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Staff Bishop Richard E. Jaech Rev. Kim Latterell bishop’s associate Rev. Melanie Wallschlaeger director for evangelical mission (ELCA staff) Allison Ramsey office manager Phone (253) 535-8300 Address 420 121st St. S Tacoma, WA 98444 E-mail swwsynod@plu.edu Blog http://swwsynodelca.blogspot.com Websites www.lutheranssw.org www.elca.org Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Southwestern-Washington-Synod/1290477871337786 Twitter @SWWASynod

Giving Thanks by Bishop Richard Jaech

Moments for Mission Southwestern Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ by empowering congregations and church leaders to grow in worship, education, outreach, stewardship and other ministries. November 2017

Dear Friends in Christ, My grandfather had a wheat farm in Montana and then an apple orchard in Idaho during two stretches of his life. I suspect he knew better than I the sense of relief and exhaustion that comes at harvest time, when the crops are finally in the barn and ready for sale. As a city-dweller, other than photographs in a magazine or an occasional drive through the countryside, I feel rather removed from an actual harvest and harvest time. For me, food just keeps appearing in the grocery store aisles. Apples,

lettuce, even strawberries appear year round, whether from Washington farms or from Chile. I experience autumn as the changing of the leaves, but not particularly as a time of harvest. I think about that because, originally, Thanksgiving Day had deep connections to harvest time, as a day to give thanks for all that had been gathered. Going back even farther, practically all of the religious celebrations of ancient Israel and many of the early Christian celebrations were clustered around the days of planting and harvesting, because that was the way people measured their lives. Harvest time was also the most natural way to measure what God had done for them in their lives. These days, as city dwellers, we live in a 24/7 world of electric grids and Internet connections. Our lives flow on and on; our tasks stay constant; months merge into months. Summer is often just as busy as winter. Autumn is not only a completion but also a beginning of school and indoor home projects and, for some, trips to a warmer climate. All of that makes me wonder: If Thanksgiving Day is not simply a Harvest Festival in which we stop and give thanks for what was just completed, in what new way can it help us give thanks? Perhaps on Thanksgiving Day we stop in the midst of the flow of our life to give thanks for the flow itself. We stop to give thanks to God for all of the gifts and ingredients of life that flow from the hand of a loving and caring God. Life sweeps

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Giving Thanks, continued from page 1

us along like a river. On Thanksgiving Day, we gather together with family and friends to give thanks for the river everything in it, which, as the Book of Revelation says, flows from the throne of God.

A Thanksgiving Day poem by Ted Loder comes to mind: So this day, all is praise and thanks for all my days. I breath and it is your breath that fills me. I look and it is your light by which I see. I move and it is your energy moving in me. I listen and even the stones speak of you. I touch and you are between finger and skin. I think and the thoughts are but sparks from the fire of your truth. I weep and your Spirit broods over me. I long and it is the tug of your kingdom I praise you, Glorious One, for what has been, and is, and ever will be: for galaxy upon galaxy, mass and energy, earth and air, sun and night…. On Thanksgiving Day at our house, we will still have the napkins with corn stalks and squash; the turkey will still be roasted golden brown and served with cranberries. I enjoy all of that harvest celebration, too. At the same time, we will also check our emails that day and be reminded that the Web is pulsing all around us. We are people of the past and people of the future and we celebrate how God is the Life that generously flows to us and to all, past, present and future. Thanks be to God! In Christ,

Bishop Rick Jaech

Congregations in Transition – November 2017 Lord, we pray for your wisdom, insight and peace for the congregations and the leaders in our synod who are working through a time of pastoral transition. Amen.

Congregations Position Status Pastoral Care Evang Luth Church of Chinook, Chinook/Naselle Lutheran, Naselle

P NV Jeannine Daggett

Dungeness Valley, Sequim P TR Beth Orling Emanuel, Yelm P TR David Monsen Faith, Shelton P I Linda Milks St. Andrew, Vancouver AP I Jim Stender St. Paul, Vancouver P TR Joe Aalbue

Mobility position key P – Pastor AP – Associate Pastor D- Deacon Mobility status key: NV – New Vacancy TR – Transition I – Interviewing C – Calling

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Let It Begin With Me By Rev Kim Latterell, Synod Bishop’s Associate

The musical refrain goes: Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. In this year of Reformation celebration, I wonder what might happen if the refrain changed to something like: Let there be reformation in church, and let it continue with me. I love being a Lutheran Christian but I admit we are a challenging, difficult-to-reform faith community. For example;

• we value highly our worship gathering, yet participate on average only once every three Sundays;

• we value generosity, yet support our faith communities by offerings based on average of less than 2% of our income;

• we value Christian education but mostly for our kids as the majority of adults opt out of bible study and adult education;

• we treasure scripture, but seldom read it; • we value prayer but often don’t go deeper than the prayers we memorized as

children; • we confess our dependence on God’s grace, but tend to believe with the

majority of American Christians that salvation depends on our own action and response;

• we acknowledge the radical, transforming power of the gospel to bring down the powerful and raise up the poor and oppressed, yet are most comfortable with the status quo;

• we know that the strongest biblical witness in Scripture leans into the common good of all, but most often choose for our own self-interest;

• we believe that Jesus Christ is the most important gift, good news, saving action of God in all creation, and yet are so hesitant to tell that story to others;

• we believe that the clearest way to show our love of God is by loving our neighbors yet embrace the building of fences, walls and home theaters to keep us tucked safely away;

• we confess that God in Christ has reconciled the whole world to himself, yet still struggle against such an all-inclusive claim by our willingness to keep certain categories of people at arm’s length;

• we acknowledge our God-given role as stewards of all the earth, caretakers of this floating garden, yet resist changing our own attitudes and actions that degrade and may well destroy the planets livability;

The well-worn adage is that the church is always in need of reformation. That’s not simply an institutional challenge. As a member of the body of Christ, that reformation of life and witness must also begin with me. And you. Dear God, let it be so.

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September 27 – October 3 Meeting with all 65 ELCA bishops at our churchwide office in Chicago. We meet each year in March and Sept/Oct for business sessions and in January for a continuing education retreat in which our spouses join us.

Shown right, mosaic artwork from the ELCA offices in Chicago. October 5-7 Attending the Board of Regents meeting at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, shown below. The bishop of our SW WA Synod is always traditionally a member of PLU’s Board of Regents.

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On the Road with the Bishop

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On the Road continued from page 4 October 14 Bringing greetings to the Southwestern Washington Synod Women of the ELCA convention, held at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Olympia.

NEW BIRTH • LIVING HOPE Joint Catholic / Lutheran "That They May Be One" Worship Tuesday, November 14th at 7pm At St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Parish, 7112 South 12th Street, Tacoma WA 98465 In recognition of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Catholic priests, Lutheran pastors, and lay leaders of Pierce County parishes and congregations have been meeting monthly for common study, prayer, and the importance of unity in life together. After six months of mutual conversation and prayer, these leaders decided to “plan a gathering around the Reformation anniversary.” The vision was a “joint Lutheran/Catholic worship for as many in our communities as we can gather.” These leaders continue to meet on a monthly basis, exploring where Lutherans and Catholics differ theologically, the places where we agree and the things we share in common, and the areas where we can grow together in order that we may be one. The “New Birth • Living Hope” worship service allows the lay people of the same parishes and congregations to similarly gather together to worship the Lord God as one people. Therefore, you are invited and encouraged to come and worship alongside your fellow Catholic and Lutheran brothers and sisters in Christ from parishes and congregations throughout Pierce County. Join us as we affirm our baptisms, sing together, pray with and for one another, hear the Word of God from both Lutheran and Catholic clergy, and worship in the name of Jesus Christ.

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Gathering of Grace You are invited!

Synod-wide Festival Worship Commemorating

the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation Pacific Lutheran University - Lagerquist Hall

Sunday, November 5, 2017 3:00 pm

On November 5th, we have a wonderful opportunity to join our brothers and sisters throughout the Southwestern Washington Synod to celebrate our common Lutheran roots in festival worship commemorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation. A special offering will be taken for the SWWA Synod initiative, Deep Roots, New Life, supporting seminary students and struggling congregations within our Synod. We will have a procession of clergy, a mass choir, preaching by Bishop Rick Jaech and Eucharist. Our Choir will have over 100 singers. Imagine hundreds of our voices raised in song in a beautiful performance hall accompanied by a pipe organ! We hope you will join us on this special afternoon of worship and fellowship. There is still time to join the mass choir or procession. Email us secretary@clc-lakewood.org, with Reformation 500 in the subject line. Sponsored by The Southwestern Washington Synod of the ELCA, Pacific Lutheran University and Christ Lutheran Church in Lakewood

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Deep Roots, New Life

Why I’m Supporting “Deep Roots, New Life By Randy Spitzer, lay leader, Agnus Dei Lutheran Church, Gig Harbor, WA

I’m a 65-year-old life-long Lutheran and lay-leader. In each congregation of which I’ve been a part and served, there has been at least one pastor, a small group of paid support staff, and a great number of lay volunteers who make sure that everything that needs doing, is done. Yet, through the years, I’ve observed that even with strong lay leadership, the most impactful leader in each congregation is the pastor. Our Lutheran tradition relies on pastors to set the tone and develop

momentum within each congregation, even as they share leadership with the laity. Our pastors are well-educated in the gospel and the sacraments. Our pastors are also well-trained in the basics of how to help healthy congregations operate day-to-day. As a lay leader, I’ve been aware that there has been a shortage of clergy in the Lutheran church, but until I attended the Southwestern Washington Synod’s Synod Assembly this past June, I wasn’t aware of how urgent the need has become. In the next decade, a significant number of calls in our synod will go unfilled quite simply because there aren’t enough pastors available. As I understand it, there are three factors that are converging to cause this crisis:

1) Many of our pastors who, like me, are part of the baby-boomer generation, are retiring. These retiring pastors represent a significant percentage of our current rostered clergy both here in the Southwestern Washington Synod and across the nation.

2) Financial assistance for seminary education, readily available to baby-boomer seminarians, has shrunk significantly; now seminarians routinely graduate with significant student debt.

3) Compensation for pastors has been significantly eroded by inflation over the last couple of decades.

We’re reaching a crisis: We’re simply not attracting to our seminaries nearly enough students who may want to be pastors. Think about it. Would you choose, even if you felt called, to enter seminary knowing you’d graduate with high student debt, and then begin your career with the prospect of compensation well below what you will need to feed and clothe your family, let alone service your seminary debt? Although I’m most likely in the final quarter of my life, and while I may be fortunate enough to be part of a congregation with strong pastoral leadership until the end of my life, I know that without my help, and the help of my fellow Lutherans, the next generation may not be so fortunate. That’s why I support “Deep Roots, New Life.” I see the importance of Lutherans to keep our roles of rostered clergy strong and thriving. Why I’m Supporting, continued next page

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Why I’m Supporting, continued from page 7 I ask you to join me in supporting the goal of alleviating student debt for seminarians and seminary graduates. The money you and I give will do two things: 1) provide scholarships for current seminarians and Deacons from our synod, and 2) provide seminary debt relief for our pastors currently serving here in the synod. 50% of your contribution will stay right here in the synod. 40% will go the ELCA’s “Always Made New” campaign for seminary support. 10% may be designated by you to support your local congregational ministry. Together, with God’s help, we can do this! To learn more, go to: http://deeprootsnewlife.com/ and http://deeprootsnewlife.com/synod-stories/

Where is Travelling Luther ? Each month, we’ll have photos (we hope!) of the adventures of the Travelling Luthers that each conference received at the 2017 Synod Assembly. Some conferences are scheduling him to spend a month at each congregation in their conference. Contact your Conference Dean for information about having him visit your congregation. (List of Conference Deans is on the last page)

Travelling Luther moved from Pastor Matt March’s “peaceful” hands at St. John’s in Chehalis, shown sitting right, to the open hands of Father James Thibodeaux of St. Christopher’s Community Church on Steamboat Island, shown standing

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Lutheran Disaster Response continued next page

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Here is a sample of what Lutheran Disaster Response is actively working on:

• In Texas, where Hurricane Harvey caused destruction, we're hiring a disaster response coordinator to work with our partners and affiliates to connect volunteers and donations to where they're needed most.

• In Florida, where Hurricane Irma caused damage, we're helping Lutheran Services Florida with relief for their most impacted staff.

• In Haiti, we're supporting 100 female-headed households and 100 farmers whose gardens and livestock were lost to the hurricane.

• In Cuba, we're supporting the distribution of items like cookware, dishes and blankets to help families get back to normal life.

• In Mexico, where three major earthquakes struck within weeks, we're supporting our local partner as they distribute food, water and other basic necessities to those who have lost their homes.

• In Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Hurricane Maria left devastation, we're coordinating the delivery of critical items including dry food, generators and solar-powered phones.

Recovery from these disasters will take years. Please continue to pray for our neighbors impacted by disasters around the world. Please continue to give generously - and invite others to do so as well. Stay up to date at www.elca.org/disaster and http://facebook.com/ELCALDR.

ELCA World Hunger

2018 Farm Bill By Pastor Amy Reumann, Director, ELCA Advocacy “When you pray and ask for daily bread, you ask for everything that is necessary in order to have and enjoy daily bread and, on the contrary, against everything that interferes with enjoying it. You must therefore expand and extend your thoughts to include not just the oven or the flour bin, but also the broad fields and the whole land that produce and provide our daily bread and all kinds of sustenance for us.” (The Large Catechism) Continued next page

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Farm Bill, continued from page 10 Martin Luther expanded the definition of daily bread from a single loaf to the entire ecosystem of land, natural resources and human effort that together bring sustenance to our tables. Don’t think of only your daily bread, he urged, but think instead about the daily needs of all people and how you can help fulfill them as you pray. ELCA Advocacy is launching our advocacy for the 2018 Farm Bill. The bill is an omnibus, multi-year legislation that funds agriculture and food programs and supports famers in their vocations as stewards of the land. The bill supports important programs that help end hunger internationally and domestically, such as Food for Peace and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Our advocacy will express our commitment to uphold the integrity of all of God's creation. ELCA principles for the 2018 Farm Bill will help further a world in which we steward the land in sustainable ways while sufficiently providing our local and international communities daily bread. ELCA Advocacy will help equip Lutherans with

opportunities to study, discern and advocate on the many areas of the bill – including conversation, trade, credit, nutrition programs, foreign assistance, rural development, research, forestry and energy. Our 2018 Farm Bill strategy will be unified around the ELCA’s commitment to ending hunger, as well as our concern for natural resources and for the well-being of agricultural communities. We look forward to being your partner in the holy work of witnessing together to God’s vision of a world where all are fed.

A Time for Everything ELCA World Hunger’s five-part blog series, “A Time for Everything,” focuses on the “five P’s of gardening”: planning, planting, perspiring, picking and putting to bed. The final blog from guest writer Ethan Bergman shares insights as many gardeners begin to put their garden to bed for the fall and winter seasons. Bergman says that “as we contemplate putting our gardens to rest for the winter, one way to approach this down-time after harvest is by remembering that all of creation rested on the Sabbath.” Read this blog and more at blogs.ELCA.org/worldhunger.

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When Suicide Happens Communities and congregations are shaken to the core when a child dies, whether son or daughter, or the age or circumstances of their death. Herb Chilstrom, first presiding bishop of the ELCA, lost his 18-year-old son Andrew by suicide more than thirty years ago. Now he has released a 200-page book that will be of great value to pastors and families who encountered this tragedy. Among other things, the author wrestles with the Job-like mystery of a hidden God and highlights the value of the Lament Psalms in his journey to wholeness. Copies of Andrew You Died too Soon can be ordered on line at: Herb Chilstrom Books the Book Mark or by sending a check for $20 to: Chilstrom Books; 635 S. Park Centre Ave; # 2121; Green Valley, AZ 85614. All proceeds from book sales go to student scholarships. Training events

The Priory Sprituality Center upcoming programs

The Priory Spirituality center in Lacey is offering the following programs on November: To register for a program or retreat, call Janice at 360-438-2595. The Celtic Way of Prayer – in Word & Song Saturday, November 11, 9am-3pm Total immersion in the ethos of the Celtic Christian church happens through spoken and sung prayer. We will work with original and contemporary texts from the Carmina Gaedelica to the Iona Community of today. After singing and praying together you’ll write a prayer of your own in the Celtic style. Register by Prior Friday: $50 Bring a sack lunch. Minimum: 5 Tom Cashman has been a spiritual director for 28 years, working primarily with clergy of all traditions. He has been an adjunct professor for Celtic Spirituality and has experienced mulitple trips to and pilgrimages in the UK. Blue Sapphire of the Mind Saturday, November 18, 9am-3pm Early Christian monastics recognized the penetrating presence of the Divine in creation, that place where we encounter our deepest selves. The call to care for the environment is deeply human and contemplative. This day is based upon the quietly ground-breaking work of Douglas Christie. Participants are encouraged to at least begin reading Christie's Blue Sapphire of the Mind before attending. Register by prior Friday: $50 Bring a sack lunch Min: 8 Max: 20 Laura Swan, OSB, is a writer, teacher, and spiritual director.

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And the winner is . . . . .

. . . Adele Fisher of Elim Lutheran Church in Port Orchard!

Bishop Rick Jaech was joined by Pastor Norm Arnold of Living Stones; Rev. Melanie Wallschlaeger, Dir. for Evangelical Mission; and two members of the Living Stones Outside Prison Board (Teresa Jackson, chair, and Jim Shanafelt, treasurer) for the Hawaiian raffle drawing benefitting Living Stones Prison Congregation in the Synod Office on October 12th. Congratulations to Adele, who will now have the joy of planning her trip to Hawaii! Almost $15,000 was raised through this fundraiser. More results will be shared in the Living Stones October newsletter. Thank you to all who participated in the raffle! Your support is helping to change the lives of our men as they experience God's love and grace for them. Your partnership with us is deeply appreciated.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

(pictured above: Bishop Jaech drawing the winning ticket and announcing the winner; Bishop Jaech, Pastor Norm and board members calling Adele with the good news,

and an excited Adele celebrating at lunch.)

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Living Stones Pastoral Transition Pastor Norm resigned from the position of pastor of Living Stones Prison Congregation effective October 31st. I give thanks to God for the ministry Pastor Norm Arnold shared over the past 4 years. Pastor Norm provided excellent pastoral and worship leadership within the prison. In his work with the Living Stones Board, Pastor Norm helped to expand a vision for re-entry ministry to include providing welcoming communities of faith and sustainability for former inmates. Pastor Norm’s last worship service with the men of Living Stones was Saturday, October 14th. During that service, the men of Living Stones and outside board members shared in a farewell litany thanking God for Pastor Norm’s service and blessing him for the ventures that lie ahead. If you have words of gratitude and Godspeed to share with Pastor Norm, please send them to pastornormarnold@comcast.net. Pastor Chris Nolte will serve part-time as the transition pastor for Living Stones Prison Congregation beginning November 1st , as he also continues to serve half-time with Elim Lutheran in Port Orchard. Pastor Chris is well-known and respected by the men of Living Stones. He has served as a supply pulpit worship leader and preacher at their Saturday evening services in recent months. The Living Stones Board will work to assure a smooth transition, assessing the skills and gifts that are needed for Living Stones’ next chapter of ministry. Please keep Living Stones Prison Congregation and Board in your prayers. The Prison Board will be writing their Ministry Site Profile in the coming months and will consider half-time and full-time candidates through the regular call process. Inquiries about the pastoral transition can be directed to melanie.wallschlaeger@elca.org

Our Congregations (news and neat ideas from our synod congregations)

Following the Las Vegas shootings, Peace Lutheran Fellowship in Port Ludlow hosted a Community Service of Prayer and Lament as part of their October 8th worship. When Pastor McClung found himself unable to attend worship that day due to his health, he asked church member Jean Schubert to give a homily or meditation. Jean trusted God and was inspired to finish her reflection with, “A week ago when I looked out upon the beauty of the morning I could never have anticipated the lament I share today. It is very easy to proclaim the nearness of our God when life seems blessed and good, and the brightness of the morning star is so clearly evident! It is a much harder thing when shaken to the core! I don’t have the answers to make sense of any of this, but this one thing known by faith I can still attest - the nearness of our God! And on those days that I cannot maintain my hope I know there are others who will hope for me, and God will still be near! Thank you God for the hope we share, thank you for promise, thank you for comfort, thank you for Easter, thank you for love!” (If you’d like to read Jean’s entire reflection, contact the Synod Office at swwsynod@plu.edu requesting the full text.) First Lutheran, Tacoma is holding a Sunday morning (9:30am) Adult Forum, entitled “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep”, that will explore issues of death and dying and our theological understanding of death. Congregations continued next page

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Congregations continued from page 14 Bethlehem Lutheran and United Lutheran Churches present Parables, an original musical by Leslie Woldseth at Bethlehem Lutheran (101 E 38th St, Tacoma). Performances on Friday, Nov 17th and Saturday, November 18th at 7:30pm and Sunday, November 19th at 3:30pm. All are welcome! Congregation Job Postings are online at http://www.lutheranssw.org/congregations-2/renewing-congregations Calendar

• Synod-wide Reformation Worship Service, Sunday, November 5 at 3pm at Lagerquist Hall on PLU campus

• First Call Theological Education, November 13-15 at Seabeck Conference Center • Joint Catholic /Lutheran Worship, Tuesday, Nov 14 at 7pm at St. Charles Borromeo

Catholic Parish, Tacoma • Bishop’s Convocation for rostered ministers, January 23-24, Seabeck Conf Center (No

Prayer Retreat this year. The Pastors Under 40 group will be meeting on January 22-23 prior to Bishop’s Convo.

• Synod Educational Gatherings- all locations 10am-3pm Saturday, April 21, 2018 at First Lutheran, Poulsbo Saturday, April 28, 2018 at Christ Lutheran, Lakewood Saturday, May 19, 2018 at St. Andrew Lutheran, Vancouver

• WELCA Spring Retreat- April 20-22, 2018 at Black Diamond Camp in Auburn/