Upper Susquehanna Synod

Office Closed
2022-01-17 | PA
The Upper Susquehanna Synod Office will be closed on Monday, January 17, 2022, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. If you have an emergency, please call the synod office (570-524-9778) and the voicemail will give you phone numbers that you can call.

Buffalo Valley Lay School of Theology
2022-02-04 - 2022-02-27
Interested in learning more about worship leadership or liturgical practices? Want to hear how the good news calls us to engage with issues of poverty? Want to see how to drum up excitement in the church? Then join us for the Buffalo Valley Lay School of Theology! Register for workshops from pastors and leaders across the synod designed form church members to grow in faith and leadership! Check out the workshops at https://bit.ly/BVLaySchool2022. This year, we will be offering multiple workshops running from February 4th through February 27th. Please note that some workshops gather multiple times over the weeks while some are offered as asynchronous videos on YouTube. Any workshops with a date and time associated with them will be offered via Zoom; login information for those Zoom gatherings, as well as any additional supplemental resources, will be provided by the moderator after you register for workshops. You can register to participate in workshops using the link below! We look forward to you joining us for this year’s workshops! Registration Link: https://bit.ly/registerBVLST2022. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMHt3TS0Fi5sPTZLBBXbtRA

GROW in the Snow
2022-02-04 18:30 - 2022-02-05 18:30 (America/New_York)
All youth in 6-12th grade and their youth leaders are invited to attend this synod youth retreat. The theme of this year’s will be around scripture. Experience your Creator, play winter games and find refreshment in the peace of camp in winter. The retreat is from Friday night to Saturday afternoon, but there is an option for youth and leaders to come just for the day on Saturday. Cost is $66 (whole program) or $45 (Saturday only). Each registered group should provide one adult (21 or over) for every seven youth and at least one adult for each gender represented. Cabin assignments will be made based on available adults and number of youth attending. Contact Chad Hershberger at chad@campmountluther.org with questions.
A flyer and registration form is available here: https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2022-Grow-in-the-Snow.pdf

CML Summer Preview Party and Camperson Meeting
2022-02-05 03:30 - 16:00
This year, we’ll have a Summer Preview Party as part of our GROW in the Snow weekend and invite campersons to come to hear about the program offerings for 2022. Join us at 3:30 p.m. on February 5 at the Evergreen Center for the preview and then campersons will be given additional information to share with their congregations. Expect to be here for an hour and fifteen minutes. What’s a camperson? A camperson is a liaison between camp and your congregations. They are ambassadors, regularly promoting camp news. Each synod congregation is asked to send a representative to this event to learn more about Mount Luther. Another benefit is that campersons will get Camel Bucks to the camp store for all those from their church who attend summer camp. We are also working to have an online component that you can join this meeting. Details coming soon.
Promote it! https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Camperson-Meeting-Flyer-2022.pdf

Ignite the Church Conference
2022-02-08 - 2022-02-10
SEISMIC SHIFTS: Where do we go from here? Since February 2020, the Church has been enduring unprecedented seismic shifts. In response, a new Hybrid version of the grassroots Ignite the Church Conference will gather next February…In-Person in sunny Orlando AND Online…to reflect on the theme: SEISMIC SHIFTS: Where Do We Go from Here? The theme is grounded in the witness of Psalm 46: 1-2 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, and the mountains shake.” Four large group sessions will focus on the following shifts: Public Church (Robin Steinke and Winston Persaud), Hybrid Church (Joe and Jess Liles), Adaptive Church (Tod Bolsinger), Thriving Church (Stephanie Spellers). Ten 90-minute workshops will dig deeper into these shifts to offer encouragement, inspiration, and challenge for church leaders. To register and learn more about the presenters, workshop options, and other details go to www.IgniteTheChurch.net. The Online option will provide live and recorded access to each large group session and the post-conference Resource Page. The Online option is FREE…with a suggested donation $30 to the ELCA Fund for Leaders invited. All proceeds continue to benefit the ELCA Fund for Leaders which has received $13,000 from the Conference in just the past two years.

Region 8 Radical Justice Training
2022-02-19 09:00 - 14:00, 2022-05-13 12:00 - 17:00, 2022-08-18 11:00 - 16:00
We are called to be a church that embraces each person and confronts racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, age, gender, familial, sexual orientation, physical, personal and class barriers that can manifest as unjust treatment, inequalities, exclusion, and violence. The ELCA’s Region 8 is committed to equipping leaders to recognize and understand the complexities and implications of racism and racial issues and is offering training in the areas of anti-racism and racial justice for leaders in partnership with synods, congregations, associations, and social service agencies.
Region 8’s Racial Justice Training equips leaders (rostered and lay) to face the challenges of racism in a diverse, complex and changing world by providing tools and resources that foster healthy and holy conversations. Each workshop addresses these aspects of racism:
1) Talking about Race: language and vocabulary
2) History and systemic racism in the United States, and
3) How to begin conversations and actions in your ministry context.
Each training is offered on Zoom using a combination of instruction and small group conversation. Facilitators will represent the region to the extent possible, spearheaded by the Reverend Carla Christopher Wilson. Cost is $25 per person; however, if cost is a barrier, please contact Marty Shifflett at mshifflett@lss-elca.org, or 717-652-1852, ext. 115. Because we want to make this training as accessible to as many people as possible, if two people from a congregation register, additional participants (beyond 2) from that congregation may attend at no cost. Those additional participants are required to register by contacting Marty Shifflett.
Region 8 is comprised of the following eight synods: Northwest PA, Southwest PA, Allegheny, Lower Susquehanna, Upper Susquehanna, Delaware/Maryland, Metro DC, and West Virginia/Western Maryland.
Racial Justice Training Opportunities
Saturday, February 19, 2022, 9AM-2PM
Friday, May 13, 2022, 12-5PM
Thursday, August 18, 2022, 11AM-4PM
Monday, November 7, 2022, 10AM-3PM
Click here to register
Attending this training fulfills the ELCA churchwide assembly’s directive that rostered ministers participate in racial justice training every two years.

Camp Mount Luther Sunday
2022-02-27
The Upper Susquehanna Synod Council designated that Transfiguration Sunday each year is “Mount Luther Sunday” to help promote outdoor ministries in the synod. Members of USS congregations are encouraged to celebrate outdoor ministries on February 27, 2022. Mount Luther is an extension of our ministry together and we hope all congregations will join in celebrating outdoor ministries by offering financial support, keeping the camp staff in prayer, and by participating in the numerous events and activities this ministry offers.
Ideas to celebrate Camp Sunday are here: https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Mount-Luther-Sunday-2022.pdf
For a bulletin insert to use that day, click here: https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2016-General-Bulletin-Insert.pdf

Help Camp Mount Luther During Raise the Region
2022-03-09 18:00 - 2022-03-10 23:59
Camp Mount Luther is participating in The First Community Foundation Partnership of PA’s “Raise the Region” on March 9-10, 2022. It is a 30-hour fundraising event starting at 6:00 p.m. and ending the next day at 11:59 p.m. Money donated by the Blaise Alexander Family Dealerships will help stretch donations made to organizations that day. Additional monetary prizes and incentives will be awarded, too. Proceeds raised for Mount Luther these days to the camp’s Annual Fund unless a donor gets in touch with the camp office to designate it for another camp cause. To be part of Raise the Region, visit www.raisetheregion.org during the event and make an online donation to camp. Running totals will be shown throughout the day at the Raise the Region website. Camp Mount Luther has participated in Raise the Region for nine years and has garnered about $147,000 in donations during this event. The camp hopes you will help us to have another successful year!
Click here to download a flyer/bulletin insert to promote it!

SINDR Mission/Work Trip Planning Meeting
2022-04-03 19:00 - 20:00
Last December, tornado damage devastated Western Kentucky. The rubble is now cleared and it is time to help them rebuild. The SINDR is sponsoring a mission/work trip to Madisonville, KY, on April 24 -30, 2022. All skill levels are needed as we will be doing rough carpentry and some debris cleanup. Lodging and cooking facilities will be provided at First Presbyterian Church, Madisonville, KY. The cost is a contribution toward food and mileage. There will be a trip planning meeting on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at the Synod Office and on ZOOM. For more information, contact Craig Miller at the Synod Office. Here is a flyer about the events: https://www.uss-elca.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WKy-Trip-Poster-Revised.pdf

GROW Writers’ Retreat
2022-04-05 10:00 - 15:00
Anyone wishing to come and write devotions for Camp Mount Luther’s First Light Digital Devotions is welcome to join other writers on April 5, 2022. The retreat will be from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Evergreen Center. It will be a day of writing and sharing resources for devotional writing. Please RSVP to chad@campmountluther.org or 570-922-1587.

CML Early Registration Deadline
2022-04-15
Register for summer camp at Mount Luther by midnight on April 15, 2022, to get a discount on your summer camp registration! Or, if you bring a friend to camp who’s never been there, you can get 25% off your registration fee. Program information at www.campmountluther.org/summer. Register online at https://www.campmountluther.org/online-registration/

Lutheran Day at the Capitol
2022-04-28
LUTHERAN DAY IN THE CAPITOL MOVED TO APRIL 28, 2022
As LAMPA continues to move through the pandemic, they look forward and invite you to mark your calendar for Lutheran Day in the Capitol. They will gather in Harrisburg on Thursday, April 28, 2022. They have moved this annual event to partner with United Lutheran Seminary’s Spring Convocation, in prayerful anticipation of gathering safely once more. Here is information on ULS’s Spring Convocation that runs from April 25-28:
https://www.unitedlutheranseminary.edu/calendar/spring-convocation-preaching-perspectives-pentecost-and-ordinary-time-gettysburg-campus-livestream

Upper Susquehanna Synodical Women’s Organization Day of Learning/Renewal
2022-04-30 10:00 - 14:00
APlease consider joining other women for this event which will offer two learning experiences: “Protect Yourself from SCAMS and FRAUD” with Trooper Lauren Lesher, Community Service Officer, Troop F; and
Part 2: Mary Barr and Kathy Whitesel will be sharing pictures and experiences they had on short-term mission trips to the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005. The time and labor invested in clean-up, gutting and rebuilding is secondary to meeting the people and listening to their stories, which will be evident in the presentation. Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. and the program begins at 10:00 a.m. and will end at about 2:00 p.m. It will be held at United Lutheran Church, 167 Seven Points Road, Sunbury. Cost is $10.00 which includes lunch. REGISTRATION DEADLINE: April 23, 2022. Call 570-850-8346 (Rita Avery) if you have questions. Please make checks payable to USSWO. Mail to: Rita Avery, 771 Foye Road, Sunbury, PA 17801 OR email your response to tnravery@ptd.net and bring your registration payment to the event.

Bishop’s Open Golf Tournament
2022-05-09 11:00 - 17:00
The annual Bishop Open’s Golf Classic is set for May 9, 2022, beginning at 11:00 a.m. at the Susquehanna Valley Country Club in Shamokin Dam. The tournament benefits Camp Mount Luther and the camp’s annual fund. A flyer/bulletin insert containing information and registration form is available here: https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-Golf-Tournament-Flyer.pdf. The camp’s golf tournament committee is currently looking for hole sponsors, silent auction items, and golfers. If you can help, please contact the camp office at 570-922-1587 or cml@campmountluther.org. Congregations are also encouraged to become hole sponsors. Get involved and help our synod’s outdoor ministry!

Companion Synod Sunday
2022-05-15
On Sunday, May 15, the Global Mission Team encourages all congregations in the synod to honor our companion synods of Lutheran Church of Liberia and Kirchenkreis Ansbach-Wuerzburg. Here are attachments for our congregations and supply leaders for Sunday worship. They can be used for bulletin inserts, make power point presentations for online worship – however congregations choose to celebrate and honor our partner churches for May 15.
Litany for Companion Synod Sunday
Companion Synod Sunday 2022 Bulletin Insert
Here is a video made for May 15th, the celebration of our companion synod. Chris Wilhem of Evangelical, Reedsville, used pictures from the synod choir trip in 2005 to Leutershausen and ones from the German choir when they came here in 2007. https://youtu.be/pF5GGXvxsZc
Also, feel free to continue using prayer intercessions to recognize all our global ministries during the prayers of the church.

Boundary Training for Rostered Ministers
2022-05-17 09:00 - 15:00
Boundary training workshops provide an opportunity for rostered ministers to spend intentional time alongside colleagues considering boundaries so that we and others may thrive. This boundary training is a collaboration between the Upper and Lower Susquehanna Synods, facilitated by The Rev. Lisa Raylene Barnes and The Rev. Beth Martini. Synod clergy sexual abuse prevention policy requires that rostered leaders complete a boundary workshop at least once every three years.
This is a virtual one-day training on May 17, 2022, begins at 9:00 AM and ends at 3:00 PM. Cost is $25.00 per person. Registration closes one week prior to the workshop. You will receive your ZOOM invitation via email prior to the event. For more information, please email Marty Shifflett at mshifflett@lss-elca.org or call 717-652-1852 ext. 115.
Register here: https://www.lss-elca.org/event/boundary-training-for-rostered-ministers-may-17-2022/

CML Spring Work Day
2022-05-21 08:00 - 13:00
Practice stewardship through service at camp at Camp Mount Luther at the Annual Spring Work Day on Saturday, May 21, 2022, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We need your help getting the camp grounds and facilities ready for summer. There will be plenty to do and everyone in the family can help! Please bring supplies to do cleaning, mulching, raking, and light construction projects such as step ladders, buckets, rakes, etc. A light lunch will be served. RSVP by May 16 if staying for lunch to cml@campmountluther.org or 570-922- 1587. Promote it! https://www.campmountluther.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-Work-Day-Flyer.pdf

Office Closed
2022-05-30
The Upper Susquehanna Synod Office will be closed on Monday, May 30, 2022, in observance of Memorial Day. If you have an emergency, please call the synod office (570-524-9778) and the voicemail will give you phone numbers that you can call.

Pre-Synod Assembly Hearing
2022-06-02
A hearing will take place via Zoom for voting members to gain understanding of certain items for this year’s Synod Assembly. These are not mandatory but are option for those who would like more information.
The hearing will provide information for first time voting members, review the bishop election process, and review the budget.
Topic: 2022 Assembly Hearings
Time: Jun 2, 2022 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89703697639?pwd=[REDACTED]
Remember to check the synod assembly web page regularly for updates and documents and videos related to the assembly.

CML Kars for Kamp
2022-06-11 09:00 - 15:00
Mount Luther is hosting the first Kars for Kamp Car Show to benefit camp. It will be held on June 11, 2022, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Rain date is June 12. All cars, street rods, trucks, jeeps and bikes are welcome. Pre-entry by 6/5/22 is $15 which includes a food ticket. To register, email dbrobst@dejazzd.com. Day of Show Registration is $20. Spectators are free. Registration will be 9:00 to 12:00. Awards Presented at 2:30. Music, 50/50 Drawing, Basket Auction and food will be available.
Classes:
Plaques for Cars 65 and Older, 66 to 79, 80 and Newer; Plaque for Street Rods, Trucks, Jeeps, Bikes; Plaque/Sheetz Card for Longest Distance Traveled
Trophy for Best of Show

CML Summer Camp Kickoff and Circle of Faith Dinner
2022-06-12 19:00 - 20:00
On Sunday, June 12, 2022, Camp Mount Luther will have a worship service at 7:00 p.m. at which time they will kick-off the 2022 Summer Camping Season. The worship service is open to anyone who would like to attend to support our synod’s outdoor ministry and this year’s summer staff. The service will be held outdoors, if the weather permits, so please bring a lawn chair. The worship will be immediately following the annual Circle of Faith Giving Club Dinner, which is by invitation.

Synod Assembly
2022-06-17 - 2022-06-18
The 2022 Upper Susquehanna Synod Assembly will take place at Susquehanna University on June 17-18, 2022. The theme is “Abundance Together,” based on 2 Corinthians 9:8. This year is a bishop’s election so that will be the significant area of discussion and voting in 2022. Registration is still open. MEALS NEED TO BE ORDERED BY MAY 20. Please know that you will need to be able to use a voting app on a mobile device. All assembly reports will again be available online. More detailed information will be provided as it becomes available and will be posted at http://uss-elca.org/assembly. All rostered leaders and voting members from every congregation are expected to attend. Clergy need to write an excuse to the bishop if you cannot attend. Reports for the annual Bulletin of Reports are being posted on the assembly website and a special section of “the essentials” (what you need for the business meetings) will be posted the week of assembly.

Intercultural Development Inventory
2022-06-28 14:00 - 15:00
We are holding an Intercultural Development Inventory event for USS rostered leaders on June 28th, 2:00-3:00 pm at Milton Lutheran Church (100 Mahoning Street). Please call the synod office to put your name on the list of participants. Description is below:
We live in a world of marvelous cultural diversity, yet skillfully engaging cultural diversity can be fraught, especially in our polarized world. This interactive workshop will explore the theological and biblical foundations of intercultural work through the lens of the Intercultural Development Continuum. The Continuum can help us understand the various ways we navigate cultural similarity and differences, in both effective and less effective ways. It also provides a map for how we can grow in our intercultural skills in ways that honor the image of God in one another (similarities) while also celebrating cultural diversity and distinctiveness (differences). This workshop will be of interest to any congregation seekingto live into the fullness of the kin-dom of God.

CML Pick-An-Adventure
2022-08-01 - 2022-08-05
Camp Mount Luther is in full swing with their summer programs! There is still time to register for their Pick-An-Adventure Camp which will be from August 1-5. This is a week for you to come for a day (or more) and do the activities that you want to do. Our staff will lead your family or just your kids for the day from 9-3:30. Lunch will be provided. You will have time and space to talk, listen, grow, share, play, sing, and pray together. Enjoy GROW Time, camp activities, and rest in God’s creation.
Also available that week: Senior High Service and options for Juniors and Intermediates to sleepover!
For more information, visit the camp website at www.campmountluther.org or call 570-922-1587. Stay connected to camp this summer and find out what is happening during our various programs, visit Facebook (www.facebook.com/mountluther) and our blog (www.campmountluther.wordpress.com). We try to update these daily but please realize that our staff is quite busy and if updates are not posted, it’s because the campers and staff are so busy that they can’t get an update posted. And don’t forget, our daily First Light devotions will continue to be posted each weekday. Check them at www.cmlfaithformation.weebly.com.

Rostered Leaders Discussion on Supreme Court
2022-08-03 19:00
How do rostered leaders faithfully respond to the Supreme Court decision to rescind Roe v. Wade? United Lutheran Seminary will host a special virtual event for rostered leaders of the church on August 3 at 7:00 p.m. The Rev. Amy Reumann, Senior Director, ELCA Witnessing Society, will facilitate a review of this teaching. Learn more and register.

ELCA Churchwide Assembly
2022-08-08 - 2022-08-12
The 2022 ELCA Churchwide Assembly will be held in Columbus, Ohio, August 8-12, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. The theme is Embody the Word. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly, the primary decision-making body of the church, is a process of communal spiritual discernment. When the ELCA Churchwide Assembly convenes, its voting members meet with confidence in God’s grace around word and water, wine and bread, to carry on their work on behalf of the entire church. Over the course of the assembly, voting members:

Hear reports and review the work of churchwide officers, leaders and units;
Receive and consider proposals from synod assemblies;
Elect officers, board members and other leaders as specified by the constitution or bylaws;
Establish ELCA churchwide policy;
Worship together;
Adopt a budget; and
Conduct other business related to the ELCA churchwide organization.

The Upper Susquehanna Synod’s voting members are: Bishop Collins, VP Holly Fry, Youth Rep. Taylor Brown, Young Adult Rep. Ali Wyland, Diane Bubb, Ray Huff, Rev. Gary Schaeffer and Rev. Tormod Svensson.

Celebration of Bishop Barbara J. Collins
2022-08-27 12:00 - 16:00
Join us as we celebrate the last six years of ministry of Rev. Barbara J. Collins as our bishop. A pizza party will be held at Camp Mount Luther on Saturday, August 27, 2022, starting at noon. In addition, the synod is providing Bishop Collins with two gifts, one for her and her husband and a monetary gift to Camp Mount Luther (at her request). If you or your congregation would like to add to that monetary gift, you can send a contribution to the synod office, the camp, or donate on the synod website. To register for the pizza party, email brenda@uss-elca.org, call the synod office, or click here: https://tithe.ly/event-registration/#/5401069

Active Shooter Training
2022-08-31 19:00
The Buffalo Valley Lutheran Parish will be hosting an active shooter training for churches. The event will be held on Wednesday August 31 at 7 p.m. at Christ’s United (4 Bells) in Millmont. If you or members of your congregation are interested in attending please RSVP by August 26th to pastorbuffalovalleyparish@gmail.com. There is no charge to attend.
