Dear Partners in Mission:

The weekend of September 11/12th we held our synod council meeting at Good Shepherd-Irving. In this meeting we did good work planning around our new starts resolution, authorizing various roster actions, hearing about the good start we have in 2026 for mission support (THANK YOU!), and spent time in worship. We also learned more about our relationship to Lutheran Sunset Ministries in Clifton, TX and how we can support them as the only Lutheran named retirement community in Texas.

We also reflected that we were meeting on the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A moment that claimed thousands of lives and changed the trajectory of our world. As we gathered we reflected on this day and its impact on us and our communities. What was most interesting is when we discussed where we were on that day. I shared that I was in my first year of seminary classes and had just dropped a prospective student at the airport only to hear 30 minutes later about the attacks. Others recalled being at work or driving to work or school. Another was in 3rd grade in a school in Northern Virginia and the teachers were instructed to say nothing to the students as many of their parents worked in government buildings around DC. Finally, another said “I was 3 years old.”

9/11 means a great deal different to us all. What struck me there is that this is what the church is to do. We are one, if not the only, organization that intentionally brings generations together. Together to worship, to learn, and to grow in service to Christ and our neighbors. While within the church there have been efforts over time to segregate the generations, at our best we are always multigenerational. Hearing from one another and the perspectives we bring. When we embrace that we can understand there is not one definitive perspective on how to interpret or experience. And that we, despite much of the rhetoric of our time, are enriched when we listen to one another.

This fall I encourage you to engage others whose perspective, for whatever reason, may be different than yours. To resist the easy calls to demonize or blame. Engage not for the purpose of talking but for listening. For in that listening we grow and we might just experience God’s presence in our neighbor.

#Juntosenmision,

Bishop Gronberg