At Savior, we are blessed with a number of clergy, and since several have joined our clergy team recently, I wanted to make sure you met them.
On a Saturday evening, you’ll generally see me (Fr. Kevin), Mtr. Karen, and Deacon Sandy at the Holy Table. Karen works for Savior part-time, leading and coaching our staff; she also works part-time in her own leadership-coaching practice, Strengthen Your Leadership. Sandy works at Outreach Community Ministries as a social worker and volunteers much time to serve Savior—for example, leading our acolytes and altar guild, and taking Eucharist to shut-ins. Did you know she bakes our Communion bread each week?
Fr. Bill and Mtr. Linda, our founders, may think they were retiring, but they often serve as prayer and Communion ministers; they also preach and celebrate as needed. I am grateful I can sometimes ask Bill and Linda for their wisdom and knowledge of the parish. Of course, Linda leads our annual Blessing of the Animals.
Fr. Aaron Harrison (and spouse Whitney) came to Savior this year. During the day, Aaron teaches Bible and logic to middle-school and high-school students. Fr. Aaron and Deacon Sandy will lead a session explaining our liturgical worship early next year.
Deacon Brad Lindsay (spouse Sarah, now on staff, and children Isabel, Claire, and Vivian) came to Savior in 2017, when the family moved to Wheaton. You’ll see Brad serving as a prayer and Communion minister and leading our new Welcome ministry.
Deacon Josh Steele (and wife Rachel, and now baby Eva) came to Savior about the same time as Brad, to begin work on a doctorate in theology at Wheaton. Josh launched the current Savior website and Breeze, helps lead and teach our youth on Wednesday evening, and assists in coordinating pastoral care. He and Rachel also lead music team sometimes.
Our other resident theologian, Deacon Emily McGowin, came to Wheaton this summer to teach theology. Her husband, Fr. Ron McGowin, serves two parishes within ACNA as interim priest—including our sister parish, Christ Redeemer in Milwaukee. Ron and Emily and their children, William, Emmelia, and Althea, were welcomed to Savior at our Anniversary on Saturday.
All of these clergy pray for Savior and help as needed. I thank God for each one.
Spotlight on Luke and Christine Wulbecker
We are excited to welcome Luke and Christine Wulbecker as new team leaders heading up a new ministry area! In addition to serving on the music team and in the nursery, Luke and Christine will be leading the Compassion Ministry, which will identify places where members of Savior can practice their outward journey by caring for those around us. Get to know Luke and Christine in today's post.
Where do you live and where are you from?
We live in Schaumburg with our Corgi, Barnabas (or Barney, as he prefers), who rules the home. Luke grew up in Roselle, and Christine's childhood was spent between Park Ridge and Nigeria, where her parents were medical missionaries.
What do you do when you’re not at church?
Luke is a recruiter for a staffing agency, and has a passion for connecting with college students. Christine is a therapist for expectant and newly parenting families. We spend a lot of time with our families, most of whom live in the area. Luke loves riding his motorcycle, playing music, and baseball/softball. Christine loves reading, yoga, and Zumba.
Luke's favorite quote:
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking about yourself less." -C.S. Lewis
Interesting fact about Christine:
She was a goalie for the water polo team in high school.
How does the Compassion Ministry serve the life of our congregation?
A major goal of the Compassion Ministry is to support the church in efforts to connect and engage with the local community.
How can people get involved in the Compassion Ministry?
Pray for Wheaton and the surrounding area. Speak with Luke and Christine about your ideas of how to best engage the community. Watch for upcoming announcements about Outreach Community Ministry's Christmas Store, a chance to donate gifts to families in need this holiday season.”
Blessed to Be a Blessing: Closing Prayer
Savior’s Blessed to Be a Blessing sermon series concluded on Saturday, but we pray that what we learned will continue to shape our lives and our interactions with others. As we reflect on the teachings and challenges offered to us from the pulpit over these past 5 weeks, Senior Warden Deb Nickerson offers the following prayer:
Father God, we thank you that on this day and in this present moment, you have called us to live and serve you in this place, right where we are. Thank you for placing our church in Wheaton. Show us how to love others here, we pray. The work before us today, the people who cross our path today, the challenges and the rewards of this day, you have set before us. Give us courage and presence of mind to press forward.
We thank you for the example of Jesus, who demonstrated the value of slowed pace throughout His life. Provide us with the gift of seeing others not as interruptions, but as dear ones in need of healing and wholeness, worthy of our attention and love. Give us the patience to slow down. Give us the presence of mind to welcome “interruptions” as gifts and opportunities.
Lord God, as we see the faces of those you bring into our lives each day, give us ears to hear their stories. Give us divinely inspired interest and curiosity. Rather than the desire to be heard, give us the desire to listen. Fill us with a loving concern and appreciation for each person you place in front of us today.
We are grateful that by your grace, you are already at work in the lives of those we will encounter today. We thank you that we do not have to sell them a package of faith, because you are already calling them gently. Give us discernment and wisdom to fulfill whatever part you would have us to play in each one’s life.
Father God, we thank you for this community that you have called us to. We are not on a solitary journey, isolated from your people. We thank you for friends to confront, pray and love us as we journey. Thank you for friends to advise, support and embrace us as we offer ourselves to bless those around us.
Mold us in your image, El Roi, God who sees Me, that we might truly see the people you place on our path. May it be so, Lord. May it be so. Amen.
Blessed to Be a Blessing Resources: Embrace
Henri Nouwen writes, “We keep forgetting that we are being sent out two-by-two. We cannot bring good news on our own. We are called to proclaim the Gospel together, in community.” This week we are invited to examine what it means for us to go on our outward journey together.
Resources for further reflection:
The Communal Imagination: Finding a Way to Share Life Together by Mark Votava
Votava encourages his readers to concentrate on our relationships and our particular place, instead of focusing on individual achievement. Our faith and spiritual practices are best undertaken together, so he emphasizes living our lives in close proximity to our local neighborhood and church and prioritizing building community and friendship with the people nearest to us.
In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, Henri Nouwen
Nouwen exposes the temptations we often experience when ministering to others, and he dismisses our insistence on defining successful leadership in individualistic terms. Instead of focusing on ourselves and our effectiveness, Nouwen reminds us that we first and foremost work together as a “called people.” True ministry can only be accomplished together from a posture of humility and reflection.
This week we offer two activities for you to practice. Choose the one that resonates with you more.
Spend some time reflecting on this question: What keeps me from understanding ministry and evangelism in communal terms? Talk to God about what comes up for you in this.
Is there someone in your life that you are seeking to bless with God’s love, but this is proving difficult for some reason? Ask a friend to pray with and for you and/or to join you in your time with this person.
Word from Father Kevin: Savior's 14th Anniversary
This Saturday, we celebrate that on October 23, 2004, Church of the Savior began with Fr. Bill, Mtr. Linda, and 24 other founding members. The church met in West Chicago then and took the name “Church of the Savior” partly in honor of the “inward journey, outward journey" modeled by Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC.
In those early days, over a table at Houlihan’s, Alexis Beggs Olsen asked the question, “How would you like the church identified?” Linda and Bill replied with what has become our Vision: “I want us to be known as people who love God, love others, and love life with abandon.”
By year 4, one-third of all church plants have closed. But here we are, celebrating God’s goodness 14 years in. Now we all gratefully receive in this community and take our own parts, learning how to love more fully, deeply, sacrificially, joyfully.
May we always be a place where the Gospel is preached, the Sacraments are rightly administered, children dance, people are known by name, the poor are never forgotten, leaders lead humbly and collaboratively, the disabled find community, guests are welcomed as if they were Jesus, and God receives 100% of the glory.
P.S. After my sermon Saturday, Deacon Josh sent this brilliant 18-minute video by Andy Crouch which underlines so much of what we’ve been learning during our “Blessed to Be a Blessing” series.