I have been a Lutheran for almost 35 years now (some would say all my life, but I didn’t know it). In 1986 I was ordained as a Lutheran pastor and have served Lutheran congregations for 27 years in Washington State and Arizona. Then, in 2009, while just beginning to serve a Lutheran congregation in Willcox AZ, I met an Episcopal priest who was an assistant to the bishop of Arizona (Canon to the Ordinary, for those who speak Episcopalian). Shortly thereafter, he introduced me to the bishop who invited me to become vicar at a small congregation in Benson AZ. Sounded like an adventure to me, so I said yes! But what was I now? Not just a Lutheran anymore. Not just an Episcopalian, either. I was both. I thought about being a Lutherpalian, but that wouldn’t fit on a license plate. Epilute would. So there you have it. I have been one of a very few special people who claim both Lutheran and Episcopal as their home and enjoy the best of both worlds. And the only one in Arizona with a license plate that proclaims me as an “Epilute”.