pastorblog

A few pastoral notes now to share:

The Personnel Committee will finalize our Choir Director job posting very soon, and we will be seeking a choir director as soon as we have a pool to interview. Please pray that the right person with gifts and joy for God applies! 

The Council and Personnel Committee is also seeking a Youth Director as well. We hope to also finalize this position and post soon as well. Again, your prayers are needed for the right person to come and work with our youth!

Did you attend the End of Life Discussion? If you did, you know that Pastor and Kate are happy to work with you and plan out your funeral service details in advance. A handout sheet to help you will be available on Sunday, May 21, and we will email it out on May 22. Look for it!

I am truly excited for our upcoming weeks of activities and worship. Join us! You are welcome to come as you able and as you are. And if you can’t come in person, be with us in spirit online.

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Sarah

Dear Bay Shore,

What a busy few weeks and October looks to be the same. Not only is “church” busy, but I am also getting everything ready for a wedding. I’m too excited to be exhausted!

I have two important things to share with you about our Strategic Plan Process (and how you can help) and this Saturday’s Black Lives Are Sacred gathering.

Strategic Planning Process

First, I am so grateful for our Guiding Team members who have faithfully led us to this next step, we owe them a sincere “thank you!”: Kerry Bantz, Curran Burns, Reed Groethe, Andy Ratajski, and Jessica Weyer. I continue to be thankful for this team of servants who truly wanted to do their best in leading Bay Shore forward into the future.

We have now come to the time when we are creating three core teams to initiate steps to achieve our goals and to implement the new mission and plan for Bay Shore. The three teams are divided like this:

The Talking-to-People Leadership Team

This leadership team will be responsible to propose and realize actions to:

       Speak up for our church life and way of faith in our time and place and

       Help members to be invitational and make it easy for newcomers to be with us

The Neighborhood Leadership Team

This leadership team will be responsible to propose and realize actions to:

Reach out to people, not just in our namesake villages of Whitefish Bay and Shorewood,           but also in Fox Point, Glendale, and Milwaukee’s East Side

The Next-Generation Leadership Team

This leadership team will be responsible to propose and realize actions to:

Raise people of faith in younger generations, by enabling parents to share God’s love with children and inviting young adults and children into our midst.

The Guiding Team is inviting you to consider serving on one of these teams—but we also know that this is a big task. On Wednesday, October 26^th from 6-8 p.m., we are having an Open Training for people in Bay Shore who would like to learn more about the teams, their function, and receive training and guidance on the team’s creation and next steps. Our consultant, Peter Reuss, will lead the 2 hour training. We will provide a light meal, beginning at 5:45 p.m. We also are willing to provide onsite childcare if needed.

If you are interested, please RSVP here.

It is our sincere hope to have Council members present as well as Committee Chairs and any one else in our community who feels called to serve in this important way.

Black Lives are Sacred

Bay Shore has become a quiet partner with Bay Bridge—a local group here in WFB/Shorewood which is increasing awareness about racial injustice and how we, as members of the community, can best respond. We have now been a part of several events with Bay Bridge—for example, our MLK Day of Service and more recently the Library-led program, How Racism Distorts the Human Spirit. Other area churches around us have done even more in the work of racial justice and equality.

This Saturday, we have been invited by our siblings in Christ from First United Methodist—WFB to stand for one hour (10-11 a.m.) at the corner of Lake/Marlborough/Silver Spring and silently share our support, using signs, that Black Lives Are Sacred.

This is different from the Black Lives Matter movement. BLAS is a movement within Christian churches that recognize how our black siblings in Christ need our visible support, and not just thoughts and prayers. 

To learn more about this, please visit their local Facebook page.
To learn more about the unique history of BLAS, visit their website.

I will be there along with our neighbors from 10-11 am this Saturday. I find this simply to be extension of what our church already does—advocating for those in need, standing for equality for all of God’s people, and being a visible person of faith. If you are able, please join me.

Blessings and peace to you all,

Pastor Sarah

Dear friends,

Our Council met this past Tuesday, and we had a long, good meeting of discussion about the future directions of Bay Shore. Here are a few highlights for you:

• Reed Groethe, on behalf of our Guiding Team, presented a report with the motion to accept our new mission statement, values and plan of ministry. It was approved. Council will now create special teams to work on our action steps for the plan of ministry, with deadlines and goals. Our consultant will continue to assist our new team leaders in their work.
• Our Special Summer Appeal concluded (you can still participate—simply call the church office or return your commitment card if you missed our targeted deadline). We had 42 households increase their pledges for 2022 for a total of $22,768. Our Finance Committee will meet soon to discuss our next steps for this year and discerning our 2023 budget. They will report to Council their suggestions on how to adjust for our current deficit.
• Council created a special Task Force for Safety with three members to review and create safety procedures in the event of emergencies.
• And finally, Council discussed our upcoming worship schedule. This past Spring, I had been approached by a few 8 am attendees asking if it was time to have only one service at Bay Shore. Pam Woodard (Council President) and I reached out to many members who attended or had attended 8 am services in the past year. We received thoughtful responses. In the end, the majority of responders agreed that having one service at 9:30 a.m., like we do in the summers, made sense. Council approved to continue our one service schedule this Fall after much discussion. Our goal and prayer is to continue to worship together as one, encouraging one another and also welcoming new visitors with more faces and singing voices. Do mark your calendars with the change.

I have committed to the Walk/Run Outreach for Hope Fundraiser on September 24 on behalf of Bay Shore. Of course, you too could do the event and raise funds as well. But if you prefer, you can simply support through me and my fundraising page. Click here to do so.

Blessings and peace to you as you continue to enjoy this summer’s weather.

I hope to see you soon,

Pastor Sarah

Dear Bay Shore,

I hope you are enjoying your summer—I enjoyed a few weeks off, catching up on home issues, wedding plans for my eldest, and more. I am grateful to Pastor Chris and Pastor Mark’s services—yes, I watched but in my pajamas!

After vaccines became available to children 6 months and older, our Congregation Council approved to move to become a mask-affirming building beginning July 31. We also discussed and approved that we will require masks whenever the Milwaukee County Dashboard indicates that we are in the High Zone of Transmission.

So, what does all this mean?

Mask-affirming is a term used by the Wisconsin Council of Churches, and it means that our Bay Shore community here will allow our members and visitors to use their own discretion regarding mask wearing. But it also means that if someone does wear a mask, we will not question it, or share our reasons why we do or do not wear a mask with them directly or even indirectly with others. Masks in our current community are here for the foreseeable future. As a mask affirming congregation, we understand that this is more fluid than we like, but we will cope with it together and support each person’s individual decision.

Why July 31? The Council agreed to the July 31^st date since by then, most children potentially could be completely vaccinated.

The Council also agreed with the WCC, CDC, and the Milwaukee County Health Department that the future is unknown and we need to be flexible. So, following guidelines that even our schools will use this fall—when we are in the High category for Transmission, regardless of vaccine status, we will wear masks indoors.

How will you know the status of mask wearing? Well, if you watch the news, or read the news—it’s something that is shared. But you can also see the dashboard here and it lets you know as well.

Milwaukee County COVID-19 Dashboard (arcgis.com)

Here is also a link to the CDC about the different levels.

COVID-19 Community Levels | CDC

Like you, I have been praying for this all to end. And prayer works, it does, but in this case, we can’t pray or wish the viruses away. More research shows that even vaccinated persons who get the COVID virus can suffer long time COVID symptoms. It is best to keep ourselves and our most vulnerable in mind as we follow the guidelines we currently have.

Personally, I will be wearing a mask more than not until after September 1. Pete and I both are up for our boosters then, and I can tell you—my COVID experience after Easter was no fun at all. Sick two weeks, and recovering for another two weeks—it wasn’t until mid-June that I felt back to pre-Easter days. I just can’t risk that loss of time again, with this new variant that is around. Did I mention I have a wedding this Fall??? So, I appreciate our mask affirming building. And I appreciate all of you in caring for one another, too. Please give thanks to our Council who carefully and prayerfully leads our congregation.

I am back this Sunday, and it’s a special one. We will celebrate a baptism and we will have a farewell time after worship to wish our dear friend, Jo Ellen Witt, Godspeed as she moves to be closer to her family. We also will hear music from Scott Cook. I don’t think we could add more to this Sunday if we tried. I hope to see you in person, but if not—join us online. I now personally know that pajamas on a Sunday—it’s pretty nice.

Blessings and peace,

Pastor Sarah

Thank you for continuing to read on.

We will be posting our Youth Director position on July 1 in a variety of places that hopefully will reach its intended audience. This is a part-time position, with a job description that includes serving our high school youth as well as creating opportunities for our middle schoolers, too. We posted this position earlier this year, but we did not find the right fit. Please join me in prayer about this position and also for the right person to apply. It is such an important role in our church—I know we all agree we need to focus on our youth right now. We will receive applications through July 20, and hopefully begin interviews soon after. If you have any questions or know of a potential person for this role, do not hesitate to contact me.

News I was asked to pass on. Our synod’s Women of the ELCA will be disbanding this October due to lack of leadership. Many of us know of the legacies of our women’s groups in the church—circles, service groups, and more—but over the past 20 years, membership and involvement has declined. After much prayer, the current leadership will step down and the WELCA unit will disband.

I am sad to hear of this news, and I wrote to the current president and gave thanks for her and the board’s leadership and the hard decision they made. But I also understand that our churches have evolved, and many of the ministries that were once gender-tied are now more open and inclusive. This is good. I also see how the legacies of these groups encouraged all people in their congregations to serve Christ in a variety of ways. So please join me in giving thanks for the many groups of women over the generations who led us to this day.

And speaking of serving Christ, we have to begin planning for our Second Annual MLK Day of Service. Our Social Ministry Team assists, but we all agree that having a dedicated group leading and coordinating the Day of Service is needed. So, if you are not currently on a committee, if you are a parent and would like to pitch in from home, if you would like serve in the community in a meaningful way—this opportunity to be on the MLK Team is for you. Please connect with me in the next few weeks, and I will get back to you and others as we gather and plan for the event.

As we enter July, my prayers are with you all. May God grant us peace, joy, and love from those around us as we live our faith out loud and share the love of Christ with others.

Blessings,

Pastor Sarah

You may email me at [email protected] or call the church office and leave me a direct message on my private voice mail. 414-332-6436–be sure to select my voicemail box.

Grace and peace to you—-

(Please note: Items in BOLD are direct links to other websites, articles and more for your review.)

As I promised yesterday during the Announcements, I am sharing with you more details about the events happening currently in the Sierra Pacific Synod of the ELCA.

Some background for you all: Our church is a member of the Greater Milwaukee Synod, and there are 65 synods total in the ELCA, each with their own elected bishops. Each synod elects (or re-elects) a bishop every 6 years. It is a staggered schedule so that the Conference of Bishops always has a balanced membership.

My friends, I have been aware of the events happening in the Sierra Pacific Synod through colleagues and the media over the past few months. But the past week, the details and situation escalated with the release of some reports on the event, and the Washington Post published the following article.

I won’t summarize the events because I feel the article, that I have linked above, does a solid job in its writing. There are also links in the article that will direct you to original source information for your own review. What IS missing from this article in the WSJ is a copy of the Listening Panel’s review. (Or it was at the time of my initial reading, I know these articles are updated constantly). I found it a painful read. I found myself angry, troubled, ashamed, frustrated and deeply saddened.

Our Presiding Bishop’s, the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, original response to the Listening Panel was—in my opinion—tone deaf to the concerns she was privy to through the Listening Panel report. After her vague letter to the ELCA about it, and her request for the resignation of Bishop Megan Rohrer, there was an outcry that caused several things to happen:

1. Bishop Eaton changed her mind and disclosed the Listening Panel Review with an apology.
2. The ELCA Churchwide Office, again, learned of the powerful tool that is “social media” and how transparency is required on all levels of the church, not just our congregations.
3. The Listening Panel Report revealed several details that were sufficient enough to have disciplinary actions taken against the Bishop of Sierra Pacific Synod.
4. Bishop Megan Rohrer declined to resign as bishop of the synod. Bishop Rohrer actually led their synod assembly this past week, and a vote of confidence was taken and it showed the bishop had 56% of the assembled persons support to continue.

There are many rumors about what happened at the synod assembly of the Sierra Pacific Synod. I have not confirmed them myself or seen of them in a reputable news source at this time.

But I do know that the Presiding Bishop Eaton met with the Conference of Bishops last night, and it was affirmed by all present that disciplinary action must be taken against Bishop Rohrer and that Bishop Rohrer is suspended until the actions have completed as per our ELCA Constitution.

My friends, let’s start at the very beginning. I am deeply saddened by the actions of the Sierra Pacific Synod regarding their treatment of the Rev. Nelson Rabell-González. First, we have several policies in place for the suspension and discipline of a pastor in office. Based on what I can see, these policies were not handled well at all—by the church councils involved, by the bishop and staff before Bishop Rohrer came into office, and then after Bishop Rohrer came into office. Proper procedure was not handled. It caused great division in an already difficult situation.

I am also deeply troubled how the events played out by Bishop Rohrer with the people of the Misión Latina Luterana. Again, there are multiple layers of procedure and pastoral care that must happen along the way of a removal of a pastor. To abruptly remove a pastor as they did, and on a special holy day of the church—it was truly unbelievable. 

I am deeply troubled by Bishop Eaton’s original response to the Listening Panel report, thought I am grateful that she did apology and released their report.

But most of all, I am very sad that a denomination who has proclaimed in many ways and many years of wanting to be an inclusive, more diverse denomination does not treat pastors of color who serve congregations of color the same as other pastors or churches. In the 10+ years that I have been serving as a pastor in the ELCA, I have seen words that say we want to be a diverse denomination, I have seen funds and people hired to create more diversity, I have been trained, and yet—at the end of the day, the ELCA remains with the same amount of diversity.

I fear the very public events in the Sierra Pacific Synod continue to demonstrate that pastors of color and congregations of color are treated differently even when the constitutions we have in place—at congregation, synod and churchwide levels—demand that all persons and congregations are equal. This is sin. Racism is sin. We need to name it and confess.

Disciplinary actions against any rostered minister are to be taken seriously and to be allowed the time for the process. Our Bishop, the Rev. Paul Erickson, stated that this will be about 3 months or so, at least. So, we are in a holding period until the process is completed to know of the outcome. But we have been in a holding period as a denomination for a long time. I am praying that what has happened in the Sierra Pacific Synod will cause much discussion about white privilege in our own churches and policies, and that we all embrace the goal of being a more diverse denomination.

And, yes, my friends, this does include our own congregation. We should consider what we have done (and perhaps not done), and especially what we will do in the future to be more open to persons of color in our neighborhoods and this congregation. I am heartened to see the work of Bay Bridge, here in Whitefish Bay, that has taken on these issues locally. If you have not signed up for their newsletter, I encourage you to do so.

I also encourage you to join me in prayer these next few months—praying for the people and the bishop of the Sierra Pacific Synod, for the people of the former community known as Misión Latina Luterana and their former staff members, for those who will lead the disciplinary team for Bishop Rohrer, and also for those who have been traumatized by these events—wherever they live.

I also encourage you to join me in prayer and action for our denomination and churches, as we all seek to be a true welcoming place for all of God’s people.

Scripture says, “if we say we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” My friends, let’s stop deceiving ourselves and work on our sin of racism. Let’s begin today.

In Christ,

Pastor Sarah Stobie