In It Together.

 A Pastoral Message from Bishop Bill Tesch to the Pastors, Deacons and SAMs of the Northwestern Minnesota Synod, ELCA

Beloved in Christ,

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ, the light that is coming into the world. As each passing day grows longer, may you also feel Christ’s light growing around and within you.

Spiritual leadership in a community of faith has always been hard, but I’ve never known it to be harder than these times that we are living through together. The daily demands of ministry seem to increase every year, the hour-by-hour sweeping executive orders and proclamations that induce horror in many while others celebrate, the conflict that rages in communities and relationships, natural disasters, the warming climate, wars – well, it’s a lot. It’s too much. And whichever side of the current political divide you may reside in, we must deal with the divisions in our relationships and communities.

As my staff and I speak and pray with you these days, we hear the same troubling themes: weariness, isolation, fear, anger, frustration, grief and burnout. Last summer we traveled to each conference for our annual “Road Trip” and held listening posts on mental health. We learned the struggle is real everywhere. As we brainstormed ideas to address it, we often felt just as baffled as public health experts seem to when they cast about for solutions to this social epidemic. While we are finding small things like supporting sabbaticals and increasing investment in subsidies for therapy, these seem like very small drops in a very large bucket.

But here is what we DO have. We have each other as siblings in Christ.
And we have the promise of Jesus to be with us
until the end of time.

So, let’s leverage those gifts for each other. To that end, we are inviting you to a weekly gathering, via Zoom, of Rostered Ministers, SAM, and youth workers. We’ll offer a brief time of dwelling in God’s word and prayer, and then you can break out to support each other in conversation and prayer. All recording will be turned off so your time together can be kept confidential. We’ll take just 45 minutes total to fortify each other in this way. We’ll gather alternating between Tuesdays at 10 AM and Thursdays at 1 PM.

Also, in the hope of providing you a mental break, we are providing a series of weekly sermons starting March 9-June 1 for your use in any way you find helpful. Our staff will create these on MS Word, so that you can revise them as you see fit. Our hope is that one or more of these sermons might provide you the chance at a well-deserved break.

Finally, I invite you to join me in re-committing to these healthy daily practices:
 1. A regular time of prayer and bible reading
2. A walk in God’s good creation
3. Each night, give yourself an 8-hour opportunity to sleep. You may not sleep that long, but you can always give yourself the chance.
4. Use your time off and keep it sacred. Get away on those days if you need to.
5. And please, never ever hesitate to reach out to me or any member of your synod staff or trusted colleague for caring conversation.