Tumbleweed Likely to Tumble Down Different Road Soon

Happy 2012 y’all!  How was your Christmas?  Your Hanukkah?   Your Festivus?  Your New Year’s?

To my colleagues and church friends, how are those annual congregational meetings going?

It’s been quite the break between posts and there’s a part of me that feels badly about not posting the last couple of months.

Yet the hiatus is also a necessary outcome of all the doin’s and not-doin’s that have caused a fair amount of upheaval and general consternation.

Specifically, I’m getting the message that there’s not likely going to be any further opportunities to serve as pastor in the denomination I’ve served for the past ten years.  Maybe it’s just the geography I’m in, maybe it’s the current state affairs with both congregations and synod offices, maybe it’s just a long dry spell that is lasting much longer than I could anticipate.

But the reality of the situation is that for almost two years now, there hasn’t been a congregation that has been interested in extending a call my way.  The other reality is that for reasons that go as yet unexplained, the few interim assignments I’ve been offered have been increasingly  marginal in hours and compensation.   Meanwhile, I’ve needed to be working and my mailbox keeps bringing me news that I have bills to pay.   Without friends and family, this past Christmas would have been a bit too Dickensian.

I’ve loved doing the valuable work of ministry among people for ten years, and I’ve been blessed to do it in three different states.    A pastor wears a lot of hats:  worship leader, chaplain, teacher, student, administrator,  fellow-seeker, friend, and of course, ambassador for the renewing grace and acceptance of Christ.   I’ve been honored and blessed to wear those hats in my ministry.  It’s been a blast when I’ve found that one of my classes or sermons has sparked something in a person, and it’s been amazing when a few people in the church have sparked something in me as well.  I’ve been most privileged to have people invite me into the most intimate and crucial points of their lives so that I might walk a bit of their roads with them to share in the pain and pleasure of those moments.  I’m really glad that my career in ministry began with the chance to officiate 3 weddings in two months.   It’s interesting that my last pastorate ended with a bunch a funerals that culminated in the final funeral for a closing congregation.

These are tough, tough times for the church, especially those expressions of church that were built in the 20th century–the mid-twentieth century, to be more specific.  Congregations across the country are shriveling and dying at an ever increasing rate.  And the ones that aren’t can begin to see some ominous storm clouds on their horizon.  I was out on the front end of that curve; normally I wouldn’t mind being considered as being out on the cutting edge, but when that edge does its cutting this close to home, well………………………

I’m aware that it may not be such a bad thing that nobody wants to punch my ticket and let me climb on board a ship that is taking on water faster than it can be bailed.  It’s just that I spent about 5 years of my life preparing for that boat ride, and spent another ten out sailing.   But massive quakes are hitting the church now, and unless one can find a place with a group that is equipped to roll with those tremors, it’s maybe better to be outside the building while it threatens to collapse on those who continue in their denial with all the stubborness of someone who refuses to accept their own mortality.

What is happening is nothing short of a New Reformation in the 21st century.  Christianity is being renewed and reformed in ways that must just scare the daylights out of those folks who’d planned to just stay the course until they could retire and cash in on their pensions.    And unfortunately, much of the church’s financial woes can be traced to those folks who are in that very process of moving up this suddenly burdensome salary ladder; they may be offering great experience and talented ministry, but they are also part of the reason the church is being hollowed out from the inside.  They can come up with some pretty dynamic program ideas and offer the church some great charismatic leadership, but these things won’t forestall the changes already shifting the ground beneath their feet.   Only a committment to the essentials of life you find revealed in the gospels can be of some help.  There is much to argue about when it comes to those essentials, but for me they’ve  meant an openness to God’s Spirit and a real, honest dedication to the exploration of scripture that is combined with an ongoing pattern of prayer; and these things are fed by worship that connects us to these things and to one another.

Ah, I digress.  The point of this post was to say that it appears one door is being shut.  But in the roiling process of figuring out What’s Next, another door appears to be opening, one I’d never have considered.    If I walk through that door I’ll be finding new homes for all my books, clothes and other pastor-related things I’ll no longer use.   I figure that if God still wants to use my talents in some church-related way, it’ll be in a totally different place than where  I’ve been.  In fact, I’m wondering if this is in fact my calling and my version of Reformation.

The bottom line is that I’ve mostly enjoyed being the one to proclaim God’s grace to folks for the past ten years.  Now maybe it’s time to start living in that grace, and letting it take me through the next door and on to the next chapter.

I’ll be saying more about this, but I can’t say when I’ll be saying it.  So there.  ‘Nuff said.

Countdown to Christmas Begins-Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean

Here’s something to kindle the holiday spirit.  A wassail toast to Rowan Atkinson for this one.

Too Vague?

The Task at Hand

Laura Flanders: Occupy Movement is More Than Camping in the Park

The independent journalist and host of Gritt TV, speaking as a guest on Chris Hayes’ Saturday morning show on MSNBC, wondered when the mainstream media would begin reporting on Occupy in ways that go beyond merely describing protest gatherings and police forcefully clearing the gatherings.

From Raw Story:

Flanders mentioned how the actions of the movement have extended far beyond the electric, sometimes volatile events taking place at Zuccotti Park and across the nation.

“It hasn’t just been a presence at the park,” she said. “It’s been a presence at the Board of Ed meetings. It’s been a presence at the Brooklyn court where they’re auctioning off foreclosed houses. To see ‘Occupy Wall Street’ people stand up and sing, ‘Stop the sales, we’ll find the money, stop the sales.’ To see people stop houses get foreclosed in Cleveland.

Flanders added: “Are we going to take our cameras there? Are we going to show the power that this movement has to bring real tools, not to just the 99 percent, but to the 100 percent? Or are we going to do what the media tend to do which is go where the shiny cameras are, the shiny police cars are, and the conflict?”

Friday Nite Music: John Lennon, “Power to the People”

 

No wonder Nixon was scared of him, so he used the FBI along with the  Justice and Immigration Departments to hound him into seclusion.

Shame on All The Retailers Open on Thanksgiving Day

Target.  Walmart. Big Lots.  KMart.  Bass Pro Shop.  Hastings.  Old Navy.  Starbucks.  Toys R Us.    SHAME ON YOU!

People are being forced to work this holiday, which has traditionally been a time for folks to have off.  While some will be earning “holiday pay,” for most of them this figure is based on an hourly salary not much higher than the minimum wage.  Is that really adequate compensation for pulling people away from their family Thanksgiving gatherings?

I’m a little surprised the “War on Christmas” folks haven’t been foaming at the mouth over this intrusion on our national day of Thanksgiving.   If these retailers make the money they’re hoping to make, you can be sure they’ll be chipping away at Christmas Day next.

There is only one thing to do as a conscientious American consumer.    Stay away from the stores and send them a message that their greed and the imposition placed upon their workforces will not be rewarded.

Barna: Youth Leaving Church After High School is a RECENT Trend

So says the Barna Group, in its report, “Five Myths About Young Adult Church Dropouts.”     What some have decided is a normative part of transitioning to adulthood is actually a myth, the Barna Group says.  Instead, they trace this trend of youth leaving church to become prodigals, exiles or nomads back to the Boomer Generation:

Evidence exists that during the first half of the 1900s, young adults were not less churched than were older adults. In fact, Boomers appear to be the first American generation that dropped out of church participation in significant numbers when they became young adults. So, in one sense, the Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) were part of the evolution of the church dropout phenomenon during the rise of youth culture of the 1960s….Today’s young adults who drop out of faith are continuing something the Boomers began as a generation of spiritual free agents. Yet, today’s dropout phenomenon is a more intractable, complex problem.

Why the Boomers?  I’ve had a few thoughts on this. 

Another issue Barna addresses is the explosion in communications technology and its widespread availability.   As was the case in the Reformation, people have discovered that they’re able to bypass established channels of communication with new, internet based, wireless technology.  On the big-ticket issues and news of the day people can now  engage in two-way communication rather than remain the recipients of one-way communication.  Also resembling the Reformation is the widespread awareness that institutions have become so corrupted that they no longer behave in ways that reflect the best interests of the citizenry, whether it be a branch of government, a financial institution, an established media channel for news, or an institutional incarnation of church.   Combine these two trends and you quickly realize that the Church can’t continue to stake out the same old ground.  The Church can’t continue to operate under the assumption that people will come to the building and want to join the group there, trusting that this is the best way of finding some higher spiritual truth.   Nor can the Church assume that youth are destined to leave after high school, or that they won’t find any meaningful spiritual growth after they do.

Blessings Received in this Interim Transition Time

I’m nearing the conclusion of an interim ministry at a Denver church that began only a couple of months ago.   It’s a short one, as interim ministries go, but it’s been one that has blessed me in some unexpected ways.    This is a medium sized congregation worshiping around 200-250 on Sunday, counting both services.  The first service is more of a traditional service, though upbeat in the music and liturgy selected.  The second service is what I describe as contemporary liturgical, with a band and vocalists leading the singing.   There is a healthy mix of young and old coming to worship together every Sunday and there is also a healthy representation of people who have varying social outlooks, from liberal to conservative.  This is unique in my experience, where churches have tended to gravitate toward a like-minded, conservative mindset.

The most striking feature of congregational life here is the obvious commitment to young people and the actions that the church takes to bring that commitment to life.    How does that show itself, you ask?  To me the most powerful display comes during Holy Communion, where children come forward with adults to the altar, where the outstretched hands of  the 82-year-old wait alongside the outstretched hands of the 2-year-old.    It’s one thing to talk about the importance of sacramental identity in the lives of the baptized, it’s another thing to see that identity lived out like this, Sunday after Sunday.   Speaking of baptism, the tradition here is to invite children to gather along with the baptismal group around the font, and so they come to sit on the floor and watch as a new brother or sister is welcomed into the family of God in Christ.

There is also a children’s sermon at each service, and there are times when Sunday School craft tables are moved into the main hallway so that the kids are visibly in the mix of church activity.  They need to do this sometimes to get some needed extra space, and they’re not necessarily thinking about the significance of kids making Noah’s ark decorations adjacent to adults in fellowship conversations.   But it is significant and speaks to an unconscious competence in making sure that children know they are a valued part of the church community–and that the adult community knows this as well.

At yesterday morning’s early Sunday service, a bell choir provided special music, and I remember it as having one or two young people ringing bells with the group.  The difference in worship styles between early and second service is truly life-giving.   I come out of the first service feeling full, because I’ve participated in rich worship rooted solidly in our Lutheran tradition.  I come out of the second service with a good spirit-buzz; the band plays the “Now the Feast and Celebration” with a strong back beat and some solid guitar licks.

It’s been a surprising time of blessing for me to serve as pastor there while their pastor is on sabbatical leave.  When I say blessing, I think I also mean healing.  I’d not considered the ways in which I’d been knocked around and down in my earlier experiences.

I’ve had what can best be described as positive mirror images to some unhealthy, negative experiences that came my way practically from the moment I came out of the seminary chute and into my first call.   They’ve affirmed that the church can be a healthy, vibrant place and also that I can be a healthy, vibrant pastor.

My preaching is getting better; and I’m enjoying it again, from the preparation phase all the way to the delivery on Sunday.   Bible studies are as fun as they’ve ever been, and the folks who come are well-read, curious and insightful in their own right.  Our studies have become collaborative journeys involving the whole group, by far my favorite way to do it.

Back to preaching.  I think I’m growing in the ability to proclaim grace in the framework of law and gospel, and do it in ways that respect and honor the diversity of folks gathered for worship.     I’m also becoming more spontaneous and this has helped me shape the message in different ways so that the early risers hear something a little different from the second service folks.

At the moment, I don’t know what’s next for me after this interim ends at the end of the month.   It’s easy to allow that uncertainty to grab hold of me in negative and fearful ways.  So I focus on the blessings at hand and the blessings in hand.  And in faith, I go forward into whatever God might offer me next.

Quote For The Day

We cherish the rights of Tea Party demonstrators so much that they’re allowed to bring guns into a Presidential rally. But these demonstrators, whose critique of Wall Street speaks for a vast majority of the public, must be herded away from our titans of finance and their delicate senses.

Here’s something Mr. Bloomberg should know: We already have a “free speech zone.” It’s called “the United States of America.”

R.J. Eskow, via HuffPo