A Pastoral Abeyance

Jon, Dave, and Abbe - Contractor Support
Rock of Ages Lighthouse

As I lashed the boat to the lighthouse dock, an average-height, more senior gentleman with a broad smile, peering through a gray beard topped with a military-style haircut, offered his hand and asked, “So are you Yawn?” 

This was the volunteer I was to take from his final day on the lighthouse after serving two weeks alongside the founder and chief architect of the Rock of Ages Lighthouse Preservation Society (ROALPS). That’s an abnormally long period to share a cold, damp, and sometimes buggy tower with someone, let alone the three contractors that joined them in the last week. 

“Jon and Yawn,” he said. Yawn and Jon,” repeated a couple more times for effect. “We’ll make a good team on the island,” meaning Barnum Island, our base camp.

He didn’t look any worse for wear, which is an accomplishment when you consider he’s lived with a persnickety composting toilet, showered with a 5-gallon bucket of water and a submersible pump, and eaten non-perishable meals from packages and cans.

One of the most common questions I have of volunteers is, “Why do you do it?” Or, “What brought you here?” You can learn some of their answers in my article in Lake Superior Magazine, February/March 2024, reproduced in this blog called “Volunteers Rock”.

Jon’s response was one of the most unique shared with me.

“I’ve been out here a lot of times, I’ve hiked a lot of miles, I’ve paddled a lot of miles, and this time I wanted to do something different. I definitely wanted to give something back.”

Give back? To what? The gods?

Well, actually, quite maybe.

Jon is a Pastor for the Avon Federated Church in Avon, Illinois. Over the last 15 Years he’s come out for 21 visits to Isle Royale to hike in solitude, most often the full length of the island… and sometimes back again  If you talk to hikers who have made a one-way hike, many will tell tales of hardship and woe through their exhaustion as they board a ferry for the return. 

It’s not that Jon didn’t have similar stories; it’s just that he told them with a smile, referring to not one, but many trails and destinations, none ending with a lament of exhaustion. Soddenness, cold, and aching body parts, yes, but no regrets.

I had to peel back a few more layers of this onion.

“Why the many long trips, and why most of them solo?” I asked.

“I need and I like the solitude. I like to get away. I tend to be an introvert who has to live in an extrovert world. So I come here to charge my batteries. In addition to being a parish pastor, I’m also a monk in an ecumenical religious order, so I came out here to walk, to get away from it all, to recharge, and to pray.”

He’s been the pastor of his church for 34 years. He has been a substance abuse counselor for over twenty years and has served our country as a Chaplain for thirteen years in the Army National Guard. A member of the Order of Corpus Christi, an ecumenical Protestant religious order, he serves on its governing board. He serves on the governing board of the Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ and recently served as its President for two years. It’s been a multifaceted career serving others with his energy and his faith. 

He characterized his need for the solace of the island in a story.

“I was asked by four members of my church to join them for breakfast at their table as I entered a restaurant. As I pulled a chair from a different table, one of them said that I must be glad to be ‘off the clock’ as I prepared for my vacation.”

” 'Off the clock? What do you mean by off the clock?' I thought. I’m with you, aren’t I? And aren’t we ultimately talking about church matters? Aren’t you sharing your stories of family challenges, and looking for a pastoral response? So how is that off the clock?”

Pastors are never really “off the clock.” They, too, need some time to recharge their batteries and rekindle their faith, as it were. Isle Royale, and this year, a two-week volunteer stint in a lighthouse, serves that purpose for Jon. 

Monk and Star Wars enthusiast Jon uses The Force
(AI generated)