We are a Wild Web of Relationships

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Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Oregon Synod, one of the 65 synods of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We are a wild web of 30,000 some Lutherans in 111 congregations throughout the state of Oregon. Together, we are on a journey towards a horizon with common values and shared stepping stones. 

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Our Horizon

Moved by the Mystery of Love, we are and are becoming a wild web of relationships, a communion of communities, cultures, and diverse faith experiences walking into life, as we seek the life of the world together in the Spirit Jesus promises.

 

Our Values

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Mutual Accompaniment: without condescension or proselytizing, we journey together, sharing bread as each one of us is changed through this sacred encounter. we move together in spiritual and transformational friendship.

 

Agency and Dignity: we seek to honor the unique voices, practices, and memories of all created beings, seeing one another as participants and co-creators in God’s creative and ressurective action.

 

Integrity: we attend to our words and actions, seeking and learning, so that our practices embody our values, our witness becoming more whole, through mutual accountability, evaluation, transparency and shared respect.

 

Wisdom from the Edges: trusting in the presence of God in all life, particularly in the ones whom the world would sacrifice, we connect the edges of the community with our own pushed aside, buried, and silenced edges, opening wild imagination, courage and resilient capacity for new life.

 

Honesty and Humility: courageously and compassionately, we seek to bring our whole selves and shared life into conversations and challenges, naming hard things and seeking to understand, as we trust god to waste nothing in the nurturing of community.

 

 

Our Stepping Stones

 

Scripture and Spiritual Practice: team meetings, community gatherings, educational ventures, and shared actions begin with spiritual grounding. Leaders are rooted in the life-giving stories and symbols of the ancestors.

 

Shared Power and Respect: all people, lay and ordained, are recognized as part of the priesthood of all believers and collaboration is central to our work at every level.

 

Sustainability: our collective work aims to be thoughtful and durable, not oriented to quick fixes. Financially, ecologically, spiritually, and physically we seek to serve not only the living but also the seventh generation.

 

Story: our mission is rooted in our authentic stories and we listen for the ways God’s liberating story moves within them. Acting out of the depth of our stories, we seek to build a wild web of relationship, rooted in God’s justice and peace.

 

Siblings: we seek deep connection not only with other Lutherans, but with Christians or every tradition, interfaith partners and people who claim no faith tradition.

 

Shameless, Fearless Innovation: we experiment, collaborate, dream dreams and see visions. We dare to make mistakes, fall down,  and get up again.

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