Pastor

To Live and Act in Love

I began to read from Colossians 3:18 in my daily devotional when I was drawn towards the entire chapter. Col. 3:18 begins with “Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.” Naturally whenever I see verses that have been taken out of context to hurt people in the past, I am always curious as to what came before those verses. So I did a little digging and I would encourage you to take some time and read Colossians 3:1-17 because, in my perspective, it gives some good insight into verses 18-21.

In the first seventeen verses Paul writes to the church in Colossae, modern day Turkey, about how to live our lives. He instructs them how to relinquish all earthly ties and focus on how we are a part of the family and inheritance of Christ. Paul says, “clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience”12. He then goes on to say in verse 14, “above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” He pulls us into how we must lose all things that would separate us, create strife, or argument and remind us to clothe ourselves with the presence of Christ. With humility, meekness, kindness, compassion, patience, and most importantly love.

Now having read all that, we step into verses 18-21 where, more often than not, individuals will have heard or read verses 18 and 20, not 19 and 21. With a verse about women being subject to men, Paul writes quickly about how men should love their wives and never treat them harshly. When he says kids must obey he follows it up with “Fathers, do not provoke your children, or they may lose heart.” Just like in the seventeen verses that come before, Paul is reminding every member of the household how, if we live like Christ in true servanthood and meekness, we can thrive in Christ’s light.

Reading the context of a verse or chapter is always beneficial to our understanding of scripture and how Christ is calling us into community together. Whether that community is within our home, the church, school, work, town, state, or nation. We, as christians, are called into a charity of living that strives for love. Let us then adorn ourselves with the most lavish of Christ’s clothes. To show our neighbors that we are Christian through our drapings of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love. To promote harmony within our families by following Christ’s example and tenderly caring for one another.

Pax et Bonum,
Pastor Tucker, n/OLF

Abide in Christ

“Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness still. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and in it there is no cause for stumbling.” 1st John 2

This is a great lesson for all of us to learn. A tough lesson for sure but still a good one for us to always have on our hearts and minds. First of all 1st John is from a student and scholar of John, speculated as being Polycarp a bishop of Smyrna in the second century. When there is still unease around this new faith that has developed in Jerusalem centered around Jesus. Polycarp was born in 69 AD and died 155 AD. A martyr for the faith he boldly sacrificed his life rather than denounce his faith. It is through the teachings of John and his world view that God nudges his understanding of the faith.

We are then called from this letter to align our actions and words, a truly difficult task. It is easy to tell a child not to stick a fork in an outlet and then not do it yourself. It is hard to tell a friend that they need to take a break from work to focus on their personal health, and then follow that advice for ourselves (if this isn’t difficult then please tell me how you do it).

What this creates, not having our words and actions align, is a believer who doesn’t know that they are blind. “But he who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” Pushing through the wounds and pains of this world not knowing that at times they are causing true pain to their neighbors. This is a truly dangerous place for anyone to be, because we believe that we are abiding in the light but we are actually blinded. We have to be guided back to Jesus’ light through prayer, worship, community, and the sacraments.

These traditions, rituals, and shared experiences that we have with God unites us in mission and guides us forward. We need to be recentered in the Word daily. This allows for us to alight our words of love with our actions. Now let us be challenged! Let us love our neighbor, our sibling, and our God with our lips and actions for the world to see God’s love and wonder through us.

Pax et Bonum,
Pastor Tucker, n/OLF

About Tucker O’Leary

A Journey of Faith

I spent the first 13 years of my life in the wonderful state of Minnesota. It was here that I was raised in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) tradition. My Irish dad came from a Pentecostal background and my Swedish/Norwegian mother from the ELCA. Most of my early Christian formation can be tied to Mount Olivet Lutheran Church and the bible lessons that I got from my parents. The Christian faith was a focal point in my raising and while I stubbornly learned my lessons I also became very inquisitive about the faith of my friends. Some were Christian like me but Catholic, Presbyterian, or Methodist. Others were Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu. Through conversations with my classmates I began to see overlapping themes but I always felt at home in my faith. Although I had finished confirmation I was not done with my faith journey.

Halfway through my 8th grade year my family moved to Massachusetts. It was quite the culture shock in moving from Minnesota to Massachusetts. The way people acted towards one another, the way they communicated, and the diversity of faith and ethnicity was quite shocking. The small south shore is often known as the Irish Riviera. It is one of the largest concentrations of Irish people outside of Ireland and it shows. Marshfield is a wonderful town that has a larger population in the summer than the winter but the people there are genuine. It was here that I joined The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS) to continue my Christian education. Christ Lutheran Church in Scituate MA was the next stop. I took confirmation again, helped out as an acolyte, and aided in getting older members to coffee hour after service. One year I was Elmo for the block party, and my faith took on a questioning perspective as I sought to understand the differences between the ELCA and LCMS. After two years with Christ Lutheran Church the Spirit called my family to a new venture.

A young pastor from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus Ohio had started a mission congregation in Starbucks. My mom had gone to hear him preach one Sunday evening and invited him to host the services on our back deck in the summer and in our living room in the winter. So we returned to the ELCA and I began to learn in the shadow of my new pastor. I witnessed the merger of an ELCA start up and an aged United Methodist Church (UMC) become a new community hub of faith and formation. If I wasn’t at drama club or at my job I was likely working at the church or throwing darts with my pastor. I enjoyed the conversations that we had and how he pushed my ideas of faith and worship to be more inclusive and accepting of those that are around me.

As I began to look at universities I chose them based on what job I wished to have after I had finished. I eventually settled on LEnoir Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. A good ELCA affiliated university that would give me the tools I needed to become a Youth Pastor. I studied harder than I ever had before and graduated with BA in Youth and Family Ministries. However the Lord wasn’t done with
me yet. In my senior year I felt a strong call to ministry but not just youth ministry, I felt the call to be a pastor. After having conversations with my home pastor and being affirmed by my home congregation the process began.

After two years of intensive theological education at Trinity Lutheran Seminary, before it merged with Capital University, while working as a seminary intern at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Columbus Ohio, I went onto two years of a Vicarage while taking online courses at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Urbandale Iowa. St. Stephen is a lively congregation that is ideal for seminarians to learn and grow. I had some amazing first hand experiences that formed me beyond my initial understanding of what I could learn in the parish and I had an amazing supervisor that pushed me to learn and grow in new ways.

In my last months of seminary I took a J-term course at Pine Ridge Reservation in ‘20. It was a truly eye opening experience of faith and history while we listened to elders and how the Spirit is moving in all places. It was on this trip that I connected with Brother Ian, a member of the Order of Lutheran Franciscans (OLF). I never knew about a mendicant order within the ELCA tradition and so I prayed with him the daily offices everyday which helped to center me and renew me throughout my days at Pine Ridge. When I got back to Iowa I had thought little about the OLF outside of the humorous joke of one day being Friar Tuck. It wasn’t until later that I would begin thinking more seriously about my spiritual journey and how I wished to reform my faith.

I then graduated with a Masters Degree in Divinity and received endorsement from my home Synod of New England. I took my first call at Grace Lutheran Church in Knoxville IL. I had never lived in a rural area before and it was while I was working at this congregation that I began deep diving into what it means to be a Franciscan in the ELCA. I read books and watched movies about Saints Francis and Clare, I had conversations and went to annual chapter with the OLF. It was through all of these interactions that I began to feel a replenishing of my soul, a revitalization of what it means to be Christian. I met my wife through the popular app TikTok! I got to know her wonderful boys Harper and Niko and in 2022 she and I got married which means I was blessed with the amazing gift of being a father figure for two amazing young men. 2023 was a busy summer with moving to Ohio for a new call at First Lutheran Church, getting ourselves ready for the birth of our daughter Lunabella in January of 2024, and in the summer of 2023 I publicly professed vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. I affirmed vows to help all of creation, to do my part and care for God’s people, and to follow in the simple way of Francis and Clare of Assisi. With that, and a yearly vow renewal, I began my long journey in the Novitiate of the Order of Lutheran Franciscans.

I have been blessed by God to have had the opportunity to learn and grow in my faith in so many different states and regions of the United States. I have been blessed by God to have had so many amazing churches that have supported me, guided me, nurtured me, and taught me invaluable lessons over the years. I pray that I hold their unique experiences in my heart and mind always so I never make the same mistakes twice and always repeat the love of Christ that was shown through them to all those around me.

Devotional

Come to the Table

4-8-2025

“Christ has planted his Table like an oasis along our pathway, in order that when we become weary with travel, weak and hungry in our souls, discouraged and wounded because of our false steps, stumbling, and falling, we may then enter there and be refreshed with the living Bread of Life.” Carl Olof Rosenius (1816-1868)

There are many reasons for why someone will take on “fasting” as a practice in their lives. Sometimes it is due to allergies, health benefits, dietary restrictions, diets, or devotional practices. Whatever the reason that compels us to take on this fasting it is always difficult when we first begin. To change up our routine often takes a lot of energy out of us and through this upset in our daily routine it can affect other areas of our lives negatively or positively. I have tried one fast in my life without even meaning to and I hope I never do it again.

When I was in college I decided that I was getting “enough Jesus” in my classes and I had stopped going to church. Yes you read that correctly, Pastor Tucker didn’t attend church for three years in his undergraduate. I was at an ELCA affiliated school that had a chapel on campus and services that I could join. There was a Lutheran church across the street from the school and one of my professors was married to an ELCA pastor. I definitely had options to attend church and yet, I didn’t. I used all the excuses of being too tired, having studies to do, wanting to spend time outside in the North Carolina warmth with my friends “networking”. The only time that I had communion was whenever I came home and went with my family to our home congregation in Massachusetts.

I resonate with the excerpt above. Those times I worshiped, confessed, prayed, listened, and came to the table were like an oasis for me. I was in a self imposed desert only taking refuge a few times a year and I could feel it. Everytime I came home I was excited to return to church and partake in the meal. I remember the amazing feeling of being washed clean and made anew by God’s grace. It was because of those three years of Spiritual isolation that I developed a true hunger for Christ and his teachings. Instead of coming to the table I went to the bible while at school I studied scripture and theologians as the dry mana flakes from heaven.

I am overjoyed to be in a denomination that has communion every week because it is now hard for me just to wait till Sunday! Yet, when we come to the meal on Sunday I am sure people notice the smile on my face when I distribute communion because I feel blessed to be standing in that oasis moment. I have the true honor to be a small part of God’s refreshment for the community of believers.

Let us pray,
Bread of Life, you strengthen us when we are weak, you fill us when we are empty, and you are present with us in all things. Guide our steps each week to stay on your path that leads us not only to your cross of salvation, but also to the oasis table that refreshes us anew for the journey ahead. Be our bread for the journey that sustains us with your love so that all those we encounter in our lives may see your love and glory through us. Amen.

Resurrection Joy

Resurrection Joy!

“Never let anything so fill you with sorrow as to make you forget the joy of Christ risen.” – Mother Teresa, No Great Love

As we trudge through Lent, oftentimes we are weighed down by the solemnity of the penitent season. Singing songs of Lament, preparing ourselves emotionally for the Holy Week, preparing ourselves for Christ’s crucifixion and death. Being reminded of our sins and how a steep price was paid for our forgiveness and the forgiveness of all people. Toss in a groundhog telling us we will have six more weeks of winter and it can feel like spring will never come.

As sure as the sun rises and sets everyday we do know that spring will eventually come, warmth will return to the wintery world, the grass will be green, and flowers will bring vibrant color to a grey world. Yet, sometimes that grey season extends in our hearts and minds long past Easter. With the loss of loved ones, the moving of close friends, job transitions, or the loss of a beloved pet, all of these grief filled events can keep us held in a season of sorrow and loss.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 we are reminded that there is a season for all things under the sun. It doesn’t give us specifics on how long each of these seasons will last for each of us and in many cases the seasons last longer or shorter depending on the person. Just as winter is shorter for those in the southern states and longer for us up north, so do some members in a family transition through stages of grief differently.

In 2 Corinthians 9:8 we are reminded of how God will make grace abound towards us in all things (some translations say “blessings”). In our times of sorrow and pain, in our times of darkness or grey, in our times when we sit in the sorrow of Holy Week God is with us in all mercy and grace. It is in these moments that we should remember the beloved Mother Teresa and the quote I have at the top.

I have only had one Easter Sunday where it was hard for me to experience the joy of the resurrection of Christ. Just a few days prior to Easter Brittani and I learned that she had a miscarriage. To have death so close to the resurrection promise created a tension between my heart’s loss and my soul’s rejoicing. Knowing that God’s love, grace, mercy, and promise of eternal life has given me comfort and has helped remind me that no sorrow should fill me that I would forget the joy of Christ rising. For a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

May blessing, light and glory surround us all, and scatter the darkness of the long and lonely night.

Pax et Bonum,
Pastor Tucker, n/OLF

Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing

During Advent I recommended the book “All Creation Waits”, a daily devotional centered around lives of animals that wait for spring. With a wide range of animals but all animals that you could find in your backyard, or town. From squirrels, to frogs, to turtles, there were fun facts and short stories to accompany each animal. As we get closer to Lent I have another book recommendation to accompany your Lenten practices. “Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing” by Gayle Boss.

This book gives four animals each week of Lent with short stories on each, similar to the first book. There are also special readings for Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. However, like the title states, these stories aren’t about hibernation but extinction. Each animal is one of the many on the endangered species list. From the Amur Leopard to the Indiana Bat, the North-Atlantic Right Whale to the Laysan Albatross, we are invited through stories to reflect on how God calls us into this world. A reminder of how God has created all things and we are to be stewards of this beautiful world that God has made for us.

During Lent this year we will be focusing on Saints of the United States. Learning through scripture and example how we are called individually towards God’s plan, and collectively as the body of Christ. Similar to the Catholic Church we Lutherans also are called into veneration of the Saints. What this means is that we respect them, learn from them, and at times ask them for guidance just as we would for a role model. We don’t worship them, but we hold services centered around how God worked wondrous things through these
people. People, who in many more ways, are just like us.

I encourage all of us, this Lent, to listen to how God is calling us through the saints that have gone before us and through creation that is still around us. To listen for the still beating heart of our God in all that is around us. For the whispers in the trees like Elisha waited for his message through the storms. May we be present for Christ this Lent in a way we haven’t before.

Pax et Bonum,
Pastor Tucker, n/OLF

Catholic or catholic

Roughly a year ago I had someone come up to me and ask why we supported the Catholic Church in our Creed. They were curious because we had separated from the Roman Catholic Church back in 1517 with Martin Luther. Within this question there are several important tidbits that we have to remember when looking back at the history of Lutherans and Catholics. The importance of titles, the importance of theology, and the importance of change.

First let’s look at what is written in our Creed. In the Apostles Creed we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the forgiveness of sins…” So, what does ‘catholic’ mean? The word catholic is defined as being “a wide variety of things, all encompassing”. When the Roman Catholic Church was formed, around 30 A.D. with Peter’s charge to be the cornerstone or around A.D. 312 when Emperor Constantine legalized Christianity, Christians felt that they would remain united. That they could have one faith that encompassed all perspectives on Jesus, and that all people would turn to Christ. However, many people didn’t turn to Christ, and still don’t, and by 1054 the Great Schism separated the Roman Catholics from the Eastern Orthodox. When we say that we believe in One Holy catholic Church, we are referring to the original dream, that all Christians will be united one day in Christ and not separated out by denominations and
disagreements about how we understand scripture.

It is also good for us to remember that Martin Luther never wanted to leave the Catholic Church and that he never wanted a denomination named after him. Martin Luther believed that if a new church was to be named it should be the Evangelical church because Evangelical means “according to the teachings of the Bible.” Martin Luther wanted to address theological changes he could see within the Roman Catholic Church and since 1517 Lutherans and Catholics have been reconciling our differences and changing our theology. We now have more similarities with Catholics than many other Protestant Denominations. We are still not in full communion with them, however, every year we all push closer towards the Christian dream of a Holy catholic (All Encompassing) Church.

Pax et Bonum,
Pastor Tucker

Titles Part 4: Becoming a Pastor

Titles: Part 4

Becoming a Pastor

In the ELCA we have a four year long system of listening, searching, following, teaching, leading, and guiding an individual through the call process. When we first start on this path we get a psychological examination, background checks, have an interview with a pastor of the area, and we have to have the sponsorship of a congregation. The next four years are filled will constant discernment. With graduate studies of learning Koine Greek, in some cases Hebrew, and in my school it is mandatory for us to learn Spanish. We go through studies of the Old Testament, New Testament, Church History, Person in Ministry, Family Origins, Intro to Worship, and those are just the basic beginning courses of the first year. I took courses like Islam, Eco-Spirituality, Racial Awareness, Boundaries Training, Alternative Religions, History of Religion in the United States, and many more. I was blessed to go on trips to Mexico and Pine Ridge Reservation to listen and learn about history and faith practices.

But even this is just the tip of the iceberg of studies that we have to go through. On top of all the class work students have to participate in Leadership In Context (LIC) which is an internship site while you are in your first two years of seminary. In the first summer students usually take Clinical Pastoral Experience (CPE) and work at a level one or level two trauma institute. I spent a summer working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston on the drop down surgery and oncology floors. At Trinity, there is a two year internship
model that allows for us to do class work online while we are working in a congregation as a Vicar or intern Pastor. At my context I observed a capital campaign, hiring and firing of staff, my supervisor going on sabbatical, my supervisor going on paternity leave, the flooding of the basement of the church, community project of helping out at a local elementary school, spiritual growth project of learning from other religious communities, book studies, bible studies, a pandemic, and the usual happenings of a congregation. During all of these different aspects of education we check in with our home synods and reflect on our call to be a pastor. How are we being called by the spirit and at any point we could be pulled out of the candidacy process or put on hold to do spiritual discernment and reflection on how God is really calling us. It is not an easy process nor is it a short process. It has to be a difficult process that takes a while to make sure that those who are stepping into this position are doing it for good and just reasons. Taking the step to be a pastor is not just hearing the call for ourselves. It is the culmination of internal call, external affirmation, and years of study and guidance. It is a most wonderful and humbling position to have the privilege to do in this world. I am personally grateful for all that I have gone through to be able to serve our wonderful congregation as Pastor.

Pax et Bonum,
Brother Tucker

Stewardship 101 3-24

How I Began

In my former life — that is when I lived life on the other side of the collar — I got a phone call from my Pastor. He informed me that he wanted to stop by my house that night for a stewardship visit. Stewardship, to me, was synonymous with money. My money. The money I earned and my church wanted to get hold of. My immediate reflex was to reach for my back pants pocket to make
sure my wallet was safe.

He arrived right on time, and I invited him in. Before he had the chance to talk first, I said, “So how much more do you want me to give than what I’m already doing?” Pastor Don just smiled. Then he said, “You know, Bill, there’s a lot more to stewardship than money.” He then went on to ask if I could start assisting him at worship, since I was already up front, singing in choir, and therefore wore the same type of robe as the other assisting ministers. (What I didn’t know was that our Associate Pastor was about to take another call.) We both had a good chuckle about my misunderstanding, but just as he was leaving – true to form – he said, “But if you could come up with an extra $2.00 per week, I see no harm.”

A year or so after that visit, and many Sundays serving in my new ‘stewardship’ role, it was decided that we would adopt the new “Lutheran Book of Worship” due to be published before the end of the year. Once again, I was asked to study, learn, and help introduce this new hymnal. It was in the Offertory Prayer of that new liturgy where I found a richer meaning to what my Pastor had meant during that first ‘stewardship’ appointment. You probably know the words as well:

Merciful Father, we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us — our selves, our time, and our possessions — signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of him who offered himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

You see, all too often we equate stewardship with dollars and cents. All too little do we move beyond our wallets and bank accounts for the fullness of what stewardship can bring. Walk with me through the prayer above. “With joy and thanksgiving” is the obvious place to start. Before anything else we need to turn our attention to the idea of joy and thanksgiving.

– Pastor Bill Schultz

Titles Part 3: Friars vs. Brothers

Titles: Part 3

Friar vs. Brother

Two names that are often used by and for the Franciscans are Friar and Brother. A Friar is an individual who is a part of a Mendicant order. Now a mendicant is defined as a beggar or an individual who combines monastic life with outside religious activity. It just so happens that Franciscans were both, they often begged for food and the basic needs that they required. Our vow of poverty focuses around how Christ chose for himself a poor and humble life, even though he valued all of God’s creation (OLF General Rule ch2, poverty). We remind ourselves in this vow that just as God provides for the lilies of the field, so too will God provide for us (Matthew 6:28-33). Francis was also adamant that the siblings in the order shouldn’t be cloistered away in a monastery, but should be out in the community “caring for the least of these”. However, one interesting fact is that the term “Friar” or “Frater” in Latin, means brother.

Within the OLF it is very common that we use the familial terms of Sister, Brother, and Sibling. However, this term is only used for those who are Novices or Life Professed and not for Friends of the Order or Postulants. This is to help us know who has taken vows to follow the path of Saint Francis and who is just curious and wishes to learn more. Those who are intentionally walking this path are brought into a family where all are equal. From the minister general to the sibling minor, all are valued, seen, and listened to. This title holds onto us just like a doctoral degree or a master’s degree, but it also is rooted deeper into our very spirit. Many pastors in the OLF, when they take their novice vows or their life profession, will choose to have their congregations switch from calling them Pastor to having them call them Brother. This choice is different for everyone, but it is rooted in the importance of the name and what it takes for us to become a Franciscan. This choice isn’t a light one that we take. It is a long spiritual process that takes longer than getting a Masters or some Doctorates. It is also a spiritual process that has no end to it and one we journey with until the day we are reunited with our dear brother Jesus.

Pax et Bonum (Peace and all Good)

Brother Tucker