Lent 1 – Feb. 18

Posted on February 21, 2024 by megganmanlove

Trinity, Pullman – Feb. 18, 2024

Mark 10:17-31 (Narrative Lectionary)

17As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”18Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” 20He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

28Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Invite the bishop to guest preach and give her the scripture passage on wealth. I hope a force field did not go up when I was reading the passage. And yet, we know that this is not the only time Jesus teaches about wealth and the Bible has plenty to say about money. 

I actually think about money and resources a lot in this new call, similar to when I was in the parish but also differently. What good is the middle judicatory for, I get asked in ecumenical and ELCA circles? Should we close up shop and give our resources to the congregations who are in actual communities? That’s not going to happen, but scripture passages like this one make me ask those questions.

Driving around the Treasure Valley of Southwest Idaho, I read this scripture passage through my front windshield view and the abundance of storage units that seem to be everywhere. Could First Century Palestinian Jews even imagine the amount of stuff we own in the United States? I know there are good reasons for a few choice citizens to have storage units, but it is so far out of hand. It’s not just the stuff itself, it’s the real estate that the storage units take up, which could be used for housing.

And even if we have a storage unit full of stuff, we might still feel like we do not have enough, right? We need to upgrade our stuff. We need to replace it. Or maybe you’re a minimalist when it comes to stuff, but you want to make sure your financial portfolio has enough. What is enough? This when ELCA World Hunger reports that according to the most recent estimates, 736 million people live in extreme poverty on less than $1.90 per day. That’s 10% of the world’s population. (World Bank, 2018). 39.7 million Americans were living in poverty in 2017. For a family of four, this means their annual household income was below $25,094. 

So, I’ve always thought it was significant that Jesus didn’t say, get all your money together and have a bonfire and burn all of your wealth. Instead, Jesus says, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.” Jesus asks the man to redistribute his wealth. He knows the scriptures that we call the Old Testament. There we read over and over God’s preferential treatment for the poor, specifically the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner. 

The disciples are perplexed and at Jesus’ words. Jesus does not add nuance or caveats. Instead, he seems to double down. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples have presumably already done what Jesus asks the rich young man to do. Peter says as much, “Look, we have let everything and followed you.” 

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one what has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.” The lists Jesus speaks are mostly identical except that the second list includes those persecutions. 

It’s not pleasant to do self-reflection on a text like this one. My income is greater, and not just because of inflation, than the first time I preached on this text in 2006. Do I give more away? Yes, but not as much as I could. It’s not that I should not have savings for a rainy day or a retirement, something that became real this year when I had to suddenly replace my furnace. It’s that wealth today, as with the rich young man, can seem to fill the place that only God can fill. 

In some ways, I wonder if Jesus gave this teaching today if he would talk about time instead of wealth. Thursday and Friday I was a theological conference in Nampa at the Nazarene University. The speaker was Dr. Andy Root who teaches at Luther Seminary. I love when Root does a review of history in his books or lecture because it reminds me about the impacts of the Industrial and Technological Revolutions. Efficiency is a hallmark of both. The natural result of more efficiency would be more time, right?

Email came along right as I entered college. I have no way to compare my life with a bishop who never had email, but I don’t think I have more time because I use email instead of the US postal service. I don’t know that I have less time either. I know that I have access to more information. Instead of just reading information, I have to spend time sifting information.

I have to spend time sifting through information for my job, but we all have to sift through information as citizens of this country and of the planet. We are way past the problem of too much information which the 24-hours news cycle brought. Now the issue is 100s of news sources and platforms on my devices screaming for my attention. And I know that I don’t want to be in a silo, I don’t want to be biased, so to be make sure my news is coming from multiple sources, I have to subscribe or check multiple sources. And then I have to analyze and weigh them. 

Then I remind myself that my news is too local or too national. I really should be more aware of what’s happening on the other side of the planet. There again, which news source is most trustworthy? Well, I better read another take just to be sure. Do I really know more? Am I more informed? And now, because I’m more informed, I’m behind on my email inbox. Is that all bringing in the reign of God more faithfully? I honestly don’t know.

All of this is to say that if Jesus came and talked with us today, I wonder if he would point to how we spend our time as much as how we spend our money? Because I think we have a problem with both. Our need for wealth or stuff and our continued business and intake of information do not in the end fill us up. In the midst of both, it takes intentionality to connect with the divine. And so, thank goodness Christians along the way left us with the Season of Lent. 

On Ash Wednesday we began the Great 40-day Fast. We remembered our mortality, confessed our sins, and began to walk the way of the cross, contemplating the mysteries of death and life. 

During Lent we contend against evil and resist whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbor. Each of us is invited to the discipline of Lent: fasting, prayer, and generosity. 

There has been a move in recent years, to make sure we pastors emphasized that people could take something up for Lent instead of giving something up. That was probably a good corrective to previous chapters of the Church’s life. I am totally for more prayer, more worship, more silence, more offerings for special causes, and more caring for our neighbors. But I also think that to make room for these, we sometimes need to give things up. And fasting is lifted up again and again in scripture. I have several colleagues who gave up social media this year. Others give up a coffee shop habit. One of my roommates years ago fasted each Friday of Lent.

Whatever discipline of Lent you chose or choose, I hope it ultimately gives you more space for deeper connections with other human beings, be they old friends, a stranger, a neighbor, or a relative, and ultimately a deeper connection with the God who loves you. Did you catch that other detail in our reading today? We read, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said.” He loved him. He loved him and with that love told him all he needed to do. 

At the end of the passage Jesus assures his disciples, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.” Another colleague of mine has reminded me that this story is somewhat open ended. She holds out hope for the rich young man. Jesus certainly did. 

The hope for each of us during this 40 day fast is to clear some things away, almost as if planting a garden. Whatever stuff, physical or mental, is getting in the way of our faith, we are asked to clear it away. The disciplines of fasting, prayer, and generosity can help with this. We do this not because we fear an angry God who wants to punish us. People can be freed from whatever is binding them, but it takes a change of heart and a kind of discipline. We are not called to live irresponsibly, but to learn how to give ourselves away for the sake of those who need it. We are called to faith and faithful living, but we can never do it along. But with God all things are possible. Amen.

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Thank You Synod

Posted on February 21, 2024 by megganmanlove

“Commonwealth is God’s commandment; common goods are meant to share. Tables set and doors wide open welcome angels unaware…. Sharing lavish gifts and blessings, love that no one mite withholds, stretch out arms to friends and strangers: God has sheep of many folds.” (All Creation Sings 1036)

Feb. 5, 2024

Dear Friends in Christ,

Thank you so much for the Mission Support given to the synod all year long and for helping us end the fiscal year well. We can celebrate so much from 2023, like continuing to lift up and equip candidates for public ministry, supporting Lutheran Campus Ministry on state university campuses, strengthening our long-term relationship with the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese of Tanzania, aiding Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and digging into what it means to be a Lutheran Christian in the Mountain West. I know that so many of our congregations also support our vital Lutheran Outdoor Ministry sites, ELCA World Hunger, ELCA Disaster Response, and hundreds of local nonprofits. Thank you!

In 2024 we look forward to our Regional Gatherings in Spokane Valley (April 27), Twin Falls (May 4), and Ellensburg (May 18). Instructor and writer Grace Pomroy will be with us to open up scripture and help us think about what funding ministry could like in the future, all so more people can experience the love of God in Jesus Christ. These gatherings will be an opportunity to learn, reconnect with friends, and build new relationships with people from neighboring congregations. Your mission support allows the staff to work with Grace and create what we anticipate will be three wonderful days of gathering across our synod.

Our synod Candidacy Committee has an upcoming spring meeting in which we will conduct several entrance and approval interviews. There is so much about the ELCA Candidacy process that happens behind the scenes: making the sure the committee members are prepared, coordinating with the seminaries and the churchwide organization, and most importantly caring for the candidates. This important and holy work is all possible because of Mission Support given to the synod.

Hopefully you have seen our call sheet, updated regularly, on the synod’s website. Like Candidacy, the call process involves a great deal of communication, coordination, and accompaniment. So many call committees across our vast synod have had Assistant to the Bishop Pastor Phil Misner walking alongside them in the past five plus years. Mission Support from across the Northwest Intermountain Synod funds this good and faithful work.

We know that the ELCA Lutherans across the synod want to be connected to the synod office and to one another. As staff make visits online or on Sunday mornings, we seek to nurture our connectedness to one another and to the Triune God we worship. Travel and technology are also possible because of the Mission Support given by you. Thank you once again for your generosity!

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Trinity, Pullman and Lutheran Campus Ministry

Posted on February 19, 2024 by megganmanlove

I flew into Spokane late Saturday night. (Note to self–the Boise airport is vacant on Saturday nights–delightful!) I was a little nervous when I woke up to snow Sunday morning but the drive down to Pullman was nice once I got to the highway. I preached and co-presided with retired Pastor Dawna Svaren as Pastor Wes Howell was out of town. It was a long-time member’s 90th birthday and so the sanctuary was full with guests and the worship service was full of musical offerings. Trinity, Pullman follows the Narrative Lectionary and it was good, if challenging, to preach on the Rich Young Man from Mark 10 in Lent. I so appreciated Pastor Svaren’s hospitality–reminding me to take a breath after the 90 minute drive, praying for us before we led worship, making sure I knew the flow so that I could have a few moments during worship to simply be present with it all and hear the words of the songs and prayers.

I went out to lunch after worship with Pastor Savaren and her husband Paul and learned about their life serving and working in this country and overseas. I learned that they met working at the same camp I did in south central Montana–small world!

After lunch we returned to Trinity and I attended the joint annual meeting of Washington State Univ. and Univ. of Idaho Lutheran Campus Ministry. The two boards are keeping their finances separate but have been holding joint meetings for the last year. Deacon Karla Newman Smiley serves each campus part-time. WSU-LCM is actually ELM (Episcopal, Lutheran, and Methodist). U of I still has The [ecumenical] Center, whose annual meeting DEM Pr Liv Larson Andrews attended last week. But Karla is the only staff person onsite beside the part-time director. These are hard times, at least financially, for LCM, but I believe and told the board that it’s more important than ever that we and/or our ecumenical partners have a presence on the university campus. Students need spaces to pray together, to encounter God, to hear that they are beloved by the divine. There was deep care and passion for LCM in the room and I believe we can find ways to create the next chapter for both of these campus ministries.

Side bar, one of the announcements made reminded me that sometimes we as synod staff or synod council do not need to come up with initiatives aligned with our values and visions. We only need to point at what’s already happening. An announcement before worship was for an upcoming film series in Pullman, supported in part by a small grant from Trinity’s endowment:

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Our Savior, Twin Falls

Posted on February 11, 2024 by megganmanlove

This morning I brought greetings from the synod and presided over Holy Communion at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. From 2011-2017 I served on the Luther Heights Bible Camp board and back then the board met at Our Savior every spring and fall and the church also hosted the November annual meeting (now held in February). Since I started Nov. 1, 2010 at Trinity, Our Savior was one of the first church buildings other than Trinity’s that I visited. The last time I was there was in 2020 for camp program director Jon Davidson’s goodbye luncheon. So, lots of memories today.

Photos of the 2005 building may give the impression that the congregation is young, but it was actually organized in 1940 and had many homes before landing on Carriage Lane North. I always loved the open space concept, especially the fact that no one has to walk down a hallway to go from worship to fellowship time.

But, I had never been there for Sunday morning worship and it was such a gift to join this congregation on Transfiguration Sunday. I’ve sat on Zoom text study with TEEM Candidate Andy Hamblen for several years and it was a joy to hear him preach. I was able to greet members I’ve know for years through camp or synod assemblies and meet many new to me people. After a well-attended fellowship time, I joined the youth Sunday School classroom for Q and A with the Bishop. Andy had written some questions in advance and each kid got to draw to questions out of the basket and ask me everything from who is my boss to do I have pets. I did my part by asking who had been to Luther Heights and who would be attending this upcoming summer.

Andy is finishing up his time as the Luther Heights board chair, though he will stay not the board for another year, so our lunch conversation included camp but also worship, Twin Falls, and the upcoming Regional Gathering Our Savior will host for Southern Idaho May 4.

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Regional Board Meetings

Posted on February 10, 2024 by megganmanlove

Yesterday I was on the Pacific Lutheran University Board of Regents meeting from 9am to 4:30pm Mountain Time. As I think I blogged before, when I went to my first Region 1 bishops meeting, I was offered the choice of being on the Luther Seminary board or the PLU board and I jumped on PLU, mostly because it’s closer. Three of us bishops from Region 1 sit on the PLU board at one time and right now it’s Bishop Laurie Larson Caesar (Oregon), Bishop Shelly Bryan Wee (NW WA), and me. Bryan Wee also took on the Luther Seminary Board. She’s an alum so that made all sorts of sense. Bishop Rick Jaech (SW WA) is now on the California Lutheran-PLTS board. Bishop Laurie Jungling (Montana) sits on the ELCA church council; recently took that from Bishop Shelly Wickstrom (Alaska). We are all doing our part and I am grateful for my assignment which includes two in-person meetings each year in Parkland and yesterday’s online meeting.

One thinks the middle-judicatory (synod) of the mainline church is a tough place to be and then you get a peek into higher education and you realize what a challenging arena it is right now. The big news out of PLU is the announcement of brand new partnerships:

Partnership for Health Innovation

Pacific Lutheran University is home to a new health education and care district in Parkland, Washington, powered by PLU, MultiCare, and Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. This collaborative partnership will work to address health care inequities and provider shortages in Pierce County and beyond. read more

I serve on the Student Life Committee and in our break out room, we got to hear about J-term experiences, which was fun.

I was reminded that a few PLU professors helped author So That All May Flourish: The Aims of Lutheran Higher Education

We heard about the FAFSA disasta and learned what PLU is doing to help families navigate this mess.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the annual application to apply for financial aid at Pacific Lutheran University. For the 2024-25 academic year, the FAFSA is undergoing significant changes, a process known as FAFSA Simplification that was enacted by Congress in 2021. The FAFSA typically opens on October 1st, but for 2024-25, it will not be open until December 2023. In the meantime, we will be sending email communications to students and families with information about the changes you can expect to see with the new FAFSA and the 2024-25 financial aid application process. If you have questions, please email us at sfs@plu.edu or call 253-535-7161.

We also learned about how NCAA Division 3 schools are addressing the NIL discussion; which was fascinating after recently watching the film Air (about Nike signing Michael Jordan). The Athletic Director told us PLU has partnered with Opendorse.

It was a long day with hard discussions but I am honored to be in the room with such great minds and to be on the board of institution with a compelling mission.

This morning, Bishops Larson Caesar, Bryan Wee, and I were back online for a Lutheran Community Services Northwest meeting, just missing Bishop Jaech. I was reminded what vital work they are doing around the region, including in the Tri-cities, Spokane, and Boise. This is a pan-Lutheran organization and so we were also joined by the Missouri Synod District President, who recently announced his retirement after 15 years. I am so glad I got to meet him, even if just this once, because my colleagues hold him in high regard. My take away from this meeting is the simple but important reminder that we are never in this work alone.

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Quick trip to Tri-Cities and Walla Walla

Posted on February 5, 2024 by megganmanlove

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.

I didn’t end up needing my new snow tires, but I was glad to have them just in case the weather turned.

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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Feb. 4, 2024 at Christ Lutheran, Walla Walla

Posted on February 5, 2024 by megganmanlove

Christ Lutheran, Walla Walla

Mark 1:29-39

29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. 35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

I love the beginning of Mark’s gospel so much. It is so clear, in every incident and story, that God, who has come in the flesh in Jesus Christ, is a God of life and wholeness. The God we worship cares about human bodies, yes, as well as our souls. This is a God who wants the world teaming with belonging, beloved community, and deep joy.

We are still in the season after Epiphany, the season of manifestations, of learning who this Jesus is. Today we see and hear that Jesus cares about bodies and souls, not one or the other. Jesus is also a teacher and leader who uses both words and actions, and his words and actions are aligned. His primary task is the preaching of the good news of God, the news that God is breaking into human reality. But there is more, as we read this morning. In Jesus’ present preaching, what he proclaims, the future intervention of God, actually occurs.

In our passage today, we encounter the first person to be resurrected. And this is a very big deal in Mark’s gospel. You see, the word used for lifted her up is the same one translated as raised her up – as in resurrection! This is what new life looks like – not just for this woman, but for all of us. When Jesus takes your hand, and raises you up, you are meant to use your renewed life to serve others: Women, men, children, all followers of Jesus! 

This word will show up repeatedly in the Gospel of Mark, as Jesus heals people; he’s bringing the resurrection into their lives. There’s no account of Jesus’ actions after his own resurrection in the Gospel of Mark. However, the disciples are instructed to go to Galilee, where Jesus did all these acts of healing to remember what resurrection looks like. But this woman’s story is the first resurrection story of all of them! 

Let’s consider her for just a minute. We know she’s a mother-in-law, so imagine, probably past the age of bearing or raising children herself. She is possibly past the age of being pursued by men who find her attractive. But she is certainly not past contributing to the good of her community and the work of God in it.  

I assume many of you have been through a serious illness or injury, or perhaps childbirth, and healed to the point of returning to your previous life. Well, resurrection might ring true to your experience. Just to be able to do the most mundane things for yourself again is like a breath of new life. 

But other times we don’t spring back. Maybe your condition is chronic and is not going to get better.  Or consider a new parent who struggles with postpartum depression. We don’t know if the woman in our text sprang back into action without any side effects. 

Jesus still extends a hand to raise you up to new life, but instead of returning to the old one, it is to a new normal, and we have to learn to navigate what service to others looks like for us now. Part of your new way of interacting could include a new-found empathy with those who are suffering. The new normal is new life, it’s just different because we have been transformed by our suffering. 

Nonetheless, after Jesus raised her up, the woman “served” them (not just Jesus, but a whole group of them). The word for “served” is the same one we use for ministering, diakonia, from which we get “deacons” those rostered leaders who are ordained to “Word and Service” instead of Word and Sacrament. 

This woman is not only the first resurrection story, but the first minister. Serving epitomizes Jesus’ own ministry: “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). Serving also epitomizes following Jesus. In the waters of baptism we are not just freed from sin and death, but freed for neighbor love, for service, in its many beautiful manifestations.

To be released from illness and restored to oneself means one can fulfill responsibilities to others. Repairing the bonds of family and community is a dimension of resurrection. In Mark’s gospel there is no “individual” healing, only those that repair relationship: son to father, daughter to mother, and here, mother to children. 

The resurrection life that Jesus proclaims here at the opening of Mark’s gospel and that Christians experience, is not unambiguous or uncomplicated in the world in which we live. The verses that follow this story of resurrection suggest the enormity of the suffering (“the whole city was gathered around the door”) and the toll the ministry takes on Jesus. Mark’s gospel is honest about the opposition to and the cost of healing people.

The summary of Jesus’ healing in today’s text shows us Jesus’ compassion for the poor and so many who are ailing. There is a socio-economic character to this story. From the very beginning Jesus the healer experiences the incessant press of needy masses. The way he responds to the destitute subjects despite continual opposition dramatizes his preferential ministry to the poor.

Economic and political deterioration had dispossessed significant portions of the First Century Palestinian population, especially in the densely populated rural areas of Galilee. Disease and physical disability were an inseparable part of the cycle of poverty (a phenomenon still true today despite modern medicine). For the day laborer, illness meant unemployment and instant impoverishment. Jesus’ healing ministry is an essential part of his struggle to bring concrete liberation to the oppressed and marginalized of society. 

Jesus and all healers of that period could only perceive illnesses and not diseases. Notice the little regard for symptoms. Jesus heals. He does not cure. Illness was associated with impurity or sin, a state that mean exclusion from full status in the community. 

Jesus always seeks to restore the social wholeness denied to the impure by the social order. This is why his healing is interchangeable with his social interactions with them. His acts defy the order that segregates those who lack bodily integrity. He was constantly challenging the prevailing social boundaries and class barriers. This is why Jesus the healer was a threat to civic order. And so, his miracles were not universally embraced. Depending on one’s status in society, one either perceived Jesus’ miracles as a real threat or as pure liberation. 

The implications of Jesus’ preaching and healing, the inbreaking of the reign of God, intersected forcefully with real life Thursday morning as I sat in the Idaho State Capital. I sat there and listened to the reading of a bill which could repeal Medicaid Expansion, my adopted state’s effort to insure those in the health insurance gap. The explanation and argument for the bill was made by an out-of-state lobbyist. Only two other people spoke in support of the bill.

For two-and-half hours the committee and those of us in the hearing room listened to two-minute in-person and remote testimony overwhelmingly arguing against the bill. Again and again, we heard stories about how, since the ballot initiative in 2018, when hundreds of signatures were collected from across the state, people’s lives have changed for the better. Yes, they have received medical care previous not available to them. But that was never where the stories ended. 

What followed medical care of diseases and, equally as important, preventative measures, was entrepreneurship, people better able to parent their children, employees able to work in small businesses. My favorite was the doctor who called in from Couer d’Alene to tell us about his small engine mechanic patient now able to control his diabetes. What is so beautiful about the Medicaid Expansion Initiative in Idaho is that it was not just a new law that changed people’s lives. It was a movement across the entire state, a movement that said we collectively believed in this expansion and what it stood for—wellness and wholeness of body, mind, and spirit. I have no idea how many of those who testified confess the faith we do. It doesn’t matter. We saw and heard the inbreaking of the reign of God in words and actions. Side note—the bill stayed in committee. Which in Idaho we take as a win. Liberation and new life will continue. 

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Beginning & Ending at Julia Davis Park

Posted on January 30, 2024 by megganmanlove

I started this beautiful day with a hike along the Boise Greenbelt with Luther Heights Exec Director Kelly Preboski. We said, as I repeated all day, that we were grateful for the lovely weather even if it was a bit odd for late January, even in the high desert of the Treasure Valley. It’s always good to catch up with Kelly.

Then I drove over to the Episcopal Diocese of Idaho offices to meet with Bishop Jos Tharakan and Canon to the Ordinary Rev. Emily Van Hise. We each had a list of collaborative efforts to discuss but our conversation also wandered into how we faithfully cover the geography that is the mountain west. I am so grateful for these partners in ministry.

Then I headed off to my new friend Traci’s home for lunch. Traci Lofthus and I met through the Idaho Nonprofit Leadership program back in May. This lunch, on the schedule for a while, was great timing because our Northwest Intermountain Synod Assembly passed a resolution last April encouraging more congregations to create diaper banks and Saturday during the synod council meeting we started strategizing about carrying out the resolution. Traci is the Exec Director of the Idaho Diaper Bank! So in addition to all the things of life and learning how the Bank’s warehouse just moved, we brainstormed a bit about how she could equip and inform our congregations in the Treasure Valley and all across the synod. We’re thinking a Zoom open house of sorts.

After lunch I set off to Hyde Perk Coffee House, near the next appointment, for a Zoom call with Assistant to the Bishop Pr Phil Misner and Pr Laura Teriyaki, Executive Presbyter of the Northwest Coast Presbytery. If you think the NWIM Synod has some big geography, check out this territory, which includes the Tri-cities, central Washington, skips Seattle, and then goes up to Alaska. Laura started a few months before I did, so we’re kind of in a similar stage of figuring out a new call. We were also joined by Stated Clerk Pr Lillian Park, who serves part-time the UCC church in Colville, WA. Small world as Colville is in our NWIM Synod. It was a generative and fun conversation about partnerships and sharing resources.

Next was an appointment with my coach, something that also came out the Idaho Nonprofit Leadership program. I have bought into the ELCA’s coaching culture in large part because of my own experience as a recipient/participant in coaching. It’s not always comfortable, but the struggle is worth the clarity I gain.

Finally I headed back to Julia Davis Park and the Idaho State History Museum, site of the annual Avenues for Hope celebration, for the housing nonprofits across the state. I came in after the speeches and hoopla and got to connect with the staff of Leap Housing, whose board I sit on, AND my pal Stephanie Day, exec director of CATCH, who I have known for 13 years. Stephanie is one of those people I can pick up a conversation with even if we haven’t talked in person for a few years.

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Report for Synod Council

Posted on January 28, 2024 by megganmanlove

Bishop Manlove’s Report to Northwest Intermountain Synod Council

Jan. 27, 2024

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8)

We exist first and foremost to proclaim this life-giving gospel. What does this look like for an ELCA synod bishop? I am using the introduction to the election, read by ELCA Secretary Sue Rothmeyer at Synod Assembly 2023, to frame this report. A bishop is….

A Pastor: It has been a privilege and honor (and quite fun) to preach and/or preside at Emmanuel, Moscow (Installation); Grace, Mountain Home; Faith, Caldwell; Zion, Spokane Valley; LCM Cheney/Spokane (Installation); Our Savior, Pinehurst; St. John’s, American Falls; and at Bishop’s Fall Convocation since our October meeting. I also dedicated foundation stones and participated in an ordination during the trip to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese of Tanzania. 

A Servant: I attended my first meeting of Pacific Lutheran University’s Board of Regents (three of the six Region 1 bishops sit on this board). I helped plan and carry out First Call Theological Education; five synods in Region One all together at Camp Lutherhaven with our pastors and deacons (those serving in their first thru third years of ministry). I sit on the synod Candidacy Committee and am working with the seminaries on internship sites and general support for our candidates. With the entire staff, we continue to plan our spring Regional Gatherings.

A Symbol of Unity: I have begun to build relationships with LuAnn Ferguson of the Mission Investment Fund (taking over Region 1 for Joel Wudel), Nick Kiger from ELCA Stewardship and Mission Support (taking over our synod from Victoria Flood), and Josh Kerney from the ELCA Foundation (filling in until Beth Adam’s successor is hired). I invited Vance Blackfox, ELCA’s Director of Indigenous Ministries and Tribal Relations, to be our Fall Convocation speaker. I continue to build relationships across the synod with Episcopalian bishops, Methodist district superintendents, Presbyters, and others. 

The CEO: We had a wonderful staff development retreat in December. One of many outcomes was creating our staff purpose: 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. Part of my work with Nick Kiger (see above) was on an end-of-year appeal letter to decrease our projected deficit. I will convene a Stewardship Team for the synod in 2024 to help congregations with their own financial and all-around stewardship. During the pandemic we lost track of several congregations, but we are slowly re-connecting and re-engaging with each of them. I have chaired the Synod Authorized Ministers task force of the synod council, and we have definite goals for 2024.  

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Installation at Immanuel, Boise

Posted on January 28, 2024 by megganmanlove

Immanuel, Boise – Jan. 28, 2024

Mark 1:21-28

21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.27They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Happy Installation Sunday Immanuel Lutheran! Thank you for your faithfulness to the gospel these past nearly three years, for patience, for love, for good Spirit led discernment. I know it was hard because as cluster dean I walked alongside several council presidents and one deliberate and steadfast call committee chairperson. Today we finally get to celebrate a new pastor called to the corner of Fort and 7th and a new chapter of Lutheran ministry near downtown Boise, Idaho. Alleluia!

Preparing an installation sermon was an easier assignment a few weeks ago when the appointed gospel text was the calling of the disciples, that was before a snowstorm delayed today’s festivities. In a way, today’s gospel calls us all back to why we are here. Rather than focusing on the relationship between pastor and congregation, we have to point to the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, who you all and Pastor Lewis will bear witness to together, in what we call mutual ministry. In this next chapter of Immanuel Lutheran’s, you will point to and share the good news of a God who came to dwell with us and bring new life.

At the heart of today’s gospel passage is Jesus’ first public act. We should take note because this is his first. It might seem strange to our 21st century ears and eyes when we first hear or read about Jesus’ exorcism of the demon. I have done lots of blessings, but no exorcism. But let’s not let that fact distract us. 

What is Jesus really doing to this man? He is liberating him. First Jesus rebukes the demon, “Be silent.” Then he casts the demon out, “come out of him!” And the unclean spirit comes out. The man if free and his life is changed forever. 

We can barely count the ways that Jesus has changed this man’s life. His physical body is changed, no longer possessed by the demon. Yes. Jesus cares about actual physical bodies. The man’s social standing is forever altered, for the better. This means his mind and spirit are going to be changed as well. He can be part of community now. Through the exorcism, Jesus has liberated the man in so many ways.

In Jesus, God is doing something new, but it is not entirely out of character. Remember that the central story of the Hebrew Peoples’ past is the liberation from Egypt, through the Red Sea. The Passover is still celebrated by Jews every year. Each year, on Maundy Thursday, Christians remember Jesus and his disciples celebrating the Passover.  

Then, on Mount Sinai, God gave the 10 Commandments to the liberated Israelites. We think about rules confining us, limiting us, but these rules were given so every single person in the community could live an abundant life. Over and over, God has been a God of life and liberation for all people. 

The story of the exorcism continues this theme and makes it new. As one pastor said, “Jesus has come to oppose all the forces that keep the children of God from the abundant life God desires for all of us.” Let me say that again, “Jesus has come to oppose all the forces that keep the children of God from the abundant life God desires for all of us.”

Is that not a message we still need to hear? Is it not a message people need to hear in Boise, the Treasure Valley, in Idaho? Of course, it is, because there are still forces that bind us, forces that keep the world from experiencing the abundant life God desires for all creation. Such binding forces include systemic racism, polarized worldviews that demonize one another, loneliness, and environmental disregard, just to name a few big ones. 

What does this look like for our personal embodied lives? Each one of you can probably name forces that bind you. I know that some of the strongest forces in my life that go against God’s desire for abundant life, are simple and every day. Chiefly, these forces include the deep need to continually produce and the desire to be perceived as enough. 

I do not mean to imply that productivity and quality are inherently bad, but when they are not checked, they can bind me and others in destructive ways. I believe we are pushing our individual selves, our systems, and our natural resources too hard and too fast. It is destructive for our communities, the earth itself, and our embodied selves.

“And yet,” those are our words of promise and hope. And yet, the kingdom of God breaks in through Jesus Christ and offers a new way—a way of abundant life and liberation. And Jesus comes as one with authority. As we hear in our scripture passage from Mark this morning, this authority seems to permeate everything he does and speaks. Jesus’ authority, I would contend, comes from those two things aligning. Jesus’ actions align with his words. 

The scribes, who Jesus is contrasted with, depend only on words and teaching. We read that Jesus entered the synagogue in Capernaum and taught. The text says, “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.” Jesus is not teaching something new. He comes from and follows the same tradition as the scribes. 

But he is giving a different interpretation. The scribes’ teaching has not liberated the people. It has, instead, oppressed and enslaved them. Jesus brings a new interpretation. And Jesus not only teaches this liberation with his words. He also pairs it with his actions by exorcising the demon.

Where does this leave us, those of us who are trying to faithfully follow Jesus today? Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney says, “We can no longer pretend that we can follow [Jesus] without following him into the broken places of the world. We can no longer pretend that we can follow Christ without paying an exorbitant price at some point. We can no longer claim we follow Christ if we never leave our places of safety and never raise the ire of those who construct and benefit from the systems that impoverish and imprison.” We all are both liberated from and liberated for.

Today is not only Installation Sunday for Immanuel, but also annual meeting Sunday. I assume that your annual meeting packet includes many words attempting to tell the story of how individual members and the entire congregation tried to follow Jesus and bring life and liberation to the broken places of our community. 

Certainly, you have brought life to the hurting and bound places in the community through the ministry of Food Fellowship, Quilts, and Feed My Sheep. Celebrate also the worship, bible studies, and Messy Church that nourishes you to be sent forth. Consider too the many ways each of you shows neighbor loves in hundreds of individual actions and decisions.

When we are wavering about what to do, where our own authority comes from, we need only look to the life and ministry of Jesus, who came “to oppose all the forces that keep the children of God from the abundant life God desires for all of us.” Whenever we need a reminder of this life, we come again to the meal. It is this banquet, thousands of years after the exorcism in Mark 1 that reminds me that God sees and loves me, embodied as I am. Here we feast together on bread and wine, which become gifts of Jesus Christ’s life and healing. We are liberated once again and given new life. As we will pray after Communion this morning, Giver of every gift, Christ’s body is our food, and we are Christ’s body. Raise us to life by your power for the benefit of all and to your glory, now and forever. Amen.

Augustana Chapel (8:15am worship) an updated and bigger sanctuary (10am worship) and . The full installation service took place during the 10am service but we did include a prayer of blessing at 8:15.

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