The Rev. Werner Ramirez, Associate Pastor for Congregational Care & Family Ministries at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, has been thinking about these questions a lot lately. Next summer, with the help of a grant from the Lily Endowment National Clergy Renewal Program, he’ll get a chance to explore some answers across the globe.

Renewed energy and refreshed perspective

“I was born in Guatemala and immigrated to the United States with my parents and one-year-old sister at age five,” says Ramirez. “I grew up in Long Beach, California, and have been on the East Coast ever since I started seminary in 2014. The East Coast never felt like home until recently. So, I’ve been asking myself, ‘What is home?’ With my sabbatical coming up, I knew I wanted to use that time and think about the feeling of home and how it changes over the course of our lives.”

After six years of congregational ministry, clergy at FAPC are eligible for a summer-long sabbatical. This valuable time lets them rest, recharge, and reflect on their service. Clergy return from their sabbaticals with renewed energy and refreshed perspectives.

“The Lily Endowment’s grant is extremely generous,” Ramirez says. “I’ll use it to pursue the meaning of ‘home’ all over the world, accompanied by my family for some of it and my wonderful wife, April, throughout it all. I’ll explore the home of my ancestors and visit Guatemala with my family. I’ll spend time in California, where I grew up, and connect with folks who were foundational to my spiritual upbringing. I’ll dive deeply into my current home here in New York City and go to Scotland to soak in the ancestral home of the Presbyterian church. On the way back to New York, we’ll stop by Belgium, the home of beer. I have an entire theology of beer. I am looking forward to exploring these many different homes.”

Funds from the Lily Endowment will also support guest preachers and a seminarian intern to take Ramirez’s place at Fifth Avenue in the summer of 2025. “It’s important that the Fifth Avenue family knows they’ll be in great hands next summer,” Ramirez says. “I may be stepping away for a few months, but I’ll be back, and you’ll never be far from my heart.”

“Incredibly proud”

“We are incredibly grateful to Werner for his compassionate and creative ministry over the last seven years,” says Senior Pastor the Rev. Dr. Scott Black Johnston. “And we are so incredibly proud of him! Receiving this competitive grant is a singular and well-deserved honor. I know he’ll come back with a host of new ideas and revitalized energy for our congregation. All of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church thanks the Lily Endowment for their strong support of Werner and his ministry.”

“I’m so thankful to the Lily Endowment Clergy Renewal Program and the Center for Pastoral Excellence at Christian Theological Seminary for this opportunity,” says Ramirez. “Their grant will give me the chance to spend a summer with the people and the places who matter most to me in the world. My hope is that this renewal will also energize the congregation of Fifth Avenue to live into the good news that, in Christ, we are home. I’ll walk every step knowing that my congregation and this generous grant put me on that path. Thank you so much.”