Finding Faith ... in the path to receiving my call

By S.A.M. Devlyn Brooks

As I sit down to write this article for the June newsletter, I am still basking in the fact that tonight I completed the final test for my Biblical Hebrew class. This class was the last really challenging obstacle that lay before me before I graduated from Luther Seminary on June 6. And, so it seems that the day I have worked toward for more than the past five years will come at last!

I can’t sum up in the few hundred words in this piece how incredible this journey has been. It seems that all of our kids have grown up in the time that I was in seminary. And I know that there were many times that Shelley and the kids paid higher prices than I did in this process. I owe them a debt of gratitude that I will never be able to repay. Their understanding, patience and cheerleading is what helped bring me to this day. Really, how would we accomplish anything without our family’s love and support?

Our seminary graduation will be online this year. Unfortunately, Luther was unable to pull together an in-person graduation in time. So I will be watching my graduation online. Ironically, it’s all for the best, as our son Carter’s high school graduation will take place on the very same day, at the very same time. So, I wouldn’t have been able to attend a Luther graduation anyway! At least this way, I’ll be able to watch my graduation on my phone as I watch our son’s graduation in person!

As this milestone quickly approaches, I’ve been filled with anticipation and excitement about what our future together holds, Faith Family. It’s no secret that over the past three and a half years together, there are times that I really wished that I could spend more time on preparations for Sunday services, or in conversation with our parishioners, or posing new ideas to the council. But alas, there are only so many hours in the day, and we all need to prioritize.

Luckily for me though, there are seasons in all of our lives. And over the past five and a half years to get through this journey, I was laser focused each and every day about what the most important priorities of that particular day were. And oftentimes what was at the top of the list was homework deadlines. That meant that there wasn’t a lot of time for sermon prep, or pastoral care or thinking about new ideas. My goal is to change those priorities in a hurry as I finish school!

So what might my timeline look like now that I am only two weeks away from graduation? That’s a great question!

Well, first, I must confess that I will only conditionally graduate on June 6. I still have two classes that I need to take from Luther to fulfill the complete number of credits I need to qualify for my master’s of divinity degree. So I have one class that will be completed the third week of June, and a second class that is asynchronous, meaning that I have until the end of summer term, Aug. 31, to complete the class.

Then, once those two classes are in the books, I will be officially graduated at the end of the summer term. This means that I will be officially ready for ordination, which God willing, means that sometime next fall I will receive the great honor of our synod’s bishop coming to Faith Lutheran to bestow upon me my official ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. And that is when I can accept an official call from Faith Lutheran.

So, we still have a few months in which we will still be in limbo. I will still be your synodically authorized minister during this time, endowed with the authority to preside over the sacraments. And I will still be serving at Faith Lutheran until the church is able to call me next fall!

Faith Family, I want to thank you again for welcoming me into your lives way back in November of 2017. I’m sure that neither of us truly knew what we were getting into. But thankfully for us all the Holy Spirit did! I know that I am right where I belong, And I couldn’t be more grateful to the Faith Lutheran Church Council for expressing its trust and faith in me over these years. I know that I still have a lot to learn, and I am excited that with the coming close to my seminary journey, I’ll be able to spend more time on learning those things that a university just can’t teach you. I know that the greatest learning that I have received was right here in this church, among you all. And my solemn vow to you all is that I will never stop trying to learn more about being your pastor!

For now, I will close knowing that the next time I see many of you, I will be a seminary graduate, well on his way to receiving his call! … Thank you again for the role each of you played during this past three and a half years! I will be forever grateful!