It is the Lord's day, Sunday. My church is seeking to navigate without a pastor now. The pastor we had chose to retire on what I felt was pretty short notice. He bought a home here and plans to stay, according to people quite in the know. So he leaves the church to "drift."
We have seen lay leadership of late. One wonders if this could be a long-term solution. In the short term it is definitely fun and different. Conflicts would likely develop over the long term. I imagine that any full-time minister has a prime objective of tamping down potential conflicts. This creates pressure that might induce a person to retire on an expeditious timetable. And that's too bad if a minister falls into a mindset where he's just another harried professional.
If he smiles and seems friendly, is it more or less a put-on to just get through another day for the survival of both himself and the institution? I would hope that ministers are above that to a degree. I used to frown about how ministers might take the first Sunday off after Christmas, as if the person was so exhausted from attending to his duties and being around parishioners at a peak time of the Christian calendar. I would like to think that such a season would instill even more enthusiasm for a pastor to be committed, not a desire to "get away."
Odd history
I paid a visit to our Faith Lutheran Church in Morris once because I had interviewed a new pastor for the newspaper. I slid into a pew toward the rear, sought to fit in as a "visitor." And then I discovered that the new full-time pastor was not there that day. It was a second-tier person. On Easter!
Left me rather flabbergasted, because certainly the community set high standards for me as a newspaper person to "hop to it" for major events. And if I didn't, I'd experience scorn. My family had to change dentists because of this.
But a pastor having "more important things to do" on Easter, the celebration of Christ's resurrection? I suppose this is an issue for the church council to deal with. Maybe it didn't bother them. It just happened to bother me.
The pastor's priority commitment was what? His daughter was having a baby. I considered that a personal matter in which neither the daughter's health nor the pastor's appeared in jeopardy.
So, let the new life come into the world with the proper celebratory gestures. But that's just my opinion.
My opinions have a track record of not exactly winning total acclamation. I became a known skeptic of the Morris public school teachers union in my first decade full-time with the paper. Seriously, I have felt as though I have worn a scarlet letter ever since. I have read that the infamous Hormel labor action of 1985 left scars that are evident today.
This is why I as a "liberal" am nevertheless skeptical of labor unions. They breed way too much enmity between parties. I believe in total fairness for the working people, but I think other means could be applied.
My church of First Lutheran got some "refugees" from Faith Lutheran because, word had it there was "too much conflict" at Faith. Religion can indeed breed that. During my years with the Morris newspaper, I was more likely to visit my church as a newspaper person than as a worshiper. Nearly every Sunday morning, I was busy at the office. And after years of that, helping put out a twice-weekly paper - it's one today - the community gave scant acknowledgment of my efforts.
Welcome to the club of being underappreciated, I guess. I'm old enough for knowing the rules of the road for how fellow citizens judge us. We have a proclivity for instant gratification. What have you done for us lately?
Sports coaches know that the current fans/parents will forget any past state tournament appearances. If a coach trots that out to try to defend himself/herself, it draws a flood of pooh-poohing. "That was yesterday."
My ill-fated visit to Faith Lutheran was at a time when I gathered that this church was in the midst of its conflict spasms. I heard too much about that to have any doubts that it was true. Hey, sometimes a newspaperman just knows! I would add, especially a newspaperman of my vintage. We felt our oats in those days, coming out of Watergate.
Today? I haven't been involved for a long time. A sea change has apparently taken over in which we do not need the printed word. To hell with the "tactile experience" of reading a print newspaper! Reed Anfinson would want us to like the tactile, as he practically sermonizes every week from his "pulpit" of the editorial page on how we need to keep buying newspapers and advertising in them. The redundancy is getting annoying, don't you think? Naked self-interest of course.
Looks like the newspaper employees of today are so thankful to just be employed, they are totally de-clawed compared to what I remember. Anything to survive, which I guess is a pretty fundamental human instinct. Me? The banks are finally starting to pay interest on savings again. Makes me feel a little more secure.
Look for the "specials"
We have this odd phenomenon now of bank "CD specials." They are essential for the time being if you want optimal returns, but there's a catch. Many banks stipulate that all or part of a new certificate of deposit purchase be new money. I laugh a little as this really pits banks against each other.
I would prefer the old system where banks just had standard CD rates with the 5-year being the most attractive. Now they are hawking these "specials." Someone like me gets forced eventually to make a big withdrawal from one bank and put the funds in another. No choice really. I recently described this state of affairs to a friend as "crass." When it comes to money, a lot of crass things can happen.
So I'm doing OK. As for the newspaper, it can only face stronger headwinds. The force here is the Internet. It did not exist when I was young. We can forget that the very activity of "writing" was once considered a chore. Females took to the activity more than males. Ditto with "typing" on the old pre-digital keyboard devices: manual typewriters? Seems almost older than caveman paintings now. The "electric" typewriters that came along were really not much of an improvement, not as much as you'd think.
I smile as I remember the late libertarian/humorist P.J. O'Rourke and how he stuck to his "IBM Selectric." He became so well-known for this, people who discarded their old stuff would offer him their "Selectrics."
There is no point in being bogged down in past ways, of course. He who hesitates is lost. Don't miss the train. In my case, I kept up with the new tech for a long time until finally my efforts started fading. Very sad to reflect upon.
I left the Morris newspaper when all our systems were up in the air. Too many established systems were being uprooted all at once. You never know how the dust is going to settle.
I left when we had a manager, Sue Dieter, who gave the impression that the newspaper website was going to be a huge priority. Lots of new labor to be invested. I as an employee had to respect that. What choice was there? In American capitalism you follow your leader, the company manager. But I was into my 50s and feeling horribly worn down. At a certain point I had to wave the white flag.
And it is important to note that I still wore the "scarlet letter" of my past schism with the Morris public school teachers. They had a network of well-placed friends in the community too. I could not in good conscience side with them on certain important matters. I think they were a "tribe" just pushing their self-interest, not the ideals of serving the young people. I couldn't rubber-stamp a "good old boy" outfit, for one thing. And we most certainly had that.
Eventually there were enough skeptics in the community to chip away at the primacy of that group. It took time which I found very aggravating to deal with. Eventually a better sense of order and ideals set in.
I saw a lot of those "good old boys" coalescing at Faith Lutheran Church - that is an impression that I cannot escape to this very day. I don't even think it holds true any more. Times change along with the pertinent issues.
So today the very survival of the ELCA is the issue. I have been doomsaying some about my First Lutheran Church lately. I do not think this is overstated.
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| Faith Lutheran Church |
Did I finish my story about Faith Lutheran on that Easter Sunday? Well, I engaged the estimable Dolora Hendrickson about all that in the aftermath. A church's pastor not present for Easter Sunday?
When you think you've seen it all. . .
Was the pastor starting to withdraw because of the "conflict" phenomenon that was apparently evident there at the time? That theory crossed my mind.
Of course I should have chosen to join my own parents at First Lutheran with Pastor Todd Mattson. I shied away from being seen with my parents much because of my reputation of "living with my parents." I could grimace as I recall that. Today I don't think anyone would care much if at all. We are far less judgmental. We don't even care if a certain person is "unemployed."
I'll wrap up my story of the Faith Lutheran Easter Sunday by quoting Dolora Hendrickson: "His daughter was having the baby, not him." A fountain of wisdom, Dolora is.
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| First Lutheran Church |
My church of First Lutheran may be in its death spasms because of the ELCA's "liberal" reputation. The problem seems to be getting worse. I'm looking at page 36 of the spring "Living Lutheran" magazine. Here's the headline: "A welcoming church for a transgender woman."
I would assume that a good church would welcome all human beings. But this business of putting LGBTQ front and center so much is starting to get to me, and I consider myself pretty liberal at this stage in my life.
So where to go? I have revised my opinion of Good Shepherd Church because now I think their stance on LGBTQ is reasonable. Gays can't be pastors. Outside of that they are loved and welcomed. Just don't expect the church to be a springboard for your up-front LGBTQ advocacy. The ELCA has allowed this and I'm finally ready to tell them off about it.
But here's the problem with me attending Good Shepherd or any other "conservative" church: I don't want to be surrounded 100 percent by people who vote straight Republican or who would vote for Trump again.
I'm sure all the local Apostolic Christians would vote for Trump again. I would find it unconscionable to mix with that crowd. So I guess I can no longer try to state that I am a Christian. I have to move on. I make this decision reluctantly.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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