Prince of Peace – June 22, 2025

Posted on June 24, 2025 by megganmanlove

Luke 8:26-39 (Prince of Peace, Spokane, during Pr. Skindlov’s sabbatical)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you so much Prince of Peace for the invitation to be with you this morning and for working with Pastor Joel so that he could take time this summer for sabbatical. 

It is an interesting task to talk about demons in the 21st century in the United States of America. We do not experience demons as they are described in the Bible. But rest assured that my words this morning will not be stuck in first century Palestine. I believe there is a way to talk about demons in our lives today. But first, we need to imagine ourselves with that group of disciples who are following Jesus in a very different time and place.

Imagine we have left our home country and journeyed across the lake. It was an eventful trip. A windstorm swept us down the lake, and we thought we would drown. Jesus calmed the storm. He apparently has power over the forces of nature. Now we have arrived in a foreign country—the country of the Gerasenes. The Messiah, Jesus, was supposed to come to save our people, so we do not quite know what we are doing here. What room is there in the reign of God for Gerasenes?

The first person Jesus encounters on this alien turf is a man of sorry plight. He is naked, shameful, and obviously cut off from the community. His home is in the tombs. In a very real way, he is living as a dead man. He has been in bondage for many years. He has lost all social and religious status. We soon learn the reason for this. Thousands of demons hold him in captivity. Jesus asks him his name and he replies “Legion.” A Roman military legion contains 5,600 troops. The demons are so strong that mere chains and shackles cannot confine them. 

Is there anything we can compare to such a tragedy, to someone whose identity is so far gone? One of my favorite professors brings the text into our own context. To begin with, all the demons Jesus confronts have three things in common. Listen and hear if any of this sounds familiar.

First, the demons Jesus confronts all cause self-destructive behavior in the victim. The victim feels trapped in that condition. The demons separate the victim from normal living in the family circle. Do not many of us suffer from the same kinds of snares and burdens? Do we not have friends and family members who are?

“Demons” are those forces which have captured us. They have prevented us from becoming what God intends us to be. And so, we are surrounded by—yes, possessed by—as many demons as those whom Jesus encountered. Our demons can be of many kinds: mental illnesses, schizophrenia, paranoia, addictions, obsessions, destructive habits, anxiety, loneliness. I am sure that each of you, through personal experience and through a a relationship with a friend, a family member, a co-worker or client, can add other specific demons to the list.

Note the similarities between this demon-possessed man and the demons that possess us. He was totally cut off from family and society. He did not live with people, but in the tombs, probably in caves that were used as burying places. The Gerasene demoniac was also “driven by the demon into the wilds.” In other words, he was already in a “living death,” separated from normal people and normal living. Picture in your mind’s eye how demons today isolate people both physically and emotionally.

And the demons were harming him. In another version of this story, the man was “bruising himself with stones” (Mark 5:1-20) and “no one could restrain him anymore, even with a chain.” Mental illness, addiction, destructive habits hurt people every day.

Finally, and most sadly, the demoniac was so totally possessed that though the demons recognized Jesus as “Son of the Most High God,” the man could not free himself. Only the power of God can cast out demons. The seventy person sent out by Jesus soon after this healing came back and reported, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” (Luke 10:17).

This is the key to the work of Alcoholics Anonymous, whose twelve steps to healing begin with these three:

  1. We admitted we were powerless over our addiction, that our lives had become unmanageable.
  2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood him.

These first three steps are basic to the AA program. Likewise, we are not passive, but we cannot cast out demons on our own. We need God to free us from our demons. 

It is said that when Martin Luther felt oppressed by the devil, he would take courage by shouting, “I am baptized!” In this way he grounded his confidence of healing in God’s external, objective act of drawing him into the Christian family throught he water and the word of baptism. We also can declare that God claims us once, again, and always as God’s own beloved children. “Child of God” is your name, the name, that can never be taken away.

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous also realize they do not only need God’s help, but they need the support of people around them. In almost all of Jesus’ stories of healing, there is restoration to families and townspeople—people are returned to their community and the community welcomes them. For the healing of demons today, the fellowship of family, congregation and community is a key to restoration. Becoming free from our demons is seldom a “do-it-yourself” project. We need help from outside ourselves. We need God’s help and we need the other people who are instruments of God’s healing.

At the end of the story, the man “had been healed,” a word from the Greek sozo. Sozo can also be translated saved, or delivered, or made whole. He is not only delivered from the demon and not only cured of the terrible burden. He has been altogether healed and saved. 

You may not feel that you are living with a demon right now, but I will simply name, as I have in my synod newsletter columns, that we are living in unsettled times. There is simply a heaviness right now—worrying about the well-being of all those living on the margins of society, worrying about violence close at home and warfare across the globe, worrying about so many of the guardrails of society I have taken for granted for so long. And no human being was designed to take in and absorb the amount of information we are now reading and watching. It’s just too much. 

I am audacious enough to believe that Jesus can and is still the balm we need—even in these times. In a society overwhelmed by competition and division, Jesus’ message of love and healing and belonging is as relevant and needed as ever. In a time when the world, including myself, has gone digital, Jesus’ gifts of love and forgiveness is received in very simply bread and wine—common and physical elements that we receive with our physical bodies. No matter what you are bringing today to this community of the Body of Christ, the healing and wholeness given by Jesus Christ, are for you as well, today and always. Amen.

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Holy Trinity Sunday with First Lutheran, Ellensburg

Posted on June 16, 2025 by megganmanlove

June 15, 2025

John 16:12-15

The Holy Trinity, the center of this Sunday’s celebration, is, I believe, one of the most counter-cultural Christian beliefs. To live in the information age is to be inundated with photos, stories, data, headlines, and so many words and claims, sometimes true and often not. If you resent how much effort it takes to be an informed citizen of this planet, you have the company of your bishop. But what’s more, there is very little room for either the supernatural or the unexplainable. And the Holy Trinity truly is both supernatural and unexplainable. It is mystery—perhaps one of the greatest mysteries of our faith.  

Somehow this mystery has not deterred Christians from naming institutions after the Trinity for years—colleges, seminaries, nursing homes, hospitals, and of course churches. I have never looked up the statistics, but I am quite sure that if we catalogued names of Lutheran congregations in this country, Trinity would come out on top or be a close second to Good Shepherd. 

Today’s celebration is counter cultural for another reason—it is about mutuality and interdependence—more traits that have little stature in the age of AI. Physician and author Gabor Mate speaks about the “toxic culture of materialism.” In the toxic culture of materialism, materials, and especially the possession of material things, is far more important than connection, love, or spiritual values. Chat GP may be able to help you generate a document or even start problem solving, but that output does not equal a relationship.

Mate reminds us that human beings, all of us, need relationships, all different kinds of relationships: relationships with the natural world, relationships with other human beings, relationships with meaningful and creative work that contributes to the good of the cosmos, and life-giving relationship with our own selves. We are naturally wired for empathy, compassion and connection but there are many barriers to us practicing those things today.

We, gathered in this space and time, have a clear mandate to love one another as Jesus loves us. And we worship a God who exemplifies community, mutual relationships, and a loving symbiosis. The community within the Trinity speaks to our lives here and now.  

Think how radical it was to those early Christians and also new followers of Jesus today. The God we worship is not a pantheon of gods like those we read about it Greek and Roman mythology—a roster of gods who are in a power struggle, who often use humans as pawns for their own benefit—Zeus, Athena, Helena, Apollo. 

One writer put it this way: Then, along came the Christians. “Blessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” What’s this? Still a Unity of Being, but also a Trinity of Persons? The concept was…confusing to those who had dispensed with multiple deities, who had fully embraced the notion of one God (monotheists), who wanted to keep things plain and simple. Why complicate things? And what does it mean anyway? 

The truth of it all originates in the language of Jesus. In our passage from John’s gospel today, Jesus is talking with his followers about their futures, when he will no longer walk beside them on earth: “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. For all that the Father has is mine.” In another place Jesus declares, “Do you not know that the Father is in me and I in the Father?” Still elsewhere he prays that his disciples may be one “even as the Father and I are one.” This is the language of relationship, the language of mutual devotion. 

A twelfth-century scholar, [Richard of St. Vincent], spoke of God in terms of shared love, a community in which that love is expansive and generous. It is love that cannot be self-contained. It overflows from Parent to Child to Spirit and back again. This is captured not only in our passage from John, but in the creeds we pray as Lutheran Christians.

Seventeen hundred years ago, the first ecumenical council was convened in Nicaea to discern matters central to the Christian faith, namely: How do we understand Jesus Christ? The council sought to end disputes about the divine nature of Jesus

and his relationship to God. It was an attempt to unify all of Christendom. Naturally, debates arose, and different schools of thought emerged. In the end, near-consensus was reached — and later expanded in 381 — which resulted in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed. Ever since, Christians have articulated the complexity of the faith in clear and simple terms.

So, this year we celebrate the God-given gift of our visible unity. We also celebrate the 1,700-year-old ecumenical movement that began with a common affirmation of our faith. Here in the Northwest Intermountain Synod, including Ellensburg, that ecumenism is lived out weekly through Lent and Advent shared evening prayer, community Vacation Bible Schools, ecumenical food ministries and so much more. 

This anniversary of Nicea also invites reflection and self-critique. A later addition to the creed called the “filioque” (“and the Son”) was made by the Latin [Western] Church in an attempt to resolve yet another dispute. The filioque has contributed to division between the Eastern Orthodox and Western churches for almost a millennium. But this enduring issue has been meaningfully addressed in a joint statement issued last year by a team of Lutheran and Orthodox Christians. As Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton wrote, “This fruit of 40-plus years of dialogue presents us with the opportunity to move toward healing age-old divisions within Christ’s church, both globally and in our own context.”

The joint Lutheran Orthodox statement explains: As part of the Latin tradition, the [16th century] reformers inherited the Nicene Creed with the Filioque and did not consider it problematic. Valuing this old and most venerable ecumenical Christian text, we now suggest that the translation of the Greek original (without the Filioque) be used in the hope that this will contribute to the healing of age-old divisions between our communities and enable us to confess together the faith of the Ecumenical Councils of Nicaea (325) and Constantinople (381).

Furthermore, the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is a doctrinal statement used in the liturgy. The people of God pray the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and in that prayer their faith is shaped by the Triune God. Renewed focus on the original wording of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed may encourage renewed theological reflection on the Trinity and the role of the Holy Spirit.

Is the Creed still relevant?  Words matter. Just ask a parent whose kid repeats a swear word the parent hoped they had not overheard. Or ask a parent whose kid sings a camp song or piece of the liturgy over and over. We confess and worship a God who is not a pantheon, not a binary either or, not a hierarchical god, but a loving God whose relationality is intrinsic. 

Yes, for people who trust this Triune God, who choose to be followers of this God, there are real life implications. You are invited into the Trinity itself; sometimes called the dance of the Trinity. In the waters of baptism, at the table of bread and wine, in our singing and prayers, you encounter the Triune God. The same love that flows within the Trinity is received by you. Abundant love and life are yours. The Triune God says no to that toxic culture of materialism and yes to mutuality and interdependence and most of all to the love that only God can give. And you simply receive them. In the dance of the Trinity, you are ultimately free, free to love and free to be loved.

Look at all of those flowers!!

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Outdoor Ministries, Joy, and Grief

Posted on June 9, 2025 by megganmanlove
Faith Leaders

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

Summer Staff
Tuesday morning worship at Luther Heights’ Outdoor Chapel

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

With Warren and Sonja after my bishop installation worship
Ready for guests!
Great turn out for the 80th Anniversary kick-off

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

Staff lead the sung final blessing
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Last Minute Thoughts – Pentecost & Holy Trinity Sundays

Posted on June 4, 2025 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod e-newsletter

As you make final preparations for the festivals of Pentecost and/or Holy Trinity, I commend to you the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Statement on the Filioque: A Study Guide from the ELCA. In addition to history, theology, and a Bible Study, the resource contains suggestions for hymns and language for liturgy. 

This year we are celebrating the 1700 anniversary of Nicaea, the first ecumenical council, and we are also celebrating the joint statement by the Lutheran World Federation and the Orthodox Church on what we call the Filioque clause (“and the Son”)—a later addition made by the Latin Church in an attempt to resolve yet another dispute — which contributed to division between the Eastern and Western churches for almost a millennium. In our Evangelical Lutheran Worship books, you will see a * next to the Filioque clause whenever the Nicene Creed is printed. 

As I began learning about this old addition, reacquainted myself with the original council, read the joint statement and the study guide, and participated in a webinar for ELCA bishops, what I found most helpful was a sentiment expressed by Pastor Dirk Lange, Lutheran World Federation Assistant General Secretary for Ecumenical Relations. Lange said that it may be time to now drop the Filioque clause, but what is far most important about all this is the conversation, the conversation about the Trinity which can in turn inform our conversations about our relationships with Goda and one another. For me at least, this notion and invitation made the whole topic that much more relevant. 

The love, relationality, and symbiosis within the Trinity invites us in. Furthermore, like the Holy Communion table where all can feast, like the font where all can be made new, like a day in natural world with our feet planted on God’s good creation, the Trinity itself gives us a glimpse of God’s future reign which is at once already and not yet, or, as the Creed’s last line puts it, “in the life of the world to come”

And so, please look at the study guide as we approach Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sundays or pick it up as a church council or study group later this summer. Those of us going to ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix at the end July and early August will be gathering under the theme “For the life of the world,” a theme informed by the Nicene Creed, Bishop Eaton’s articulation of who we are as church, the wisdom of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and even the purpose statements in our church constitutions.

Finally, make sure to check out the hymn section in the study guide. And on that note, I’ll leave you with this link to a relatively new Trinity song: Glory to God, Whose Goodness Shines (All Creation Sings 1087). To this Gen Xer, this piece by Paul Vasile, who many of us know from his time with Music that Makes Community, feels like what Jay Beech might write today, and I mean that as high praise. 

Narthex at Trinity, Nampa, Pentecost Sunday 2022

Peace,

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Reflections on Montana Synod Assembly

Posted on June 1, 2025 by megganmanlove

I am writing this blog post from the Great Falls Airport having spent the last few days with the Montana Synod during their Assembly. I was here as the Region 1 bishop representative because the assembly had a bishop election. That election, which included three failed third ballots, will be the dominant narrative. Yesterday Pastor Ben Quanbeck, serving King of Glory, Billings, was elected bishop on the fifth ballot (see the Montana Synod FB page for the results of all the ballots).

However, the Assembly included more than the election. I’ve put captions with some photos below. Not pictured, but important parts of the assembly, were the keynote by Helping Hands of Great Falls Director Ms. Carrie Parker and the Bible Study by Wartburg Seminary Professor Dr. Mark Yackel-Juleen.

Vigil for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women at Bethel Lutheran

I had lunch with Pastor Amy Walls, daughter of the NWIM Synod and now serving on Rocky Boy Indian Reservation. It was great to catch up!

Grateful for my colleague Bp Laurie Jungling, who I have served with for two years in Region 1 and in the Conference of Bishops. Bp Jungling will conclude her six-year term at the end of August.

Deacon Allen Sasser-Goehner is the new director the Northern Rockies Institute of Theology, part of the Montana Synod. I worked with Allen at Camp Christikon in 1995 and 1996 and with his wife Pastor Molly Sasser-Goehner in 1998. Allen and I led our first junior high overnight together in 1995!

Opening Prayer Saturday morning with Lay Ministry Associate Recognitions. There are many LMAs serving all across Montana. I was able to hear some of their stories at a dinner for them Saturday evening.

Rt. Rev. Dr. Marty Stebbins, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Montana, preached at opening worship. We took a selfie to send to our colleague Bishop Gretchen Rehberg of the Spokane Diocese.

With Pastor Ben Cherland, Red Lodge, MT, brother of Elizabeth Cherland and brother-in-law of Pastor Kent Narum, who served as one of my parents’ pastors at Custer Lutheran Fellowship.

Worship Saturday – I preached on the RCL texts.

Installation of Deacon Colter McCarty as Associate to the Bishop during closing worship.

With Rev. Tom Shlotterback, (fellow Concordia Cobber) St. John’s United, Billings, presider for closing worship and retiring very soon.

Bishop-elect Pastor Ben Quanbeck

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Sermon for Montana Synod Assembly

Posted on June 1, 2025 by megganmanlove

Meggan Manlove

Saturday (day 2) May 31, 2025

John 17:20-26

When I hear Jesus’ prayer for his disciples in our reading from John’s gospel today, I hear his visions and hopes for authentic love and unity. I hear him speak poetically about his relationship with the Father, you might think Mother if that is easier for you. We hear of a loving and connected parent-child relationship. And though the Holy Spirit is not named in this text, that dance of the Trinity, the relationality inherent in the God we worship is so present in this prayer. The love within that Holy Trinity is abundant and real and inviting. It’s hard to carry out as human beings, sinful and broken as we are, which is one of many reasons Jesus prays for his disciples. If it were automatic human behavior, then there would be no need for prayer.

This struggle made me think of my first call in Soldier, Iowa, a town of 200 people near the Missouri River in what’s known as the Loess Hills. I served there from 2004-2010 and shortly before I arrived, the school district that Soldier, Iowa was part of was dissolved. A vote was put to the citizens and instead of merging with their long-time partner district, a pin was dropped in the middle of the current district. Like many ELCA Lutheran congregations, my new church was full of schoolteachers. They were grieving, in disbelief that other residents had not seen things the way they did. I clearly remember teachers telling me how difficult it was to stand around the Holy Communion rail with people who had voted in such a way that they had lost their jobs. But they kept coming to worship. They kept coming together and sharing the bread and wine, shoulder to shoulder receiving the gifts of new life and forgiveness. And very slowly relationships healed.

During Holy Communion we are literally invited into the unity of the Triune God, unity portrayed in Jesus’ prayer. In the town church we had a straight communion rail but Memorial Day weekend through the month of June, we went out to the old massive country church for worship. And there stood a beautiful half-circle communion rail, one where you not only stood shoulder to shoulder with people, but those on the ends could look across and make eye contact. One big reason I am still in the church, with all of its faults and growing edges, is because of our audacious belief that when we cannot forgive, when we cannot reconcile, when we have no energy to be curious about one another, the means of grace can still be received through Word and Sacrament. My hunger for bread and wine draws me to the table where I feast shoulder to shoulder with my siblings in Christ.

I wrote to my synod recently that I think we forget how radical and rare it is for the good news of God’s love and grace to be preached and heard, and for the sacraments to be celebrated faithfully. It is radical and rare in part, at least within the geography I serve, because there are so many other things parading as the gospel. I am especially exhausted by White Christian Nationalism permeating into so much of the fabric of the territory I serve. Why does something so antithetical to the good news of Jesus Christ get to carry the name of Christ?

White Christian Nationalism is based on creating and sustaining social hierarchies, often revolving around gender and sexuality. It is also comfortable with authoritarian social control. And it includes a desire for strict boundaries around national identity, civic participation, and social belonging that fall along ethno-racial lines. A “Christian nation” is generally understood to be one where white, natural-born citizens are held up as the ideal, with everyone else coming after. (Andrew Whitehead, p. 29). 

I worry sometimes that as we get clearer about being against White Christian Nationalism, we are not exactly sure what we are for instead. Sometimes it is easier to speak in the negative than the positive. I am grateful to be with you this weekend and hear more about why the two resolutions related to our indigenous siblings are important to you as individuals and as a synod. Addressing the reality of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and the history of Indian Boarding Schools is, in fact, one way to follow the Jesus we encounter in the gospels. 

When we say Christian Nationalism is antithetical to the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need look no further than Jesus’ prayer for his followers. Jesus prays, “As you Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us.” Hear the mutuality and oneness. “That they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me…I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” 

The prayer is saturated in this rich love language, and it is a love not for one set of people, but for the whole world, the cosmos, the same world sung about at the beginning of this same gospel: “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.” This is the world God made, the world God loves, and the world into which God sent the Son. Into this same world, Jesus now sends his disciples. They are already in the world but now they are commissioned to bear witness in and to the world of God’s love.

And what is this love? Something sentimental that we might find on a cupcake or greeting card? No. Our final verse summarizes the work of all of Jesus’ ministry, “I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.” This verse confirms one of the central themes of Jesus’ Farewell Discourse to his followers: Jesus’ death and departure does not end his presence and work with the faith community. Jesus’ work continues in the work of the Holy Spirit. 

God’s love is constant and ongoing, and the love goes on through the Holy Spirit. Empires and ideologies come and go. God’s love will be with you forever. Disagreements within congregations, synods, and entire denominations are important and can keep us up at night, but the balm that gets you through the night is God’s love. 

Influencers, newsfeeds, and so much more can seem to have all the answers. But compared the good news of Jesus Christ, it’s all a mirage in the desert. You worship the God who, as we learn earlier in this gospel, is the source of living water. 

That’s why the author of Revelation records, “the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes, take the water of life as a gift.” That gift is for you, always and forever. Amen.

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Answering “How are you?”

Posted on May 28, 2025 by megganmanlove

I’ve been quiet on this blog the last few weeks. After our Synod Assembly and a few more days up in Spokane I flew back to the Treasure Valley and because of some miracle in the calendar have been here for 3.5 weeks. I emailed friends and colleagues asking to get walks, lunches, and coffee dates on the calendar. Everyone has genuinely asked, “How are you?” and my answer sometimes got stuck in my throat. That’s because I am doing well and have been filling up my cup with time with friends and hikes in beautiful Southern Idaho and concerts and community events and yet I know so many people are hurting. Friends near and far who work for the federal government have lost or could lose their jobs. Refugees who thought they found refuge have not. LGBTQ+ friends and strangers have experienced hateful rhetoric and legislation. And the West Ada School district cannot get off the front page. More than all that, and that’s a lot, I worry about our democracy. I think it will hold, but I’m less sure than I ever have been. How am I? I am deeply concerned. I am also deeply proud of our ELCA congregations and ministries and our ecumenical partners continuing to share God’s love and mercy in their local contexts. And I have hope because we are not in this reign of God stuff alone. So here are some highlights from the last few weeks:

Faith Funders Event hosted by King of Glory Lutheran and organized by LEAP Housing–an event to raise donations and charitable investment dollars for the affordable housing to be built by LEAP on KOG’s property.

Idaho Conservation Voters Boards and Commissions Fellowship program: The fellowship program seeks to get more women, people of color, and LGBTQ people on local boards and commissions. As a woman serving on Nampa’s Building Design Review Commission I was invited to tell about 15 people (think speed dating) about my experience on the commission.

So many hikes and walks with friends in and around the Treasure Valley and Southern Idaho. Here I am with Ariel Agenbroad, who works for the University of Idaho Extension in Ada County. We partnered a lot when I was the pastor at Trinity, Nampa and it was so fun to catch up.

Sundays at Faith, Caldwell (home church) and Immanuel, Boise (confirmation Sunday) and a Saturday evening at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church.

Lutheran Community Services Northwest Boise District was awarded a grant from the Idaho Women Community Foundation (a very competitive grant process) and I was able to join them at the banquet.

So many meals and meet ups with ecumenical friends: Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Nazarene, UCC, Disciples of Christ, and yes some Lutherans too.

Nadia Bolz Weber came to Cathedral of the Rockies in Boise and this was a very fun ecumenical event. Nadia gave her testimony/story AND we all got to sing together–so life-giving.

Speaking of music, I went to the spring concert at Cathedral of the Rockies, where they sang pieces by Rene Clausen, heard local band Orale at Caldwell’s Indian Creek Plaza, and attended the James Taylor concert right here in Nampa!

The Treasure Valley Cluster pastors and deacons had a retirement celebration lunch for Pastor Paul Malek.

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May ’25 Mission Support Thank You!

Posted on May 12, 2025 by megganmanlove

Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life.” John 4:13-14 (The Message translation) 

May 4, 2025 

Dear Friends in Christ,

In the middle of Lent, staff and cluster deans gathered at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center on the edge of Spokane for a two-night retreat. We heard reports on every ministry site in our synod from the deans. We worshiped together. We discussed what our rostered and lay leaders need in this moment. We gathered around the piano for a hymn sing. We looked at our synod map and dreamed not just about cluster boundaries shifting but deeper connections and collaborations all for the sake of the gospel. This time of deeply connecting our clusters and ministries and imagining for the future is possible because of Mission Support given to the synod.

In early April your synod council met at Camp Lutherhaven in person! We had an agenda full of worship, business items, hearing with an ELCA Churchwide guest, and hearing from several working groups. It is no small thing in our geographically large synod to pull the council together in person twice each year, but the synod is healthier and stronger for this time of connection. The generosity of your congregation makes possible these opportunities to gather and work in partnership for our shared mission.

At the end of April, DEM Pastor Liv Larson Andrews hosted, at the synod office, two congregational teams, their coaches, and ELCA Churchwide staff, all part of the ELCA’s Congregations Lead Initiative. The next week, several Spokane area congregations and synod staff participated in the Presbytery of the Northwest’s Stewarding Faith Property for Community Good: A Community Roundtable. Our Episcopal colleagues are again inviting ELCA congregations to participate in their summer College for Congregational Development. Synod staff can foster relationships with ELCA Churchwide and ecumenical partners on your behalf thanks to the Mission Support you give to the NWIM Synod.

Anticipating the Festival of Pentecost always means simultaneously anticipating summer camp! Thank you also for your support of our Lutheran Outdoor Ministries—helping recruit summer staff, giving camperships through the camps or your local congregation, signing up for work weekends and family and adult programming, praying, and sending words of encouragement. We recognize our LOM sites as vital to the ministries of our congregations and the synod as a whole.

Peace,

Bishop Meggan Manlove

Spokane River (Photo by DEM Liv Larson Andrews)

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195, 395, and Online Assembly

Posted on May 6, 2025 by megganmanlove

Two Saturdays ago I attended the wedding, here in the Treasure Valley, of a former parishioner and then I left before the reception so I could fly into Spokane. Sunday morning I drove down Highway 195 to Pullman for Pastor Wes Howell’s retirement Sunday, retiring from Trinity, Pullman but following 41 years of pastoral ministry. It was wonderful to be part of the good goodbye and also to get to know the congregation just a bit better. I also caught up with several synod pastors who made the trip to be part of the celebration.

Pastor Wes and his family

Sunday late afternoon I was back up in downtown Spokane for an event put on by FAVs News, the Episcopal Diocese of Spokane and Transitions: Uniting the Inland Northwest. The keynote was given by Gonzaga University professor Dr Itohan Idumwonyi, speaking on Ubuntu. I attended two great panels, one on The Next Generation’s Vision for Unity which included a staffer from Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and one called Understanding LGBTQ+ Faith Experiences, which included an ELCA Lutheran. I also was able to reconnect with some Spokane and North Idaho partners and meet some new ones.

Monday-Wednesday were all about preparation for synod assembly, including a walk-through at Central. Except that Wednesday morning, Pastor Phil, members of Salem, All Saints, St. Mark’s, and I attended the Presbytery of the Northwest’s Stewarding Faith Property for Community Good: A Community Roundtable with Mark Elsdon and Spokane leaders. It was an incredible collection of Spokane citizens–mayor, faith communities, developers, and health care professionals.

Pastor Alan Eschenbacher, All Saints, was on one of the panels!

Thursday and Friday included a very quick trip to Parkland, WA for the Pacific Lutheran University board of regents meeting. Bishop Shelley Bryan Wee (NW WA Synod) and I have been on a task force for about the last two years thinking about how to keep the college’s ELCA connection in this new chapter. It has been slow and faithful work and I’m grateful for the relationships formed with the other task force members. We officially rolled out our recommendations at this meeting and our work will probably conclude in the fall. I also attended my first PLU Choir of the West concert and it was wonderful–a lovely blend of very old and much newer music performed with excellence and heart.

We used the YouTube recording of Thursday’s concert as people entered the Zoom meeting Satuday

Saturday was our online Synod Assembly and overall it went really well. It’s amazing how much the technology has improved and how much we’ve all learned in the last ten years. Our team (registrar, parliamentarian, synod staff, synod officers, worship team, and tech guru) made it a wonderful experience in our studio at Central Lutheran.

Sunday I headed out to Zion Lutheran, Deer Park, a smaller congregation in what is a farming/bedroom community thanks to improved Highway 395. Pastor Arianna Arends currently serves there 3/4 time and she preached a great sermon. Worship was full of kids and good singing and people stayed for an hour after worship to chat with me about the congregation, town, and life.

Chidlren’s Message Time

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Bishop’s Report for 2025 NWIM Synod Assembly

Posted on April 25, 2025 by megganmanlove

One piece of the complete 2025 Synod Assembly Notebook

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are gathering as a synod under the theme Wellsprings of God’s Love. What does that mean precisely? A congregation is a Wellspring of God’s love when the good news of God’s love and grace is preached and heard, and the sacraments are celebrated faithfully. We may forget how rare and radical that is! Further, we hear this message and feast on the Lord’s Supper with people from various walks of life. We do not agree on all things, but we come together to pray Lord have mercy, to pray for the needs of our community and the world, to hear the good news proclaimed. We are honest, as individuals and entire communities, about both our sinfulness and that we remain beloved children of God. And then we all come to the table and feast on bread and wine, receiving life and mercy. Whenever the synod staff and council speak of our many ministry sites as Wellsprings of God’s Love, this is what we are naming. A Wellspring of God’s Love, has some of the following:

Love

Welcome

Generosity

Compassion

Openness

Curiosity

Forgiveness

Partnerships

Large congregations, small congregations partnering with another denomination, a bit more urban, a bit more rural, in the shadow of the Cascades, Tetons, or Selkirks, along the banks of the Wenatchee, Spokane, Snake, Boise, Salmon, or one of many creeks, amidst fields of wheat, soy beans, fruit trees, vineyards, corn, or more wheat, I am grateful you are already a Wellspring of God’s Love.

Synod Vice President Lisa Therell did a wonderful job in her report, updating you on so much that has happened in the synod, so I am going to spend this report mostly looking ahead. I cannot say what will ensure that so many ministries will continue to be Wellsprings of God’s Love. I believe first it will mean being faithful to the gospel we proclaim. Of course, I celebrate when that same gospel leads to ministries that help actual bodies, when the Communion table extends to free meals or food pantries or ministries of welcome and belonging to those on the margins of society. Ours is a faith concerned about what happens after one dies AND about lived faith here and now. Further, in our context, the notion that Christians care about poverty, housing, inclusivity, and those on the margins is not always the norm and our witness through various mutual aid ministries points powerfully to the love of Jesus Christ. At the same time, the one thing we have that most other nonprofits do not have is the gospel itself. We will always need ministries that faithfully preach the gospel and celebrate the sacraments, the means of God’s grace.

Second, it will mean continuing to equip lay people in all our ministries. One of the fun surprises of being bishop is the number of opportunities I am given to nominate or send people to be part of online or in-person learning opportunities. I continue to believe that the best leaders (lay people, deacons, and pastors) are those who remain curious and integrate their learning into ministry. We have created a few cohorts of our own in the synod and I hope these continue to grow. These include our partnership with the Montana Synod’s Lay Ministry Associate Program, monthly church council check-in, monthly transitional leaders gathering, Consultation Committee meeting online to learn Bowen Family Systems Theory, and periodic study groups online. None of these are programs for simply having more programs. They ensure that we are inviting people from our communities to the table of Holy Communion, the soup supper table, and so many other tables. These opportunities are meant to help you tend to the Wellspring of God’s Love in your unique contexts.

Third, as I look ahead to the next few years, collaboration of all kinds will continue to be key. Ministries of all sizes will need to be in relationship with others, including nonprofits, neighbors, and other churches. I have prioritized and enjoyed nurturing ecumenical relationships for their intrinsic value but also because I hope they will bear fruit. I love hearing how you all are fostering ecumenism locally. Part of ecumenism is listening deeply and learning from our siblings, in Bible and book studies, during service opportunities, and even during Holy Communion liturgies. Another part of ecumenism is being bold about the gifts our Lutheran tradition and theology bring to the table. A wellspring is connected to other creeks and streams and aquifers and each of the Wellsprings in our synod our connected to Jesus Christ, the source of all living water.

Fourth, how we gather as a synod will be important. At our fall 2024 synod council meeting we decided on a new rotation of assemblies and regional gatherings, having learned and experienced so much together. Next spring we will have an in-person assembly, details still being worked out as I write this. In 2027 and 2028 we will have regional gatherings and a business assembly online during which we will hold elections, vote on our budget/mission spending plan, and vote on resolutions. I assume these online business assemblies will feel and look much like our special online assembly in 2024. Then in 2029 (bishop’s election year) we will be back in person. So, two years online with regional gatherings, one year in person, then the rotation starts again. This is what our siblings in the Oregon Synod have done for some time. It may seem like this is closing off connections, but our motivation is to make our gatherings, our tables, more affordable, more accessible, and ultimately more welcoming.

Also related to how we gather are our clusters. When the Eastern WA-ID Synod was formed during the inception of the ELCA in 1988, we had 114 congregations. We currently have 80 congregations plus our specialized ministries (campus ministries, outdoor ministries….). We are not ready to change our constitution yet, regarding clusters, but will be practicing with some new clusters. Immanuel, Moses Lake will be part of North Central. The rest of Big Bend along with the Mount Spokane will join Spokane Westward for one large cluster. Spokane Valley and North Idaho clusters will practice being together. Palouse and Tsceminicum will continue together, as they have for several years. Assuming we vote as an Assembly to welcome Christ the King, Milton-Freewater to the synod, and it is approved at Churchwide Assembly this summer, Christ the King will join the Lower Columbia Basin Cluster. Nothing will change with South Central, Treasure Valley, or Upper Snake River Clusters.

Finally, we as a synod have a new ministry to nourish in Cultivating Justice, a Synod Authorized Outreach Ministry, in Wenatchee. I wonder what other new ministries might we start together as congregations, entire clusters, or a synod? What is the Holy Spirit calling us to next? Who is alone, neglected, outcast? Who do we not yet see around the table? Who do we perceive as enemy, who we know Jesus has called us to love? If Jesus traversed our synod, where would he show up specifically? Where is there need for a new Wellspring of God’s love?

I want to include here some thank yous. First, thanks to the amazing team I work with each week: Executive Assistant Cathy Steiner, Assistant to the Bishop Phil Misner, and DEM Liv Larson Andrews. We each bring different gifts and life experiences to this synod ministry and the whole synod is better for it. Cathy will be on sabbatical June and July and we are grateful to announce that former synod staffer and longtime volunteer registrar Diana Abken will be stepping in and providing office support. Thanks also to our contracted staff Lin Carlson who manages the website and produces our e-newsletter. Thank you to Vice President Lisa Therrell for her leadership, wisdom, love for the synod, and partnership and thanks to the entire synod council. Thanks to everyone who serves on one of the long-standing or brand-new committees or teams in our synod. 

In closing, on Transfiguration Sunday, many of us sang You Lord, are Both Lamb and Shepherd from All Creation Sings. The tune has long been a favorite of mine; tune and lyrics together continue to haunt me in that holy way a hymn can. I leave you with the final verse, a prayer of thanksgiving for the one who loves us and who we praise:

Worthy is our earthly Jesus!

Worthy is our cosmic Christ!

Worthy your defeat and vict’ry;

worthy still your peace and strife.

You, the everlasting instant;

you, who are our death and life.

-Bishop Meggan Manlove

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