Bishop’s Reflections

Reflections from Bishop Tim Smith

Looking for the Helpers

October, 2024

Ps. 121:1 โ€“ โ€œI lift up my eyes to the hills. From where is my help to come?โ€ As bishop of our synod, yes, but also as a father/grandfather/in-law to 8 much-beloved people in Asheville,…

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Not Agree. Love.

September, 2024

Wendy knows that I love her. I first told her maybe 42 years ago. I could have said way back then, โ€œSo, hold that thought, and Iโ€™ll let you know if anything changes.โ€ Even I…

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Unloveable Yet Loved

August, 2024

Forty years ago when I was in seminary, the one unforgivable sin as we were finding our Lutheran theological voice of proclamation was works righteousness. Pelagianism! Oh, the scandal of it all. It wasnโ€™t just…

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Focusing on Common Ground

July, 2024

โ€œWould you rather be right, or happy?โ€ This was the last, almost seemingly afterthought question after we had already prayed and stood to go our separate ways during my first conversation with the call committee…

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Third Time’s the Charm

June, 2024

They say the third timeโ€™s the charm. That seemed to be the case for this yearโ€™s 2024 North Carolina Synod Gathering. You may recall that in 2019, the NC Synod Assembly passed a resolution that…

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Refuge

May, 2024

God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in time of trouble. (Psalm 46)ย  In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. (Psalm 71) Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) began in the…

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A New Beginning!

April, 2024

Few of you likely preached, and therefore few of you likely heardโ€”even in this, the โ€œYear of Markโ€โ€”the Easter narrative from Markโ€™s Gospel this past Sunday. Preachers remember from seminary that Markโ€™s original ending was…

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Reflections from Sabbatical

March, 2024

Iโ€™m a processor. Perhaps to a fault. While I can and do make some decisions that call for quick decisions, I much prefer to ponder, pray, simmer all possible perspectives in the potโ€”especially those not…

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Called to Sabbatical

February, 2024

Dear Ones, I am reminded of the best thing I did in the first year of my first call some twenty years ago. I noticed the fatigue and weariness of the lay leaders who had…

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The Peace Child

January, 2024

We, as North American Christians, take so much for granted. Most of us were born into a Christian home. Many of us had parents and grandparents who passed along the faith. Few have ever been…

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NovusWay Needs Our Help

December, 2023

I hope youโ€™ve been reading about recent changes at NovusWay Ministries. Weโ€™re grateful for all Dick Peterson did as Interim CEO in Phase 1 of the interim plan, and now weโ€™re extremely grateful that Mike…

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Both+And

November, 2023

Lutherans have always loved a good paradox. In a world that would seduce us into either/or campsโ€”us vs. themโ€”weโ€™ve always known that we areย  saint AND sinner, already AND not yet, justice AND mercy, law…

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The World Is about to Turn

October, 2023

A couple of dozen bishops recently read the book by Gil Rendle titled Countercultural and discussed it at some length at last week’s Conference of Bishops in Chicago. Itโ€™s one of the more helpful and…

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Never Alone

September, 2023

Why? WHY? Anyone with a toddler knows how this question echoesโ€”or anyone who practices science, philosophy, theology, politics, or just relationships in general. Why implies purpose, cause and effect, and meaning. When people donโ€™t have…

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A Seed from that Fateful Apple

August, 2023

First of all, I know very little about Artificial Intelligence, or AI. I do know that I have bishop colleagues in other synods who have picked a random selection of lectionary assigned textsโ€”letโ€™s say the…

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God First

July, 2023

โ€œThis Is My Songโ€ (ELW 887), a poem by Lloyd Stone set to the tune Finlandia by Sibelius, was one of my dadโ€™s favorite hymns. In this time of emerging Christian nationalism and resurging American…

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Astounding Giftedness and Blessing

June, 2023

As I write this, the 2023 NC Synod Assembly ended just late yesterday afternoon. It was wonderful really. Lots of visiting between sessions and during meals, joyful worship, and presentations that were not only informative…

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Polity & Process

May, 2023

Maybe itโ€™s because just a few weekends ago I led an intensive, nine hours of instruction on the riveting topic of โ€œELCA and NC Synod Polity and Governanceโ€ for our first cohort of SAMs (Synod…

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What Is a SAM?

April, 2023

So what is a SAM? It stands for โ€œsynod authorized minister.โ€ Usually, itโ€™s a layperson who applies to the synod’s program of lay preaching under the larger category of Advanced Lay Ministries and then goes…

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Your Voice Matters

March, 2023

One of the things I hear with disturbing frequency goes something like this: โ€œThis is a top-down church. The ELCA churchwide expression, the churchwide assembly, and the synod make decisions that are completely out of…

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A (Very) Personal Word

February, 2023

Sharing can be risky and can evoke undue anxiety in systems. So can not sharing. Youโ€™ve played โ€œGossipโ€ or โ€œTelephone,โ€ haven’t you? The intended message gets altered, embellished, etc. One observation Iโ€™ve made through the…

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Holy Light, Holy Darkness

January, 2023

In the strictest sense, white is the absence of color. You canโ€™t mix any colors together to get white. Conversely, black is the sum of all colorsโ€”what you obtain by mixing all colors on the…

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Jesus: Baby, King, Refugee

December, 2022

One of the dominant themes in all of what we refer to as the Old Testament is hospitality. And little wonder, since it largely recounts the story of the Hebrew people and their relationship with…

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Our Enacted Prayer for the Future

November, 2022

Itโ€™s that time of year again. Yes, the strange conflation of Thanks-oween-mas, but also election time. Iโ€™m always bewildered that so few people voteโ€”almost always fewer than half of the eligible voters and often for…

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