Introducing Pastor Duane

3 Scripture Verses and a Quotation

 

1 Samuel 3:10 – Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

 

Over the course of three nights, young Samuel in the temple is called by God, but Samuel does not realize that it is God calling him.  After the third night, the priest Eli helps Samuel recognize God is calling, so on the fourth night, Samuel hears and responds to God’s call.

 

My call to ministry was similar yet different.  My experience of God’s call was not over three nights but three Sundays spread over a few years and it was not in the temple, but in three different churches.  Yet, like Samuel, the first three times I did not think God was calling me and only with help from another did I finally respond to God’s call – it was April 1989 that I finally heard the call to ordained ministry.

 

Ephesians 2:8, 10 – For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God … For we are what God has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

 

These two verses capture the heart of my Lutheran Christian faith.  My home pastor summed up the Christian faith with two sentences: “1. God loves you just the way you are.  2. God loves you too much to leave you the way you are.”  We are saved, not by any of our good works, but by God in grace giving us faith to trust Christ Jesus.  Yet, God, also out of grace, works in us to empower us to do good works of love for our neighbor.

 

Ephesians 4:11-12 – The gifts Christ gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.

 

I see these verses as the root of what a pastor is called to do.  I see my role as pastor as helping to build up faith and to help equip people to live out the calls God has given them in life.

 

Anders Nygren, Swedish bishop and theologian, mid-twentieth century – "What Jesus seeks to bring is not a new conception of God, or new ideas about God, but a new fellowship with God."

 

Martin Luther had the insight that belief was far more about trust in Jesus than about believing certain things about Jesus.  This affects my understanding of church: I believe Jesus gathers us into the church in a fellowship of humble, forgiven sinners.  Then Jesus sends us out so we can bring more forgiven sinners into the fellowship of the church.

 

Introducing Duane

3 Quotations and a Scripture Verse

 

Mary Oliver (my favorite poet) – “For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.”

 

I love to be out in nature.  In large and small ways, God has spoken to me through God’s created world.  One of my favorite day-off activities is hiking, usually in the one to three hour range, depending on elevation gain.  Mount Rainier, the Pacific Ocean, the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Spokane River, and Mount Spokane are touchstones of my spiritual life.

 

Walt Disney – “Disneyland will never be completed, as long as there is imagination left in the world.”

 

From a young age, the words, “imagination” and “creativity,” were central to who I am.  For me, one of the greatest achievements of imagination and creativity are the Disney parks.  I geek out on Disney Parks trivia.  I love to spend time in both nature parks and Disney parks as the former connects me to God’s creativity and later connects me to human creativity.

 

David McCullough (one of my favorite historians) – “History is filled with voices that reach out to us and lift the spirit.”

 

I love reading history.  I went to college near the end of the Cold War, so there was a great program to take on Russian history my second year at Evergreen State College in Olympia.  That program led to a summer study trip to the former Soviet Union – a trip that gave me a deeper sense of appreciation for our nation and its history.  In college I also studied the history of American government.  These days, most of my leisure reading in history is of American history from the colonial period to the early twentieth century – but I also dabble in other history.

 

Psalm 46:10a – “Be still, and know that I am God!”

 

My personal spirituality is grounded in this verse.  Like Elijah in 2 Kings, I like to seek God in the still small voice.  Psalm 46:10 calls me to quiet my spirit, to open my life to God, and to acknowledge what belongs to God alone.  The teachings of the Society of Friends (Quakers) have moved to seek “that of God” within my heart, as the temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

One of my spiritual practices is to begin each day with Scripture, spiritual readings, and prayer.  Another practice, is once a week by phone I have prayer time with a friend who is also a pastor.

 

Other Background

 

My Mom lives in Federal Way.  My Dad passed away in 2017.  I have three adult children, Zac (Ashland, Oregon), Courtney, and Kira (both daughters live in Grand Rapids, Michigan).  I have five grandchildren: Zac has a daughter, a son, and one-year-old twin daughters; Courtney has a son.  My one brother, Mark, lives in Spokane (unplanned, my brother and I both happened to move to Spokane in 1999).