Saturday afternoon I drove up through the Northeast corner of Oregon to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Kennewick, WA. I got to the church early and took a short walk to get the blood flowing. I was helped on the drive there and back by finally listening to Atul Gwande’s best seller Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. Listening to this book made me so proud of our synod’s work around Estate Planning for the Heart.
Cluster Dean, Pastor Kirsten Sauey Hoffma hosted a conversation with retired and active pastors and deacons in the Tri-Cities: leaders and members of Lord of Life; Kennewick First Lutheran; and First Lutheran Church, Pasco. We talked about Tri-cities Latino Ministries starting up again, joint events among the three congregations, and generally what’s going well and what’s a challenge right now. It was a great few hours together.
I drove over to Walla Walla to retired Pastor Joel and retired Deacon Margaret Ley’s home. Joel retired from Christ, Walla Walla in the spring and last fall Margaret retired from chaplaincy in the Tri-Cities. It was so wonderful to catch up with these two.
Sunday morning I preached and presided at Christ Lutheran. We often have opening worship and the first plenary at Christ Lutheran whenever Bishop’s Fall Convocation is in Walla Walla, as it will be Oct 14-16, 2024. So the sanctuary was sort of familiar and stepping in brought a little nostalgia. The nave filled in and it was a wonderful worship service.
But I was invited to Christ for what came after worship: a conversation about the housing crisis in town and an invitation to tell the story of Trinity New Hope, the housing connected with my former congregation. Next week, Christ’s Social Justice team is beginning a series after worship using the ELCA World Hunger’s study: “Housing: A Practical Guide for Learning, Advocating and Building” It’s is an outstanding resource and I am a bit embarrassed I have not been promoting it more.
More resources and things I mentioned during my presentation and afterwards during the Q and A:
Avenues for Hope Video, skip to testimonies by two residents.
Summary of this work that I wrote for Luther Seminary’s Faith+Lead: https://faithlead.org/blog/land-to-live-on
Spokane Presbytery Grant Reach out to Drew Peterson. drew@presbyinw.org, 509-496-2916
Book Gone for Good by Mark Elsdon. Here’s his WEBSITE.
Synod’s Regional Gatherings this spring. This topic will be tangentially part of the day.
My book review on Homeless Is a Housing Problem
My book review on two books about zoning
Check out the work of Christ Lutheran’s Social Justice Team below:
After the conversation about housing, Interim Pastor Mike Ostrom and I headed to brunch at Bacon and Eggs. I love downtown Walla Walla! Talking with Mike, I realized that Walla Walla is about the size Rapid City, SD was when I was growing up in Western South Dakota. We talked about the changing church, the Mountain West, the ELCA, thinkers and writers and theologians we are paying attention to these days. Then I headed home to the Treasure Valley.
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A Place at the Table 