Before the assembly actually started, I was lucky enough to be a part of Y’ALL (Young Adult Lutheran Leaders/Links).  During the assembly itself I drifted in and out of Y’ALL, spent some time participating in the assembly, hanging out with the delegates from my church and talked with people with whom I don’t see on a regular basis.  I would like to share some thought about my time at Y’ALL and the Synod Assembly.

Y’ALL

Y’ALL was a group of six young adults between Buffalo and Albany.   We gathered and talked about discipleship.  Two of the many eye opening moments I would like to share with you.

The first happened Saturday afternoon.  We moved our discussion from who has disciple us on Friday night to how can we disciple other people on Saturday.  I group of six broke up into pairs and then we thought of a list of ten things that people in the hotel or surrounding community could do for them.  They started out with some easy questions (what is your name, where are you from, where were you born) and then moved to more difficult questions (can I have a dollar, will you take a dollar, can I pray with you).  Being an extrovert I have never really had problems going up to people I did not know and have a conversation with them.  But one of the young adults said he was more nervous doing this activity than he was going on his first date.

I gave them 30 min to complete the tasks and they all came back accomplishing their goal.  Their stories were awesome.  Some of them told stories about people who completely ignored them or gave them funny looks.  While others told stories about people really opening up to them some people asked for prayer in their life, and they told them things that they were struggling with, things they needed help with.  It was powerful to hear the stories and to see the power of conversation and prayer.

The other eye opening moment for me was our conversation with the Bishop.  We cooked dinner for the bishop which included chicken parm, steamed veggies, and rice all cooked in a microwave (it was pretty good).  For dessert we had angel food cake with strawberries.  During dessert the Bishop answered questions we had for her.  There were two categories:  Serious Questions and Silly Questions.  This is where I was very impressed with the group.  There were questions revolving the future of the church.  They wanted to know where the bishop thought that the church was headed, not only Upstate NY but the entire church. It did not revolve around the few churches leaving the ELCA because the decisions about the acceptance of clergy in same gendered relationships or the blessing of couples in same gendered relationships that the ELCA made last August.  It was about mission and vision.  That really warmed my heart to see these young people in our church interested in the church, the current status of the church and the future mission of the church.

After dinner I left to lead worship at my church then next morning.  But I drove back to the hotel to attend the Synod Assembly.

Synod Assembly

One the one hand I really enjoyed the Synod Assembly because I felt like the assembly was all about mission and vision.  In some ways the assembly seemed very “blah” because of the major excitement and passionate opinions that were expressed last year.  But I loved the focus we had on business at hand and the conversations that I was engaged in did not have to do with sexuality, but mission.  I really enjoyed having scripture shared throughout the assembly and I would like to share some of my reflections about the Bible studies that I experienced during the assembly.

The assembly was blessed with Bible Studies given by three very passionate yet different leaders in the church.   Sunday night Pastor Chuck Schwartz and his son John started us with our Bible study of the book of Philippians.  We actually discussed the entire book of Philippians over the course of the assembly.  I was so glad that we started with Pastor Chuck because I love listening to Pastor Chuck, he has a passion about scripture and the preached word I would love to bring into my own preaching.  The thing that really impressed me was the difference in how I heard scripture from when I just listened to Pastor Chuck tell the Bible Story vs when I followed along with Pastor Chuck as he read scripture.  The major theme Pastor Chuck shared with us was how the concept partnership and sharing. Just as Paul invited those in Philippi into a deeper relationship with God and with each other, Pastor Chuck invited everyone to hear God calling them into a partnership both within their own communities of faith and with God in Christ Jesus.  I liked this because I think this is a large part of my call in Baldwinsville.  I am asking the people of the church, how can we dive into a deeper relationship with God, with one another and with our community.

The next day we started out with a Bible study from Pastor Dean Hunneshagen who had more of an intellectual Bible study.  He posed questions to us and lead us down a road where we talked about how we are the body of Christ and sometimes we feel disconnected from that body but we are drawn back in to go deeper in the joy we find with Christ.  I don’t know about you but I feel that way a lot.  Sometimes I feel that way because someone said something and I questioned my faith, or why I am part of the church.  Other times it is brought upon by my own internal dialogue.  Whatever the reason, the one thing that brings me back is a community of faith.  There are so many people who I look to when things are tough and I thank God everyday for those people.

Our third experience with Philippians was not a Bible study but a sermon. Bishop Jerge preached on Philippians during worship.  She began with a narrated poem punctuated with the phrase “I know how you can get.  I know how you can get when you haven’t been out drinking love,” and conversely, “I know how you can get…when you have.”  This is from the book Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words.  She used this imagery to depict the body and blood of Christ shared in communion.  It was very powerful and moving.  I know the way that I can get if I am not able to share with the community of Christ, if I am not able to share in communion with my brothers and sisters in Christ.

So we started the assembly with a Bible study of passion then we moved to a Bible study of  intellect, we  joined together for communion and we listened to a powerful and moving sermon and we ended the assembly with a Bible study from the heart.

Our last Bible study together was with Assistant to the Bishop Amy Walter-Peterson.  I have to be honest, I don’t remember too much with what Amy said, but I do know how I felt and the others in my group felt.  She got us into a place where we were able to share from our hearts, we were able to share deep inside of ourselves and I know tears were shed in many of the groups around the assembly hall.

Thank you Upstate NY Synod for a great and moving assembly, focused on God, scripture and mission.

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Throughout the event there was a basket where we could write scripture passages that we talked about during our time together.  Or we could write scripture passages that were meaningful to us while we were there.

During the final worship time we passed the basket around and we read the scripture passage that we picked out.

I have been reflecting on mine since I recieved it and here are some of my thoughts…..

Verse:

2 Corinthians 4:5 “For we do not proclaim ourselves, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake”

I have been asking myself why I got this verse.  What is this verse saying to me?  I think the last few weeks I have been praying alot about my pastoral identity.  Coming into the church with my first call has been the biggest transition in my life — I think bigger than getting married or having children! When I was married or had kids I took on a new identity but that was tangible and there were set expectations that everyone new.  There was something there that I could show people my new identity.  But now it seems less tangible and less defined.  Everyone has their own idea of what it means to be a pastor.  I have had several mentor’s in my life guiding me along the way, helping me create my own pastoral identity and I have been thankful for that.  However, it is a different ball game when I am out here on my own.  There were many things that have happened here that did not happen when I was in other churches, and we did not talk about these things while I was in seminary.  So the new experiences as a pastor, the new identity and getting to know the new community has been a big transition for myself as well as my family.

The one thing that has helped recently is reading 2 Corinthians 4: 5 on a daily basis.  I remember that I am not the one to be proclaimed but it is Jesus that is being proclaimed.  While I struggle with what I need in this transition the one thing that I can fall back on is Jesus. It is Jesus who is the head of this ship not me.  I can do all I can in ministry but when it comes down too it, I am going to mess it up– but Jesus’ got my back and as long as I keep grounded in that, I know that I will be okay.  I am not here to be anyone’s savior — but I am to point to the one who has already saved us all.

I am thankful for this verse in my life and the experience that I had at LCLC.

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It is fun to see my kids interact with their grandparents and Uncles and cousins.  I feel better knowing that they are getting to know their extended family.  Since my potential call is around 4 hours away I hope we can make it back to Vermont more often- especially during the summer time.  Who wants to drive anywhere in upstate NY or Vermont in the winter?!?!!

I am hoping we have secured a place to live.  We have been working at that since mid May.  I have talked with everyone about house buying vs house rental.  We have checked out many housing units and have decided to rent for awhile.  We want to get to know the area and to save up and have a solid foundation going into owning a home.  This process of first call is drawn out but when you are moving you are moving fast so we want to make sure we do the right thing.

I have not had too much experience in rent to own- but that was an option for one place.  Actually the rental we are hopefully moving into has the exact same layout at the rent to own, but we did not like the terms and so we decided not to move forward with that.

I am still working at the restaurant here in Vermont.  I still do not like going there……. but I did get a new pair of shoes.  They actually really help with my sore feet and aching back.  Physically I am doing better but I still have pain.  I told them that I have a job interview on the 29th and I will let them know if I will continue to work.   Part of me just wants to quit and to concentrate on moving and getting settled once I have my call in hand.  Another part of me thinks I should continue to work.  I guess it depends on when my start date is.  This week they have me working close to 40 hours.  It will be interesting what they put me down for next week since they know I will most likely be leaving soon.

I must say this transition time between graduation and first call has not been easy.  I was told that it would not be — we have done our best to make it as smooth as possible and for the most part it is smooth.  I don’t know what i would of done without my parents help.  It would of been a lot harder without them.  I guess that’s what family is for…..thank God for Vermont.

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My body hurts and I am stressed but things are actually going quite smoothly.  We are packed up and moved out, my next interview in this first call process is next Wednesday.  I am not sure what I am going to do next week for internet because I will be at the Upstate NY Synod Assembly.  It should be a good time though.

I have a job at the Sports Legends bar and grill as a line cook.  I really don’t like it but it is money in this time of unemployment.  I feel bad being there only a short time.

Well I have to go and figure out what I am going to do about my sore back so I can make it through my 6 hour shift……

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Now my wife and I wanted to go back to New England.  We both grew up in New England and have lots of connections there including family and friends.  So we were going into the day hoping that was going to happen.
So Sunday morning we had worship around 8:00- it was amazing. Dr. Lathrope preached and presided and I must say that when I am worshiping and he is leading I am just in awe. The Seminarian musician and another student chanted the Passion in a way that I have never heard before and most likely will never hear again. It was beautiful and it brought a whole new light to the passion text.

After worship we had breakfast and it was my first chance to talk with some bishops and kinda relax before the conversations began.

Then the bishops met — this was the first time we had to wait- we did alot of waiting I think, or at least it felt that way. After about 45 min or so we all met and the bishops got to talk about their synod and the cool things that happen in their synod and why we should go there.

After that we went to look at our interview schedule. The way it worked is that the bishops signed up to talk with us. They had first dibs as to who they wanted to talk with and they left open spots so that if there was someone that we wanted to talk with we could sign up.

There was a mad rush to the papers, I think everyone wanted to make sure that they could talk with a certain bishop. It so happened that four of the bishops signed up to talk with me. I was pretty excited about that.  It meant to me that some of the bishops liked me and wanted me to come to their synod.

I won’t go into detail about the day but basically all the interviews went well.

I went in being me and being honest with everyone about what I thought about certain things an about who we were. They asked Katie some questions and she did a real good job at her answers as well. After every interview they were saying that I would be a good fit for their openings and I thanked them and we ended.

Overall each bishop said it would be great to have me in their synod – they also added that most of the bishops wanted me and they knew it was going to be a fight to get me. So that kinda made me feel good, but also nervous.

Then the waiting game happened again. This time about an hour- the bishops were deciding who was going where. We spent alot of that time in conversation with one another and silent prayer.

Then the moment of truth came and the list was read. My name was listed under Upstate New York Synod.

Now don’t get me wrong, Upstate NY is a great Synod. It was not what our plan was.

I know that we will like Upstate NY and I am excited to learn more about the synod and more about how I can be involved. I am excite to learn about their camps and how I can be involved there. I think there will be plenty of opportunities for us.

This is a great lesson for me about how my plan is not always God’s plan – I am accepting of the fact that I knew what I wanted, what my family and friends wanted and I kept telling myself that I am open to what God wants but I think deep down inside I did not believe that. I did not accept that with my whole heart. I am coming around to accept that and to embrace my new call in life and to move on to better things.

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