My Name is Will.
I grew up in Maplewood, Minnesota, a first ring suburb of St. Paul. My mom was an immigrant from Sweden. She came to America with a suitcase. My dad came as a refugee from Ukraine. He came with the clothes on his back and with a spoon he got as a traditional baptismal gift when he was a baby. They met in English lessons.
My parents didn’t know everything about American life, so our family was often a little different. For example, my dad grew most of our vegies. That meant I spent many hours every summer working in the garden and not so many in organized team sports. Likewise, my mom sewed some of my clothes. Great function, but not so much for fashion, especially when I was in the age when fashion matters.
Without even realizing it, I was learning that there are different good ways of doing things. Without being aware of it I learned to be inherently aware of different people and different ways, for the sake of learning and finding good ways ahead.
I went to local public schools, and then to the University of Minnesota at Morris, with majors in political science and sociology.
I didn’t know what I wanted to do after college and went to work in the kitchen at Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington State’s North Cascade Mountains. I signed up for three months and stayed for three years, ending up as the head cook. Even more I ended up interested in religion and theology.
I found out that German universities didn’t charge tuition. So, I learned German and then spent a year studying theology at a university in Germany. I liked it and enrolled at Luther Seminary in St. Paul. I wanted to learn more about theology, but not become a pastor. A few months after starting there, the seminary told me they had an internship available in a German congregation in West Germany. They asked me one Tuesday if I wanted to be an intern there for a year. I said yes, thinking I would leave in 8 to 10 months on the normal internship schedule. They said, “Glad you’ll do it! You leave in five days.”
The pastor who was my supervisor left for another church three weeks after I arrived. The church council said, “Well Will. You’re here. You can be our pastor for a year.” Wait! What? Me? I’m not planning to be a pastor! This church has 400 members! I have no experience! German isn’t my native language! No way! They said I could learn and that they would help me. And they did! Wonderfully, patiently, and generously, they accompanied me. It worked. Part way through the year I decided to become a pastor. One especially interesting part of that year happened when the West German arranged for me to be an intern for a while in East Germany, then a Communist dictatorship. Not-so-secret police followed me around and showed up at every service and event I did. I asked my supervisor and church people what to do. They told me, and even more with their lives they showed me scriptures’ truth: Don’t be afraid. Do what you’re called to do. They explained that not being afraid of course meant being afraid - and then even more, it meant finding ways to live beyond fear.
After internship I traveled overland for half a year, from Cairo to Kenya. It was a demanding trip. I weighed 170 when I started and 135 when I finished. But once again people along the way showed up, accompanied me in generous ways and left me with touchstone experiences that guide me and bless me to this day.
I returned to Luther Seminary, met Carolyn there, got married, got ordained and went to a church in Roseville, Minnesota. Carolyn and I have 2 wonderful daughters, who live in Minneapolis and Duluth. I’ve also been a pastor in Ashland, Spooner and most recently in Superior. Carolyn is a pastor too. She’s now the intern at Pilgrim Lutheran in Superior.
It seems that the good things and people in my life have often and very unexpectedly found me far more often that I have found them. I think that’s grace.
Now it feels like that grace might be happening again in being with Dale Chesley and with you at Immanuel and Bethesda. I’m looking forward to it!
Peace,
Pastor Will Mowchan