A Psalm for My 34th Year

In seminary, one of my professors shared that he read the numbered psalm for his year (Psalm 30 his 30th year). I don't do this daily as part of my devotions, but certainly on my birthday. This morning, on my 34th birthday, I reread Psalm 33 and reflected on its message to me for the year that has passed, and then read Psalm 34, which surely has words of hope for the year ahead.

Psalm 34 (NRSV)

1 I will bless the Lord at all times;
    his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
    let the humble hear and be glad.
3 O magnify the Lord with me,
    and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
    and delivered me from all my fears.
5 Look to him, and be radiant;
    so your[a] faces shall never be ashamed.
6 This poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord,
    and was saved from every trouble.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps
    around those who fear him, and delivers them.
8 O taste and see that the Lord is good;
    happy are those who take refuge in him.
9 O fear the Lord, you his holy ones,
    for those who fear him have no want.
10 The young lions suffer want and hunger,
    but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, O children, listen to me;
    I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Which of you desires life,
    and covets many days to enjoy good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil,
    and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Depart from evil, and do good;
    seek peace, and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
    and his ears are open to their cry.
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
    to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
    and rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
    and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord rescues them from them all.
20 He keeps all their bones;
    not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil brings death to the wicked,
    and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
    none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Rev. Daniel Brooks Andrews

One of the things that was always the most important to Dan was that people be real, be authentic. To not be or pretend they’re someone they’re not. I have really struggled to attempt to capture Dan’s life in even a small way for you today. The truth is, our authentic selves are fully of complexities which even we do not at times fully see. I am confident I cannot fully capture our shared experiences of Dan—the blessing he was to us all—and I am even more sure I cannot capture in these few words the child of God that Dan was.

Foremost in Dan’s understanding of himself, though, I think was that he was a child of God. His journey through his teen and adult years led him through many experiences and along many paths. But his journey was one of becoming and living into who he truly was: a beloved child of God. I believe he was powerfully aware of this even as he struggled to figure out how to fully live into this throughout his life.

Daniel Brooks Andrews was born in Siler City, NC on January 16, 1983. The second child and first son of Rev. Richard Andrews and his wife Patricia (Brooks) Andrews, Daniel came into the world to my vocal encouragement, as legend has it I cheered him along with cries of “Hurry up, baby, hurry up!”

Dan grew up learning to love toy trains, the outdoors and being a brother, son and friend.

Dan was a great brother. While he once threw a fire truck at my head (I think he was three), he also once had to be held back (a year or so later) from beating up the doctor who was removing a splinter from my foot and—Dan was convinced—hurting his big sister. He also had the magic touch when Liz was a baby—he could often be found sucking his thumb, rubbing her hand, putting Liz to sleep on car rides. Dan loved family—whether it was hanging out with his sisters and brothers, spending time with his parents, or enjoying his large extended family. Dan was always about relationships.

As PKs, Dan, Liz, Jordan and I were always close as we moved from place to place. We always had built-in friends. And we were a travelling Sunday School.

Dan was active on neighborhood and school baseball and lacrosse teams, and also enjoyed club team sports in college and seminary.

Dan treasured his friends from school—from Marie Farring Elementary, FSK Middle, Poly, Frostburg and Drew. Dan always seemed to make friends easily wherever he went. Good friends. Friends to get in trouble with. Friends to work through life with. Friends to support him, and friends for him to support. I want you to know that he loved you all. Through the highs and the lows, your friendship to him were some the great treasures of his life.

Dan had many adventures. From experiencing city life in Baltimore to hopping trains in Western Maryland, Dan loved experiencing new things—especially doing so with good friends and family. Dan was part of various cultural movements and his physical appearance evolved other time as well. Most recently you knew Dan with gauges in his ears, but in high school he had green hair and eyebrow rings—that is, of course, until it came time for senior portraits. Our parents generally let Dan be Dan, but for senior photos, Mom laid before him a clear choice: either the green hair or eyebrow rings had to go. You can see Dan’s senior portrait—buzz cut and eyebrow rings and all, in the photo display in the Parish hall.

Dan loved Baltimore, and he was an aficionado of Baltimore culture. Though, perhaps not always its most skilled representative. Once as a teenager, when our cousins Jym and Tim were visiting us while we lived in south Baltimore, the three guys went down to go crabbing off of one of the local bridges. Hours later, the conquering heroes returned home with an impressive haul of crabs. They were so proud of their catch. Later the truth was revealed—they had bought most of the crabs off a much more experienced crabber.

Later Dan would say that his teenager and early college years were also years he ran from a call to ministry. I remember when Dan got connected with a men’s Bible Study at Frostburg and started to come back to the faith. Though our family had prayed he would, it perhaps shocked us more than anyone. Dan considered whether he would get baptized as an adult—you see he and I were baptized on the same day at Chevy Chase UMC. In true Wesleyan fashion, Dan decided on his own he would not. His baptism had stuck. God had never left him.

The year after Dan graduated from college and before he began at Drew Theological School, he lived with me in my parsonage and served as my assistant pastor on my first two point charge. It was an interesting year, and after seven years of not living together (as we both were off at college), we got to know each other again well and wrestle with the joy and challenges of being siblings. The four of us—we always tried to stick together. Through moves, challenges and pain in our family and our father struggles with his own mental illness, and growing up—our relationships were always evolving but always very important to us.

Dan found great connection with the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable. In many ways it defined his understanding of his call and ministry. Dan had felt far off, away from Church, from the community of disciples, but it was from this experience that he had a deep passion for reaching out to others who also felt far off from God—whether by circumstances or their own decisions or both. Dan had little patience for people who put policies or traditions above God’s love for all people. This was one of the ways God’s image was powerfully imprinted on Dan.

Dan served several churches during his ministry: Doubs/Epworth UMC, Catoctin UMC, Cowenton UMC and Chesaco UMC. What he loved most about being a pastor was getting to know people. Being present with them, and learning their stories. And helping them discover God’s deep and abiding love for then, no matter what—a love which was always so important to Dan. And which still is.

Once (and I suspect things like this happened more than once), Dan came across a group of young adults outside a store who were hitchhiking across the country together. He greeted them, talked to them, and bought them a meal. And then they went on their way.

Most recently, Dan also enjoyed checking out Ironbirds baseball games, helping the ladies at Cowenton make their famous apple dumplings, and taking part in many church breakfasts and meals.

Dan also loved being an uncle to my and Chris’ daughter Anna and Mary. He loved making them laugh, smile and dance. He doted on them and they returned his love with adoration. Even with the girls, Dan wanted them to know God’s love. Dan bought Anna her first pink Bible—a Bible whose stories he began to help her memorize.

Through all of this, Dan was a fighter. You see, for all his joy and smiles—and these were him, they were authentic—things were often harder for Dan. Pains seemed to strike him deeper and losses weighed heavy. Dan fought though. He fought to hold onto his identity as a child of God and to live out the love and grace he had received. Because Dan experienced this fight, I think it made him incredibly compassionate to those who also struggled—and he was always looking for people that others looked past, or people who thought the Church, or even God, had given up on.

My mother and the rest of our family have received such wonderful remembrances of Dan already from many of you and others who aren’t able to be with us here today. Many also struggle to reconcile Dan’s final moments with the Dan they knew the rest of the time. I believe if Dan were here, he would tell us that his final choice was his most tragic one. For all that was weighing on him, it is difficult for us to not let Dan’s final moments to be his defining moments for us.

But Dan’s life was never and will never be defined by his deepest pains or sorest losses. He was first and foremost a child of God. He was also a son, a brother, a grandson, nephew, cousin, pastor, friend, camp counselor, colleague, and so much more. Dan’s life was about creating deep and lasting relationships, encouraging people to be the people God created them to be, and helping others receive and celebrate the love of God and blessings of life. His legacy lives on in the lives of each person he touched, and we hope, in work ahead for our family and perhaps for you as we try to help others who similarly struggle. We are none of us alone today, or indeed any day. Just as I am sure Dan is not alone either.

The best of all is God is with us.

Week 2

Week 2.

In anticipation of Week 1, Day 1, Sunday 1, this is when the reality of a new appointment really begins to settle in. Not just a guest preacher, the new pastor now has to figure out her or his place. Whatever bumps (or collisions) the first week and first Sunday brought, now it when the new pastor begins to settle in for the long haul. The new pastor finally has a history (albeit woefully short) with their new congregation. Now there’s a “last Sunday” and a “last week” to reference.

I am by nature a planner. I am absolutely convinced the world works better when someone (and yes, I’m willing to be that person) has a plan. The thing with plans, of course is they change. Sometimes in small ways. Sometimes in ways so radical it becomes questionable whether the “plan” ever really existed to begin with.

My last Sunday at Calvary UMC was June 8. I had three weeks between then and starting at Arden UMC. As mostly planned, I spent that first week caring for family and personal details—at least some of them. The following two weeks were to be occupied with coming up with a plan for my new appointment. Creating to do lists. Coming up with a plan.

But that never happened. Sunday, June 15 – Fathers Day—we received the unthinkable news that my brother Dan had committed suicide. Dan was also to have been beginning a new appointment this summer. I had anticipated touching base with each other on our first Sunday and comparing notes. I didn’t get to do that yesterday, though.

Someday, and I suspect not too far from now, I will have words to speak more about this loss for me and our family. Right now those words are hard coming. I had decided I would offer the witness (some call it a eulogy) at Dan’s funeral on the Sunday before I started my new appointment. But I had no words. I couldn’t write anything till the morning of the service. And once written, those words were all I had. Perhaps I’ll at least post that here soon.

All that to say, here I am at week 2 still living into things, and yes, even flying by the seat of my pants a bit. As Bill O’Reilly was teased when taped during a difficult rehearsal, “We’ll do it live!”

Week 2. Doing it live. There will be a plan soon enough. And as soon as there is one, it will change. But I give thanks that our God is a God of plans. Of scripts. And of going off-script. And yes, even of chaos.

And so it is…

Week 2.

Pastoral Transitions

Several months ago I shared with my Calvary UMC family that I would be leaving and beginning a new season as pastor of Arden UMC in Martinsburg. The time of final transition is upon us as I have my last Sunday at Calvary this Sunday and am finishing my final day in the office today.

It has been a blessed season, these five years at Calvary. I have experienced many personal and professional highs during this time, as well as some challenges.

One of the most important things on my to-do list now is to make this transition well and to help the congregation of Calvary UMC do the same. To this end, while I have been engaged in many prepartions for my arrival at Arden, I have also been working to help in the transition here at Calvary as Rev. Matt Trussell begins his tenure as Calvary’s Associate Pastor. I have met with Matt, and have also been meeting with other staff and ministry leaders to pass files, information and materials in an attempt to provide for as smooth of a transition as possible. I have also been in regular conversation with Rev. Alice Ford about this transition—indeed, our conversations began before I had even received a new appointment, when I was merely anticipating one.

I remain the appointed associate pastor at Calvary until June 30, 2014, but my active time with the Calvary congregation ends June 8, 2014. A time of transition is suggested by the conference for the congregation to have time to step away from one pastor and prepare to welcome a new one. These three weeks will hopefully allow all of us a time to prepare for the new seasons God is calling us to.

I need to share with you the conference’s official statement of transitions, and the policy I affirm and covenant to keep with my colleagues in the Order of Elders in the Baltimore-Washington Conference. This policy essentially outlines that effective July 1, I will cease any and all pastoral relationships with members of the Calvary UMC family. While the policy says that the current pastor may at their initiative invite the previous pastor to return (and Rev. Ford has been and I know will remain gracious and open through this transition), I want to let you know myself, that it is my intention to decline any inivations even should they be extended by the new pastoral team. As much as the Calvary UMC family needs to create new and lasting bonds with Rev. Matt Trussell, I need to create and nurture my new relationships at Arden UMC. I will need to use all my time and energies to do so.

Here is the official Conference policy:

As of the effective date of a new appointment, a pastor shall immediately cease all pastoral counseling and pastoral visitation with members or member families in the previous appointment. Since appointments are generally announced several weeks in advance, each pastor has adequate time in which to affect closure and make appropriate referral to another for the pastoral care of members.
 Pastors shall have a clear understanding with former congregations that they will not return to officiate at baptisms, weddings, and funerals, or to do pastoral counseling or pastoral visitation in that parish. Pastors, active or retired, shall respectfully decline to participate in such duties when invited by members of a former congregation. Declining all such invitations is the responsibilities of the previous pastor. The present pastor, at his or her discretion, may invite the previous pastor to return for pastoral functions. However, the present pastor should never be under any pressure to invite the previous pastor.

Many of you are connected to me via social media and it is a gift that modern tools like this exist! I will not change or remove any of those connections. But I do want you to know what as I begin my ministry at Arden, I will be posting regularly and energetically about my ministry there. I will be using that tool in the same way I have used it at Calvary. If you feel it will be difficult to see me do so, please know I will understand if you feel more comfortable unfriending me. It will also be my intention to not initiate contact with Calvary UMC people once my time at Calvary is completed.

Having grown up as a United Methodist clergy child, these transitions come a bit more naturally to me than to many, and for me they remain an important part of the covenant I have taken as a United Methodist pastor. The transitions are difficult for families as well, though Chris and I have shared in much conversation around our transition and that of our girls. While it is difficult to say goodbye to all of the wonderful people we have known at Calvary, we look forward to new relationships at Arden and also eagerly anticipate the new bonds which will be formed between the Calvary UMC family and the Trussell family. We know you will bless them as much as you have blessed us by your friendship, support and encouragement!

Please do not hesitate to let me or Rev. Alice Ford know if you have any questions about this transition.

Grace and Peace.

Rev. Sarah Andrews Schlieckert

Fearless

Today my husband and I started filling out the paperwork for the girls’ new daycare/school once we make the transition to West Virginia this summer. We’re pretty stoked about the place we found. Like really.

That said, the forms ask similar questions to ones we’ve had to do previously – we’ve had several different school and childcare placements from the time Anna started in care.

Perhaps most accurate, and subsequently a basis for descriptions like the ones we had to write today was the word Chris offered when parents were asked to share one word about their child at Anna’s preschool parent orientation (I’d just had Mary so he went on his own): FEARLESS.

This little girl does, I suppose have things that freak her out, but for a three year old, doing the zipline, being comfortable at heights, hiking through mud and creeks, and all sorts of other things, it’s a joy to see her take life by the horns. Judging by our experience so far, her little sister Mary will be right there alongside.

I don’t know what part of Anna’s personality is nature, or what part is nurture. I know we have always tried to not let our fears seep out onto her (some have seen the pics of the girls at the Willis Tower in Chicago—I’m scared of heights but did my best to get out in the SkyDeck without letting it show).

Life has a way of teaching us to be anxious, scared or hesitant. It comes without effort. What takes more work is holding on to being fearless. Or at least having the courage to face fears and try new things anyway.

My daughters continue to teach me so much about living. And being fearless.

On Entering a Liminal Phase

The past few weeks have been full of a rush of “lasts,” a plethora of endings and reminders of endings, and the beginning of a season of, well, beginnings.

In reality, the past two years have been a time of great transition—and of endings and beginnings—for me, both personally and professionally. This time last year, we were rounding the corner on a time of transition at Calvary as our senior pastor, Rev. Ken Dunnington, prepared to retire. I foolishly thought that would be the most significant transition I’d experience for a while! I say July 1 as a breather, a chance to get back into the groove (albeit new groove) of things.

In reality, July 1 would merely be a respite before a rush of much more. My father’s sudden passing July 3, Mary’s (two weeks late!) arrival August 30, maternity leave, my grandfather’s brief illness and death, Advent, Christmas—all of it at a break-neck pace. And just when things could’ve quieted down, after careful discernment, Chris and I decided it was time God was calling us to take on a new church and seek a new appointment for me, and really, for our family. None of these things have been easy, but in all, we have perhaps never more powerfully felt God’s presence and guidance than these past months.

So now, I find myself fully entering transition time. My first transition workshop was last Monday, and this Saturday I will gather with folks from Arden along with other pastoral and congregations experiencing transition in the Frederick and Cumberland-Hagerstown districts. Our new Administrative Assistant at Calvary begins tomorrow, and my schedule has been cleared to help get her up to speed in the limited time I have left between conference meetings in my last month here. Our new associate will be named shortly, and I will be soon tasked with helping that person get up to speed as well.

So, this is without a doubt a liminal phase. And this time of transition is rife with possibility. So I’m excited. A bit anxious—it’s easy to forget, when leaving one place, how anxious you were upon arriving, and only how settled you eventually became.

I hope to be more intentional about blogging through this time of transition. If you have blog post suggestions, whether about the transition or about me, or about being a UM pastor, let me know!

Appointment Announcement

It is with both excitement and sadness that I share that effective July 1, 2014, the bishop and cabinet of the Baltimore-Washington Conference have appointed me as pastor of Arden United Methodist Church in Martinsburg, West Virginia.

While I am excited about this new opportunity in ministry and am deeply convinced that God is calling me to be in ministry with the people of Arden UMC, these past four and a half years at Calvary UMC have been an immense blessing to me and my family—and they have also been years of fruitful ministry and as we were able to be a part of the exciting things God is doing in downtown Frederick through the ministry of Calvary.

I also want to let you know that this past December, after much prayer and discernment, I shared with my district superintendent that I felt this would be a good year for me to change appointments. It has been a blessing to serve with Rev. Ken Dunnington and Rev. Alice Ford. I look forward to seeing all that God has in store for the congregation at Calvary under Rev. Ford’s leadership and through the ministry of whoever will fill the position I am leaving. While this appointment was only made in the past week, Rev. Ford and I have been in conversation for many weeks in anticipation of such a move. She remains gracious and supportive—though she would have loved for me to stay, she has understood my discernment and been encouraging throughout.

Calvary UMC will always be the congregations our girls were born into, and the place Chris and I were able to connect with each of you in powerful, Spirit-filled ways. You have sustained us through the sleepless nights of early parenthood, embraced us when we have suffered pain and loss as we did when my father passed away last summer, and marked the celebrations of our shared lives together. You have been our family in more ways than I can list. While Chris and I were confident through our discernment that God was calling us to a new appointment, we knew that saying goodbye would be incredibly difficult. You have all been the very presence of Christ to us.

In the coming months, I will continue to work closely with Rev. Ford and whoever will follow me to assure for a smooth transition. I will need your help making sure ministry areas are prepared for transition and that the process goes smoothly. My last Sunday will be in June, though I am working with Rev. Ford and the SPRC to finalize those details.

I hope you will keep Chris, Anna, Mary and me in your prayers in the coming months. This will be a major change for our family. I will continue to keep Calvary in my prayers both as we continue together in ministry for these next few months, and as you receive a new associate pastor. I rejoice that the God who has so blessed me by bringing me to Calvary for this season remains at work in the ministry of Calvary and in my ministry, wherever those paths take us.

Grace and Peace.

Rev. Sarah Andrews Schlieckert