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.

Lutheran World Relief has created FREE, easy-to-use resources based on the RCL Advent texts from the Gospel of Luke, all available at lwr.org/advent:  

New resources are now available from ELCA World Hunger to enrich the life of your congregation this Advent season. As congregations across the ELCA creatively find new ways to worship online and in person and continue to support the work of important ministries, including ELCA World Hunger, we are eager to equip leaders with useful resources this season including: Advent Calendar, Study Guide and Action Guide. Find them HERE.

Each year, our partners at the Seattle Seafarers’ Center provides about 1,000 ditty bags stuffed with basic personal necessities to merchant seafarers. These bags are one way we help seafarers celebrate Christmas while they are far from home during the holiday season. Seafarers help make Christmas possible by transporting lots of stuff to the US.

Help make a seafarer's Christmas by providing them with a ditty bag to say thank you! Here is how you can participate: Make drawstring bags or knit hats; purchase basic supplies (e.g., shaving cream, body soap, and toothpaste) & drop those off at the Center; make a financial gift that will be used to purchase more supplies for ditty bags.

To find out more, visit their website (https://www.mts-seattle.org/) or contact the Seattle Seafarers Center (office@mts-seattle.org).

Tues. Oct. 19, 9:30-3:30 - Bishop's Convocation - online, see below

Tues. Oct 19, 6:30 - Evangelical Outreach Team Meeting (team, see your email)

Thurs. Oct 20, 12noon - Children, Youth & Family Time for You (see below)

Thurs. Oct. 21, 2pm - Deans' Meeting (deans, see your email)

Thurs, Oct. 21, 6pm - Disaster Preparedness Meeting (see below)

Fri. Oct. 22 - STAD Retreat (team, see your email)

Sun. Oct. 24 - Patrick Meagher Installation (see below)

Sun. Oct. 24 - Steve Jerbi Installation (see below)

Rostered Ministers, Lay Mission Developers, & Interns are encouraged to attend. 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.(Registrants received an email on Saturday with details, if you are not yet registered, you may do so TODAY by noon register here.)

You're invited to a FAN Cluster Meeting on Tuesday, October 19 from 7-8:30pm! Cluster meetings are a great opportunity to meet with local advocates and discuss the issues that matter most to you as we strategize for the year ahead. We will be hosting Clusters virtually this year in light of ongoing concerns around COVID. Register here to participate: bit.ly/2021SeattleCluster

The legislature's Tax Structure Work Group is hosting town hall meetings to gather public input on six possible new tax scenarios for Washington State. The Group’s Scenario F includes a progressive income tax:

The North/Central Puget Sound Town Hall (legislative districts 1, 11, 21, 32, 34, 36, 37, 43, 46) will take place on Wednesday, October 27 - sign up here for the 2:30-4:00 or 6:30-8:00 session.

The South/East Puget Sound Town Hall (legislative districts 5, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 41, 45, 47, 48) will take place on Wednesday, November 3 - sign up here for the 2:30-4:00 or 6:30-8:00 session. Please email economicjustice@fanwa.org and let us know that you’ve signed up!

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.

A monthly opportunity during the school year to join other synod children & youth leaders (volunteer and paid) to share the joys & challenges of ministry. Get connected HERE. 

News & Events from Region One Disaster Preparedness & Response

The latest newsletter, Hammer and Dance, is out and available for reading. This month's issue offers updates on Afghan resettlement work, Alaska's COVID Crisis and resources for your congregation.

The next meeting of our Region 1 Disaster Preparedness Congregational Network is Thursday, October 21 at 6pm. (Registration required.)

International ShakeOut Day is October 21.

Great ShakeOut earthquake drills are an opportunity to practice how to be safer during earthquakes: "Drop, Cover and Hold On." ShakeOut also has been organized to encourage you, your community, your church, or your organization to update emergency plans and supplies, and to secure your space in order to prevent damage and injuries. Over 24 million people around the world are already registered to participate. How about you?

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/