I have spent the last week enjoying the spaces and the people who make up to of our Northwest Intermountain Synod’s outdoor ministry sites. Last Sunday through Tuesday I was at Luther Heights Bible Camp, a small camp between Stanley and Ketchum, Idaho which has sat on leased Forest Service property since its beginnings. This is a seasonal camp primarily because of snow pack. For many years they have hosted a faith leaders retreat and during the last few years it’s been in June during staff training, allowing leaders to get some continuing education along with fellowship. This year we focused on Youth Mental Health with the help of Lutheran Community Services Northwest staff from the Tri-Cities office and from a foster parent who is a member of Our Savior Lutheran in Twin Falls. On Tuesday morning I also led a Lutheranism 101 session for the staff and then anointed/blessed the staff during morning worship–such a privilege. Camp Director Maddie Glanz has an excellent summer staff.

Friday I flew to Minneapolis to be with my mom and and then both of us attended the funeral for my godfather Warren Salveson, director of Camp Ewalu, camp counselor of Wilderness Canoe Base, interim director of Holden Village, interim director of Good Earth Village, pastor and interim pastor and at one time he served on the Iowa District staff. He and my dad met when Warren and godmother Sonja took youth from Warren’s congregation in Michigan out to Camp Koinonia, which my dad had just started. Warren spent his teenage years in Brooklyn, NY so I’m sure there was a draw to see the camp serving his home congregation. Warren was like a brother to my dad and the stories Warren and Sonja’s four kids told at the funeral revealed so much about their friendship. I was actually pretty afraid of Warren as a little kid, but as with so much of his life, that changed after his stroke. I’m so sorry I won’t have any more conversations with him, or with my dad, but I’m grateful for all the time I took and he and Sonja made to be together. A lot of my dad’s old friends gave me a little grief when I was elected bishop because my dad was so committed to the ministry of lay people and he got tired of pastors and bishops thinking so much of themselves. But Warren, a lifelong pastor who my dad always respected and loved, never gave me a hard time, not even as a joke. He supported me and in these past two years as I’ve served as bishop, asked caring questions, understanding that the church I was serving was so different than the one he was ordained into. We, along with my mom and dad and godmother, shared an abiding belief in the ability of the gospel to transform people’s lives for the good. And that view shaped and shapes so much of who we were and are. I have cried quite a few cathartic tears over the past few days and no wonder when I look at where I’ve been and who I have been with. Grief can be a lot and even when we have experience with it, it can surprise us.

After the funeral, mom took me to the airport and I flew to Spokane and then drove out to Camp Lutherhaven on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Sunday was the kick-off of Lutherhaven’s 80th Anniversary. Camp Director Rebecca Smith let me commission the summer staff during worship–again an honor. As I wrote elsewhere, what a great way to spend Pentecost Sunday!I came to this camp with my mom and dad when they led staff training for Margie Fiedler. Since that time the camp has grown in sites and year-round and summer numbers. It is a big operation. Lutherhaven is also one of the three ELCA camps participating in the next stage of the Rhythms of Faith Project, which I sit on the national advisory team for. I’ll be back at another Lutherhaven site, Shoshone Basecamp, next month to provide some reflections and devotions for the Wild Women Retreat. A huge thank you to both of these outdoor ministries for being Wellsprings of God’s Love and sharing the gospel in these beautiful places.