Word from Father Kevin: Blessed to be a Blessing Series

Dear Friends of the Savior:

Starting this Saturday, we begin a sermon series titled “Blessed to Be a Blessing.”  I see this as one of the most important series for Savior this year. I pray it provides a vision, an impartation, to Savior that will help us on our outward journey. Specifically, I’m hoping this series will:

•  affirm that many things Savior people are already great at—e.g., listening, caring, showing interest in people—are a gift for people in their community and workplace 

• re-frame the idea of evangelism, which in many people’s backgrounds was high-pressure sales work for extroverts.  Maybe we can accept (wink), “Savior, you may think you’re reserved and thoughtful and not naturally suited for evangelism, but you really do have what it takes, because your gifts in compassionate spiritual direction are perfect”—if we re-conceive evangelism in a more generous way

•  start to lead us all in answering our recurring prayer, “Show us the people and places you would have us serve."

In the 5 weeks, we will be drawing upon themes from Eugene Peterson, from the short film LiveGodSpeed, and of course, from the way Jesus interacted with people.  Here are the titles:

 Sept. 22: Place: the power of staying put (Fr. Kevin)

Sept. 29: Pace: slowing so you can notice people with compassion (Deb Nickerson)

Oct. 6: Face: asking questions that help people tell their story (Fr. Kevin)

Oct. 13: Grace: affirming how God is already at work (Fr. Kevin)

Oct. 20: Embrace: finding the relief of not being on your own (Sandy Richter)

Pastor Sandy will be creating a resource guide to help us all take these practices deeper in our lives.

Would you please pray that God sends his Spirit upon us as a people during these weeks?  That we receive what he has for us?

Also, if you have any questions or want to talk further about the series, I welcome that.

Spotlight on Josh Steele

Over the next several months, we're highlighting ministry leaders at Savior. These leaders have answered some questions to help us get to know them and their ministries better.

Deacon Josh Steele, along with his wife Rachel and brand-new daughter Eva, has been attending Church of the Savior for a little more than a year. Josh serves in multiple roles at Savior, including volunteering with youth and on the worship team. He also manages Savior's website and coordinates the Pastoral Care ministry.

Where do you live, and where are you from?

I live in Carol Stream, IL with my wife Rachel and daughter Eva. I'm originally from Toledo, OH.

What do you do when you’re not at church?

I'm a Ph.D. student in theology at Wheaton College and the Managing Editor at AnglicanPastor.com.

My hobbies include holding Eva, watching soccer, and reading about productivity and leadership.

What's something unusual about you?

In high school, I ate mostly oatmeal (at least twice a day) for an entire year.

How does the ministry you lead serve the life of our congregation?

I hope that the website, the Breeze online directory, and my coordination of pastoral care all help to enlarge and enrich the sense of community at Savior.

How can people get involved in the ministry you lead?

For the website, we could use another person or two to join JoAnn McNeely in uploading old sermons to the Sermon Archive. For the Breeze online directory, we could use a few people who are willing to learn and train others on the basics of volunteer scheduling using Breeze.

With pastoral care, we could use a few more people who are willing to spend time with and encourage others. If you're interested in any of these things, please contact me—in person, by phone, or by email.

Word from Father Kevin: Saving the Saved

In the past 2 weeks, I’ve described Savior’s leadership capital and resilience. This week, I want to suggest that Savior has a particular gift and call to “save the saved”— to make church and Christianity possible and desirable again for people who in some way are finding them hard. Why do I say this?

 First, I’ve had conversations with a number of people at Savior who are in “the borderlands of faith.” Their childhood faith no longer works for them, and they are at Savior in part because it feels like a safe place where they can decide what, if anything, they will carry from that childhood faith into the rest of their adult lives.  

 More broadly, the “evangelical church culture” (ECC) is struggling. Younger leaders had already rejected the megachurch model and the political stances of that culture, before the recent #churchtoo scandals put a big period on the end of that sentence. Here in Wheaton, I keep running into people who have tasted but not been satisfied by ECC, and they are looking for (pick one) transcendence, humility, honesty, less busyness, fewer requests for money, and a place that is not anti-science, not unjust in its practices toward women, engaged with the poor, etc. 

 We are not perfect. This is not to pat ourselves on the back. “Saving the saved” is an unusual charism and not what every church can or should be doing.  So today’s Word from Fr. Kevin is simply my saying, “I notice this. I intuit it.  And I celebrate that Savior is a place of safety, refuge, and welcome for people who, I hope, will find their way home to Jesus and walk with him for the rest of their lives."

Word from Father Kevin: Resilience

Last week, I shared that Savior has an unusual level of leadership capital. A second feature of Savior I pointed out to the Vestry is our resilience.

I’ve said several times that church theorists consider the biggest single change in a congregation’s life is the transition from founding leaders to next-generation leaders. Yet Savior has come through that remarkably well. There is a sense of peace and gratitude, with Fr. Bill and Mtr. Linda still in our midst, cheering on Karen and me, and we love seeing them minister.

About the time that transition was well underway, Marilyn Stewart was diagnosed with melanoma. And as Doug cares for her, this meant Savior no longer had the daily leadership of two more founding members. We all feel the grief for their suffering. Yet Savior continues on, still with a sense of hope and optimism.

Psychologists in recent years have emphasized the power of “grit.” Perseverance and resilience change the outcome for students and for workers. And for churches.

I notice this quality in Savior. I celebrate this. And I want to commend all of you for this. What is God saying to us through this?

I don’t know, but perhaps, “You’re stronger than you know.” We will need to be resilient to follow God into new adventures, but we’ve shown that with God’s help, we can handle a lot. “Fear not, little flock, for it pleases your Father to give you the kingdom.”

Youth Mission Trip - Josiah Hsu

For today's post, Josiah Hsu -- a student at Church of the Savior -- reflects on the recent mission trip led by Savior's youth pastor, Father Andrew Unger.

What did you do on the mission trip?

As a group, we did a lot of service work around the community. We would typically divide into separate groups and work at different locations as needed. Some notable locations that we worked at includes Cornerstone Community Outreach, where we prepared and served food, and Books for a Cause, where we packed books to be shipped to schools and universities. We also attended a bible study at the church we were staying at. In addition to this, I worked with a smaller group to help organize items in the church.

How did you see God at work in the community you served?

Personally, I saw God at work through the unexpected tasks that we found ourselves working on. When we first arrived, we were told that the building manager needed to clean, organize, and renovate rooms in the church. While not originally part of our schedule, it was decided that we would have some people help her. From what we were told, upon hearing this the manager had a visible wave of relief. I feel like God was most at work through unexpected opportunities like these.

How were you challenged or encouraged in your own faith?

Being honest, throughout the week I had a general sense that I wasn't doing enough. It felt like the work I was doing wasn't as substantial or meaningful as it had been previous years, which was disheartening until Father Andrew addressed this during our communion service. He reminded us that our goal wasn't to serve so that we could feel good about ourselves, but rather to serve so that we can demonstrate God's love to others. Those words helped reassure me that even if I didn't feel like I was doing much, God was still working through me.