Summer Rhythms

I love the rhythm of summer, especially it’s slower pace. And I think we can all agree that we could all use a slower pace once and awhile. But the world doesn’t stop and there’s certainly no shortage of things happening or needing to be done. Just ask my wife who has what the rest of our family refers to as “The List.” The List seems to grow by the day if not the hour regardless of how many things we check off of it. I’d ask to see yours, but I’m already overwhelmed by our own, so maybe another time. Still, I remain hopeful that each of us would try to be intentional about taking advantage of the slower summer moments as they become available.

Coincidently, I’m actually writing this article on the first of a few days of “stay-cation” as I try to catch a breath before heading to New Orleans along with Pastor Chris and our planning teams as we prepare to welcome Pastor Edwin and adult leaders and students from Ascension as they join the almost 17,000 others who will come to participate in the ELCA Youth Gathering.

As I sit on our patio I’m reflecting on the past six weeks that were filled with our son Zach graduating from UW-Madison and moving back home, four days of crazy fun with JOLT students at Adventure Camp, our daughter Bella graduating from high school and preparing to go to UW-Stevens Point in the fall along with hosting a shared graduation party and then there’s also preaching, joining our Young at Heart group on a day trip, counseling people in need, and many other pastoral duties. The pace over the past few months has been anything but “slower,” but it has nevertheless been exciting with so many wonderful things to experience and celebrate.

Life, both inside and outside the church can be busy, painful, chaotic, stressful, and full of things that pull us in countless directions. I’m certain that each of you could provide a list just as long if not longer, and this is precisely why peace from God is such a gift. Peace is something we all crave and desperately need, but often we are clueless how to find it or achieve it. And yet, our gracious God continues to endlessly offer it to us.

Throughout these summer months I pray that each of us will be intentional about seeking, creating, and enjoying the peaceful moments God offers us for renewal and reconnection. Moments not spent just frantically moving from one scheduled thing to another or trying to accomplish one more thing. Soak up the sun, take a walk, read a book, go out for ice cream. Whatever it is I hope all of us will take time to recharge, refresh, and renew ourselves.

For the next several months as we journey through summer, I invite each of us to take advantage of much needed opportunities for rest and reconnection but also to welcome new possibilities for connecting more deeply with God and serving our neighbors. I am deeply grateful for your partnership and your willingness to journey together wherever God is leading us. May you know the peace of God today and always!

Pastor Tony

Sabbatical

I am always surprised when the month of June begins. Didn’t we just celebrate Christmas? No doubt, someone reading this article already has a good deal of their Christmas shopping done. Good. Great. Fine.

I, on the other hand, do my best shopping under pressure. Actually, I do a lot of things really well under pressure. As we look to the month of June, I am looking at the next three months with no pressure. Is it possible I may not function at all?

The gift of sabbatical is testament to this congregation’s love and tending for their pastors. Sabbatical comes from the word for Sabbath. A time of rest – not unlike what God did on the seventh day after creation. In 22 years of ministry, I have never taken a full sabbatical. I have had a couple of weeks off with the birth of each child. In Boise, I had three weeks of vacation in a row. Otherwise, the call of serving as pastor has often overwhelmed too much time away. It can cause me a little anxiety to imagine the use of my time over the next three months. No chairs to re-arrange in the sanctuary. How will I go on?

A sabbatical from ministry at Ascension is about rest, renewal of my spirit, and reconnection with my family. They often sacrifice the gift of my presence and time for nights of meetings and Saturday of events and preparations. Although, they may be sick of me by the beginning of September and all too excited to go back to school. During my sabbatical most of the three months away will be time set aside to be with family.

In late June, we will travel to the big island of Hawaii to enjoy ocean breezes and coffee plantations. In late July, a friend from college who has stayed connected will visit for a week. In early August, I will travel with my dad and sister on a bucket list of sorts trip by train from Toronto, Ontario, Canada to Montreal to Quebec to Nova Scotia – something my mother was hesitant to do with her claustrophobia. In late August, I have applied for a ten day stay at a clergy renewal center on Anna Maria Island in Florida. In early September, I will enter into a 5-day silent retreat at a monastery.

And in-between those experiences will be long bike rides with family for coffee; not-as-long runs; long walks with my wife and dog; and a ton of reading and some Netflix to binge watch. And I expect my world to reshape for a time. And I am thankful for your generosity of time and monies set-aside to offset some of the costs of travel.

While I am on sabbatical, Pastor Tony will masterfully hold down the fort and Edwin, with three years of seminary education under his belt, will be right by his side. Summer rhythms are different at Ascension than during the school year and I am grateful for the changing of rhythms to allow a slower pace as we are still navigating the road in and out of covid. We will invite a few guest preachers to offer Pastor Tony and Edwin a break and anything that needs to be done will still get done through the care and dedication of our staff. Please, offer yourselves for assistance should you see something needing to be done. Please also take the time to say thank you to staff members who pick up extra duties while I am away on sabbatical.

As has been tradition at Ascension, when the pastor goes on sabbatical, they do not return phone calls or emails or text messages. I will not attend funerals. And if a light bulb goes out or we run out of toilet paper – the staff will handle it. I will miss you greatly. Being disconnected from our church family is always a difficult experience. We are often so interconnected – tending joys and sorrows. I expect I will be ready to jump back into the mix by the time Sept. 18 rolls around when I am next scheduled to preach after my last Sunday on June 19.

Please know that while I am away, this community of faith will not be far from my thoughts. There will be prayers for rest and refreshment for you over the summer. It is my hope that you will enjoy a deeper relationship with Pastor Tony and Edwin during my absence.

May God’s blessings be yours over these next few months. I will celebrate a homecoming with you on Sept. 18.

Peace be with you.

Pastor Chris

Renewal

In just a few weeks, Pastor Chris will begin his 3-month sabbatical leave and this has some wondering what this means for Ascension. Allow me to share a little bit about what this gift can mean both for our faith community and for Pastor Chris.

First, a sabbatical is a wise and healthy investment not just for pastors but for all involved. It provides opportunities for pastors and congregations to explore new opportunities and responsibilities and open themselves to experience growth and renewal. Let me also be clear about what a sabbatical is not. It is not an extended vacation. Although a pastor’s time away is likely to include travel and fun, it is centered mostly around rest and reflection for body, mind, and spirit. And although the pastor on sabbatical and the congregation will have different sabbatical experiences, the time apart is nevertheless a shared endeavor that presents a priceless gift of renewal for all.

Here are just a few of the ways this time apart can impact us here at Ascension. On a pastoral team level, it affords me increased opportunities for leadership and to let my own pastoral identity and imagination flourish. And it will do the same for Edwin as he continues his internship and edges closer to the completion of his own seminary journey. New responsibilities and opportunities also arise for the staff in various areas of congregational activity. And while the increase in these opportunities and responsibilities does come with some additional challenges, I assure you that Edwin and I and the rest of the staff and church leadership have been diligently preparing for this time and we remain confident that our faith community and our mission will be well tended, and we are excited about wherever the Holy Spirit leads us.

On a congregational level, Pastor Chris’ time away allows the community of Ascension to recognize and appreciate many of the things Pastor Chris does that often go unnoticed and unappreciated. Some things will be picked up by Edwin and I and the other staff, but there are still other things that will be necessary for congregation members to step up and step in and assist with these tasks. Take coffee hour on Sunday mornings for instance. We are all aware of Pastor Chris’ affinity for coffee but because we don’t have a full-time barista on staff…yet (certainly on his wish list), and no congregation member currently willing to prep coffee for Sunday mornings this is one such instance congregation members will need to consider how God might be calling you to step up and help take on new responsibilities in Pastor Chris’ absence.

That said, in the days and weeks to come I am inviting every member of Ascension to take some additional time to watch, listen, reflect, and prayerfully consider where God might be calling you to jump in. Then, I encourage you to talk to myself, Edwin, a staff member or other church leader about the ways you could volunteer and be helpful. 

This time of separation is also a time to welcome experiencing things differently. Now, I’m not saying we’re suddenly making all kinds of changes to things and Ascension will look and feel completely different. But what I am saying is things will feel and seem and be a bit different than when Pastor Chris is in the mix, and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As a matter of fact, you can rest assured that the way the chairs in the sanctuary are set up today you can expect them to be the same throughout June, July, August, and into September until Pastor Chris returns. These any many other differences are neither good nor bad, they are just different, and they invite us all to pay attention, reflect, grow, and experience renewal throughout the sabbatical process. I’m not making any promises but who knows, maybe by the time Pastor Chris is about to return I’ll be making coffee and moving chairs around in the sanctuary. The bottom line is, God is calling all of us to open ourselves, to make space, to listen and trust and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit wherever that may be.

The opportunity for Pastor Chris to step away makes space for others to step in, and in doing so it offers him the blessing to reconnect with his family and friends, to rediscover his passions both in life and in ministry, it is a time for him to receive rather than to give, to focus on his own mental, physical, and emotional health and that of his family, to nurture and cultivate his life as a husband, father, son, brother, friend and follower and servant of Jesus. It provides him time to get away, to discover, to play, to wonder, to imagine, to listen, to follow and to do all this in different ways that renew him and his commitment to God, to his family and friends,

and to the people of Ascension. Throughout this sabbatical time I invite you to keep Pastor Chris and his family along with the rest of our Ascension family in your prayers.

My friends, I am excited for our continued and ever-changing journey, and I simply ask that you continue to open your heart and your mind to God’s leading. And then I humbly ask that before you question or complain about something that might look or feel different, you consider how God might be calling you to use your gifts to enhance and improve and enliven the ministry entrusted to us.

What a wonderful gift it is to be the people of God together in this place, and what a blessing we have upon of us with this sabbatical time of renewal. May the peace of Christ be upon you today and always!

Pastor Tony