirmation of Baptism.

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Sermon for OMC Great Gathering

Posted on November 10, 2025 by megganmanlove

Outdoor Ministries Connection Great Gathering

Nov. 10, 2025 at Lake Junaluska Conference Center

Ezekiel 47:5-12

47 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there water was flowing from below the entryway of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east), and the water was flowing down from below the south side of the temple, south of the altar. 2 Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces toward the east,[a] and the water was trickling out on the south side.

3 Going on eastward with a cord in his hand, the man measured one thousand cubits and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep. 4 Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep. Again he measured one thousand and led me through the water, and it was up to the waist. 5 Again he measured one thousand, and it was a river that I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. 6 He said to me, “Mortal, have you seen this?”

Then he led me back along the bank of the river. 7 As I came back, I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and when it enters the sea, the sea of stagnant waters, the water will become fresh.9 Wherever the river goes,[b] every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish once these waters reach there. It will become fresh, and everything will live where the river goes. 10 People will stand fishing beside the sea[c] from En-gedi to En-eglaim; it will be a place for the spreading of nets; its fish will be of a great many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea. 11 But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt. 12 On the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”

Water is complex, especially when I am addressing outdoor ministries professionals. I will be leaning into the life-giving parts of water but know that there are chaplains here. Please take care of yourselves and one another.

The river Ezekiel describes flows from the temple, starting as a trickle, but it in my imagination, it is a merger of the rivers and waterways that have shaped my life. It is the creeks of my childhood in the Black Hills flowing into the Cheyenne River and then into the Missouri. It is the waterways of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario, especially the St. Croix River and the Boundary Waters and Quetico. There is nothing quite so wonderful as paddling a wooden canoe on one of those northern rivers. Birchbark canoes give you a different access to the river, its shore, and the loons, heron, moose, beaver, and fish.

Ezekiel’s vision makes me recall the Red River of my college years in Moorhead, nourishing trees with fall foliage so different from the Ponderosa pines that I grew up with. Finally, I recall the frigid mountain river I was introduced to while working at camp Christikon in Southern Montana, the kind of river, as Norman Maclean wrote, which “runs over rocks from the basement of time.” I did not spend a lot of time in the Boulder River, but campers and I followed it home and relied on its waters, boiled or treated with iodine, for nourishment. 

In many ways, the Boulder is like so many of the rivers I now drive by as a bishop in Idaho, Eastern Washington, and the Western edge of Wyoming. Preparing this sermon, I realized that so much of my first half of life was spent near waters that eventually flow into the Mississippi. Now all the rivers of my life are part of the Snake and Columbia watersheds, which pour into the Pacific. 

Proximity as an adult to the Nez Perce, Shoshone, Northern Paiute, Kootenai, and Couer d’Alene tribes of today’s Idaho has taught me that Salmon will also be plentiful in any vision of the future God intends. In a world created and healed by God, flourishing will include an abundance of beautiful and diverse salmon running upriver to spawn and I imagine that most of the current dams have been removed.

Ezekiel knew rivers himself: the Gihon Spring that feeds a stream flowing into the Kidron Valley. Beyond Jerusalem there was the Jordan river. And in Babylon he perhaps lived along the Chebar (Kebar) River, an ancient canal. How did these rivers sustain a prophet struggling to respond to the catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, a prophet called by God to condemn idolatry and faithlessness through parables, images, and direct scolding? There are 39 chapters of scolding and lament in the book that carries the prophet’s name.

One example some of us might be familiar with is his oracle against the leaders of Israel, “Woe, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 You eat the fat; you clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatted calves, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 You have not strengthened the weak; you have not healed the sick; you have not bound up the injured; you have not brought back the strays; you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them.” Neoliberalism, anyone?

Or consider Ezekiel’s diatribe against Tyre: “I will hurl many nations against you, as the sea hurls its waves. 4 They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down its towers. I will scrape its soil from it and make it a bare rock. 5 It shall become, in the midst of the sea, a place for spreading nets.” (26:5)

Contrast the bare rock and a place for spreading nets to the Dead Sea transformed into a fisherman’s paradise in the vision we heard this evening. Fish of every variety would flourish in its waters. Trees would bear fruit that could be harvested every month, and its leaves had medicinal properties. The entire barren area would undergo a miraculous transformation. 

Ezekiel’s vision encompasses every aspect of life, including economics and what we would call ecology. People are restored to their own productive land and reconciled with God. It should be noted that this vision is fantastic, not attainable through merely human effort, and yet it shows also the most basic practical concern for human welfare. This is expressed in one small detail in the picture of the Dead Sea region: “It’s swamps and its marshes shall not be healed; they will be given over to salt [production]”. 

Genuine prophetic vision must answer to real material need. Here we have received a vision of the Great Economy of the world created and healed by God, who alone guarantees long-term human flourishing.

It’s impossible for me not to connect Ezekiel’s vision with the glimpse of God’s reign that all of you collectively give to people week in and week out (and lots of weekends too). Every single camp (secular or religious) has the chance to give people a vision of humans living together with equity, gaining a sense of belonging, unplugged from all of the electronics and algorithms. For a few days or multiple weeks, people get to give up virtual reality for the natural world. 

But you church camp professionals, gathered in this space, get to do something more, you get to talk and sing and live out the radical love of the triune God at camp! Jesus, who tells us that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets, speaks his own vision of the reign of God through his blessings and woes, his parables, his prayers, and his daily ministry. Here is my one plea for the evening: I don’t think anyone here is considering this, but do not concede Jesus and do not concede the gospel. The life-giving gospel we know is needed now more than ever.

As with the anonymous messenger who is Ezekiel’s guide, you collectively are a guide for a vision of an alternative way of being, a way where life is abundant. Relationships are built around the campfire, on a rainy hike, splashing in the lake, when campers just won’t fall asleep because they are suddenly free to ask the big questions about God and scripture and faith. Go deep in the waters with your campers’ and staff members’ questions about faith, and hear a grateful church say “Thank you! Thank you! For your ministry of equipping embodied and lived faith!” 

Plenty of people think camp is an escape from the real world, a bubble. My dad, whose career was in outdoor ministry, thought differently. He died in 2020 and today would be his 99thbirthday. In his book The Common Book of Camping, he wrote “We have seen a glimpse of the of the kingdom. We have seen a bit of life as it should be. Working together, we create places where people can come, learn, and go out into the world to make it as it should be.”   

When you have experienced Jesus’ love, acceptance, courage, curiosity, and real community, how can you not want to share it and replicate it? Sometimes, as a parish pastor in Iowa and Idaho, when I was making an argument for investing in camperships, I would quip “How can we expect people to help bring in the reign of God if they have never had a glimpse.”

Now I shepherd 80 congregations across a vast territory, and they also can give people a glimpse of the reign of God. In fact, we say that everything we do as a synod is so that ministry sites can be wellsprings of God’s love. And yet, outdoor ministries, because of your proximity to God’s natural creation, give a glimpse of God’s reign and economy even closer to Ezekiel’s fantastic vision of the trickle of water becoming the great river of life.

We hear rich symbolic language of water healing and bringing life and fertility to the wounded earth. Ezekiel’s vision recalls the great water source that fertilized Eden, flowing out in four branches around the inhabited world. I like to imagine that Ezekiel also thought of Hagar’s well, Moses getting water from the rock, and Namaan healed in the River Jordan.

It was inevitable that early Christian writers would associate this great life-giving river with the water of baptism. I do too, perhaps because I find myself leaning on the promises made in holy baptism more than ever right now. I can’t say what each of you brought to this space personally or professionally—overwhelm of a new job, a new diagnosis, broken relationships, fresh grief of a loved one who died, struggles with staff, boards, constituents as you navigate your future. 

But I know that we are all living through a time of deep polarization, violent extremism, the wealth gap growing ever wider, the dehumanization of immigrants and trans neighbors, and an allegiance to a theocracy which looks nothing like the gospel you and I profess. 

Holy Baptism carries the renunciations of evil, the marks of discipleship named so clearly, and the promises made by God and the assembly. These are all gifts for the baptized. Through water and the word, you were trusted by God and entrusted with God’s own love and mercy. You were sealed by the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that is with you still. It is that same Spirit that frees you today to see God in the face of the other: stranger, friend, neighbor, and in your own face.

In the Mountain West, because all the mainline denominations are religious minorities, we swim in deep ecumenical waters, just to continue our metaphor. This has led me to revisit The World Council of Churches historic 1982 document Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, the foundation for all our full-communion agreements and so much of our ecumenical work. It states, “God bestows upon all baptized persons the anointing and the promise of the Holy Spirit, marks them with a seal and implants in their hearts the first instalment of their inheritance as [children] of God.”

John of Patmos incorporated water into his own vision of the transformed world which lay beyond the suffering and evil of the present age. Toward the end of Revelation, we read: “Then the angel[a] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” 

This is a week for learning and relationship building and growing skill sets. Our theme is to Reimagine a Way in the Wilderness. Loons, beavers, salmon—maybe your river includes crayfish and is lined with cypress trees. 

You can reimagine because you have been united with Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. You have all you need and you worship the God who is the source of living water. 

Verses later, John of Patmos says to you and me and all who follow Jesus Christ, “the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes, take the water of life as a gift.” That gift is for you, always and forever. Amen.

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Weekend with the Mennonites

Posted on November 9, 2025 by megganmanlove

Friday evening at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights: clergy dinner with professor and author Drew Straight.

When Mennonite author and scholar Drew Strait comes to town, it makes sense to have breakfast with Pacific Northwest Mennonite Executive Conference Minister Eric Massanari, who before yesterday I had only spoken with online. Eric has been joining our southern Idaho ecumenical judicatory leader zoom calls for about six months Grateful for the conversation!

How to Challenge Christian Nationalism with Drew Strait in Boise. Saturday there was a full sanctuary at Boise First UCC.

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