Dear People of God of the Southwest California Synod-ELCA,
As John greeted the church in his third epistle, I write you today as a new chapter begins in the mission and ministry of the Southwest California Synod.
“I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health,
just as it is well with your soul.” III John 2
Yesterday, Bishop Erwin sent a farewell message on his last day as your Bishop. In that letter, he stated that he and Rob will miss you very much. We will miss them dearly also. Bishop Erwin has been a trusted and exceptionally gifted and resourceful colleague for many years, first when he was a professor at California Lutheran University, and then as neighboring Bishop and friend. My spouse, Rhoda, and I always were blessed when we were together with Bishop Guy and Rob. We pray for their safe travels and new beginnings. We trust there will be more good times together in the months and years to come.
I write today, the first day of my new calling within the Southwest California Synod, to express my thanks to this synod for entrusting me with the ministry of serving as your Bishop during this interim season. I look forward to shared ministry with the synod staff, synod council, deans, committee chairpersons and members, pastors, deacons, congregational lay leaders, and members and friends of the many congregations of this synod.
I ask for your help as I begin to serve within a synodical territory wherein my time has been limited. Please contact me with your cares and concerns, questions and comments, joys and sorrows. I served in the Office of the Bishop for a number of years, but never did I serve within the territory of SWCA Synod. There is much I will need to learn from you.
There are two other parts of this call that will be new to me. I have not had a ¾ time call before, and I never served during a global pandemic. As a congregational pastor and as a synodical bishop, I believed that “presence” was a huge part of my calling. Every effort was made to be present for the ordinations, installations, anniversaries, groundbreakings, dedications, farewells, rostered leaders’ hospitalizations and funerals, as well as other special occasions of the congregations and rostered leaders of the Pacifica Synod. Learning how ministry continues, changes, thrives and struggles in new and different ways as we physically distance from one another will be part of my new learning curve. The ongoing discovery of ways to be present for each other during these challenging days surely will open new avenues for ministry and mission.
August 1 has some significance for me. Having believed for many years I would never live in the southern part of California, I began a new call at St. Olaf Lutheran in Garden Grove on August 1, 1986. Twelve years later, dividing those years between St. Olaf and then as Assistant to the Bishop of the Pacifica Synod, I began the first of three six-year terms as Bishop of that Synod on August 1, 1998. In 2016, again on this day, I started to enjoy retirement after 41 years of ordained ministry. Now four years later, this date marks a new beginning for me and for you. I already have some curiosity about where things will be for us on August 1, 2021. In the meantime, staying in regular communication with you will be important for me. I will also pray for you and ask you to do the same for the synod staff and me during these days of transition.
May the light of Christ shine upon us all today and in the days ahead.
Grace, mercy, and peace,
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Bishop Murray D. Finck
bishopfinck@socalsynod.org