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Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

The Summers of Yesteryear – Pastor Thoughts

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When I was a kid, I remember summer holidays feeling like endless weeks of unstructured time, full of possibilities. There were the chances to play with friends in the neighbourhood, invent games to play or adventures to undertake. Along the way the weeks were sprinkled with family vacations and trips to see out-of-province relatives, weeks at various Bible camps in Alberta or local sports, music or city recreation camps. I even remember going to Vacation Bible School at my home congregation many years. 

Summers were a strange and wonderful time where we got to be free, to try new things, and to make new community – even if only for a while. 

There was of course a lot of boredom and aimlessness too, I am sure our parents found us insufferable at times. 

As an adult, it seems that summertimes have morphed into different experiences. I am sure many of us still try to find that unstructured freedom with vacation time, but the chores and responsibilities of life don’t take a break. Family vacations can feel like as much work as time off.

Summers the past few years have been even stranger than ever, with pandemic limits on the community gatherings that we Canadians save up all winter long to over-indulge in through the warm summer months. 

After the busiest school/program/work year of the 20s (are we allowed to call this decade the 20s?), I have been relishing the chance to find some balance and calm this summer. Even with Barbie and Oppenheimer movies, global heatwaves, wildfire smoke, the Prime Minister’s marriage ending, traffic tragedies in Manitoba (at the same Carberry intersection!), along with the usual war in Ukraine, the confounding economy and the ever dramatic US political soap opera all still newsworthy… Even with all of that, summer has been somewhat of a break from the usual burdens of a busy life. 

While there has been some rest to be found during this time, the reality check of Summer 2023 is that it is unlikely that the those summers of my childhood are going to be making a comeback. Our world has been changing for a long time, but the last few years have shown us that there is no return to the way it was. Navigating the challenges of being a community, being a society is only going to get harder. 

The Church has not been immune to change either. The communities that we once were are unlikely to return, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t important work for us to be doing. In many ways, there is even more need for the Gospel message now. Congregations offer a different vision of what it means to live in this world, to be in relationship with our neighbour. We tell the story of a God who declares us to be beloved children and brings us into the One Body of Christ as a community. Church communities stand as a direct challenge to a 21st Century way of life that tells us we are only the sum of our productivity and achievements. Trusting ourselves to God’s care contrasts the failing capacity of modern society to keep juggling all the balls of a complicated and rapidly changing world. 

I suspect that the rest and renewal to be found in 2023 is one rooted this good news of Jesus. Here in this odd community of believers called the church, there is refreshment to be found as keep telling the Good News story that doesn’t mesh with what the rest of world is telling us the other days of the week.

With lots of summer weeks still ahead, I hope that church and the story of God’s love can be for you a place to find rest this year.

News on the home front, Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Starting New Things This Fall – Pastor Thoughts

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My children keep asking me how much longer Spring Break will be. They haven’t really distinguished yet between Spring Break and Summer Break.

They are true COVID children in that their experience of their first few years of school has been marked by several extended breaks or pauses of in classroom learning. So Summer Break has yet to take concrete shape in their minds. And different than my childhood longing that summer breaks would last forever, they are looking forward to seeing their friends and teachers again. They have lived through the experience of not knowing when they might suddenly without warning not be returning to school for a week or month or even longer. 

So we have been preparing them for how long summer break is and when school will start again, going over the schedule of family trips, days camps, visits from friends and family, and so on. 

As the kids look forward to going back to school already, I find myself in the same boat. I announced a few weeks ago that I am going back to school this fall too, to begin a Doctor of Ministry (DMin) degree program at the seminary in Saskatoon. Since graduating in 2009, I will admit that I have enjoyed being free from the unique pressures of going to school, as I went straight from grade school to university to seminary. In fact, I still have the occasional bad dream where I haven’t prepared for an exam or written a paper that is due. 

But the seminary that I am going back to is quite different than the one I graduated from in 2009. My four years of seminary, like my four years of undergraduate study, were fairly traditional. In person, on-campus learning in a semestered format. 

Now, the seminary has shifted to an intensive and often online format. Courses are taken one at a time in the span of two to three weeks, one after another, rather than three to five courses at a time over a three-month semester. Courses are also offered either in person or over Zoom, which the seminary started long before the pandemic. This was done to accommodate students who couldn’t uproot families or cease working, but who could be in Saskatoon for a week or two and could study at home. 

In addition to the changed intensive, online option format, the Doctor of Ministry Degree program will also be a new kind of study experience for me. The DMin program is similar to a PhD program in that it is a terminal degree meant to help students delve deeply into un-researched topic areas. But it is different than a PhD, which is a purely academic degree intended to focus on theoretical research; the DMin has a professional component. It might be a compared to a specialization in Medicine or in Law. A DMin is intended to be done while a student is working, and research is meant to be conducted in the context that the student is serving in. So it is not just that you *can* work full time while doing a DMin program, you *must* be working full time in ministry.

Because the DMin is done in short intensive spurts along side the regular rhythms and duties of ministry, this summer I have already begun readings and coursework. I used to get truly annoyed by the mature students in university or seminary who were always reading and working ahead, and here I am doing the same! And at this stage of my life, I now get why those olderstudents were like that. It is the same reason why sleeping in these days means getting up at 7 am, rather than 6:00. 

Thankfully, there is still more than a month until school starts and almost two months until I head off to Saskatoon for my first week of DMin work. Yet, this year, like my kids, I am looking forward to school starting in the fall and the new journey that it will bring⎯but not too far forward! 

Pastor Thoughts, Theology & Culture

Discipleship through the Seasons of Life – Pastor Thoughts

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As many of you know, we moved into our new home last November. 

Since then, we have been settling into the interior of the home. Throughout the winter we were attending to building some shelves, patching up a few places, and lots of other general maintenance. We moved in the day after the first permanent snowfall of winter. Once the snow started piling up on the back deck and in the back yard, the outdoor spaces became largely unusable. 

The most significant yard upkeep that I learned after 10 years of renting was a bit of good and timely snow clearing. Our shared driveway with our neighbour meant that clearing our snow was a courtesy to her (and a good life choice!). 

Now, I will confess my spring/summer/fall yard upkeep habits were not as stellar.

The few flower beds around the house often got overrun with weeds and the spider plant(?) bushes got out of control. There were certainly rabbits living in one of the flowers beds for several years. The fall leaves only got fully raked up some years. 

But the one thing I kind of tried to keep up with was mowing the lawn – which I suppose is required by city bylaw. The lawn mower provided by the landlords was an old smelly two-stroke with the wheels almost coming off and handle bars that flopped all over. After almost losing a toe one-too-many times, I bought a battery operated mower to be an environmentally responsible adult (and to have a virtually maintenance-free tool). 

Still, I did everything wrong in terms of lawn care and the lawn was in really rough shape by the end of our time in that house. 

There is something about being a homeowner rather than a legally-obligated renter that quickly changes one’s attitude towards yard maintenance. This spring, I have spent more time and money on yard upkeep than ever previously. I have watched Youtube videos and read gardening advice online. I have talked to my neighbour about how to keep up our shared lawn space. I have been to Canadian Tire so many times that one of the cashiers told me that I should get a rewards card if I was going to be there every day. I may have been a little snarky when I said I wouldn’t keep coming there every day forever. 

Apparently, lawns need more than just occasional mowing to be healthy. I also learned that hand tools for detaching and aerating add up to quite the workout! Our garage shelves now have things like grass over-seed, fertilizer, weed killer, a weed-pulling tool, a trimmer/edger, leaf blower, different kinds of rakes and, of course, the hose and sprinkler are getting lots of use these days. Also, who knew that mowing once every two to three weeks is bad for your lawn? 

Okay… so what am I getting at here with this long description of tedious yard work? Well, I think there is some kind of metaphor here. 

In different times or seasons of life, our ability to invest time and energy into the various parts of our lives changes. It could be lawn care, but it also just as likely could be things like work, family relationships (marriage and parenting), community involvement, hobbies, and church and faith. 

Sometimes it is all we can muster to just do enough not to get fired at work. To volunteer to bring a couple of bags of Doritos to the family potluck. To write a cheque for the kids’ or grandkids’ school fundraiser. To drag ourselves out of bed on Sunday to make it to church half a dozen times a year. 

And at other times, we have energy to invest: In important projects or growing our skills at work. We are the family members with a home, time and energy for hosting family and friends on a regular basis. There is a passion within us to serve in the community with service clubs or time to get into a hobby that brings us joy. We are able to serve at church on council or read the lessons or help with confirmation or mow the church lawn (in addition to our own!), and so on. 

We all move in and out of seasons of life when we are able to do more or to do less. And when we want to have a healthy well-manicured lawn and yard, or when we want to grow a rich and vibrant faith, it takes time and energy to invest in the tools and resources that we need – connecting with a community of others doing the same, as well as with teachers or guides who can help us along the way. 

And if our lawn looks great but our neighbour’s is half dead and full of weeds (one can substitute similar situations in other areas of life), begrudging them their lack of capacity doesn’t help. Rather, we need to extend our neighbours grace and time to survive their seasons of low capacity, knowing that we ourselves have almost certainly been there at times or will be in the future. 

Our most powerful witness is when we are able to do more. A well manicured and vibrant faith practice shows more clearly the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. 

Discipleship, in all its forms, doesn’t usually happen in a straight line. Yet, in whatever space we find ourselves, Jesus is walking with us and calls us to walk with each other – in both the high and low times, whether the grass is green or brown. 

Pastor Thoughts

Transforming into Summer Disciples – Pastor Thoughts

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The world seems to be shifting into summer mode all around us.

The program year is coming to an end and it feels like everyone is packing in so many of the things that we have had to pair down or cancel during the last few years. Our family has been to dance recitals, piano recitals, school concerts and school neighbourhood BBQs, and soooo many birthday parties. 

In the church, we are moving into the long season of green where we slow down to hear the stories of Christ’s teaching, ministry and miracles. This summer we are hearing from Matthew’s Gospel, which began last week as Jesus called his disciples to follow him. This week we hear how he sends out his disciples with the authority to preach, heal, teach and cast out demons in his name. 

As we settle into the pacing of Ordinary Time, I cannot help but contemplate the transitions occurring at this time of year. There is all the “usual stuff” such as extra-curricular activities ending and summer vacations starting; children finishing one grade and preparing for the next; committees, ministries and programs taking summer hiatus; even hockey entering into the offseason. My mind is on colleagues and congregations entering into transition as well. Similarly, there was an the ordination on Sunday, marking formal beginning of a new ministry. 

I am also thinking about my own smaller shift into further education in the Doctor of Ministry program this fall and how that will transform the ministry that we are doing together. 

The world feels as though it is moving again in ways that it hasn’t moved for years now. Certainly things were happening, but the stuff of life was largely on pause as we waited to get through some very difficult circumstances. 2023 has been a year to catch up on things that we have been waiting for since 2019. 

And yet, the world is different. We aren’t going back; we are all that much older, and still recovering. 

Transition is hard; it is hard because it forces us to see and acknowledge the change we see around us, the changes we feel within us.  

Somewhere in all of this moving to the next new thing, I wonder how much we will try to go backwards and how much we can move forwards. I think God has something to say about that, too. Transition⎯moving into the next thing is what God is calling us into. But that doesn’t mean it is easy or that being changed is something that happens on our terms. 

As we move into summer 2023, we do so in a world that is going to new places. Yet, even as we face new experiences and realities that are stretching and transforming us, we know that God is with us and guiding our way.

Pastor Thoughts

A DMin “Ministry Ted Talk” – Pastor Thoughts

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As we begin our calmer and steadier summer season of Ordinary Time, I am writing to you from the shores of Gimli. Clergy from across the MNO are gathering with Anglicans from Ruperts Land Diocese for a few days of study, renewal and collegiality. 

I have been sitting on some news for a few weeks, not wanting to overshadow Pentecost Baptisms or Holy Trinity Confirmations. But I am excited to share it with you now. 

In September, I will be starting the Doctor of Ministry (DMin) program in Contextual and Practical Theology at Lutheran Theological Seminary and the Saskatoon Theological Union.

Before anyone gets worried, I am not going anywhere! The DMin is a program meant to be done while clergy are serving full time in their contexts. In fact, a significant piece of the program is research done amongst and with the people one is serving. So in a way, you will be doing this work with me. 

I am very excited for to do this work expanding and growing my knowledge, skills and expertise to be of use to the people and congregations I serve, to the greater church and maybe even one day have some opportunities to teach others preparing for ordained ministry.I will have more to share in the coming months and over the next three years throughout the program; but I am happy to share more, if you are interested. 

Below is the text of a “Ministry Ted Talk” that I gave about my research topic at Study Conference this week.

If you were to get 10 clergy people in the same room and ask:

What is a minister?
What is a Pastor or Priest? 
What is a Deacon? 
What is a Bishop even? 
What do they do? 
What are the most important parts of their job? 

What are the kinds of answers we would get?

Preachers, worship leaders or liturgists, administrators, care givers, event planners, life milestone commemorators, counsellors or really good listeners, social workers, justice seekers, facility caretakers, project managers, youth leaders, teachers and educators, spiritual advisors, confidants and life coaches, grant writers and professional government paperwork filers and on and on and on.   

How MANY more answers would you get? At least a different answer for every person, most likely. 

Now, not to put you all on the spot (but I will)…

 How many Lutherans would cite one of our confessional sources and (the correct) article?  

How many Anglicans would cite one of the 39 articles? It is article 23 I think? Correct me if I am wrong. 

And for the Lutherans, a reminder from Confessions class in seminary: it is article 5 of the Augsburg Confession.

“That we may obtain this faith, the Ministry of Teaching the Gospel and Administering the Sacraments was instituted. For through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, 2 the Holy Spirit is given, who works faith; where and when it pleases God, in them that hear 3 the Gospel, to wit, that God, not for our own merits, but for Christ’s sake, justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ’s sake.” – Augsburg Confession V

So why am I quizzing you on long-forgotten pieces of things learned in seminary?

Well, ever since graduating from seminary, I have been wanting to return to school for more education, but life kept getting in the way. Finally, 15 years later, I decided to begin exploring various options for further education – okay, let’s be real, my wife Courtenay insisted I start looking at doctoral programs.

So after a year of exploring a variety of schools and applying to a few programs, I am happy to say that I am going to be starting the Doctor of Ministry program (or DMin) in Saskatoon at the Lutheran Theological Seminary and Saskatoon Theological Union. 

And my proposed research topic is in the area of the office of ministry. 

The question I am looking to explore concerns the understanding of what a clergy person is and does. We all do this job, we all live this vocation… and yet the work we do and the responsibilities we carry can vary wildly from cleric to cleric and context to context. 

So what do those confessional and foundational articulations of ministry from the Reformation era mean in the 21st Century? And how does that compare to the operating definitions that exist in our pews and pulpits? 

Everyone in church on Sunday morning or those whom we encounter throughout the week has a mental image of a clergy person in their minds…. But how clear are they really? Judging by the long list of jobs we do, I’ll bet that even our own images are fuzzy around the edges, if not largely opaque. 

We all know that the host of expectations placed on us would have us running in all directions. If we tried to live up to them all, we would have 17 or 25 number–one priorities that would run us into the ground week after week (oh… wait!). And our ability to organize our own work and focus on the essentials first while pushing the secondary and tertiary things down the to–do listwould become difficult. 

When we cannot fully articulate what is at the core of our own callings, what is the foundation of the vocation that we are called into? …. It only leads to frustration and resentment. 

But it isn’t just the operating understanding of what a clergy person IS that is found in the pews and pulpits these days… because we know that those definitions are also often terribly out of date. We aren’t serving in 1963 anymore; we are nearly 25 years into the 21st Century. Many of us are serving in a different church and a different world than we grew up in, and even a different church than we were trained to serve in.

Let alone, consider if the church was prepared for us as we were trained to serve. And how long ago have congregations forgotten the essentials and purpose of the church, and the essential core of what ordained ministry is in partnership with local expressions of the Body of Christ?

So, the final piece of my project topic is exploring these questions related to the office of ministry (what a clergy person is and does) given the definitions of our foundational documents, given the operating definitions at work in the pews and pulpits. Howdoes that all compare with what we all actually do in 2023 and beyond?

Because as we all know, the Church was changing long before 2020; and since then those changes accelerated and transformed us into the places where we find ourselves now – looking for places to find our footing and get ahold of where this thing called Church is going. 

My hope is that as I begin this research in my congregation, and probably with other congregations over the coming threeyears, and with you my colleagues, and that this topic area and resulting thesis project will create something of interest and of use to the wider Church as we navigate our future together.