Tribal Housing Summit

Posted on September 4, 2024 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod-ELCA September e-newsletter.

Your kingdom come.

What does this mean? In fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us. Martin Luther’s Small Catechism

Dear Friends in Christ,

I am filled with hope and energy and ideas after spending a day and half this past week at the inaugural National Tribal Housing Ecosystem Summit organized by Enterprise Community Partners. Last spring I asked Bart Cochran, the executive director of LEAP Housing (whose board I sit on) what LEAP was doing to walk alongside and learn from the tribes in Idaho. He told me he had just learned about this summit, which would be in Boise, and asked if I wanted to attend. 

The event began Tuesday evening with a social hour. We met Shaun Donovan, Enterprise’s CEO who was the HUD Secretary under the Obama administration, and Tonya Plummer, Native American Housing Director for Enterprise and creator of the summit, enrolled tribal member of Assiniboine, Sioux, and Cree heritage who currently lives in Kalispel, MT.  Wednesday began with a land acknowledgement by Ladd Edmo of the Shoshone Bannock Tribe, greetings from an elder of the Shoshone-Paiute tribe, and a song from the Nez Perce, or Nimiipuu. These three tribes played a major role in hosting throughout the summit. Panels, workshops, and tribal showcases (celebrating success stories) were all informed by the The Housing Ecosystem: A Foundation of Tribal Economies. The core tenets are demand, social & emotional infrastructure, construction & development, and finance. We heard from Rudy Soto (USDA Rural Development Director who grew up in Nampa, Idaho and is a member of the Shoshone-Bannock tribe), Joaquin Altoro (Admin, Rural Housing US Dept. of Agriculture), Estakio Beltran (with the Dept. of Interior who grew up on the Yakima Nation), Lakota Vogel (Executive Director of Four Bands Community Fund and member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), Rose Petosky (Director of Tribal Affairs, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs and member of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians), and many others. I so appreciated a session on Social and Emotional Infrastructure led by Lanalle Smith (member of the Navajo): “Centering Native Based Perspective in Credit and Equity, Excerpts from the Trauma of Money.” Another great session was the Power of Data led by Casey Lozar of the Center for Indian Country Development. In the latter we learned how the CICD is trying to fill the data gaps on Indigenous populations and communities. The best part of the entire summit was meeting and having conversations with tribal members from the housing authorities at Fort Hall, Nez Perce, and Duck Valley. I was able to ask questions like, is there any role for a primarily white church or non-profit to accompany you in this work? The answer was yes, we are always looking for partners. LEAP is creating its own CDFI (Community Development Financial Institution) and since not all the tribes have a certified CDFI yet, this could be helpful. Some of our synod’s churches are on or near reservations and tribal members were open to potential partnerships now or in the future. I celebrate those of you already partnering! Thursday morning, I went to tribal showcases with tribes from my home state of South Dakota. The Sisseston Whapeton Housing Authority and the Sicangu Co from the Rosebud Sioux Tribe are both doing amazing work—stacking capital, working with their tribes, and building homes that are beautiful and will be standing for generations! The last showcase I attended highlighted a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit project the Oneida Tribe is doing in Wisconsin. By lunch on Thursday, word was out that I was also a Lutheran bishop, not just with LEAP housing, and the Enterprise staff connected me with Jess Blanch, Pacific Northwest Program Director who works with my ELCA and Methodist colleagues in Western Washington. I also met Enterprise’s Robin Wolff, Senior Director for Rural Communities. If your church has already discerned that affordable housing is in your future, I commend Enterprise’s Faith-Based Development Guide. There’s also this resource from ELCA World Hungeron housing.

Preparing for a Circle Dance

A few thoughts to wrap this all up: I know I am not the first or last bishop, pastor, deacon, or lay person to care about accompanying our Indigenous siblings. I have role models, and I know many of you are currently reading, building relationships, hosting seminars, and showing up at tribal events. But when a leader says something is important, as I have said this work is important to our synod, then it is equally important for me to lead by example. I am in this with you all. It is hard and slow work, but it is also joy filled and hopeful—so hopeful!

A final list of take-aways or things I am still pondering (in no special order):

  • Self-Determination – a division of the BIA, an Act of 1975, and something that was named multiple times throughout the summit
  • CDFIs – a great tool now and going forward
  • USDA does so much in rural housing 
  • There are many Indigenous veterans, a very vulnerable population
  • Importance of knowing the history of Indian Boarding Schools
  • Enterprise’s Faith-Based Development
  • Most Native Americans live in urban settings-something an Alaska Native who grew up in Nome and now lives in Seattle reminded the data session group

Thanks for reading and wishing you a beautiful September and beginning of the programmatic church year.

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Rostered Ministry – Be Part of Someone’s Discernment

Posted on September 1, 2024 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod e-news in August

This summer our Episcopalian siblings are celebrating the 50th anniversary of women’s ordination in their denomination. The evening of Sunday, July 28 I was the guest of the Idaho Episcopal Diocese at Ascension in Twin Falls, ID. During the prayers of the people, the leader gave space for everyone gathered to name aloud a person or people who had been significant in their journey to public ministry or lay ministry. This celebration came at the end of my trip to our congregations in Wyoming which came on the heels of the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans. So, I was immediately transported back to the 1997 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans when I served on a Hotel Life Team, which involved general hospitality and helping lead worship in the hotel each morning, including my first sermon. The last night of that Gathering was a huge party outside. I walked around with Pastor Marilyn Breckenridge, the head of our team, and during that walk she encouraged me to consider becoming a pastor. It was probably small to her, something I assume she did regularly, but to me it was something I still remember this many years later. 

In our tradition, we talk about the internal and external call to ministry, and we affirm that both are necessary to the discernment process. Naming the possibility, as Pastor Breckenridge did, is right there in the Letter of Call all of us pastors receive: “to encourage persons to prepare for the ministry of the Gospel.” I have yet to install a deacon, but I assume it’s in their letter too. For most of us, nudges or invitations from rostered ministers were significant, but so too were seeds planted by other members of our faith communities. As important as it is for all of us to take seriously our callings as baptized children of God, so too is it important that we identify and name gifts for public/ordained ministry when they appear. One conversation can open an imagination and prepare it to be nourished by someone else. 

In a recent email to rostered leaders, ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton wrote, “Recently we have heard one thing loud and clear: our candidates and future seminarians need more opportunities for discernment. As we listen across the church to learn how the churchwide expression can best support you, a constant theme is the need for more discernment resources. Therefore, in partnership with all seven of our ELCA seminaries, we are launching online discernment groups.

….Those who are interested can sign up, using the contact form located at elcaseminaries.org. While there, they can discover the unique educational opportunities each of our seminaries has to offer. As they explore the site, they might even find examples of church leadership they have never seen before. If they aren’t comfortable in a group setting, they can request to speak with a discernment mentor one-on-one. These new conversation-based resources expand upon our already existing discernment site, Journi.faith.” 

Three of our ELCA Seminaries (PLTS, Wartburg, and Luther) will host an online discernment event for all of Region One (including our synod) Saturday, November 23 at 9-10:30am (Pacific), 10-11:30am (Mountain). Finally, the Northwest Intermountain Synod has its own Candidacy page, with information about the candidacy process, our Candidacy Committee, and other resources.

Who will you forward this email to? Who in your congregation have you been meaning to talk with about their gifts for public ministry? Whose discernment process have you already been a part of? Thank you!

Peace,

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Wyoming Plus

Posted on July 29, 2024 by megganmanlove

Last Wednesday I took off for a trip to the congregations on the eastern edge of our synod, the two churches from Wyoming in our synod. I stopped at St. John’s Lutheran in American Falls, a church in pastoral transition, to check in with the council president and another council member able to be at the church. They are welcoming the Episcopalians (who are having holy closure and selling their building to the city or county to be a museum). There were questions around how best to welcome them. I found the service to welcome new members for them but also asked to take a look in the pastor’s study. After about five minutes I found what I was looking for–copies of Dan Erlander’s Baptized We Live. I drove on to Pocatello where I had dinner with the Kendal Presbytery leader Cathy Chisolm. I learned that the two presbyteries of southern Idaho will soon be voting to merge. Final destination for the evening was Pastor Wayne and Janet Shipman’s home.

Thursday I made the beautiful drive from Pocatello (where there is road construction everywhere) to Star Valley United Church in Thayne, WY for the funeral of Pastor Allan Schoonover, who served there in his final call. He also served up in Jackson and in Aberdeen, SD and was an active retired pastor in Arizona. Pastor Stephen Bibb preached and I presided. It was wonderful to meet the many parishioners and witness Pastor Bibb’s wonderful pastoral presence.

I drove up through the canyon to Jackson and found the Teton public library so I could catch up on email. I stayed with a wonderful couple who helped start SoM; wonderful hospitality. On Friday, my birthday, SoM Pastor Tim Stadium and I headed to the national park for a hike and dinner–always a good way to get to know someone. On Saturday I went to the Jackson Art Fair–so much amazing art–and enjoyed the library a bit more.

Sunday I preached at SoM. This congregation has done a lot of work in the last few years learning about themselves, their neighborhood, and the larger Jackson community. A small group spent time in Ephesians before worship. Bread was baking in the kitchen up until the opening hymn and the aroma brought John 6 alive. We had a wonderful conversation following worship about Funding Forward (building on our Regional Gatherings) and possible collaboration partners.

I finished the day by celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Ordination of Women in the Episcopal Church with the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho, at Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Twin Falls. I saw many familiar faces and met some new friends.

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July 28, 2024 – Jackson

Posted on July 29, 2024 by megganmanlove

Shepherd of the Mountains in Jackson, WY

John 6:1-21

The feeding of the multitude is such a gift of a scripture passage to preach as a bishop who sees and experiences so much across our vast synod—88 ministry sites between Jackson and Leavenworth, WA—12 hours in the summer when roads don’t collapse. Assistant to the Bishop Phil Misner, Director for Evangelical Mission Liv Larson Andrews, and I are out in congregations 2-3 Sundays each month. Ahead of our Wednesday morning staff meetings, we often write reflections on our Sunday visits. The abundance of Jesus’ love, the Holy Spirit’s activity, and God’s gifts is remarkable and the bearing witness to it all is the biggest joy of this call to serve as bishop. 

We have witnessed small scrappy congregations providing after school programs for the youth everyone else in town seems to have forgotten. We witness congregations in small towns that are the hub of spiritual welcome and physical nourishment and belonging; they have become what city planners refer to as third spaces. We have celebrated large and small churches partnering with nonprofits caring for indivuals experiencing homelessness. We have witnessed churches offering childcare and food pantries—which become care for the soul in addition to the body. 

And most importantly, and I really cannot stress this enough, our congregations, no matter the community, are a place where God’s love and mercy are preached and sung and received during the Lord’s Supper. 

I witnessed a similar sort of abundance last week while in New Orleans for the ELCA’s triennial Youth Gathering—16,000 youth, young adults, and adult leaders gathered to grow in faith, hear from inspiring speakers, praise God through singing, and learn from and walk alongside the citizens of New Orleans. The triennial youth gathering is always a week full of the abundance captured in today’s scripture passage. 

I always kind of wonder if we there will be enough—enough volunteers, enough activities, enough patience, enough compassion, enough energy, enough time, enough empathy, enough organization. I don’t worry too much because we have done this many times, but because of Covid, we skipped 2021, so we were a bit out of practice. It is a week when we all exercise plenty of human agency while simultaneously trusting the Holy Spirit to show up and provide. This year, I had lots of memories of my first time as a participant: hearing, among others, Maya Angelo, in Dallas in 1991as a high school freshman. That summer and last week I again felt some of the awe I assume the crowd experienced on the hillside in Galilee when the preacher, healer, miracle worker Jesus fed them all with a little bread and fish. 

This is the only miracle story told in all four gospels. That should be a clue to any reader of its importance. That Jesus has compassion, that God is a God of abundance, that caring for physical bodies is important are all part of this significant story and all tell us crucial things about God in Jesus Christ. 

But just as important to the parts of the story found in all four gospels are the details that are only part of John the Evangelist’s telling. I tend to not dwell on textual differences when preaching, thinking it distracts from the good news. But this morning is the exception because John’s unique details are so important to the life of faith, to following Jesus today.

In John’s telling, and only in John’s telling, it is Jesus himself who distributes the food. He does not delegate or equip his disciples for the task. He gives the food away himself. Why is this significant? Because the Last Supper in John does not include an actual supper. It includes the all-important foot washing, which we remember and sometimes reenact on Maundy Thursday. 

In John’s gospel, the feeding of the multitude is the Lord’s Supper moment. This is the moment when Jesus gives himself away. Jesus is intimate with the people. And he gives himself away, not in an upper room with his disciples, but in the everyday stuff of life. Remember that—he is with the crowd. He is in the midst of conversations, hunger, friendships, family drama, even the bugs and leaves and grass of the natural world.

So, in those times when you have wondered if God is with you in the everyday, the times when we sense the Holy Spirit working but can hardly believe it, we can trust that God is in fact with us. That time last week in New Orleans when I was at first so tired and the next day so grateful for the many youths and adults God had put in my life through the Youth Gathering; I thought about the story in John 6. Yes, this is our God’s M.O., God’s method of operation, to show up in the regular stuff—in conversation, in work, in recreation in the natural world, in weariness, in moments of grief and memory.  

And this brings me to what may be most wonderful and remarkable about this miracle story. One of my favorite theologians [Douglas J.H.] claims that “what is truly amazing is not that a seeming human could multiply loaves and fishes in so astounding a manner but that this human being could represent, by his words and deeds, such a sign of hope and healing that hundreds of needy people would follow him about and feel that their hunger for ‘the bread of life’ had been [satisfied].” 

Continuing to Jesus’ walking on water, “What is truly awe-inspiring is not that someone could walk on the surface of the water without sinking, but that his presence among ordinary, insecure, and timid persons could calm their anxieties and cause them to walk where they feared to walk before.”

This is not to take away any of the awe and wonder from this most powerful and beautiful story. Nor is it meant to take away awe and wonder from the ways each of us has experienced the power of God through the Holy Spirit working through our lives. Whether we call them God-sightings, theophanies (a Greek term for the appearance of a deity), experiences of the divine, or transcendent moments, I hope you are having them and paying attention to them. God shows up in the ordinary all the time. We only have to have our senses alert, to practice each day being aware of God’s presence in our lives individually and as an entire faith community.

We might imagine that feeding of the multitude as this beautiful peaceful pastoral scene. And many artists have taken their turns portraying the event. But these were hungry people, probably oppressed by the Roman Empire, almost surely seeking hope. Then here comes this Jesus and he not only gives them actual bread. He gives them himself. He gives them, we might assume, a sense of belonging, identity as followers of him. He also gives them an even greater gift: hope.

Healing, perhaps a more wholistic and this-world word for salvation, forgiveness and hope are the gifts received even today in the Lord’s Supper. It does not matter if you participate in the Lord’s Supper in the outdoor chapel at Luther Heights Bible Camp, in the living room of one of your homebound members, or in this sanctuary. Jesus gives himself away once again, meeting you wherever you are, when the words are said, “broken for you” and “shed for you.” Healing and forgiveness are as real today as on that hillside thousands of years ago.

But again, the remarkable thing about this story is that Jesus’ takes the meal, what I clearly see as him instituting the Lord’s Supper, to the hillside, full of grass, caterpillars, physical and spiritual hunger, messy and thriving relationships. It is this event, this powerful story, that gives me permission to speak quite frankly about the holiness of so many of the other meals eaten around the Northwest Intermountain Synod—soup suppers during Advent or Lent, potlucks, meal trains for people who or grieving or sick, or family dinners in each of your homes. Yes, Jesus is there too, during the every-day. There, too, he is giving us hope and healing, filling us with the bread of life, himself. 

Please do not ask me to explain in this sermon how the Holy Spirit does this work. The “how” is fun to talk about, but what is important is the “why.” Why did Jesus give himself away in barley bread? Why does Jesus give himself away in bread and wine at this table? Why does the Holy Spirit show up in all the ordinary meals and encounters of life? Because…God’s love is everlasting and as abundant as during that miracle of feeding the multitude. And God will use any and every opportunity to make sure we know we are beloved and are part of the kingdom of God.

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ELCA Youth Gathering – Created to Be

Posted on July 20, 2024 by megganmanlove

I’m at the Dallas Love Field airport, having left New Orleans early (after a rough day for the airlines) getting ready to return to the Boise area after a wonderful week at the 2024 ELCA Youth Gathering. A huge shout out to The Gathering staff and the thousands of volunteers who make this triennial event happen. An added challenge to this event is that the ELCA skipped The Gathering (scheduled to be in Minneapolis is 2021, postponed to 2022 and then cancelled) for a cycle. This meant we lost some momentum and memory of The Gathering. The event that was pulled off was fabulous under but these factors make the achievement all the more remarkable. The Northwest Intermountain Synod had a strong representation and I look forward to congregations across the synod hearing from the youth and their adult leaders, including some pastors and many caring adults who gave of their time.

What is the ELCA Youth Gathering?

Every three years, thousands of high school youth and their adult leaders from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gather for a week of faith formation known as the ELCA Youth Gathering. Through days spent in interactive learning, worship, Bible study, service and fellowship, young people grow in faith and are challenged and inspired to live their faith in their daily lives.

An important part of the Gathering’s ministry are the two pre-events, the Multicultural Youth Leadership Event (MYLE), a faith formation and leadership development event primarily for youth of color, and the tAble, a gathering that brings together, blesses and empowers youth with disabilities.

The ministry of the Gathering is excited to partner with Young Adult Ministries to host the first-ever ELCA Young Adult Gathering for individuals who will be 18-35 at the time of the Gathering.

Young Adults from King of Glory, Boise

Around 16,000 of us were in New Orleans this week. Though this is the Youth Gathering, it has traditionally been the largest gathering of ELCA adults too.

I flew in very late from Spokane knowing I might be delayed coming from the West, which I was. Registration and the first mass gathering at the Smoothie King were Tuesday, with the theme Created to be brave. We heard from Dr. Michael Chan, Old Testament scholar.

Youth from the Luther Heights/Southern Idaho Group

The gathering participants get split into thirds for the middle three days of the event. Regions 1 (NWIM plus NW WA, SW WA, OR, and AK) and Region 3 (ND, SD, and MN) started with Synod/Region Day. Groups did a photo scavenger hunt to explore the city and worshipped together. Big thanks to the synod champions who planned Region 1 Worship at the Hilton Riverside.

Region 1 Worship
With Bp colleagues from Alaska & Oregon

The evening theme Tuesday was created to be authentic. Our keynote was by Dr. Jacqueline Bussie, whose book Love Without Limits, a few of us read with our youth in the Treasure Valley pre-pandemic.

Thursday our synod had Interactive Learning Day–a day to spend dedicated time in the Interactive Learning Center at the Convention Center and out in the city. A few groups went on swamp tours.

Lunch with Trinity, Pullman
Rev Dr Kelly Sherman Conroy organized MYLE. We went to high school together a few years ago.

Thursday evening the theme was created to be free and our keynote was author Austin Channing Brown.

Friday was the NWIM Synod’s Accompaniment Day–a day to serve the city and/or go deeper learning about issues Christians are concerned about. The city experienced some big thunderstorms the previous few days and that impacted some of the accompaniment opportunities. I joined Lord of Life from Kennewick, WA and we went to a public library to help with author day (children’s authors who displayed their books and read to children).

With Lord of Life, Kennewick
Trinity Pullman Group
Faith, Caldwell Group
Luther Heights Group

The theme Friday evening was created to be disruptive and our keynote speaker was Pastor Sally Azar.

This morning, everyone is back in the arena for sending worship, including Holy Communion. The theme is created to be disciples.

We’ll be going to Minneapolis in 2027!

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With the Methodists from the West

Posted on July 14, 2024 by megganmanlove
With Bishops Bridgeforth, Oliveto, and Stoneking

It’s hard to sum up how full my heart is after just Friday and Saturday morning at the United Methodist Church’s Western Jurisdiction Conference in Spokane, WA. This body generally only meets every four years, after their general conventions. (Covid threw that cycle into a little chaos). I was in attendance because the UMC District Superintendents I work with (Daniel Miranda in Spokane and Karen Hernandez in the Treasure Valley) had both being trying to introduce me to Bishop Cedric Bridgeforth, Bishop of the Greater Northwest Area with an office in Seattle. Daniel gave me several options and these dates were the only ones that worked. Then, earlier this month, all the Methodists learned that this would be the one Jurisdiction that would have a bishops election–not one but two elections. Read the press release to start understanding this. The group started meeting Wednesday, doing service projects around Spokane, but I didn’t join them until Friday morning. Still, everyone thought I was generous to give them so much time. I had to explain that I was getting work done–making connections, building relationships, living into that part of my job that is chief ecumenical officer for the synod.

Everything in blue is the Western Jurisdiction. Who knows when they will meet again in the NWIM Synod, so this experience was truly a unique gift.

The ELCA’s full communion relationship with the UMC was voted on at our churchwide assembly in 2009. It got a bit overshadowed because that was also the assembly where we voted on the human sexuality Social Statement and the Recommendations for Ministry Policies around LGBTQ rostered leaders and unions. I was at that assembly as a guest (easy enough to drive up from Iowa).

I had several UMC classmates at the University of Chicago Divinity School. A few years into my call at Trinity, Nampa I learned about the Lewis Fellows program funded by the Lilly Endowment and run by Wesley Theological Seminary in D.C. for young (under 35) clergy–mostly Methodists but they always invite a few others, at least when I did it. We went to Kansas City, Miami, and D.C. over the course of nine months. We learned about leadership and lenses and ourselves and I learned more about the UMC. That was the first time I really got the implications of them being an international body.

Reunited with Pr Shalom (who works with Lutherans in the Tacoma area!) –we were Lewis Fellows together

Meanwhile, I was settling into Nampa, home of Northwest Nazarene University–connected to the UMC through the Wesleyan family. Over the years, I built relationships with UMC colleagues in the Treasure Valley and this past year I’ve met regularly with Daniel and Karen.

With Karen and Daniel

The Western Jurisdiction of the UMC welcomed me warmly. I loved how many people made a point of introducing themselves and telling me about local ecumenical endeavors they were part of or, with regional or national ministries, wondering aloud how the UMC and ELCA could partner. And of course I was honored to be part of the Consecration of Bishops Stoneking and Olewine.

Laying on of Hands for Bishop Olewine
So honored to be in this photo with these amazing UMC bishops

In four years the Western Jurisdiction will meet in Northern California/Northern Nevada. I hope Bishop Jeff Johnson of the Sierra Pacific Synod clears his calendar now!

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Reflections After One Year

Posted on July 14, 2024 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod electronic-newsletter for July 2024.

“14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’” Mark 1:14.

Since preachers following both the Revised Common Lectionary and Narrative Lectionary were in Mark this year, it seems appropriate to revisit these all-important words near the beginning of the gospel. July 1, 2024, marks one year of me serving as bishop of the Northwest Intermountain Synod. I have been reflecting on the many ways I have seen the reign of God coming near all across our synod. 

A synod is still a hard thing to wrap arms or words around. Who are we? What do we do? What is our role? When I get together with colleagues from other denominations we often laugh about this challenge—what is a middle judicatory (the church body between the local and national)?

In the Northwest Intermountain Synod-ELCA, it’s helpful to begin with what it means to be Lutheran in our specific part of the world. We are not the only people who are rooted by and called to proclaim God’s abundant grace, but it is central to who we are and what we offer our worshiping communities and the larger communities in which we live. Relatedly, we interpret scripture with Jesus Christ at the center. More specifically, we interpret scripture with Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension at the center. We are both freed from sin and death and freed for loving our neighbor. This neighbor love takes on many expressions across our synod. The Lutheran movement started during the Reformation, and we are reforming still. The act of interpreting scripture (with our Lutheran hermeneutic) is ongoing and so we as a denomination have social statements and messages that speak to our time. Though Luther is credited with starting the Reformation, which led to a splintering of Christianity, Lutherans today are deeply ecumenical. We are committed to working towards Christian unity for the sake of the gospel. My belief that this Lutheran lens and voice is of value in the Intermountain West has been confirmed by visiting so many of our ministry sites over the past year. 

A synod is also good for some very practical things, all related to the Lutheran identity described above. When we talked about collaboration as a Treasure Valley Cluster in Southern Idaho, we often asked, “What can we do better together that we cannot do on our own?” I mentioned these five Cs during the spring synod council meeting and received a good response; alliteration can be a helpful tool:

  • Candidacy (the ELCA’s process for developing new pastors and deacons)
  • Call Process (during a leadership transition)
  • Campus Ministry (we financially support our three campus ministries)
  • Companion Synod (our relationship with the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese of Tanzania)
  • Connection (using in-person visits, electronic newsletter, social media, Zoom series to help the synod staff and council connect with you and help you all connect with one another—connection and communication have been an emphasis this year)

And someone on synod council who was not me, which may be surprising, asked what about Camps? Yes, indeed. 

  • Camps, or Outdoor Ministries, are essential partners to ministry in the NWIM Synod.

Looking back, I realize that there is something else I have instinctively emphasized this past year, though it starts with L: 

  • Leadership Development. Every time I received an email about a continuing education event, conference, seminar, webinar, gathering, I tried to recruit lay and/or rostered leaders to participate. Our outdoor ministry sites and campus ministries are essential partners to leadership development. Partnering with the Montana Synod’s Lay Ministry Associate program is a key component to leadership development. I have no idea what exactly the Holy Spirit is up to as the church transforms into its next iteration, but I know we will need dedicated, compassionate, and equipped lay leaders, pastors, and deacons. 

Stories about people sharing the love of God in Jesus Christ through words and actions rarely get the headlines, so it can be easy to lose heart. And there is no doubt that the ELCA, the Northwest Intermountain Synod, and many local ministry sites will look and feel different in five more years, the end of this bishop-term. But the Holy Spirit is moving in our synod and the reign of God is breaking in. Of this I am sure because I have witnessed it all year long. Thank you for the honor of serving in this role.

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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July 14, 2024 – Wilbur

Posted on July 14, 2024 by megganmanlove

Wonderful morning with the saints of Wilbur Community Church in Wilbur, WA this morning. Wilbur is a federated Presbyterian USA/ELCA Congregation–meaning fully a member of both denominations. This became official in around 2020. They are currently served by Pr. Steven Nicholls (PCUSA). The congregation houses Golden Rule Childcare Center and Preschool, the only licensed daycare in Lincoln County, WA. They also host a Food Pantry on the third Wednesday of the month. We filled the sanctuary with great songs/hymns and then had a Q and A after worship. This happens to be the former ELCA building. The Presbyterian building was sold to an individual who rents it out as a venue and maybe has some classes there.

Even in a federated church, everyone sits in the back!
As people leave the sanctuary

Last week I was in Stanley, Idaho and former bishop Martin Wells commented on my FB post that it was one of 100 beautiful places in our synod. He’s of course correct. Driving out through the plains this morning from Spokane to Wilbur I was reminded of the vastness of my home state of South Dakota and how, though I really do love the mountains, wide open spaces are also beautiful and do something special for my soul. We prayed for all of the wheat farmers this morning in worship.

Pastor Niccolls told me in advance that he was doing a series on freedom and so I asked if I could preach on Galatians 5. He said he’d thought about it but something had made him leave it off his list–must have been my love for Gal. 5:13. I was fine skipping the beheading of John the Baptist (RCL gospel for today).

Galatians 5:1, 13-25

51For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ 15If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Following Jesus by loving our neighbor is not a part-time job. It is not something we fit into our schedules. It is not one obligation among several others in our hurried lives. Following Jesus involves a radical reorientation and redirecting of ourselves, our obligations, and our loyalties.

What’s more, following Jesus is not the key to having it all. Following Jesus involves leaving it all behind. It is a way of living and relating to others that permeates into every aspect of our being. The call to discipleship seeps into our economics. As disciples of Jesus, we address how we earn and spend our money. We ask how actions impact God’s creation. We take time to find out where and how our clothes are made. When we prepare to dispose of materials, we think about where the old ones will go and how the natural world and other humans will be impacted.

Loving our neighbor seeps into our life together—our life in family, friendship, and communities. In St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he lists the fruits of the Spirit. As followers of Jesus, we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and embrace these gifts—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. When we lapse in these fruits of the Spirit, we help one another up; forgive one another; and encourage one another. 

Love of neighbor is the ultimate call to discipleship. That neighbor may be your family member or best friend who is overwhelmed by grief. Your neighbor maybe the woman experiencing homelessness in Wilbur. Yes, our neighbors, by every biblical definition, are refugees and immigrants all over the globe. What does it look like to love a neighbor when you have never met? When I was a parish pastor, it often began by imagining one of the beloved members of my congregation in the footsteps of someone I read about in a news story. Following Jesus is not a part-time gig. It happens whenever we catch up on the daily news.

What will loving the neighbor look like through this next year for each of you this year? I don’t know. It is not one thing and there is not one magic checklist. It’s a million little acts from showing kindness to the grocery store clerk to voting your conscious at the ballot box to being gentle with yourself and those closest to you. It means making sure Wilbur Community Church remains a wellspring of God’s unconditional love. After a year in this call as bishop I think sometimes our congregations do not know how profound a gift their genuine and abundant welcome to strangers actually is.

The call to discipleship means living out the gifts of the spirit in whatever job you find yourselves in. Discipleship is the privilege of following Jesus into the streets and institutions of the world. Sometimes it is a daunting way of life. It is truly impossible even for the saintliest of people to carry out the call to discipleship without wavering. Today’s text from Galatians reminds us of how discipleship is even possible.

It is the cross and resurrection. St Paul writes that for freedom Christ has set us free. We are freed from sin and death. He writes to the Galatians that they were called to freedom, but instructs them, “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”

My life of faith is wound up tight with this passage from Galatians because every time I hear these verses I am transported to the study room where I first read Martin Luther’s Treatise on Christian Liberty, sometimes called Freedom of a Christian. Luther wrote, “I shall set down the following propositions concerning the freedom and bondage of the spirit: A Christian is perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” 

It’s one thing to read these words from Galatians and Luther on the page. It is an altogether different thing to experience them and live them, to actually experience being free from sin and death and all that binds us as human beings, to surrender to God’s love and trust that only by God’s grace can I actually love my neighbor.

Where and how have you felt or experienced such freedom as an individual or as a whole community? Perhaps it was in the natural world—the beauty of it all so overwhelmed you and somehow reminded you that you too are wonderfully made only by the grace of God. There is something beautifully humbling about the natural world.

Perhaps in a worship like this one, following words of confession, the words of forgiveness or absolution seemed spoken just to you and you, for the first time in a long time, you were reminded of the power of God’s forgiveness and life in your life. It all washed over you like a flood.

Maybe the words and tune of a piece of music resonated with you—you felt the freedom that is yours because of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. Music can surely be used to manipulate, but it can also be an altruistic gift. Some of my most free feeling, transcendent, knowing God’s love moments are intricately tied to music.

Whatever the experience, your body, heart, and mind, hopefully have felt the freedom that is ours when we trust the love of Jesus Christ, not in a manipulated or fabricated way, but in a very real way you can point to. It is such a counter-cultural thing to trust something besides ourselves for the penultimate, and yet that is the gift of faith. You, every one of you, is beautifully and wonderfully made by God, a God so much bigger than any of us can imagine and yet that same God came and lived among us. That same God gives us new life and mercy each day. You, each of you, is freed from sin, death, shame, brokenness, and whatever else binds you. 

Likewise, you are freed for something. Knowing that there is nothing we can do to earn the love of God in Jesus Christ, how can we not spontaneously love our neighbor? Or as, the old hymn asks, “since love is lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?” We cannot help ourselves. We are not only freed from somethings but freed for something—love of our neighbor. 

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Celebration of New Partnership – Mountain Home

Posted on July 7, 2024 by megganmanlove

This morning, Bishop Jos (Idaho Episcopal Diocese) and I were both in Mountain Home to celebrate St. James Episcopal and Grace Lutheran sharing a priest. These two churches have long known one another, shared Advent worship services and soup suppers, shared fellowship together. This partnership grew out of fertile and tended soil. I loved that at lunch people naturally mixed at tables. For over a decade, Grace was a major distribution site for the Idaho Food Bank. They gave that up in the last few years because their older members could not physically do the work, but they recognized that their location, land, and, most importantly, commitment to loving their neighbors, can be gifts to the larger community. They are overjoyed to now have a partner in St. James Episcopal Church as they discern what will be the next form of their neighbor love. Thanks to Grace’s Council President Steve Gustafson for driving me over to LEAP Housing’s new Falcons Landing affordable housing neighborhood in Mountain Home (rentals and home ownership units)!

Inside St. James
with Bishop Jos and Father Larry
Pews out. Tables in. Grace’s sanctuary set up for lunch.

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June 7, 2024 St. James/Grace, Mountain Home

Posted on July 7, 2024 by megganmanlove

Sermon time shared with Bishop Jos of the Idaho Episcopal Diocese. St. James Episcopal Church and Grace Lutheran Church are now sharing an Episcopal priest, Father Larry. This joint worship at St. James, followed by lunch at Grace, celebrated this new partnership.

Ezekiel 2:1-5

2He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you. 2And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me. 3He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day. 4The descendants are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord God.” 5Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.

To be clear, 75% of the time, I preach on the gospel, but there were themes in today’s scripture passage from Ezekiel that I think speak to this morning and the new partnership between St. James Episcopal and Grace Lutheran. Please do not think for a moment that I believe Father Larry specifically has something to learn from the story of Ezekiel. Instead, I believe it is all of you, as well as the Fr. Larry and Bishop Jos and I, who can glean something from Ezekiel’s story. 

The prophet Ezekiel was raised in a priestly family in Jerusalem and educated to become a priest himself. However, before he was able to perform his priestly duties at the Temple, he was taken with other high-ranking people during the first siege of Jerusalem (597 B.C.E.) by Nebuchadnezzar II (ruler of Babylon, 605-562 B.C.E.). Ezekiel went into the servile oppression of exile, working in a small village by the river Chebar. There, in his 30th year, he received a powerful vision and a call to be a prophet.

And what of the other exiles? They were forced to leave everything that was familiar and precious to them—family members, homes, possessions. They lost even the temple, the center of their life of faith. The temple was the place where they offered prayers and brought sacrifices, but more than that, it was considered the very dwelling place of God.

Now the exiles are in a foreign land, far from their homeland and far from the temple. How could God permit such a thing? Has God abandoned them? And now, distant from the dwelling place of God, how will God ever find them or answer their prayers? 

Though sharing an ordained minister may not be up there with the plight of the exiles Ezekiel prophesied to, you all may feel like you are a bit in exile. After so many years of having your own ministers, it’s certainly a new venture to be sharing a shepherd and it’s perfectly normal to feel a little off kilter. How did the larger church and your congregations get to this state where you can no longer afford separate ministers? You might even ask if God has forgotten you, or does not care about you and your ministry. This scripture passage reminds us that even in moments of exile, God remembers us and comes to us.

God has provided Father Larry, and all of this is possible because you all have been building relationships with one another for the last chapter of your life. You saw beyond denominational lines and, for the sake of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, decided to spend time with Christians who do things slightly differently than your home denomination. And what fruit that has born!

We are celebrating this shared ministry because you have followed the Spirit’s lead. What the future will bring is, likewise, up to both you all and that same Spirit. The text from Ezekiel is again a mirror. Ezekiel had a difficult message to proclaim, and what was his measure for his own effectiveness? Statistics, the listeners’ behaviors, the temple being rebuilt? Not at all. For Ezekiel, the measure of success, if he would even use that word, is not the outcome, but his own faithfulness. Ezekiel’s commission suggests that he may plant seeds, but he harvest is up to God.

What is God calling you to next? I’m not sure. I found more hope turning to the national full communion agreement between The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I will end my sermon with the final paragraph from that nearly 25-year-old document.

29. We do not know to what new, recovered, or continuing tasks of mission this Concordat will lead our churches, but we give thanks to God for leading us to this point. We entrust ourselves to that leading in the future, confident that our full communion will be a witness to the gift and goal already present in Christ, “so that God may be all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28). Entering full communion and thus removing limitations through mutual recognition of faith, sacraments, and ministries will bring new opportunities and levels of shared evangelism, witness, and service. It is the gift of Christ that we are sent as he has been sent (John 17:17-26), that our unity will be received and perceived as we participate together in the mission of the Son in obedience to the Father through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. 

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