Dear siblings in Christ,

Blessed Epiphany to you all! I’m writing to you from Jerusalem, where I have joined ELCA bishops and leaders for an accompaniment visit to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land to celebrate the installation of the new ELCJHL bishop, the Rev. Dr. Imad Haddad. This has been my first trip back to the place my family and I called home prior to my call as bishop of the Rocky Mountain Synod. It is a gift to reunite with family and friends, to share the beauty of this place and its people with ELCA colleagues, and to celebrate with a church that has much to teach us about faith and steadfastness in times of injustice and heartbreak.

I have also had the honor of representing the Rocky Mountain Synod, bringing greetings from our synod to our siblings in Christ in the Holy Land. It has been a true joy to share how our synod holds the people of Palestine and Israel in prayer; how we participated in calling the whole ELCA to greater accompaniment and advocacy through the memorials passed at our 2025 Synod Assembly and Churchwide Assembly; and how our ministries of worship, service to neighbor, and advocacy for justice resonate with the work of the church here—including ministries with immigrants and in border communities. Together with our synod’s Sumud working group for justice in Palestine and Israel, I hope to plan a Rocky Mountain Synod Holy Land trip for 2027. Look for details to come!

I am mindful in these days of the Epiphany story: the wise magi who journeyed from afar to worship Jesus and, warned of the malice of King Herod, returned home by another road. This choice protected Jesus, then a vulnerable child, from the violence of a fearful leader who chose the way of power by any means necessary. Jesus lived to proclaim and embody a different way: the way of compassion. He laid down his own life rather than sacrifice the lives of others; and his resurrection proved that the way of God’s love is the truest power.

As we enter a new year, I find myself pondering what it means to choose that other way, especially when the way of the world has brought devastation: in the Holy Land, where people in Gaza are still dying months after a so-called ceasefire. In Venezuela, whose people face an uncertain future and hope for a better one. In U.S. communities where ICE agents have detained, disappeared, or killed our neighbors—including legal residents and citizens. In leaders like Herod who choose the way of power and revel in cruelty. In my own sin, when fear or anger or self-righteousness lead me astray.

We are called to a different road: the way of Jesus. And we are reminded that when we can’t, or won’t, choose that path, Jesus finds us on the way regardless: to draw us back to the way of the Gospel and to community and belonging; to give us new life in the promise of resurrection; and to lead us—not by shame or force, but by grace—to abundant life in Christ, as the Holy Spirit works to bring hope and healing to the world God so loves.

+In Christ,

Bp Meghan