Called by
Grace, Sent to Serve
Reflecting upon Pastor Joel Lissy’s ordination on July
13, I started thinking about the two tracks we took to become pastors in the
Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS). To do this, I write this essay to guide
you through my process of becoming a Pastor in the Synod. If I gave my
reflection a title it would be: Called by Grace, Sent to Serve in three
acts: Act One (Vocational Foundations), Act Two (The Turning Point), and Act
Three (The Colloquy and Call).
Act One: Vocational Foundations
Pastor Lissy is blessed to serve two congregations at
such a youthful age. He is a bright and talented man who was raised in the
Lutheran Church and has a shepherd’s heart. took the more common track. After
high school, he graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree, and eventually
a master’s degree.[1]
On the other hand, after graduating from Center Area High School in 1975, I
attended Penn State for a year, then attended a technical school program where
I studied HVAC, which landed me a job at Babcock and Wilcox. I worked at
Babcock & Wilcox for four years while also working several second part-time
jobs and taking night courses at Community College of Beaver County.
During this time, I realized that my Call was from
God. In the Lutheran Church, we use the term “Divine Call.” The Call to serve
God is Divine and is distinct from the Call a congregation offers a man to
serve as its Pastor. Even in high school, I knew I was called to serve God, but
I could not articulate it at the time.
In 1979, four years after graduating from high school,
I started my studies on my path to the priesthood at St. Mary’s College in
Orchard Lake, MI, where I obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy. Following
that, I was assigned to study at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, NY,
where I obtained a Master of Divinity degree. Those were required for
ordination to the priesthood. I served congregations in and around Pittsburgh
for seven years.
Seven years after I was ordained, Father Frank
Drabiska, the Pastor of Word of God Parish in Swissvale, where I served as his
assistant, encouraged me to further my education at Duquesne University where I
obtained a Master of Science in Education in 2003, and subsequently a Master of
Public Policy and Management for Nonprofit Management from the University of
Pittsburgh in 2004. During the latter study, I began to explore other options
outside of pastoral ministry.
During this time (1998-2004), I was serving as the
Pastor of St. Irenaeus Parish in Oakmont. For years, the parish was stagnant.
Without addressing everything, let me highlight a few successes we implemented:
a Capital Campaign to eliminate the debt and improve the campus, an increased
enrollment in the school which was expanded to include Seventh and Eighth
Grades. We also added a number of spiritual programs and sharing groups to
serve the members’ needs.
Toward the end of my pastorate, I asked the Bishop of
Pittsburgh for a sabbatical to complete my degree at the University of
Pittsburgh, to volunteer as a staff member at Jubilee Kitchen in Pittsburgh’s
Hill District, and to make a thirty-day retreat. My request was denied, and I
was assigned to serve at another parish. After a period of prayer and
reflection, I chose to take a leave of absence and worked as a Development
Director and Program Manager for Jubilee Kitchen in the Hill District.
Being a pastor in any denomination is not a
profession; it is a Divine Call. As a priest, I was handling sacred things;
reading and preaching about God’s Word; guiding people to Christ through the
sacraments and in prayer. As a Development Director, my job was to raise money.
As a Program Manager, my job was to guide people to success and report on that
to our funders. To this day, I am still correcting people who say that being a
priest or a pastor is just like any other job. It’s not a job; it’s a Divine
Call.
I worked at Jubilee Kitchen for two years. In addition
to serving as its Development Director, I also started a program for women
incarcerated at the Allegheny County Jail. These incarcerated women were
mothers of young children. My work there was eye-opening. Many people do not
see the women I served as I did. They were flawed sinners, but they were also
created in God’s image. I treated them with the dignity they deserved.
For instance, once I was asked to take boxes of canned
food from the Jubilee pantry to a client living in a sparse apartment on the
Northside. After delivering several boxes of food and paper products, I left.
The woman called me within five minutes and said, “Paul, I don’t own a can
opener.” I bought one and delivered it to her.
Although the work was demanding and enriching, I knew
that I wanted to return to the priestly ministry, but not to the Diocese of
Pittsburgh. I worked with the diocesan officials in the clergy office and was
eventually accepted as a priest into the Diocese of Santa Rosa, CA.
Returning to ministry in the Summer of 2005, I served
as the Parochial Vicar at St. Bernard in Eureka. I loved everything about
Eureka. The church and rectory were six blocks from the bay, meaning that if
there was a tsunami, we would be safe. The church was beautiful. It was
constructed of native redwood trees over a hundred years ago. The rectory was
well preserved in its historical setting. I settled in to begin a prosperous
ministry. Then, news came.
My mother was diagnosed with multiple myeloma and
amyloidosis. This diagnosis is a death sentence. That year, Christmas fell on a
Sunday. Pastor Loren Allen of St. Bernard’s told me that he would be able to
handle the services alone and encouraged me to spend a week with family in
Beaver County. During that time, I spoke with my friend, Dr. William Katz,
about my mother’s diagnosis. He told me that she had between two months and two
years. I asked, “What do you think I should do?” He replied, “I don’t know what
you will do, but I would return home and take care of her.”
At the beginning of February 2006, I returned home to
care for my mother. I did not expect this period of my life to be so strenuous.
If you lived with a parent who has a terminal illness, you understand that complexity
of caring for someone who cannot care for herself and needs you but also has
moments when you feel unappreciated. Cancer brings out the worst in people, but
it also brings out the best. Realizing her remarks were hurtful, she soon
apologized every time.
I served as a Priest
(a Parochial Vicar) at St. Frances Cabrini in Aliquippa beginning in February
2006. I lived with my mother and commuted to Cabrini when needed for Mass and visits
to the homebound and hospitalized. My brother, Ed, stayed at mom’s home on the
weekends. After an arduous struggle that involved countless treatments and
appointments, Mom passed away around 2:00 PM on November 1, 2006 (All Saints
Day). I remember it vividly. A woman from Cabrini sat with Mom during the time
I led worship and preached at the church’s Noon Mass. I recall that she said,
“I think she’s gone,” as we stood at Mom’s bedside. Mom inhaled and exhaled a
few more breaths as I replied, “Not yet.” And then the last gasp came, and she
expired.
I had no regrets serving my mother for her last year.
I never shed a tear like I did when my father died unexpectedly in 2003 because
I did everything that mom asked. Everything. Athletes are told to “leave it all
on the field” or “leave it all on the floor.” That’s what family caregivers do.
Continuing to serve as a Priest for two more years
after my mother passed, I applied for a second sabbatical, which was again denied,
and I chose to take a second leave.[2] Following the advice and
counsel of a good friend, and at the encouragement of my brother, John, to come
to California, I did. In June 2008, I landed an enriching position as the
Director of Development for Berkeley Food & Housing Project (BFHP).[3] It was an enlightening
period in my life. One year after moving there, I met Cindy.
Act Two: The Turning Point
“God brought us together,” is how Cindy answered when
people asked how we met. I too believe this. And God has kept us together for
15 years now. Not long after we married, we joined Our Savior Lutheran Church
in Livermore, CA. A few weeks after I attended the new members’ classes and was
subsequently received into the LCMS, I made an appointment with the Pastor. I
offered him my assistance as a Sunday School Teacher or with visits to the
elderly or infirmed. After a few minutes of me offering to help him in some
capacity, he asked, “Do you want to be a pastor? … It’ll take two years.”
At the time, as I mentioned previously, I had an
enriching position as a Development Director in Berkeley. I worked with staff
to publish quarterly appeals and semi-annual newsletters. I established planned
giving methods to donate appreciated stocks, estate plans and congregational
giving. We also tapped into corporate, foundational and government support. I
spoke at churches and synagogues. My staff and I worked at street fairs and other
events. In addition to exceeding fundraising goals (and getting raises for
doing so), I oversaw the 40th Anniversary events in 2010.
One of my fondest memories was working with many talented
and dedicated UC-Berkeley students who developed online portals for people to
volunteer to serve meals. Those digital portals opened doorways for in-person
training, multiplying community involvement in ways I hadn’t imagined. My work
with the Berkeley students was so successful that the UC Bonner Program awarded
me Supervisor of the Year in 2011. That said, being a Lutheran Pastor was not
on my radar in early 2011, but by December 2012, it was.
During that period, Cindy and I talked about her
desire to both retire from her position at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
and to move from California to North Texas where her parents lived. We did that
in September 2011, and eventually ended up in Oklahoma City, 90 minutes from
her parents. In each turn, it became clearer that God was leading me toward a
calling I hadn’t yet named.
Act Three: The Colloquy and the Call
My path to becoming a pastor in the LCMS ran through
the Colloquy process, which is employed by the Synod when a man ordained in
another denomination chooses to leave it and join the LCMS as a Pastor. Unlike
some denominations that only require a candidate to attend worship for a year
or so, the demanding process established by the Synod meant two years of rigorous
self-study. During this time, I read all the books assigned to me by the
Synod’s 1st Vice-President, Rev. Herb Mueller, who oversaw this
process. My reading included the Book of Concord and the writings of C.F.W.
Walther and Francis Pieper, the first two Presidents of the Lutheran Church –
Missouri Synod.
Although I began the process of becoming a Pastor in
the LCMS in the California/Nevada/Hawaii District, I finished my studies in the
Oklahoma District. In November 2011, Cindy and I moved to Edmond, an expanding
city directly north of Oklahoma City. We joined and became active members of
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. The Senior Pastor, Rev. Barrie Henke, who
mentored me throughout the Colloquy process, assigned an erudite vicar to tutor
me an hour weekly. In between our sessions, I read extensively when I was not
fundraising for an international nonprofit and training to run a marathon. The
congregation of Holy Trinity supported me with their prayers throughout this
process.
On Tuesday, December 18, 2012, we arrived at the
International Center for the LCMS in St. Louis. I stepped into a large
conference room where Rev. Mueller introduced me to four pastors. The exam
began at 10:30 AM and lasted two hours. Each pastor took a turn asking a
question. As soon as I answered one, another question was asked. Near the
two-hour mark I started getting a headache and was hoping the exam would soon
be over. The last question came immediately after that moment. The last words
of my last answer were, “ … and … I can’t remember.” The examining pastor
replied, “Baptism.” I replied, “Oh yeah. That’s right.” Rev. Mueller and the
others thanked me for making the trip to St. Louis and told me that I would
hear something after Christmas.
At the end of December, I received a letter from Rev.
Mueller stating that I had been accepted into the Synod as a pastor. On
February 28, 2013, the nonprofit which employed me for sixteen months merged into
a larger one, and on March 1, 2013, I assumed my new role as a Pastor at Holy
Trinity Lutheran Church in Edmond. Rev. Henke installed me during Divine
Service during that month.
Epilogue
My only regret about becoming a Lutheran Pastor is
that I did not embark upon it earlier, but that was not God’s plan for me. I
did not know anyone who was a Missouri Synod Lutheran before I met Cincy. My
ongoing study of Lutheran theology helped me reframe pastoral identity and
understand ministry as a divine vocation, and not merely a professional pivot. I
simply did not leave one job for another. The Holy Spirit guided me throughout
this process and continues to do so today.
I was recently asked what major differences I see
between the two denominations. I am not bashing Catholics, but there are some differences
in Sacrament and Word. In the Lutheran Church, we do not accept transubstantiation
(Catholic) or symbolism (Calvinism) but believe that Holy Communion is truly
Christ’s Body and Blood in, with and under
the form of bread and wine. The emphasis is placed upon the act of eating and
drinking Christ’s Body and Blood as Church, and not upon adoration, benediction
or processions. None of these three is Scriptural.
Regarding God’s Word, I can honestly say that as a
Catholic priest, my homilies were not as structured and direct as my sermons
are today. As an LCMS Pastor, I begin every sermon with the same prayer and
always end with Philippians 4:7. I often make three points and try to evenly preach
on both Law and Gospel (or God’s commands and promises). This practice is
unknown in Catholic homiletics, which leaves Catholics unsure about what God
commands and what God promises. As a Lutheran Pastor, it is not my opinion of
what God teaches through His Word. We claim the pulpit, but Christ calls us through
His Church to that pulpit. That truth steadied me throughout the Colloquy
journey.[4]
I have come to love
the Lutheran Church and to trust in God more than myself because when someone
closes a door on me, He opens at least one more. So, if you want to know how I
ended up being the Pastor at two congregations in the same county where I was
born and have lived, I will tell them, “God brought us together.” Friends, I
was called by Grace and sent to serve. May the peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Pastor Lissy’s track is not that simple, but this post is not about his path as
much as it is about mine and understanding the difference.
[2] I
know that I did not write about my first request for a sabbatical in 2004. I’ll
save that for another post.
[4] In
another essay, I will explain the major differences between the two
denominations and how The Rev’d Barrie Henke is the reason I preach now the way
I do.
