A Tale of Two Bishops – Part Two

Trinity is fortunate to not only have the current Bishop as “one of our own,” but we are doubly blessed to have Bishop Emeritus Michael Last in our midst. Last shared a bit about his time as Bishop and how he came to be in this position in the first place.

Similar to many children in the Lutheran church, Last grew up in a large well-established Lutheran parish in Ottumwa, IA. He can’t remember a time when his family wasn’t active in church, and as he grew up, he became more involved in everything at church from children’s choir, Confirmation, Sunday school, youth group and church camp.

Perhaps a little different in the Last home was the fact that one of the pastors came to their home to bring Communion to Last’s mother who had developed multiple sclerosis in her middle-age years and was no longer able to attend services at church. Last witnessed “pastoral care” and “the Spirit began to sow seeds of my love for my ministry and great respect for the office of pastor.”

Perhaps because of this close contact with his pastors, he was invited to preach a Sunday sermon and on occasion, he also helped distribute Communion to the congregation. Last gave personal witness to his faith at retreats and campfires among his own age group, thus adding to his early experience with speaking publicly. “Less than nervous, I found myself relishing talk about my faith and the presence of God in my life,” he shared.

Another important person in his faith journey during Last’s high school years, his history teacher, a former Catholic priest, sensed his spiritual side and invited Last on weekend prayer retreats at New Melleray Monastery. Last said, “I loved them, and as time passed, I made many such visits over the years. It was ‘a place away’ wherein I often found solace…especially in years later, as an ordained pastor, when the challenges of ministry could be demanding and at times bordering on overwhelming.”
This need for solace continued when Last was elected “time and again” to serve many years in the role of Bishop of the Western Iowa Synod. This was at a time when there was “considerable unrest” in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and in particular, the synod where he had been elected to serve as bishop. This “unrest” consisted of several “hot button issues in the ELCA,” one of which was the strong opinion about human sexuality, a topic that caused some synods to dissolve.

Last explained: “So difficult were the issues being debated nationally, my safety as bishop and moderator among my synod was on occasion fraught with physical threats. On more than one occasion, church ushers at congregational meetings had to intervene for my safety after heated meetings discussing issues stirring back then in the ELCA. As synod bishop, I would be escorted to my car after the end of the meetings. I insisted we treat each other with respect and treat each other as brothers and sisters in Christ during these times of raucous public discourse.”

He continued: “After my leadership during rocky times in the Western Synod, upon my retirement I was awarded the title, Bishop Emeritus, a recognition that we had been able to turn the synod away from conflict and redirect their international outreach (particularly in Tanzania).”

Last reminisced, “I’m so glad God empowered me to stay the course and complete multiple terms in office! Despite the excruciatingly long hours and the late winter nights traveling to synod congregations (with snow often chasing me home in the dark of night), I loved wearing the mantle of Bishop with the sure support of nearly all my staff cheering me on, and my dear wife Colleen looking after my well-being late and well into the evenings.”

Along with the occasional “ribald debates” and stress of the position, Last said that through it all, he “felt the close presence of God watching over me, nudging me to stay the course and affirming I was a needed steward of God’s work, speaking the truth in love.” 

Thank you, Bishop Emeritus Last, for your leadership and service!†