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PLTS Turns 100
Palestine AND Peace
Founders' Day
President's Sermon Online
Thrivent Choice
Updates
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Above the Fog
PLTS Newsletter

September 2010
Greetings!  
 
We are gearing up for our Cen-Ten-Ten-Tennial on October 10th in Portland. We hope you'll be able to join us as we give thanks for our history, honor some very special people, premiere a new hymn, and look forward to our next one hundred years.
Celebrate 10-10-10 With Us!
 
BachOn October 8, 1910, a handful of people founded the lone seminary in the West at St. James Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon. They believed that the church of the West needed leaders prepared in the West, so they struck out in faith to start a seminary. The seeds they planted then have grown into a tree that has borne fruit for the church for a hundred years. This October 9-10, 2010, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of PLTS, and we invite you to celebrate with us.
 
If you able, plan to join us for any or all of these special occasions.
  
 
Legacy logoSaturday, October 9, 2010
Centennial Celebration
Co-Sponsored by Legacy Health
Emanuel Hospital Atrium
2801 North Gantenbein Avenue
Portland, Oregon
6:00 pm Social
7:00 pm Dinner
Presentation of the Centennial
Awards for Faith and Courage
 
As part of the evening, we will be presenting awards that celebrate the kind of faith and courage that sustained our seminary for 100 years and that will sustain it in the next 100 years. Recipients are the Rev. Chris Flohr and the Rev. Janet Young, both graduates of PLTS, who each recently donated a kidney, and Christina Schmidt, a 15-year-old member of Augustana Lutheran, Portland, who has raised more than $16,000 towards the construction of a secondary school in rural Western Cambodia.

There is no charge for this event, but you are invited to bring a bottle of your favorite Oregon wine to share at your table. Please RSVP and select your entree here.

Sunday, October 10, 2010
Centennial Bach Cantata
President Phyllis Anderson, preaching
World Premiere of "How, Lord?"
St. James Lutheran Church
1315 SW Park Ave, Portland
5:00 pm
Reception following
 
Sunday, October 10, 2010
A Birthday Party in Olympia

Hosted by PLTS Graduates and Friends
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
1601 North St SE, Olympia
4:00-6:00 pm
Wine, sparkling cider and appetizers provided.

You can also join the celebration by declaring October 10, 2010 to be Faith and Courage Sunday in your congregation.

We want our 100th birthday to be a celebration of faith and courage throughout the church. We invite you to help us make it so! Here are some ideas to help you.
Forum: Palestine AND Peace -- September 20, 2010
 
Monday, September 20, 2010
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Giesy Hall 1
 
RahebThe Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb, born and raised in Bethlehem, has been the pastor of the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem since 1988.  An internationally-acclaimed author and speaker, the Rev. Dr. Raheb is also president of Diyar, a consortium of four Lutheran institutions that he himself founded between 1995 and 2008. These institutions serve the whole Palestinian community through culture, health, education and heritage.   
 
Join us for pizza and soda as The Rev. Dr. Mitri Raheb speaks on issues of peace in Palestine and the Kairos Agreement. 
 
Please RSVP at FacAssist@plts.edu by Friday, September 17, 2010.    
Founders' Day: September 29, 2010
 
Ecology, Theology, and the Church: A Liturgical Manifesto - The Rev. Dr. H. Paul Santmire
 
SantmireHow is the Church to respond to today's global ecojustice crisis? This presentation cautiously steers around both the torrents of crisis-talk and the urgent claims of environmental ethics on the life of the Church. The argument focuses on the Church's own liturgy, and on the Eucharist in particular, with this manifesto: unless the Church's own liturgy is right, ecologically, the Church will not be fundamentally equipped to respond to the greatest crisis of our times. To this end, several proposals are made for liturgical renewal.

A Lutheran pastor with experience in academic, inner-city, and metropolitan settings, the Rev. Dr. H. Paul Santmire has also pursued a scholarly vocation in the discipline of ecological theology and environmental ethics for more than forty years.

For more information and to see the schedule, click here. Early registration (discounted fee) closes soon. Click here to register.
Sermon for the Opening of the School Year
 
President AndersonDr. Phyllis Anderson
September 8, 2010
Chapel of the Cross
Luke 14:25-33
 
These verses from Luke have powerful associations for me. They once moved me to tears -- of regret and anger and betrayal...in church. It was early September, like now. My internship had just come to an end. It had been a great internship, a fourth year internship. Actually for me it was a seventh year internship. That's how long it took me to get through seminary. As that internship came to an end, I was totally wired for ministry. I was invited to consider staying on -- they were going to call a second pastor rather than have another intern. It could have been me.
 
Choose PLTS!
 
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans is launching Thrivent Choice for members with life insurance or annuity products of eligible amounts. If you have a life insurance or annuity contract with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, you may be able to direct your "choice dollars" to PLTS.
 
This program is different from the matching program Thrivent sponsored previously. There is no connection between these Thrivent Choice awards and any gifts you make directly to PLTS. In fact, you can direct Thrivent Choice monies to PLTS even if you don't make a direct gift to the seminary. (Though we certainly hope you will!)
 
Only Thrivent members who hold life insurance or annuity contracts are eligible. Mutual fund clients do not qualify for Thrivent Choice.
 
If you have an eligible life insurance or annuity contract with Thrivent Financial -- or have a question about whether or not you qualify -- call 1-800-THRIVENT (1-800-847-4836) and say "Thrivent Choice" when prompted by the automated operator. You'll be directed to a courteous person who will be able and happy to help you. The call centers are open from 7 am to 9 pm CDT.
 
If you prefer to make your selection online, you can do so at www.thrivent.com/thriventchoice.
Updates
 
Paul Berthelot (TEEM 2006) has resigned from the roster of the ELCA and is now rostered by the Lutheran Church in Missions for Christ (LCMC). He continues to serve at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Boardman, Oregon, which voted this past summer to leave the ELCA and join LCMC. 
 
Katie Bombardi-Osweiler (MDiv 2007) and her husband, Victor, after two years of living in the United Kingdom, will be moving back to the US. Victor will be stationed at Hanscom Air Force Base for the next four years.
 
Stephen Frock (MDiv 1982) writes, "Since October 1, 1989, I have been serving the two-point parish of the Brayton and Hamlin Lutheran Churches in Brayton and Hamlin Iowa. On January 1, 2010, I acquired a third charge, Exira Lutheran Church in Exira, Iowa. This new three-point parish goes by the name of the Nishna Valley Shared Ministry. All three of the congregations share a common Danish heritage."
 
Darwin Garton (TEEM 2009) has accepted a new call to serve Salem Lutheran Church in Wakefield, Nebraska, and was installed on September 12.
 
Phil Kettering (TEEM 2009) was ordained on March 28.
 
Susan Lindberg (MDiv 1979) has officially retired, but still is busy with supply preaching in Greater Milwaukee Synod. Her husband Richard is also retired, but has been nominated for the Board of Directors for Thrivent Financial for Lutherans.
 
Martin Malzahn (MDiv 2003) is excited to announce his engagement to a law school student named Vanessa. They plan a late spring or early summer wedding. Another unexpected gift of the summer has been two new pastoral positions, associate pastor at Our Saviour's Atonement in New York City, and Lutheran Religious Life Advisor at Columbia University. 
 
Charles Meyer (MDiv 1970) retired on August 31 and moved to Pottsboro, Texas, to be nearer to grandchildren.
 
Criag Minich (MA/MDiv 2009)  was received onto the ELCA roster with six other pastors on July 25 at the first ELCA Rite of Reception service at St. Mark's, San Francisco. He was ordained in February of 2001 and rostered by Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries (ELM). He has served five ELCA congregations in a joint youth ministry program called the East Bay Lutheran Youth Program (EBLYP) for more than eleven years. 
 
Kimberlee Osborn (MDiv 2000) began a new call on August 2 at Saint Andrew's in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her husband, Ken, continues his work as a chemistry instructor at Fort Scott Community College, Fort Scott, Kansas, and plans to move to Lincoln next summer.
 
Judith Rainforth (MDiv 2003) is beginning her eighth year of ordained ministry at First Lutheran Church in Omaha, Nebraska. This has been her first call. Check out their website at www.firstlutheranomaha.org.
 
Martha Neff Stum (MDiv 2010) was called to Galilee Lutheran Church in Kelseyville, California. She was ordained in Tucson at Christ the King on August 21 and installed at Galilee on September 12.
 
Amy Walter-Peterson (MDiv 2003) serves as the Director for Evangelical Mission in the Upstate New York Synod. In July she returned from her fourth summer of teaching and coordinating the summer English program at St. Leo the Great Coptic Catholic Seminary in Cairo, Egypt.

Your Name Here -- please keep us up to date with your whereabouts and happenings here.