Truth and Healing Movement

I want to use my column this month to introduce our synod to the ELCA’s Truth and Healing Movement. I am personally in the very beginning of doing this work and I certainly do not have a perfect roadmap for any individual or ministry site in our synod. However, this movement is significant to me personally, perhaps because I grew up in Custer, SD with Crazy Horse Mountain up the hill (always an unsettling contrast); maybe because trips to Pine Ridge Reservation made it so incredibly obvious that, at least in South Dakota, we gave our Indigenous siblings the worst possible land; maybe because I was a voting member at the 2017 Churchwide Assembly when we voted to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, maybe because I look at the map of our synod and I see reservations and Indigenous populations whose stories I believe I should already know.

From the website: “The ELCA’s Truth & Healing Movement is an opportunity for this church to increase our understanding of our colonizing impacts on Indigenous people in the past and present. Over the next several months, there will be opportunities to learn, raise awareness and engage in other ways to impact hearts and lives across this church. We believe that the truth, and our knowing and embracing it, is the first step toward healing for all of us. Visit the Truth and Healing Movement page to learn more, get involved and share the Truth and Healing movement with others. Follow our ELCA and Living Lutheran social media channels for more stories and updates.”

Things you can do now:

• Watch the one-hour documentary Native Nations: Standing Together for Civil Rights, about the role of the Lutheran church in the American Indian civil rights movement of the 1970s and 1980s.
• Read about and begin using Land Acknowledgements as a community.
• Find a book in the bookshop Native Reads. Vine Deloria Jr’s classic God is Red would be a great book to read across the synod. Please let me know if you would like to lead a few online discussions of this book.
• Join one of the many one-time online classes being offered this summer and fall.
• Get to know the Indigenous neighbors in your community or region.

In entering into this movement we are “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) and loving God and neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39) in powerful ways. This work will not result in justification before God. It is simply one more way to respond to a God whose love is abundant and everflowing.



Bishop Meggan Manlove

Looking Ahead to the Season of Creation

When I saw this year’s theme for the Season of Creation I thought, “This was created for our synod and its many rivers!” But first, what is this season? The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to listen and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to pray and protect our common home. The Season “Celebration” begins on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis, the patron saint of animals and ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

From the website, “the Prophet Amos cries out: ‘But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!’ (Amos 5: 24) and so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity. As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice.”

Your worship planning team might enjoy selecting from our many great hymns about creation. You could worship once outside and/or with ecumenical partners. Or, instead of emphasizing the season during worship, you might read a book (see resources on the Lutherans Restoring Creation website) or revisit the ELCA’s 1993 Social Statement: Caring for Creation. There are many other ideas on the Season of Creation website, linked above.



A note on preaching: You can find many resources online if you search for “Season of creation sermons or preaching.” However, if you would prefer to continue preaching through the Revised Common Lectionary, which I did in 2022, simply visit the websites LutheransRestoringCreation.org or PreachingForGodsWorld.org. You might even recognize some of the commentators.

Rev. Paul Palumbo from Lake Chelan Lutheran Church submitted this article on Wokeness. The article was published in The Wenatchee World and is somewhat related to Bishop Meggan's article. Read Here

Join others with Bishop Meggan as she facilitates a Zoom discussion.

Tuesdays from Aug. 8 - Sept. 12

Thriving Leadership Formation

Call for New Cohort Leaders!

Thriving Leadership Formation is seeking leaders for our next round of Contemplative Action Groups. Leaders receive a stipend of $2,500.

A job description can be found here.

Leaders will receive training in spiritual practices, the Enneagram, and access to other resources for spiritual leadership and support.

If you are interested in leading a cohort, please complete this interest form.

About Thriving Leadership Formation

California Lutheran University received a five-year grant to create the Thriving Leadership Formation (TLF) Program. Working in partnership with Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and 11 synods of the ELCA, the TLF program helps pastors, deacons, and church leaders develop spiritual practices and strengthen leadership skills, while emphasizing community and collaborative learning in cohorts that cultivate mutual support, spiritual practices, and offer spiritual direction, coaching, and other resources to help the church and its leaders thrive.

Want to learn more? Visit our website!

Creating Joy:

Spiritual Care through Art, Movement, and Creation Care

What lifts your spirit when you are feeling stuck, stressed, or sad?

I have asked this question of residents and co-workers many times over the last four years as the chaplain of Riverview Retirement Community. I love seeing the spark and smile that comes when a person considers the spirit-lifters in their life, and I’ve noticed a few themes that show up consistently in responses: making things, moving their body, and spending time outside or with pets are things that bring many people joy, connection, and meaning.

Being rooted in the incarnational theology of our Lutheran tradition has helped me to think widely and deeply about what it means to provide spiritual care for people as Riverview’s chaplain. Drawing, sculpting, dancing, and walking on a river-side trail are not overtly religious activities to everyone, but they are spiritually moving for many people, and therefore can be resources for spiritual care.

With all of this in mind, and with collaboration and support from co-workers and residents, late last year I dreamed up a project called “Creating Joy: Spiritual Care through Art, Movement, and Creation Care.” In the spring of this year, Riverview was awarded a grant from the Lutheran Services for the Elderly Endowment to support this project, and in June we held our first “Movement with Live Music” event with a local contra dance band. Over the next year and a half, the project will include more Movement with Live Music events, community art projects designed and lead by local artists, and a citizen science project that will bring residents and community partners together to collect data and connect with the natural world in our back yards and gardens.

We are grateful to the Lutheran Services for the Elderly Endowment (LSEE) for supporting this project, and excited for all we will learn.

Yvette Schock, Chaplain

Riverview Retirement Community

Spokane

LCSNW - Connection to the Community

Everyday we have the opportunity to be able to bring good news, support, love and open the door to those in need in our communities. Having the opportunity to provide hope, comfort during a time of stress is an absolute gift. God empowers us to do this with those in our community, social groups and our own families.

Please go here to read more, download, and use as an insert for your congregation.

Please remember in prayer…..

• Camping ministries, camp staff and campers.
• People experiencing health challenges and caregivers.
• For students and teachers preparing and looking forward to a new school year.
• For rostered leaders and congregations preparing for a new program year.
• For Deacon Lavonne Johnson as she anticipates a cardiac procedure. We pray for a quick recovery and improving health.