Called by Grace, Sent to Serve

 

                                       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 40^th 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 1^st 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.

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[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.

[3] BFHP is now known as Insight Housing. Here is the website: https://insighthousing.org/.

[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.