Rev. Scamman Installed as Pastor

7/21/2018
On Saturday, July 21st, 2018, members and guests joined together to celebrate the installation of Rev. Scamman as Pastor for First Lutheran and St. Paul's in Byram.

The Rite of Installment was held at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church on Saturday, July 21st, 2018. With 11 Lutheran clergymen in attendance, the members of First Lutheran and St. Paul's joined to celebrate their new Pastor.
 

After seven vacant months without a pastor to lead the congregations of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Byram  and First Lutheran Church in central Greenwich, parishioners from both churches welcomed the Rev. Evan Scamman with excitement and relief. Pastoring two churches is already uncommon, but his churches represent two districts of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, a traditional denomination of the Lutheran Church.

 

Only 2 miles separate the two parishes — with one on Delavan Avenue and the other across the street from Greenwich Town Hall. But they represent the New England District and the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Church, a nongeographical district of formerly Slovakian churches. Rev. Scamman will split his time between the churches, celebrating an early service at St. Paul and a late service at First Lutheran.


The Rev. James Douthwaite, pastor of Saint Athanasius in Virginia, read from the Old and New Testaments and the gospel, each passage a reflection on the role and work of a pastor. The readings, part of the historic lectionary have been read the eighth Sunday after Trinity for 1,500 years, were perfect readings for an installation. The installation was officiated by New England District President Timothy Yeadon and Bishop Waldemar Vinovskis (SELC District president).


Rev. Scamman's wife, Lena, and the couple’s daughter, Katie, an incoming freshman at Greenwich High,  moved to Greenwich a week ago after four years in the Midwest — three in Fort Wayne, Ind., and one in Lincoln, Neb., where he completed his vicarage. The trio is excited to be near water again. Both Lena and her husband of nearly 16 years grew up on the west coast, along the shore of Washington’s Puget Sound.

 

Greenwich was a complete surprise. Evan Scamman learned of his assignment on “call night,” when the placement coordinator announces the destination church of every graduating minister. Members of both churches gathered that same “call night” to watch a live-stream of the service, waiting to catch a glimpse of their new pastor. Without a pastor, the lay people had been leading the services themselves, reading from sermons that pastors posted on the synod’s website and receiving communion once a month from a visiting ministers. Thanks to the dedication and efforts of the lay leaders the two churches did not experience the decline in membership sometimes associated with pastoral vacancies.


Now that Rev. Scamman is here both churches look forward to welcoming him and his family into our church family and beginning a new chapter in our church history.


The installation service was followed by a lovely reception at Char.