The dream is still a dream

Right at this time of year, in the fall of 1976, I got on a school bus to head across Des Moines to my first day of kindergarten.  Since I had been open-enrolled I didn’t know anyone in that room the first day.  My neighbors all went to the school close to my house.  In that classroom I found that some of my classmates had pink skin like mine.  Others had dark skin and cool hair (this was the day of big afros).  As a kindergartner none of that mattered.  I just wanted to find friends to play with!

At the time I didn’t realize what it meant for a school to be 'integrated.'  My new school resided in a predominantly African-American part of town and housed kindergarten through 3^rd grade.  Across Des Moines sat Perkins Elementary in a mainly white neighborhood with 4^th through 6^th grade.  Busses took kids from one neighborhood to the other, ensuring that black and white kids sat next to each other in the classroom.  The full name of the school: Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. 

A scant 13 years before Martin Luther King Jr. had proclaimed his dream, “I have a dream

that one day in Alabama … little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”  Dr. King proclaimed that dream in the midst of a divided nation, with African Americans not welcome in many parts of the country.  To many it seemed like only a dream.  I didn’t live in Alabama, but by 1976 that integration had started to come to Iowa!

Barely eight years before I walked into that kindergarten classroom James Earl Ray had assassinated Dr. King.  Racial tensions still embroiled much of the country.  People felt scared…hurt…disillusioned. 

In 1976 I knew nothing of all these recent events.  I was just a kid in kindergarten, and little kids are open to playing with anyone who comes along.  I grew up in a world that, at least publically, celebrated racial tolerance. 

I have lived my life in a post-Civil Rights era.  A part of me wants to say, “Race is no longer an issue in this country.  Can’t we just get over it?”  But then Trayvon Martin is killed by George Zimmerman and the racial divide explodes once again, reminding us that we do not yet live in Dr. King’s (or God’s) dream world.   I can’t just pretend that generations of blatant racism has come to an end.  This week the nation remembered the march on Washington that occurred fifty years ago.  While that’s before my time, many people still living remember it well.  The turbulent events of the Civil Rights movement still shape people's experience of the world.  In historical terms our country is still pretty new with the racial equality conversation. 

We have a long way to go.  We live in a world where African-Americans are more likely to be stopped by police, more likely to be ‘watched closely’ while shopping, more likely to be imprisoned for a crime (even compared to other ethnicities committing the same offense).  We live in a world where people hold their purses closer when an African-American walks by or where people lock their car doors when driving through an African-American part of town. 

It’s time for a change!  It’s time to recognize that the color of our skin doesn’t reflect our character…it reflects the God that works as a brilliant artist, creating a wide variety of hues to cover people’s bodies.  It’s time to treat each other as fellow members of God’s creation, not as a sub-group that is somehow different than ‘us.’   Those who live in 'ethnic enclaves (and many small Minnesota towns qualify, including Eyota which is 98.9% white) have the obligation to find ways for our children to interact with people of other races, else they grow up with an 'us vs. them' mentality.   It's a lot easier to tell jokes about 'those people' if you don't know them personally!  God calls us to rise above all that.  We are one in God's family.  People are people, no matter how much pigment they have in their skin!

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Called by God? What does THAT mean?

In last week’s letter to my congregation I included these words:

Bishop-Elect Steve Delzer has asked me to come onto his staff full time as the Director for Evangelical Mission of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. After much prayer and discernment I felt called to accept this position.

Pastors use language like this all the time.  In college I told folks that I felt ‘called’ to become a pastor.  After graduating from seminary I felt ‘called’ to serve St. Paul Lutheran Church in Benson, IL.  Ten years ago I told the people of St. Paul that I felt ‘called’ to move to Eyota, MN.   

What’s up with all this talk of being ‘called’?  Did God get me on the phone to tell me what to do?  Did I hear voices from the sky or have grand visions?  Nope! 

My ‘call’ to the position of Director for Evangelical Mission on Bishop Delzer’s staff began about five years ago.  It came while having breakfast with Mary Sue Dreier one morning.  Mary Sue was one of the pastors at People of Hope Lutheran Church in Rochester when I first moved to Eyota, and at the time was pursuing her PhD in Missional Theology (she’s now a professor at Southern Seminary).   As we caught up on things, she looked me in the eye and said, “Pete, you have a lot of gifts that can be used beyond a single congregation.  Have you thought of working on a synod staff or at the ELCA churchwide offices?”   At that point I hadn’t ever considered it.  I viewed myself as a parish pastor and figured I’d serve congregations my whole career.

That one conversation got my mind whirling.  Did God use Mary Sue to get me thinking about a new direction for my life?  I spent a lot of time in prayer about it.  Mary Sue sent me information on Doctoral programs at Luther Seminary with the idea that a doctorate could help prepare me for work beyond the local congregation.  I didn’t quite know what to do.

About four and a half years ago I sat having lunch with Bishop Usgaard as we discussed the possibility of Peace Lutheran Church moving forward into a building project (we still worshipped in the gym at that point).  Finances were the hang-up.  Peace needed to be self-sufficient to be able to build and four years ago we were not!  Despite much growth, the congregation still depended on outside monies to pay the bills.  At the end of the meal Huck looked me in the eye and said, “Pete, we have a new position opening on my staff.  We need someone to work with new ministries.  You have the experience and skills to do it.  What if the synod contracted with your congregation to ‘use’ part of your time?  The congregation would then be able to go ahead and build, and the synod would have a person working with new ministries who has been a part of new ministries.  What do you think?”  I couldn’t help but think of my conversation with Mary Sue.  God seemed to have come full circle.

The relationship with the synod has been a blessing for Peace Lutheran Church.  The building that we are in would be here was it not for that synod contract! 

I entered my new role of Mission Director with a bit of trepidation.  Soon after starting I met with several groups of Sudanese immigrants who were trying to connect with host congregations. I worked hard (without much luck) to try to figure out the ‘blueprint’ that I should follow to make things work smoothly.  Someone finally said, “Pete, just do whatever you think works best.”  I had freedom…and used it! 

As I’ve reflected on these past four years as the synod’s part time Mission Director, I’ve found that the role uses my gifts well.  I’m very much a ‘big picture’ guy, and this position allows me to meet with passionate leaders, prayerfully dream about the possibilities of God’s future, and find creative ways to get there. 

By the time Bishop-elect Delzer asked if I would serve on his staff I’d already spent a lot of time in prayer about whether I felt ‘called’ to this position.  I had many people encouraging me to do it.  I knew that my gifts fit well with the job description and I knew that I would love it. 

That’s how the ‘call’ process has worked over and over in my life.  People have planted seeds and encouraged me to go in a new direction.  Something in me feels a nudge that I can’t ignore.  When the ‘inner call’ is confirmed by the ‘outer call,’ that’s when things tend to move quickly. 

People have told me to do many crazy things that I never considered.  Not every voice I hear is from God!  I have had many ‘nudges’ that led nowhere.   Not every idea I think up is from God!

God did what it took to prepare me for this moment in my ministry, not with visions and thunderous voices, but with the encouragement and support of others and with ‘timely coincidences’ that worked to confirm that God had a hand in it all.  God tugged at my heart and led me to this new place.

So, I feel ‘called by God’ to serve in this new position.  I’m excited about the possibilities that God has in store for me even as I lament the fact that I no longer get to serve as the pastor at Peace Lutheran Church. 

Somewhere out there God is preparing (with gentle nudges and encouragement) to ‘call’ a new pastor to serve at Peace. 

A New Call

The folks at Peace Lutheran Church received this letter from me yesterday.

 

Dear members and friends of Peace Lutheran Church,

I came to serve as the pastor at Peace 10 years ago this November. In those years much has changed, but one thing has remained constant: God has been in our midst, guiding this ministry.

Next month my time at Peace will come to an end. Bishop-Elect Steve Delzer has asked me to come onto his staff full time as the Director for Evangelical Mission of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod. After much prayer and discernment I felt called to accept this position, which will retain the area of 'New Ministries' that I have been covering for the past four years and expand to include 'Revitalizing Congregations' and 'Stewardship.'

Effective September 15th, 2013, I will resign as pastor of Peace Lutheran Church to accept a call to serve God in this new way.

God remains in our midst, guiding this ministry. This congregation has never been about Pastor Peter Reuss. Our focus has been on Jesus...and it will remain that way. Pastors come and go. God does not.

Every pastor brings different gifts to a congregation. A new pastor will not be just like me, and that is a good thing. They will come with their own gifts and talents that God will use to lead the community of faith. You are in good hands: God's hands.

Since the synod office is in Rochester my family will not be moving from Eyota (I get to join many of you on the morning commute), but Shannon, Ben, and I will transfer our membership to a new church home. This is normal and expected of all pastors who accept new calls. I will likely see many of you around town, but you will no longer talk to me as 'your pastor.' I will just be 'Pete, the guy who lives in Eyota,' and if asked about things going on at Peace I will have no opinion. All this allows Peace to fully look ahead to the future and not simply to the past.

I thank you all for the support you have shown for me and my family over these past ten years. You have been a blessing to us in many ways.

May God bless you as you move forward in faith,

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Pete