November 11, 2020
A Reconciling in Christ synod
A Reflection for Veterans Day 2020
by Vicky Daub, Executive Director, Veteran Servant Corps
As I sat down to write this article, I remembered the Norman Rockwell painting below titled "Freedom of Worship" I saw this summer at the Denver Art Museum. I am grateful that those who serve in the military protect all of our freedoms, including Freedom of Religion. 

Ten years ago, I didn't think much about Veterans Day, or our country's military members and their families. Of course, I knew that my husband Larry was an Air Force veteran who served 21 years with a stint in Southeast Asia, but we never did anything special to acknowledge Veterans Day. On Thanksgiving Eve 2011 all that changed for both Larry and I, when we heard about Bethany Lutheran's (Cherry Hills Village, CO) "Operation One Nation" program.

Over the past 9 years, this Operation One Nation has served thousands of military members and their families in many ways. I have seen many of these people who had lost hope. Never once, though, have I met a person or family member who regretted serving their country. And, for the first time, Larry started talking to me about his military service and experiences.

Today, Wednesday, November 11, is Veterans Day. Most likely, you won't be able to gather at a Veterans Day celebration. Please, though, include Veterans and their families in your prayers on this Veterans Day, and always.

There are over 740,000 active and retired military members in the Rocky Mountain Synod. It is estimated that thousands of them are currently homeless. The following quote is from an article in the November 9 edition of the Denver Post.

"With the number of coronavirus cases continuing to climb, veterans have faced not just isolation, but job loss and homelessness. In a time when getting connected to resources can be paramount to quality of life, the virus has left them adrift in a world of largely virtual communication. For Vietnam veteran Tom Daschofsky, it's been tough not being able to connect with his fellow veterans like normal..."

The Veteran Servant Corps, a new Rocky Mountain Synod ministry, will support military members and their families. In the next few weeks, the Veteran Servant Corps website will be introduced. This website will include resources that will enable you to reach out to our military members (active and retired), no matter where you reside in our synod. In the meantime, the next time you encounter a veteran, please say "Thank you."
eConnection Spotlight:
RMS in the Neighborhood
Signup now for Bethany Lutheran Church's -
Great Escapes Room!
RMS & ELCA News and Events
Candidacy Information Webinar
November 13, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Interested in learning more about candidacy, seminary, the the journey of becoming a rostered minister in the ELCA? Join us for a webinar and conversation with representatives from seminaries, the candidacy committee, the office of the bishop, and current candidates to get your questions answered and learn next steps from where you are.
Please RSVP to Pr. Leslie at locallaghan@rmselca.org.
Preparing for Christmas, with COVID
Wednesday, November 11, 4:00-5:30 p.m.
We know Christmas is going to look different this year! What will worship look like this year? Some creative worship leaders will gather for some conversation and brainstorming: Rev. Quirino Cornejo (EC), Deacon Sarah Bjornebo, Rev. Carrie Bayllis, Rev. Mercy Rumengan (PC-UCA) & Rev. Leslie O'Callaghan.
Join us live on Facebook and we'll answer your questions as well!
Applications now Open!
for 2021-22 Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM)
Applications for the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program are now being accepted, and you can invite young adults on this journey abroad for the 2021-2022 program year.

If you know young adults ages 21 to 29, this is the time to reach out. Encourage them to apply for YAGM by the deadline of Jan. 15, 2021. Talk to them personally about what this opportunity will mean for their faith, identity, career and understanding of God’s work in the world.

YAGM volunteers will begin in August 2021 and will be placed in one of the country programs. As YAGM continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation and we communicate with our global companions, please know that the list of country programs for the 2021-2022 service year may change.

Through YAGM, young adults will learn what it means to serve in a spirit of accompaniment as they walk alongside global church companions. They’ll become immersed in a new community and form deep relationships. And they’ll confront issues of wealth and poverty, racial privilege, gender privilege, economic disparity and globalization, all through the lens of faith. Learn more at ELCA.org/YAGM.

Young adults will find relevant opportunities for professional experience, including:
  • Health and human rights: health care, HIV and AIDS, homelessness, immigration and refugees
  • Education: fine arts, youth education, childhood education, working with people living with disabilities
  • Environmental justice: agriculture and farming, development, environment
  • Professional support: office work, communication, technology, finance
  • Congregational ministry: children’s ministry, Christian education, youth ministry, congregational ministry, camp ministry

Around the world, host families, churches, workplaces and communities are ready to welcome YAGM volunteers.

Don’t wait — spread the word and forward this email now! The deadline to apply is Jan. 15, 2021.
from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
Save the date, Sunday, November 29!
We know pastors, deacons, and church staff are working especially hard during this pandemic. We wanted to give them a week off, and perhaps a longer Thanksgiving weekend, so the PLTS worship team is working on an Advent 1 worship service to record and make available to your congregations for use on Sunday, November 29!

It will be a Service of the Word with a sermon, following the Revised Common Lectionary. Several of our seminary students will be participating so it's also a good opportunity for people to meet them via video.

We plan to have the service ready to share (probably with a YouTube link) on Monday, November 23. Remember this date too so you can pick up our video and schedule it into your November 29 worship!
For Your Bulletin
Installations
Rev. Catherine Lemons
Trinity Lutheran, Las Cruces, NM
Saturday, Nov 14, 10:00 am
Color of the Day: Red
(note: The color of the day is red because in the Episcopal tradition celebrations call for red and this installation is a celebration of a new chapter of ministry)

RMS Prayer Cycle

- Week of November 15 -
ELCA MINISTRIES AND ECUMENICAL ORGANIZATIONS

ELCA Global Mission - Chicago, IL
Missionaries
Themba Mkhebela, Madagascar
Gabi & Meghan Aelabouni, Jeruselum and the Holy Land

Regional Candidacy Manager
Deacon Laura Gifford

California Lutheran University - Thousand Oaks, CA
Lori E. Varlotta

Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary - Berkeley, CA
Raymond Pickett
Shauna Hannan

Wartburg College West - Denver, CO
Greg Lorenz

Colorado Council of Churches - Denver, CO
Adrian Miller

New Mexico Conference of Churches - Bernalillo, NM
Rev. Susan Quass

Wyoming Interfaith Network - Laramie, WY
***
Sunday, November 15
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Prayer of the Day
Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

In God's Hands: Ecumenical Prayer Cycle from the World Council of Churches
15 - 21 November : East Timor (Timor Leste), Indonesia, Philippines - Intercessions and Prayers

Join us in daily prayer
Download ELCA Prayer Ventures for daily guides to prayer for the global, social and outreach ministries of the ELCA, as well as for the needs and circumstances of our neighbors, communities and world.
Around the Synod
Conversations for Connection: Supporting Mental Health
Thursdays via Zoom, 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

“Folk Tales, Slams, and Wild Imaginings: How Stories Move Us Toward Healing”
Thursday, November 12, 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Oral storytelling is uniquely human, and essential to our individual and collective mental health. Sharing stories builds compassion, opening our hearts to shared human experience.

Laura will tell some of the stories that have helped her in these physically isolated times, and offer suggestions for using storytelling to navigate this strange new world. Sharing stories builds compassion, opening our hearts to share and offer suggestions for using storytelling to navigate this strange new world. Laura is a storyteller, poet, and an explorer of dreams. She volunteers with Spellbinders, telling folktales to elementary school students. She also tells stories to adults, in house concerts, festivals, story slams, and online. Find more about her storytelling at www.LauraDeal.com.
Hosted by Atonement Lutheran Church, Boulder Mental Health Ministry and Interfaith Network on Mental Illness (www.inmi.us)
“Understanding Your Dreams”
Thursday, November 19, 7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Every night we dream, and each dream is potentially packed with information about our life and well-being. Much of the time we find these night images hard to remember and/or impossible to understand. However, knowing a few key aspects of sleep and dreaming helps us access untapped riches in our inner world. Participants can bring a dream image to share or simply listen as we explore the fascinating world of dreams.
Roland Evans is a psychotherapist, writer, and teacher in Boulder, was Adjunct Professor at Naropa, teaching courses on psychology, psychotherapy and systems thinking. In addition to his psychotherapy practice, he provides coaching and consultation to local non-profits through Social Venture Partners.
Our Life Together
SAVE THE DATE to Support Rainbow Trail
Colorado Gives Day, Tuesday, December 8!!!
Colorado Gives Day is an annual day of giving to non-profit organizations all across Colorado. Whether you live in Colorado or not, you can donate to Rainbow Trail on Tuesday, December 8th. Each donation helps RTLC receive additional funds from Community First Foundation through a sum that's divided among all participating organizations and prizes at the end of the day. You can even pre-schedule your CO Gives Day gift NOW so you won't forget to donate!

Advent Awakening
Virtual 4-Session Advent Retreat
Sunday evenings, November 29 to December 25
candles-mantle.jpg
 What is beauty if not stillness?
What is stillness if not sight?
What is sight if not an awakening?
What is an awakening if not now?
~Terry Tempest Williams from her beautiful book, Erosion
 
Please join us for Advent Awakening, a virtual Advent retreat offered by Rachel Bass Guennewig and DanaLee Simon, that runs from November 29 to December 25, 2020. We will gather by ZOOM on four Sunday nights at 5:30 p.m. MST/6:30 CST, to explore the theme of the week (Delighting, Sistering, Hoping, and Magnifying). You will also receive an e-mail, Monday thru Saturday, with a 5-10 minute practice to help deepen your awareness and experience of this Season.  
 
To register for Advent Awakening, please follow this link.

The retreat cost is a sliding scale of $30-50. We will be donating 15% of our proceeds to Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp in CO (where we both worked as camp counselors) that has been significantly impacted by the Cameron Peak fire, in Colorado. Please pay what feels right for you via DanaLee’s Venmo account (@DanaLee-Simon), or by mailing a check to DanaLee Simon at 1184 s 1500 e, Salt Lake City, UT 84105. 
***If using Venmo, please write your mailing address in the comments. ***

We will be sending you an Advent Awakening booklet for you to use alongside the online offering.
 
A little bit about us. Rachel lives in Champaign-Urbana, IL and leads yoga classes (via ZOOM) and retreats through Daily Bread Yoga. DanaLee is a Pastor, Spiritual Director and self-compassion teacher, and lives in Salt Lake City, UT. Both of us are in the thick of raising elementary school aged children. We met (eons ago) at Valparaiso University and have been serendipitously accompanying each other through both the messes and joys of life ever since. It would be a sincere delight to have you join us this Advent. 
Please pass this invitation on to anyone you think might be interested. If you have questions or concerns please be in touch with us! DanaLee (sagehillwisdom@gmail.com) or Rachel (dailybreadyoga@gmail.com).
November Creation Care Meeting
Saturday, November 14, 10:00 a.m.
Join the Creation Care Team to discuss Joseph Sittler's "Called to Unity," and making our plans for the future. Contact Pastor Alena for a copy of the article - pastoralena@yahoo.com. Anyone who loves creation is welcome. Invite your friends who may be interested, too!
This will be an Zoom event: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83008940316

We also have a FaceBook page that you can visit any time - https://www.facebook.com/groups/153008509368206.
a reflection from the Creation Care team:
Creation Calms the Weary
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief, I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

By Wendell Berry

This poem speaks to me during this election cycle when the divisions in this country are so glaring. I lay awake at night, but I resist despair and it is that world of trees, and flowers, and bees that grounds me, as this poem calls us to ‘rest in the grace of the world’. I go to my garden and get my hands in the soil, the soul of the garden. It nourishes me as it nourishes the plants that grow there. And in this fall season, I take that nourishment into my kitchen and feast on eggplant and tomatoes and squash and the list goes on; nourishing me for the journey beyond the garden to address those divisions and seek peace with one another. And in doors in the winter, I water my house plants and they remind me of the earth that will warm and burst forth with enormous energy come spring. God, through these very means of having given us this gift of creation, stills my fears for another day. May it be so for you too, that together we might have the energy for the work in God’s world to which we are called.

Rev Bonita Bock
Denver, Co
Executive Skills for Church Leaders
California Lutheran University
January 11-15, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented challenge for our lives and the lives throughout the world. In particular, the church is impacted in its ability to provide the very ministry it is called to embody - presence. How do we embody presence when we aren't present or severely limited? How do we lead for the future? How do we re-imagine ministry? How do we stay adaptive? How has life and ministry changed for us and how has life and work changed for our congregations and the communities we serve? How do we live and lead in uncertainty?

We will draw on the insights from the world of management exploring these questions from the perspective of entrepreneurship, marketing, leadership, finance and fundraising.

Executive Skills for Church Leaders
California Lutheran University, January 11-15, 2021
  • 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time ONLINE 
  • $450 for the whole week
  • Deadline to register: Dec. 10. Space is limited!
  • Website and registration: HERE
  • Facebook event: HERE
  • Questions? Dorina at Dpadilla@callutheran.edu
Resource Corner
check back each week for a new or featured resource for your congregation
Advent Resource from Luther Seminary
Advent Devotional
2020—”O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?”
Luther Seminary invites you to use the 2020 Advent devotional, “O Lord How Shall I Meet You?” for personal or congregational use this Advent.


This year’s contributing authors are:

  • James L. Boyce ’71 M.Div.: Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Greek
  • Mary Jane Haemig: Professor Emerita of Church History
  • Arland J. Hultgren: Asher O. and Carrie Nasby Professor Emeritus of New Testament

If you are already a God Pause subscriber, you will receive “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” in your email inbox each day of Advent. If you’re not a God Pause subscriber, sign up here and select “God Pause Daily Devotions” to receive the daily devotion. Once Advent ends, you’ll continue to receive daily God Pause devotions written by Luther Seminary alumni.

If you have questions, please email devotion@luthersem.edu.
Employment Opportunities
New Listings
Community Connection Ministry
St. John's Lutheran Church - Thornton, CO
St. John's Lutheran Church in Thornton, Colorado is seeking a bi-lingual candidate for our Community Connection ministry to develop relationships in our local community through our Early Learning Center and technology ministries. We're a welcoming and inclusive community that fosters connection to God, each other and the community.
This part-time (20-25 hrs/wk) position reports to the Pastor and works with the Office Manager, ELC Director and Technology Team to support the congregation’s ministry.

Job description here. For more info, write to: gracepastor2@gmail.com.
All Non-Rostered Listings 
Community Connection Ministry
St. John's Lutheran Church - Thornton, CO

Director of Children, Youth, and Families
St. Andrew Lutheran Church - Vancouver, WA

Preschool Staff
Joy Mission Preschool - Parker, CO

Faith Formation Coordinator for Children and Families
Atonement Lutheran Church - Boulder, CO
Office of the Bishop This Week
 Bishop Jim Gonia
  • First Call Theological Education
  • PLTS Advisory Board Meeting
  • Catherine Lemons Installation
  • RMS Executive Committee
  • Synod Council

ELCA DIRECTOR FOR EVANGELICAL MISSION
Pastor Dana Peterson
  • Bethlehem, Longmont, CO
  • Well of Hope, Castle Rock, CO
  • Congregational Ministry Board

LUTHERAN ADVOCACY MINISTRY NEW MEXICO
Kurt Rager
  • LAM-NM Policy Committee
  • Health & Human Services Committee
  • NM tenant/housing legislative Coalition
  • Peace, Las Cruces, NM

LUTHERAN ADVOCACY MINISTRY COLORADO
Peter Severson
  • LAM-CO Policy Committee
  • Our Savior's

ELCA REGIONAL GIFT PLANNER
Tina Kvitek
  • RMS Finance Committee
  • 1-1 Appointments
ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP FOR CONGREGATIONAL LIFE
Pastor Sarah Moening
  • First Call Theological Education
  • Excellence in Leadership

ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP FOR LEADERSHIP SUPPORT
Pastor Kent Mueller (1/2 time)
  • RMS Finance Committee
  • Lutheran Center Administration

ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP FOR SYNODICAL LIFE
Deacon Erin Power
  • Worship Planning Webinar
  • Assembly Planning Retreat
  • Word & Service Conversations

ASSISTANT TO THE BISHOP FOR FAITH FORMATION & CANDIDACY
Pastor Leslie O'Callaghan
  • Worship Planning Webinar
  • Candidacy Meetings
  • House for All, Denver, CO
Quick Links
Share the News
Erin Power,  Assistant to the Bishop
Feel free to contact Andrew Nakatani, Communications Assistant, with your questions and comments about eConnection and our website!

Rocky Mountain Synod 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
800-525-0462 / 303-777-6700 / fax 303-733-0750

Past issues of eConnection may be found here.