The Rev. Lee M. Miller II is pictured.

The First Lutheran Church will have one combined worship service Sunday, Oct. 22, at 10 a.m. in the church nave

The Rev. Lee M. Miller II, the ELCA Bishop of the Upstate New York Synod, will be the pulpit guest and he will also dedicate the new church signs that have recently been installed by the Chautauqua Sign Company. Following the main service and dedication ceremony, there will be a luncheon served in the church parlors. The festive service will be led by Rev. Mark E. Swanson, pastor of the church, and Holy Communion will be observed.

Miller began his six-year term as head of the Synod on September 1, 2021. He succeeds the Rev. John S. Malcholz and Bishop Lee M. Miller, Ed.D., his father who also served as bishop from 1992-2002.

“I dream of a church where love activates people to do justice and share the joy which we receive as a gift,” Miller said.

The Upstate New York Synod is a collaboration of 170 congregations and communities throughout the Upstate region. The synod is united in its proclamation of God’s grace for all people, the work of justice in each community and neighborhood, and the joy that is found connecting communities to one another.

Miller holds a Master of Divinity degree from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia and his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University in Albany. He has served as a member of the synod councils and candidacy committees as well as serving as a voting member of the 2009 and 2016 ELCA Churchwide Assemblies. Most recently Miller served as the Dean of the Niagara Frontier conference and sits on the boards of VOICE Buffalo, and the Niagara Lutheran Health System.

Miller has a close relationship with the Jamestown First Lutheran Church where his father the late Rev. Dr. Lee M. Miller, was an associate pastor of First Lutheran Church from the 1960s through the early 1970s. Miller was born and baptized at the local church. His father, the Rev. Dr. Lee Mathews Miller, became bishop of the Upstate New York Synod at the St. James Episcopal Cathedral in Syracuse on September 26, 1992. Miller had the Jamestown First Lutheran Choir and organist, Brian A. Bogey, Minister of Music, perform for the event.

The public is welcome to attend the festive service and greet Miller on Sunday, Oct. 22.