On February 17-18, 21 PLTS students were assigned to the Region of their first call.  The group consisted of diaconal, TEEM (Theological Education for Emerging Ministries), and Master of Divinity students. 

 

The assignments are:

 

Region 1 - James Locke, Christopher Ode and Sandra Rudd

Region 2 - Joshua Bruns and Ron Cox

Region 3 - Joel Langholz and Karen Matuska

Region 5 - Eric Jones

Region 6

 - Joshua Burkholder, Tim Feiertag, Jon Haug, Carolyn Lesmeister, David Miller, Jarrod Schaaf, Sarah Schaaf, and Adrienne Strehlow

Region 8 - Kelly Ayers

 

Please join us in wishing these upcoming graduates success in their first calls!

PLTS mourns the death of Mercia Brenne Bachmann, widow of E. Ted Bachmann, a founding faculty member of PLTS. She died peacefully in Townshend, Vermont on February 2.  She was 96. 
 
Born on a wheat farm in Saskatchewan on January 2, 1913, Mercia was the second of five daughters of a circuit-riding Lutheran pastor. She grew up in the Midwest in a variety of parsonages, attended St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota and became a social worker since her father counseled her that while there was no biblical or theological reason that she couldn't be a pastor, the time was "not ripe" for female ministers.
 
In 1941 she married E. Theodore Bachmann, then a budding young church historian from distant Philadelphia, and was his life's companion, soulmate, critic and editor for 54 event-filled years in Wilmington, Chicago, post-war West Germany, St. Paul, Berkeley, Brazil, Switzerland and Princeton as he served in a wide variety of positions within the Lutheran church. 

 

Ardent travelers, they visited some 50 countries and together wrote  Lutheran Churches in the World.  When Dr. Bachmann died in 1995, Mercia spent the next two years finishing his final book, The United Lutheran Church in America, 1918-1962.
 
After Princeton Seminary and the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia received their extensive library,  Mercia sold the house in Princeton Junction and retired to nearby Meadow Lakes in Hightstown, where she enjoyed eight stimulating years.  In November of 2007, Mercia moved to Townshend, Vermont where she could be close to her daughter.
 
Mercia is survived by her son, F. Brenne,  of Vimmerby, Sweden, and daughter, Mary, of Putney, Vermont, plus their spouses, Catharina and Christopher, and two granddaughters, Eva and Anna.  She is also survived by two sisters, Carola Boe of Amery, Wisconsin, and Audrey Peterson of Mesa, Arizona.
 
A memorial service was held on Sunday, February 22, at Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, where Mercia was a founding member.
 
Blessed be the memory of this servant of God!

 

Christine Sinnott has (re-) joined our community full time. She will be the manager of the office of seminary relations and will take the lead in our communications effort.

 

Christine holds an MTS from PLTS, and was employed here formerly as the director of communications. She and her daughter, Kieran, live in Berkeley.

If you haven't yet sent us your ordination date or commissioning date and the names of your teaching parish and internship sites, please click here to let us know that information. Thanks!

 

Congratulations to Jay Egenes, class of 2008, who was ordained on February 15 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Riverside, CA. Jay was called to Highland Avenue Lutheran Church in San Bernadino, CA.

 

PLTS and Luther Seminary, the seminaries of the Western Mission Cluster, offer this book of devotions as your companion on the journey through this Lenten season. This year's theme is taken from hymn number 326 in the ELW, "Bless Now, O God, the Journey."

 

The students, faculty and staff members at Luther and PLTS will be praying with you during the season of Lent. These short reflections are contributed by members of our communities. They share with you the Lenten journey while expressing all of our gratitude for the many ways you support us through all the seasons of the year.

 

May the Triune God indeed bless your journey!