Happy Second Year!

It has now been one full year since I retired, and one year that I have been writing my blog. It’s hard to believe that twelve months have gone by so quickly!

1. Karen and I have enjoyed the lighter schedule and increased time together, and we have been able to get some household projects done (and to do some travel when we were tired of doing household projects!). We visited family and friends back in the Midwest twice, once in May and the second time in October. And, we drove to Oregon in August to get a better view of the eclipse and learned that our best tent camping days – no, make that, all our tent camping days – are behind us.
2. For the first time in my adult life, I was no longer under an employer’s health plan, so we had to navigate the uncharted waters of our changing health system. Being of mature age, I came under Medicare, and found I needed to pursue not only supplemental and drug coverages, but also locate a doctor who was taking on new patients. Without going into too much detail, let me just say that after two months, I finally got hooked up; which was after being assigned to a retired doctor no longer in practice, then to a doctor who quit halfway through my first exam with him (was it something I said?), then to an obstetrician (true!) before finding the right physician.
3. We have continued to worship at St. Peter’s, and have enjoyed friendships and participating in events sponsored by the men’s and women’s groups. Karen has continued to be active by leading the very-busy email and daytime Prayer Chains, and by coordinating funeral luncheons for the church’s Women of LIFE.
4. As far as my ministry involvement, I conducted four funeral services, filled in to preach and teach one Sunday, taught a couple advanced Bethel Bible Series classes, and conducted a chapel program for our church’s school. Then, in the fall, Karen and I attended the AALC’s 500^th Anniversary of the Reformation celebration in Minnesota. While there, I gave presentations as Martin Luther during the two luncheons. Other than not being able to fully relax until the second presentation ended, I enjoyed the chance to teach and entertain with the Reformation and Gospel truths which brother Martin discovered. The new issue of the AALC newsletter, The Evangel, has a wonderful article about the celebration and the part I played.
5. And then there’s the blog . . . I remember the second article I wrote last January in which I pondered what I might write about next (“Okay, Now What?” Jan 19, 2017). I was afraid I would run out of ideas before last February, but then I thought, “Hey, I’m a pastor! I’m used to speaking and writing about all kinds of things!” What’s even better, since I can’t see my audience when blogging, I don’t get discouraged to see people sleeping, checking their phones, or leaving in the middle of my sermon! As it turned out, last week I posted my 45^th blog! It’s still hard to believe there have been that many. Of course, each time I sit down to blog, I still ask myself, “Okay, now what?” but the ideas come and my fingers start flying across the keyboard (Okay, that’s a euphemism for my typing style known as “hunt and peck” or what a German friend once called, “Die Adler Methode [the eagle method] – hover and dive!” Personally, I call it the “Biblical Method” – “seek and ye shall find”. . .). If there is one thing about my youth I would change if I could, I would have taken typing in school. (“Typing” is an archaic word that meant, “keyboarding” and was done on a manual typewriter using an inked ribbon. You can Google those terms if you are under 40.)
6. Your responses to my articles have been especially gratifying; some of you have written comments which show up in the blog, others have sent email notes separately, and still others have spoken to Karen or me personally with requests to keep blogging. Whether you actually enjoy the blogs or just want to keep me busy and out of trouble (“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”), I am grateful for your encouraging words.
7. There are two things that I was sure I would get done in 2017 that are still in the “unfinished” category:

• Cleaning out the clutter and accumulation of books and other stuff from the 20 years we have lived in our current home, not to mention our 43 years of marriage (See “Too Much Stuff” from Feb 18, 2017 for more details). We are discussing the options: storage shed, storage unit, large dumpster, or moving away quietly in the middle of the night. No decision yet . . .
• Finishing and publishing my book, Raising Ebenezers, which is in the revision stage. I really must complete it so I can get on to writing the Great American Novel. I actually have one in mind; it starts off with a clever opening, “It was a dark and stormy night . . .” I will announce publishing plans and progress for Raising Ebenezers as soon as I know them.

8. Finally, there’s one spiritual matter I’d like to share briefly, and that has to do with how retirement has affected my understanding of who I am in Christ. After five years preparing for ministry (part-time and full- time seminary studies), a year of internship, and 22 years of pastoral service, it was quite a change to no longer be a pastor of St. Peter’s. I was used to people seeing and talking to me as their pastor, asking my counsel, and offering their help in areas of ministry. I was used to many meetings and staff working relationships. In a sense, I defined myself by my work (as men usually do) but more so because I was serving the Lord. Now, as a retiree, I still have friends at church, but the relationship is necessarily different – not worse or better – just different.

Likewise, my self-understanding is different. Who am I in Christ? I am still me, the person God has called and saved as his own. I am loved of God and love him in return (“We love because he first loved us.” – 1 John 4:19). That has not changed. After all, I don’t believe in Christ because I was a pastor; I was a pastor because I believe in Christ – and was called by him to serve in that calling.

A year ago I wrote this in my first blog: “I understand my retirement as not so much retiring from one vocation, as retiring to a different one, a new vocation. This new vocation is also a call from God to serve Him, but in a new way.” Only by recognizing that God calls us into different seasons in our lives, have I been freed to relax and enjoy this time, even as I stay alert to new calls which God may give in 2018 (such as my recent appointment to the AALC Clergy Commission). Please pray for me to always be faithful to Christ and his call, whatever that may be!

Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read:  1 John 4