As the United States pauses to honor and celebrate the Indigenous people who first settled on the land thousands of years ago, the Evangelical Church in America (ELCA) has released “A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People.” The declaration is a direct result of the social policy resolution “Repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery,” which was passed by the 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assembly.

Take time today to read the full text of “A Declaration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to American Indian and Alaska Native People,” HERE.

U.S. federal policy, from the 1800s through the 1960s, sought to assimilate Native American children through the implementation of boarding schools. Documentation and stories passed down show that many children taken from their families were punished for speaking their native languages, abused by their caretakers, and in too many cases never returned home. The ELCA, along with the Episcopal Church and our Canadian counterparts, joined a recent statement acknowledging the painful role of the church’s past in administrating boarding schools, and a stated a renewed call to face our history with respect to indigenous community relations. 

Now it is time for Congress to make similar commitments too, and become a partner to make amends moving forward. Recently reintroduced in the Senate, the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States Act would establish a commission to investigate past injustices of the federal government's cultural genocide and assimilation practices through its Indian Boarding School policy.

Join us and other interfaith leaders today calling Congress to take action. Send a customized message to your lawmakers through the ELCA Action Center. 

We give thanks for all rostered ministers - especially the amazing, wise, talented, compassionate, and faithful deacons and pastors in our synod!

THANK YOU each for sharing your abundant gifts so graciously!

YOU ALL are invited to show your gratitude for your pastors and deacons this month! Hold them in your prayers and consider notes of appreciation and/or gifts that encourage health and wellbeing.

Our Fall Bishop's Convocation for Rostered Ministers, Lay Mission Developers, & Interns is coming up next week, Tuesday, October 19, 9:30-3:30. We will gather online around the theme: Reading and Preaching Luke from the Margins. We will be welcoming Dr. Mary Lowe from Augsburg University's Religion Department to lead us.

Leaders - please register here by October 14!

Mon. Oct. 11, 2pm - Living Stones Prison Congregation Check In (see below)

Tues. Oct. 12 - Synod Staff Visit to JBLM - office closed

Wed. Oct. 13 - Stillaguamish Cluster Wee Walk (leaders, see your dean's email)

Thurs. Oct. 14, 4pm - Executive Committee Meeting (team, see your email)

Sat. Oct. 16, 9am - Forming Community Retreat (see below!)

Join this online benefit event featuring ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and Rick Steve with special performances by Rachel Kurtz, Peter Mayer and the St. Olaf Choir. Hear compelling stories, listen to wonderful music and gather in fellowship to invest in this life-giving work. You must pre-register here: https://bit.ly/3hFpxwZ

Join Pastor Chris Ode for an update about what is happening in the Living Stones ministry. He will share how the men are doing as well as give an update about any progress towards being with the men again in person. Join the Zoom HERE.

The FIRST fall Community Retreat from the LiVE Project - open to all!

The first of our two fall community retreats will be geared to experiencing and understanding the ways the formation of community is a co-creative act between ourselves, one another and the Holy Spirit. Drawing from Margaret Wheatley’s Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, and through interactive, action-reflection models of learning, we will practice hospitality through story-telling as key ways to be embraced by God, and within which to embrace our unique differences and callings in God.

How to register -

Join us for this celebration where you will meet members of the ICS community, hear their stories and find out how you can make a difference in the lives of our neighbors experiencing hunger and homelessness.

The event is virtual again this year, so you may join us no matter where you are located! Register HERE. Can't make it to watch live? You can still be part of our Community of Hope! Give a gift now to support our neighbors experiencing hunger and homelessness and after the event is over, you will receive a link to watch the recording at your leisure.

We give thanks to God as Rev. Steve Jerbi is installed as the pastor at University Congregational UCC in Seattle. Rostered Ministers are invited to vest - the color of the day is green. God bless this ministry partnership! See more info here.

2021 Powell-Heller Conference for Holocaust Education 

“Holocaust Denial And Distortion” - featuring Dr. Yehuda Bauer and Dr. Christopher Browning

PLU’s mission to support the education of our students and larger community on issues of diversity and justice are intimately connected to the study of the tragedy of the Holocaust. Students can see that marginalization of a minority group, such as the Jews of Nazi Germany, can lead to life-threatening situations culminating in one of the world’s modern genocides. Issues of distortion and denial make the process of reconciliation and healing less likely and serve as an insult to the memory of all those whose lives were destroyed in the Holocaust. For more information and to register, visit plu.edu/holocaustconference.

The 16th Annual David & Marilyn Knutson Lecture 

"Bonhoeffer, the Church, and the Climate Question" - featuring Rev. Dr. James Martin-Schramm '81

Where virulent anti-Semitism was the most important issue facing the church in Bonhoeffer’s day, Martin-Schramm argues Bonhoeffer would have grave concerns about the impacts of climate change on present and future generations. The lecture explores tensions between patriotism and resistance and considers how God is at work in the world today among all who are striving for climate justice. For more information and to register, visit plu.edu/religion/events/knutson-lecture.

at Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church in Seattle

(Note: we are back at Our Redeemer's at 2400 NW 85th St, Seattle)

If your church/quilting/kit making group has not notified Rich Mathes that you are coming, please call Rich at 206-384-1183 or email to lwrmathes@aol.com. You may deliver your boxes on Friday Nov 5th between from 8am-2pm and Saturday Nov 6th between 8am - 11:30am. Please ask all drivers to wear masks for drop-off. If you would like to pick up fabric samples, please wear masks, and remain socially distanced in the Fellowship Hall. There will not be any food available on site this year. We still need a few more volunteers to help load the boxes; if you would be willing to help for two hours, please contact Rich at 206-384-1183.

The SECOND fall Community Retreat from the LiVE Project - open to all!

The second of our Fall retreats introduce participants to spiritual practices as a central place from which to create responsible social action in our world. We will experience and reflect on how ‘the exam’ spiritual practices of Ignatius of Loyola, and lectio Divina offer communities of faith support and accountability to being present in Christ for the life of the world. If the central call of vocation, in Christ, is learning to discover our lives in and for our neighbors, and not merely in the individualizing peace that it creates for our own spirits, we must reframe spiritual practices as communal in order to engage peace and justice through the Spirit in our broader neighborhoods, and world.  

How to register -

+ Let’s Talk About SOIGIE (Sex, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, and Sexual Orientation)

Read more & learn how to register here: https://www.reconcilingworks.org/trainings/