Ministry Site Profile

Pastor Bob stopped by LCM this past week. It was good to see him. Doesn’t he look good? He admits with some surprise that he just completed a full year at American Lutheran in Newport. Time flies! We had a good conversation about the joys and challenges of Interim Ministry. He extends his greetings to you and with Mary wishing all of us at LCM a Happy New Year.

Reviving the Call Process! Throughout my first year as interim and under the direction of both Synod and Council, I have taken a backseat role with the transition process. Now, following conversations with both Synod and council in November and December, it has been determined that I will be more involved. Over the next 2-3 months, I will be working intently with the Call Committee and the Synod to review and update our Ministry Site Profile. You might be interested to know what our current one looks like.

A few basic definitions:

1.) Ministry Site Profile (MSP) is document which reflects the congregation’s history, current structures and staffing patterns, hopes for the future, mission direction, demographic data about the community, and the gifts for leadership being sought by the congregation. This document is then used by the Office of the Bishop and shared churchwide.

2.) Call Committee The committee is appointed or elected according to the congregation’s constitution for the purpose of searching for the next pastor or deacon to be called by the congregation. Candidates are first vetted by the Office of the Bishop and then given to the congregation. The committee interviews the candidate and makes a recommendation for congregational approval.

I look forward to meeting with Pastor Phil Misner from the NWIM Synod and the Call Committee over the next few weeks/months as we work, together, to revive LCM’s active search for a pastor.

Facing Our Past: Churches Take Responsibility for Indian Boarding School Harm

The ELCA Racial Justice Ministry printed this photo of the boys with the caption, “

.” In 1990, H. W. Bush established November as an annual Native American Heritage month. We missed the month, sorry, but I still want us to join the effort. In 1925, 60,000 young native boys and girls attended Boarding Schools, usually hundreds of mile away from home. Many were forcibly abducted to attend, physically beaten and starved if they used their native language. The goal (?): to systematically destroy their culture. It has been labeled a “cultural genocide.”

Healing past wrongs and revitalizing both the culture and language of Indigenous people remain goals of the month. The 2024 theme is Affirming Native Voices. It is part of a several decades long attempt to stand with Indigenous communities and tell the truth. In the future, LCM might consider acknowledging the history of native people who might have lived near the corner of Ramsey and Kathleen, it is called Land Acknowledgement. It means to publicly recognize the Indigenous peoples for whom this beautiful area was home. That acknowledgement might appear in the newsletter, Thursday Thought, book studies and Sunday Worship.

While on a walk along the Spokane river, Sheri discovered a commemorative sign. It tells the story that tribes from the region - Pend Oreille, Flathead, and Kalispell - gathered at the mouth of the river annually. It was a sacred spot. They called it The Gathering Place. She reports that the name for the tribe from Coeur d’Alene is Schitsu’umsch, meaning “the Discovered People”. Think neighbors.

The photo of the boys records the painful effort to erase a culture. I close with this Native saying:

Hold on to what is good.

Even if it’s a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe.

Even if it’s a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do.

Even if it’s a long way from here.

Hold on to your life.

Even if it’s easier to let go.

Reformation

Is there anyone who doesn’t love the month of October? Every year I say it to myself – how I love it so. It is more than the radiant colors, more than the football season going full tilt, more than Halloween costumes. Scripture occasionally refers to the Holy Spirit as the wind. In the month of October, the wind blows, and you sense your world shifting. It is a month of transition and change and harvest. Let’s get moving!

During the month of October, I have suggested we focus on Martin Luther and the Reformation. I envision brief glimpses of Lutheranism during worship, maybe a power point or two, perhaps a “Did you know” type paragraph in a Thursday thought. In reviewing fifty-two years of ministry, I have tons of presentations, lectures, lesson plans, and “what does it mean to be Lutheran” talks. The challenge will be selecting the content. Did you know, age 5, Luther began to study Latin?

Some of you might recall, that the Lutheran Church celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation back in 1917. What I didn’t realize is that the official representatives of the Catholic & Lutheran churches have been holding regular conversations for 50 years. A book entitled “Declaration on the Way” outlines thirty-two (32) agreements the two have arm wrestled to the floor. It also identifies seven (7) remaining differences. Did you know Luther got married at age 42 to Kathrine von Bora, a former nun. She was 26. They had ten children, four adopted and six of their own.

Possible topics for a Sunday focus:

Theology of the Cross

Justification by Grace through Faith

The Means of Grace

Law & Gospel

Bondage of the Will

“Simul Justis et Peccator”

Augsburg Confession – 21 Articles

Marge & Small Catechism

Book of Concord

Next three Sundays/Thursdays will contain a little something about the Reformation. See you Sunday!