Grief and Gratitude

Posted on March 4, 2025 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the NWIM Synod March e-newsletter.

Psalm 13 (from Evangelical Lutheran Worship)

1How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2How long shall I have perplexity in my mind, and grief in my heart, day after day?

How long shall my enemy triumph over me?

3Look upon me and answer me, O Lord my God;

give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;

4lest my enemy say, “I have defeated you,”

and my foes rejoice that I have fallen.

5But I trust in your unfailing love;

my heart is joyful because of your saving help.

6I will sing to the Lord,

who has dealt with me richly. 

A Luther Heights Bible Camp alumni group has asked several of us to join them online for devotions during Lent, under the theme Grief and Gratitude. This was a good assignment for me because I have been stuck in grief. Right now I grieve for those in Israel/Palestine, Ukraine, I grieve with refugees who thought their family members would soon be joining them and then plans suddenly changed, for immigrants worried about being deported, for transgender individuals dehumanized by the very legislators who are supposed to represent them, for people living with disabilities who wonder if decades of progress towards protections will be dismantled, a public education system that helped shaped me and which citizens and politicians are determinedly chipping away at. I also grieve with friends who wonder when, not if, their government jobs will be cut after being civil servants for decades, friends living with new diagnoses, and congregations worried about their futures. 

The psalmist’s cry becomes my own, “How long, O Lord?” The grief somehow opens my memories, and I remember every other death, injustice, and conflict. This last week I was with the Conference of Bishops in Chicago, a busy week to be sure. I got in a few walks and found myself brought to tears, not by our work, but by the grief and heaviness in my body and soul. The tears were at once exhausting and cathartic. It is healthy to acknowledge our grief, whether it manifests as sadness, anger, or bewilderment. We also need rituals or totems or conversations to help us move through the grief. I am grateful for the funeral liturgy, for grief support groups, for conversations, and for certain psalms that remind me that people have been naming their grief with language for centuries. 

It was good to be with colleagues this week, and there were a few conversations with these dear ones that helped me laugh and connect deeply. I was reminding that I am not alone. Praying the prayers of worship with the assembly helps me speak gratitude to God and be mindful of so much goodness. Walking around along the Boise greenbelt or on the Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge gets me literally grounded and I give thanks for the natural world. Conversations around the synod, on the steps of the Idaho capital, in synod meetings, with other ELCA synod bishops, with my ecumenical collogues remind me that so many people are working for liberation and wholeness for all. My deepest gratitude comes from the well of faith, sometimes my own and sometimes the faith of another human. Memory is powerful–memories of and stories about God who is faithful, who keeps showing up with grace and mercy for the entire world. The psalmist’s words become my own again, “I trust in your unfailing love…I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt with me richly.”

The Season of Lent begins this week with Ash Wednesday. You might hear this invitation, “We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation.” Both the Revised Common and Narrative Lectionaries this Lent will have us reading through Luke’s gospel on Sunday mornings. One writer explained that these Lukan stories can be seen as “celebrating the persistence of God’s mercy despite stubborn obstacles.” Lent is a season of repentance, and with grief and sin and brokenness laid bare, this is a perfect time for individual and communal repentance. At the same time, I hope and pray this Lent that each of you will also witness and experience the persistence of God’s mercy and give thanks for such a gift.

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Kindled in the Wild – Christian Century Article

Posted on March 3, 2025 by megganmanlove

February 20, 2025 online (coming soon in the April print edition)

My teenage summers were spent at camp, exploring the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northern Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Ontario. I remember the moment I realized I was the only person of faith among a group of 16-year-old girls and our counselor. I had no judgment, only gratitude for all the people and experiences who had fostered that faith deep in me. I was able to make theological connections and continue practicing my faith out there in the north woods because my parents and myriad other saints had handed down the faith to me for years.

I’ve wondered about the connections between church, camp, and home for most of my life. Youth ministry scholars tend to dismiss camp as mere fun and games and critique it for being theologically shallow, as do many of my pastoral colleagues. But what if we envisioned camp as a space to train young people in the language of faith and to spark faith conversations, along with other practices, in the home? This is exactly what the Rhythms of Faith Project seeks to do: to use camp as a catalyst for family faith formation.

Read the Article

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Spring COB

Posted on March 2, 2025 by megganmanlove

I spent most of this past week in Chicago for the spring Conference of Bishops. Per usual, we learned, heard reports, had conversation, worshiped, prayed, made some decisions, and talked some more. The executive committee of the COB intentionally planned a time for topic conversations, 2-hour working groups. This is in the same spirit of what Lisa Therrell, NWIM Synod Vice President, and I have tried to do with our large synod council–give people time for longer discussions around topics in smaller groups. At each COB, a different region takes a turn planning and leading worship. This time it was Region 6’s turn (lower Michigan, Ohio, Indiana-Kentucky). I love how we get to know bishops better through their worship planning, leadership, and preaching and that was certainly true this time. I always love singing with these colleagues and I love being introduced to hymns in All Creation Sings that I have not yet learned. It is always good to lay down some of our burdens to one another and cheer each other on. I will be going to Churchwide Assembly this summer with others from the NWIM Synod and appreciated the orientation to registration and what the week in Phoenix will look like, plus getting technical tips from more seasoned bishops. We will be electing a new Presiding Bishop and ELCA Secretary at that Assembly. Between now and then there will be many bishops elections at synod assemblies.

Outgoing bishops, minus Tim Smith

We said goodbye to eleven bishops, including Bishop Eaton, at this COB meeting. I will miss all of them. I read Bishop Rinehart’s blog long before I became a bishop. I followed Bishop Ortiz’ writings and ministry as well. Bishop Kusserow, Rinehart, and Eaton are all finishing 18 years in the COB–lots of history. Bishop Bartholemew was the chair of the COB when I started.

Bp Rick Jaech, Southwestern WA, has served for 12 years and has been my colleague for two years in Region 1. He graciously stepped in and presided at my installation when Bishop Eaton could not be present because of a death in the family. I’m grateful for every phone call he has taken.

Region 1 Bishops Praying for Bp Jaech

Bp Lorna Halaas is the only bishop I called while deciding whether or not to accept a nomination. I admired how she was leading my first-call synod of Western Iowa and the Manloves and Halaases have a history, though I didn’t know Lorna well before calling her. I remember her telling me what an honor it is to visit the congregations, and that has been so true for me too. I also called her shortly after I was elected, and she gave me a couple pieces of excellent practical advice.

It is an honor to be part of the COB; it’s always good to get home.

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Visit to Greater Milwaukee Synod – Feb. 2025

Posted on February 16, 2025 by megganmanlove

Did you know that ELCA synods have domestic companion synod partners?

Shortly after I started this call as bishop, Bishop Paul Erickson of the Greater Milwaukee Synod invited me for a visit. It took over a year, but this February I finally made the trip to the our domestic companion synod. Every year, Greater Milwaukee Synod has a day of worship, conference (cluster) meetings, and workshops. They call it Together in Mission and it moves around to various churches. This year we were at St. Matthew’s in Wauwatosa, WI. I preached at the opening worship and taught an afternoon workshop.

Travel was a bit eventful on the way to Milwaukee, beginning with a snow storm in Boise Thursday. I was spending much of Thursday in Boise and figured I might get an airport hotel room for the early flight Friday, so I packed Thursday morning but forgot a few things, including my collar. I woke up early Friday for my flight to be delayed. I eventually got switched from Delta to United’s nonstop flight to Chicago O’Hare. From there I took the bus up to Miwaukee’s airport. That bus ride was really slow because Wisconsin was also experiencing a snow storm.

Gray outside but buzzing and full of energy and hope inside.

St. Matthew’s has a lovely sanctuary and a great space for an event like this one. It was an honor to preach to all of the leaders on the scripture passage, which was also the gospel for my installation as bishop. We sang the hymn DEM Pastor Liv Larson Andrews recently penned on the Beatitudes for the Byberg Preaching Conference and which she is still workshopping.

I was able to catch up with the current director, Tracy Polzin, of Camp Lutherdale. I met a staff member from Wisconsin Council of Churches and thanked them for all of their guidance during the pandemic and their current work and ministry. I met the nephew, Pastor Josh Graber, of Pastor Andrew Hinderlie (serving in the NWIM Synod at Trinity, Bonners Ferry). Josh served for about a year at Holden Village pre-pandemic.

I led a workshop on story-linking, linking our faith stories with the Biblical stories. This was a consolidation of the longer series I led for the Women’s Retreat at Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in 2023, at Holden Village’s Fall Sojourn in 2024,and at my former congregation in February 2020.

Synod Office

This morning, Sunday, Bishop Erickson and I went to the Spanish worship service at Ascension Lutheran Church (also home of the synod offices) and then stayed afterwards for lunch and a session led by Pastor Aida Muniz and an immigration lawyer on people knowing their legal rights in this moment and being prepared for ICE agents.

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Greater Milwaukee Synod – Sermon – Feb. 15

Posted on February 16, 2025 by megganmanlove

Milwaukee Synod (Domestic Companion Synod) – Feb. 15, 2025

Together in Mission 2025 event for lay and rostered leaders

Luke 6:17-26

Thanks to Bishop Erickson for the invitation to be with you all. This was a synod I thought I might be called to long ago when I included Region 5 on my first-call paperwork. Greater Milwaukee Synod—lots of Lutherans, a mix of congregations, bordering one of the Great Lakes, proximity to robust outdoor ministries (very important to me). I am a bit envious that you can all gather together in one day. In the Northwest Intermountain Synod it takes about 12 hours, when the passes are clear, to drive from Jackson, WY  to Chelan, WA. I love that I get to be here with you today to worship and learn and be church.

I will be honest and say that I never know if these blessings and woes in Luke Chapter 6 are good news for me or not so good news? When I consider our neighbors in our companion synods in Tanzania, the neighbors Bishop Erickson and I met in Puerto Rico, and my physical neighbors on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (while growing up in Western SD), Jesus’ woes hit hard.

On the other hand, the wealth gap in this country is wider now than it ever has been in my lifetime. In the first quarter of 2024, 10% of workers in the United States owned 67% of its total wealth. In contrast, the lowest 50% of workers owned 2.5% of the wealth. Income inequality contributes significantly to the rapidly growing wealth inequality in the U.S. and, by some measures, is the largest since before the Great Depression. [University of Florida-Nov. 19, 2024].

How many of you know young people working two jobs to put bread on the table and with little hope of home ownership? How many of you have changed careers because of changing markets, your plans for retirement suddenly delayed? How many of you know people who must suddenly choose between a doctor’s appointment, a car repair, or a mortgage payment? In these ways, the power of empire is with us as starkly as it was for the peasants under the thumb of the Roman Empire who Jesus spoke to thousands of years ago. 

What I like about the Sermon on the Plain, is that it is very clear what God’s vision is. And, when this vision is realized fully, it truly will be liberating for everyone, hard as that may be to believe. It’s Jesus’ Mother Mary’s Song, but named by Jesus and aligned with his own actions.

Jesus wasn’t just describing the vision – he was making it tangible. Just before these familiar words, Luke describes how multitudes are gathered from near and far, representing many people. They recognized Jesus’ power: “All in the crowd were trying to touch him.” And, the author tells us, Jesus healed all of them. Only then does Jesus speak.

With his words, Jesus is redefining, both now and for the future, the way the world works. He is replacing common representations of the world with new ones. And his words are consistent with his actions of healing.

We might need to be reminded that Jesus’ claims clearly do not represent conventional wisdom. Is not wealth a sign of God’s blessing? How then can the poor be declared fortunate, and the wealthy be warned of God’s curse?

Jesus’ vision of the new world today is about all the final things. And yet, Jesus’ vision it is not relegated to the future. The end has already arrived, and the values Jesus asserts reflect this new era. In other words, Jesus’ teaching is meant to jolt his audience, including you and me, into new perceptions of God’s liberating goal. 

Jesus’ beatitudes and woes are words of hope and comfort to people like those who have already been the recipients of Jesus’ ministry: lepers, sinners, the demonized, tax collectors, women. Those people may be unacceptable in the world they live in, but they are embraced and restored in the new world Jesus proclaims and embodies. And with Jesus’ embrace and restoration, the world itself is transformed.    

Let me be clear, there is no idealization of poverty in our passage. Instead, Jesus describes the new world, the reign of God, as a place where poverty is quite simply absent. The new world and the values it embodies will catch unawares those who measure their lives by the old order. Those rooted in the old order will find their sense of well-being and self-assurance is grounded in false values. We see the results of these false values everywhere.

The “wealth gap,” “food deserts,” the “education gap,” the “health gap,” and other gaps and failures around the globe mark the two sides of the blessings and woes. It is the gap we are called to address by this passage for God’s sake and our own. It is what children of God do and what they repent of not having done. You who follow Jesus do so with confidence that God gives new opportunities to live with generosity and attention.

There remain plenty of roadblocks to our moving forward, as many today as in Jesus’ day. We idolize money. We spiritualize the poor and tell one another that something good coming for the poor….in heaven). We convince ourselves that someone else is fixing our economic system or helping those with less. Or we put our heads in the sand and believe that economic disparity is happening somewhere else, not in our community.

The Sermon on the Plain are promises to those who are suffering in this world that God still sees them, loves them, and is intent on their thriving. Jesus’ words are also warning calls to his hearers. They are called to live with attention and generosity toward their neighbors, even as God is attentive and generous. Jesus has already showed this with his life and ministry: rebuking deomons, healing the sick, cleansing the leper, healing the paralytic. Wholeness of each person and of the cosmos is paramount. 

Because we are not poor, the first beatitude either mystifies us or leaves us feeling guilt rather than joy. Our pride and our ability to provide for ourselves have blocked the channels of blessing. But we don’t have to stay there. After all, God has invited us into that work. Some days that is exhausting and overwhelming and other days it can only be described as, yes, a blessing, a real deep embodied blessing, not a hashtag blessed.

It seems that you all have caught a glimpse of Jesus’ vision. Why else give up a Saturday in February to sit in on workshops and conference gatherings? My assumption is that somewhere along the way you have yourselves experienced the new life that Jesus’ offers: forgiveness and mercy, reconciliation, an abundant and unexpected welcome, nourishment, a second chance. Whatever it was, you could not help but respond.

And so, 

Blessed are the poor, and blessed are those of you who will learn how to be better Church Treasurers, Administrators, Church Record Keepers, and Constitution gurus. Ministry is right in the word Administration and this work is crucial to bringing in the reign and economy of God.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, and blessed are those who are going to keep God’s people safe, those learning about walking alongside people with substance abuse, addiction, and related mental health issues.

Blessed are you who weep now, and blessed are you who will explore the art and practice of forgiveness, especially as it pertains to youth, those of you learning Bowen Family Systems theory as it relates to congregations, and those of you considering resiliency. 

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, and blessed are those who are going to learn more about being allies to immigrants and those who are diving into BIPOC and LGBTQ Advocacty and those who are connecting Worship (at the heart of who we are) with diversity!

And thank you for the blessing of being church together in this time and place.  

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Feb. 9, Hope, Eagle

Posted on February 10, 2025 by megganmanlove

Luke 5:1-11, Isaiah 6:1-8

Nets breaking and boats sinking; the mention of these two images is enough for me to recall today’s gospel story–the calling of the first disciples in Luke’s gospel. The crowd of spectators and the men scrambling to haul in the fish awaken the senses. Jesus is well into his ministry in Galilee. Though not welcomed in his own home, Jesus has healed people suffering from demons and diseases and delivered a sermon in the synagogue.

It is noteworthy that Jesus recruits his first disciples in the midst of their workplace –the Sea of Galilee. The call to follow Jesus might occur for some people in a place of worship, but clearly that is not a requirement. The men are washing their nets after a night of unsuccessful fishing. There is nothing outstanding about the setting until Jesus appears. He has been healing and teaching and at the center of his ministry is his Word, and the calling of the disciples continues this theme. He teaches the crowd from the boat and then tells Peter to put out his nets into the deep water. Peter trusts Jesus’ words, albeit a little begrudgingly, and lets down the nets, against all reason. 

Reason probably told Peter, an experienced fisherman, that Jesus’ instructions were foolish. The best place and time to catch fish is near the shore in the morning or evening, yet Jesus commands Peter to cast the nets into the deep waters at midday and Peter obeys. Peter knew enough about Jesus’ ministry to be open to possibilities. And Jesus provides an abundance of fish after a night of empty nets. Abundance and new life accompany the Word in Jesus’ work in Galilee. Scrambling in the boat, the first disciples get a glimpse of Jesus’ power. He is obviously more than just a savvy fisherman.

There is a famous saying, God does not call the equipped. God equips the called. I have heard this week’s call stories compared to a conversation between Frodo and Gandolf in Lord of the Rings. Frodo says, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Gandolf replies, “So do all who live to see such times, but it’s not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” 

What further strikes me this week about both of these call stories is the fear and awe. I don’t know if we expect God to show up in our lives that way anymore. Maybe we are okay with some awe. It’s part of why those of us in Southwest Idaho make our way to the Sawtooths or Long Valley up by McCall or Shoshone Falls or the Oregon Coast. We want to experience the awesome works of the creator. 

Peter’s response is more one of terror than awe, however. He prostrates himself before Jesus, begging him to depart, for he (Peter) is a sinful man. He calls Jesus “Lord,” the term for the unpronounceable name of God. The entire episode reminds us of Isaiah’s calling, where he declares: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” 

Peter is not confessing to any particular sin, but rather to his own essential sinfulness. He also confesses, for the first time, Jesus as Lord. As one theologian reminds us, “we have repeatedly seen in Luke’s Gospel those who are fearful are called to joy and newness of life: ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’” 

I have to say that by Tuesday morning of this last week I could feel my body fill up with fear and feelings of inadequacy and just a little terror, not the terror that my life was in danger, but the terror of the holy. 

At the end of January, I stayed for a few days in Kennewick, WA. I was coming from a preaching conference in Seaside, OR and presided at an installation of our new pastor in Pasco, WA on Friday. Thursday evening, I went with another pastor at a Pasco Middle School for a community event put on by the League of United Latin American Citizens. Several immigration lawyers spoke and answered questions. 

The point when they told parents how to prepare their kids for their, the parents, possible deportation was the most sobering. Earlier that day I had tuned into a Webinar hosted by Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service) on how churches could help refugees already in the United States.

If you don’t know, Lutherans then had a bit of spotlight in the news last weekend. On Saturday, February 1, 2025, misinformation spread on X (formerly Twitter), falsely accusing Lutheran organizations of financial misconduct. A post from “General Mike Flynn” implied that Lutheran groups like Global Refuge and Lutheran Services in America receive excessive federal funding without transparency. Elon Musk then amplified the claim, suggesting that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a new government office under the current administration, was shutting down “illegal payments.” 

These allegations are false and dangerous. Lutheran organizations have faithfully served refugees, immigrants, and vulnerable communities for 85 years, using grant funding responsibly and transparently. These grants support legally admitted refugees and provide essential services, continuing a long-standing commitment to care for the most vulnerable. The organizations are not laundering money.

All of it feels quite clear to me now, a full week later, but I had not slept more than two hours Sunday and Monday nights. I kept reading news and commentary on my phone, which I know better than to do, and then I would lay on my back and start writing to our synod in my head. My head was trying to problem solve, but my heart was breaking, for refugees and immigrants and everyone who receives services from various agencies.

I tried to pray for wisdom earlier in the week, but really all I could muster on Tuesday morning was, “God, help me get through today.” And then I had this clarity that one thing had prepared me for this time. It was not my ordination. It was not my installation to the office of bishop. 

All that prepared me to follow Jesus in February 2025 was my baptism. The words I have said and hear so many times flooded back, “In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the body of Christ. Living with Christ and in the communion of saints, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.” 

Bishop, pastor, daughter, friend, board member. No name is more important than the one given to me so many years ago, “Meggan, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

The call is clear. In this state, country, and world, there are so many things trying to be the gospel: the gospel of purity, the gospel of prosperity, the gospel of Christian nationalism. They are stoked with fear and terror, but they are not the gospel we believe and confess. The gospel we trust is one so full of love and grace and mercy that it overwhelms us, maybe even terrifies us because it is so powerful, but it never cripples us. In the end, it sets us free.

A favorite theologian [Wengert] put it this way, “Now, Lutherans are an odd group among Christians. We hold that our relation to God is defined by grace, through faith, on account of Christ alone. That is, we don’t have to do good works to get into or stay in a right relation with God. As a result, we Lutherans have all this time on our hands that other religious folk may not. So, we help our neighbor so that we don’t get bored–or, rather, so that spontaneously, out of the joy and thanksgiving for God’s mercy toward us we turn that love toward others.” Amen!

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Caring for our Kids and Youth in this Chapter

Posted on February 10, 2025 by megganmanlove

Originally published in the Northwest Intermountain Synod electronic newsletter, February 3, 2025.

With the number of executive orders coming out of the new administration, state legislatures back in session, and the Season of Lent coming up, you may be scratching your head wondering why I picked this topic for my February 2025 column. Please stick with me. In December I finished reading social psychologist Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. In January I watched ELCA Lutherans from across the country descend on Louisville for the annual Youth Ministry Extravaganza. I have been thinking that with everything going on, we could easily lose sight of something so important: caring for the kids in our care.

I cannot think of a congregation in our synod that has no kids and teens in its sphere of care, whether in the form of preschools, childcare, Sunday School, or simply the myriads of church members who are parents, grandparents, neighbors, and friends helping raise children. What does love and passing on the faith look like in your context? How can the Lutheran Christian lens or ear inform this ministry?

Equip kids to talk with you, a caring adult. My hair stylist told me that she restricts what her ten-year old can watch on YouTube, but that the daughter was at a friend’s house, and they ended up watching something false and disturbing. The daughter confessed this to her mom and told her how the video made her feel. I told my stylist this was an affirmation of her parenting—her daughter could talk with her, name her feelings, and understood the boundaries her mom was setting. General wisdom is that, in order to thrive, every kid needs at least five adults in their lives who are pouring into them. We can all be part of this equation in the lives of the kids and youth we know.

Teach kids how to talk with God. In addition to being able to have conversations with their parents and other caring adults, it is essential that we teach kids how to pray. The promises made in Holy Baptism include the promise to teach children the Lord’s Prayer, a guide for all other prayers, and to nurture them in faith and prayer. Try to remember the first time you realized you could bring everything to God. It is at once comforting, freeing, and awesome. Make sure the kids in your life know they can talk with God and tell them about your own prayer life.

Give Bibles to the kids in your life and read scripture with them. As with prayer, there is something life giving about knowing the whole biblical narrative and then realizing that the same God active in that story is the God who loves you! Start with the Spark Story Bible. Move onto the Action Bible. Pull out that old Good News Bible with its simple English, and finally give them an NRSV edition. If the first language of the kids in your life is not English, track down a Bible in their first language. Plus, the Bible is full of some pretty interesting stories!

Take kids into the great outdoors. Fortunately, in our synod there is no shortage of places to experience God’s grandeur, from the North Cascades and the Tetons to state and city parks to tossing a ball in your backyard. As I write this, youth and adults are headed to Lutherhaven for a Confirmation Retreat. Encourage kids to play freely and explore the wonders of the natural world. 

Introduce kids to their neighbors. We believe all people are made in the image of God. There are many ways to introduce kids and teens to neighbors: block parties, community events, visual or musical arts, novels, movies, and travel. Just as learning our own family story and the story of God’s relationship with creation (through scripture), learning the stories of our neighbors, next door and across the globe, is part of the life of faith. It’s easier to follow the mandate to love our neighbor when we know them and have heard their stories.

Thank you for already caring for the kids and youth in your lives. 

Bishop Meggan Manlove

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Shepherd of the Valley, Feb. 2

Posted on February 2, 2025 by megganmanlove

It was so good to be with SoV in Boise, about 11 months after Pastor Dave’s heart attack and the Sunday following when I was there to preside and give some comfort. There was wonderful energy this morning and Dave has made a great recovery!

Luke 4:21-30

This morning, we find Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth. His homecoming seems to be a mixed bag. He brings hometown loyalties into question. Jesus has just preached the first sermon of his ministry. It is based on a text from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” The sermon is one of the shortest every recorded: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

At first glance, the reviews of the congregation at Nazareth were positive. We read “All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth.” But what started out as the world’s shortest sermon turned into a dialogue.  The crowd began to question and wonder.  

And their objections have to do with hometown loyalties. Who is Jesus rooting for? His quote from Isaiah is full of good news. But the good news extends far beyond the hometown.  

One theologian [Justo Gonzales] proposed a rewriting of Jesus’ words this way, “One can imagine, in our day, a young man who becomes a famous athlete and signs a contract for millions of dollars. He then returns to his hometown, and all come to receive him and hear what he has to say. The town band goes out to greet him. The local papers praise him. The town gathers at the stadium for a welcome ceremony. Everybody is excited. 

Some say: “It is difficult to believe that this is Joe, who grew up next door.” When Joe finally comes to the speaker’s stand, all are eager to hear what he has to say. They know that he has talked of ht eneed for better schools and clinics, and that he has supported such institutions elsewhere. Now Joe stands up and says: “Do not think that because I grew up in Smallville you will receive any special favors from me. Actually, I have decided to support the school in Eastville, and the clinic in Northville.” There will be a chilled silence. Soon shock will turn to anger, and anger to hostility. “Who does he think he is? We don’t need him! Run him out of town!”

Jesus continues by quoting other Scripture passages that reveal God’s expansive grace. Does he select the stories of the fathers and mothers of the Jewish faith—Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph. No. Jesus’ quotes scripture which reveals God’s grace toward the Gentiles. In 1 Kings, it was a Gentile woman to whom Elijah provided the never-failing oil and flour. And in 2 Kings, it was the Gentile Naaman whom Elisha healed of leprosy.

This was too much. Why couldn’t Jesus speak promises for the hometown? The anger of the crowd is so great that they seek to destroy Jesus—to do away with him by hurling him off a cliff.

Already in Jesus’ ministry we see rejection. Sometimes we think the rejection of Jesus comes only in the final weeks, on the way to the cross. But here it is at his first sermon. Throughout Jesus’ entire ministry, the good news is proclaimed, rejected, and proclaimed again—to a wider and wider circle—even to the ends of the earth. And if we look closely enough, we see ourselves in this text. In the center of this rejection story, we find ourselves, our culture, our society—people who like to know who is in and who is out, who is welcome and who is not.

We are part way through the Season after Epiphany, a season in which we celebrate the manifestation of God. We celebrate how Jesus is made known, revealed to us as God’s Messiah. But something else is revealed in this season. In this text, we, too, are made known. And we, like the congregation in Nazareth, are revealed to be a people who like to draw lines in the sand—people with a persistent “we-they” mind-set.  

Even outside the world of hometown rivalries, we like to divide our world into home teams and out of town rivals, into us and them, friends and enemies. We can easily turn all of life into a competition—who is better than whom. We see this profoundly as the excluded become empowered and then turn around to exclude others. I say this as a white woman who knows the early feminist movement left out women of color. 

It is all too human to want the world to be neatly divided into insiders and outsiders.  And we would just as soon that God were on our side.  Sometimes we would like to peg God with a certain nationality, a political party, an income level.  But further ahead we will read especially about the impartiality of God.  When Peter preached about the inclusion of both Jews and Gentiles through Christ, he proclaimed, “I truly understand that God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34).  Literally, this reads: “God makes no distinction between faces.”   God does not differentiate between peoples. 

God is not interested in faces.  God is interested in hearts.  Not beautiful hearts, not pure hearts, not even perfect hearts, but hearts that know their need of God—hearts that “are restless until they find their rest in God,” who know with the psalmist that only God can create clean hearts.

Recognizing our need will transform our relationships with others. This is what will help to erase the lines we draw between others and ourselves. We are all in the same boat—lost without God—saved not because of our own merit, not because we are pure on the inside, but solely by the grace of God. When it comes to redemption, we are all on the outside—all sinful and unclean. We are only saved by the God who crosses all lines, who breaks boundaries, who becomes human in Jesus to create new and clean hearts within us.

In this Epiphany season, we see Jesus, God’s Son, full of grace, and we see ourselves, so deeply in need of that grace. We see the Jesus who welcomes us all. No matter who we are, there are times when we feel like an outsider, a stranger, on the outside looking in. It is only the radical welcome of Christ that welcomes us fully and completely. The rejection at Nazareth will lead one day to the ultimate rejection at Golgotha, yet God will be at work in that event to bring life out of death. And in Christ’s death and resurrection, the welcome extended to us will be as lavish as Jesus’ words to a dying criminal: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.”

When my father picked me up from grade school, he did not ask about what I learned. He didn’t ask what my favorite subject had been. The very first thing he asked nearly every day was, “How were things on the playground?” He knew how important that part of the day was to my formation as a person. On the playground my classmates and I were learning how to interact with one another. Already we were discovering who was in and who was out. It was clear at an early age that there were people who should be left alone, others who should be included, and still others who called the shots. 

But my parents also took me to a place so radically different than the grade school playground—the table where bread and wine were given freely. There everyone in town was welcome to feast on the bread of life and the cup of healing, to receive forgiveness and new life. We left that table nourished to slowly transform the playgrounds of our lives, only by the grace of God.

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Near the Columbia River/Hope, the Stranger, History

Posted on February 2, 2025 by megganmanlove

Last Monday I flew from Boise to Portland, where a pastor and spouse picked me up on their way to the Byberg Preaching Conference in Seaside, OR. When I registered for this event months ago, I thought it would be great to be at a church event and not be in charge and catch up with friends (a pastor friend flew out for Byberg from Minnesota). I also have enjoyed hearing from the keynote speaker, Rev. Luke Powry, twice before. All of that rang true, but it was also a gift to be in a space with natural beauty, with each day grounded in worship, during a week when my heart couldn’t keep up with the heartbreak: a stop order for refugees entering the country, a cuts in funding for agencies serving refugees (which impacts refugees I know and friends who work at various agencies), then the email to government employees offering them buyouts (impacting more friends). And all this while daily heartbreak continues, the regular hard stuff of life: medical diagnosis and treatment for friends and co-workers, challenges of raising kids today, people losing jobs, deaths in families. Hearing the Word preached, praying and singing with others, hiking along the Oregon Coast, kept me buoyed.

I should mention that I’ve been reading, for discussion with a friend in the Midwest who I read books with, the Bonhoeffer biography A Spoke in the Wheel, which has provided an interesting and helpful lens for current events.

DEM Pastor Liv Larson Andrews (chaplain for Byberg) drove me to the Tri-cities where I stayed with retired Deacon Heidi and her husband.

On Thursday I joined the Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services) and ELCA AMMPARO webinar on what we all should know about helping refugees and immigrants now. Having worked for a Catholic Charities refugee resettlement office in Syracuse, NY during my Jesuit Volunteer Corps year, and welcoming Congolese refugees into our family at Trinity Lutheran Church, all of this is so sad.

Thursday evening, I joined several ELCA Lutherans from the Tri-cities at a Pasco Middle School for a community event put on by the League of United Latin American Citizens. Several immigration lawyers spoke and answered questions. The point when they told parents how to prepare their kids for their, the parents, possible deportation was the most sobering.

On Friday morning I had coffee with a classmate of mine from my D.Min. program at San Francisco Theological Seminary. One very rainy week in Marin County, Silvana and I had a class together. She was, for many years, a chaplain at the juvenile detention center in town. It was good to catch up. She knows many of the people who have been chaplains in the Tri-cities, including several Lutheans, and she came to the United States many years ago from Germany, so it was interesting to hear her talk about her home town and country.

Friday afternoon, Heidi and I made our way to to First Lutheran in Pasco for the installation of Pastor Kathleen Anderson. Kathleen’s husband Pastor Bob Lewis, Immanuel, Boise, preached and I presided.

Pastors Kathleen and Bob are next to me

The current administration seems to be deliberately dismantling the civil service, so I have been thinking a lot about the podcast episode Lillian Cunningham did on President Chester Arthur, the first person to reform the civil service from political rewarding to being merit based.

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Bishop’s Report for NWIM Synod Council

Posted on January 25, 2025 by megganmanlove

Bishop’s Report for NWIM Synod Council – January 2025

Pastor: Since our fall meeting, I have visited the following congregations for a Sunday worship or an ordination: Fullness of God at Holden Village, Lake Chelan Lutheran, Sunnyside Lutheran, ordination/installation at Our Savior in Twin Falls, St. Paul in Chewelah, St. Luke in Spokane, holy closure at Messiah in Spokane, Bethel in Firth, Lord of Life in Kennewick, King of Glory in Boise, Cameron Emmanuel, Central in Spokane, Whitney UMC in Boise (where campus minister Hannah serves ¾ time). We have had two Retired Rostered Leader Gatherings (Riverview in Spokane and First Lutheran in Kennewick) and we have two coming up (Boise in February and Wenatchee in the spring). 

Servant: Kelly Preboski, executive director of Luther Heights Bible Camp, finished serving as director Jan. 2 and took another job with a Boise nonprofit. I have simply been a sounding board for the board chairperson. I continue to serve on the Rhythms of Faith Advisory Team, an ecumenical project funded by the Lilly Endowment exploring the relationship between church, home, and camp. Our tagline is camps as catalyst for family faith formation. I continue to check in every six-months with our two Campus Ministers and I point them and their boards to resources as they arise. I also crafted an end-of-year appeal letter addressed to alumni encouraging donations and legacy giving for the Wells Endowment for Campus Ministry. I continue to serve on the Pacific Lutheran University board along with a task force evaluating PLU’s association (its connection to the ELCA denomination).  I attended Ray Scherven’s Lutheran Disaster Response congregation readiness training and will encourage more congregations to participate in his next online training. I continue to help our Companion Synod team prepare for two guests from the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese to visit our synod in fall 2025. I attended the Love out Loud Lutheran Community Services Brunch in Boise and helped recruit the next board member from the Boise area. Lisa Kraft, King of Glory, Boise, served three three-year terms. Bonita Hammer, Redeemer, Boise, has agreed to serve a three-year term.

Symbol of our unity in Christ’s church: Above I noted Pastor Andy Hamblen’s ordination/installation in Twin Falls. Pastor Phil and I continue to nurture relationships with leaders of full-communion denominations across our synod. I am grateful for the mutual support and concrete collaborations that come with these relationships. One of the most interesting projects, which won’t come to fruition for some time, is possibly redeveloping the land at the The Center in Moscow (owned by six denominations, including the NWIM Synod-ELCA). The dream is student housing, more meeting space, and space to rent. 2025 is of course a Churchwide Assembly (CWA) Year (with elections for presiding bishop and ELCA secretary), so I anticipate pulling together online our synod’s voting members beginning in February. There is a CWA orientation for Region 1 scheduled for April. The Conference of Bishops’ history included a Bishop’s Academy (learning event) annually. Now it is biannual, and this January may be our last one. I will have been to Puerto Rico (Jan. 4-8) by the time synod council meets. I will be a guest in our domestic companion synod (Greater Milwaukee) Feb. 15-16. Whereas most synods have one or two companion synods, every synod is in relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land and so we are each expected to participate in a Holy Land trip during our term. My class (2023) of bishops’ first opportunity was supposed to be this February, but it has been postponed until possibly September. I am honored to represent our synod, and I promise to report thoroughly during and after these trips. 

CEO: We were quite successful in our Rooted in Place financial campaign for geographically restricted internship sites. Our total raised from the Regional Gatherings, one special gift, and other online donations given around Giving Tuesday is $21,293.17.

It was sad, joyful, and an honor to be with Messiah for their holy closure, or service of completion. The synod gratefully received one of their legacy gifts: $40,000. Per our gift policy, the executive committee directed 10% to ELCA Churchwide and 10% to the NWIM Wells Endowment for Campus Ministry. We designated 60% to bequests and 20% to our operating fund.  Other organizations receiving legacy gifts from Messiah include Lutherhaven, Second Harvest, Christ Kitchen of Spokane, Venessa Behan Nursery, Shalom ministries, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and Meals on Wheels of Spokane. Finally, Messiah redirected their “Messiah Mission Endowment Funds to now send the interest generated by our $230,000 to the NWIM Synod Fund for Leaders, which we hope will be used to help pastors, interns, and TEEM members who are preparing for leadership in our church through ordination. And, if needed, we hope it can be used for those who are preparing for Lay Associates in our parishes, to bring the word of Gospel to those faith communities who can no longer afford a pastor.”Fund for Leaders (a national ELCA program) will need to change its guidelines for Messiah’s hope about supporting lay leadership training to be realized, but Synod Council may want to remember this note from Messiah when distributing the funds Exec put towards bequests (see above).

I am grateful to Nick Kiger from the ELCA and the rest of the synod staff for working with me on our Mission Support case for support. We sent out a dozen Mission Support increase ask letters (asking for a specific percentage increase in Mission Support for 2025). Through those letters, direct emails from our staff, and one email to around 20 churches, we asked every congregation in our synod to fill out and return their Mission Support intent form. Please help us with that synod council members! Our staff had a good day together (at St. Mark’s parish house) the second Wednesday in December. I also had end-of-year conversations/evals with each staff member. I am grateful to Messiah, Spokane for taking to heart, it seems, many of the suggestions laid out in my letter to them about keeping their legacy Lutheran and local.  A big thank you to the task group working with Cathy Steiner on her summer sabbatical. 

You will receive an oral report about Region 1: ELCA hiring a new Financial Services Officer.

I am grateful for all the synod council task forces which keep tackling projects. Your work is seen and appreciated and is making a real difference in our culture as a synod.

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