It's Sunday as Christmas is nigh. Some weariness I'm sure as we have been through the ordeal of a week where Donald Trump has been in our faces yet again through the news media. Are we numb to this? Is it affecting our collective psyche? And does it really have to happen as we are entering the heart of the Christmas season?
Christmas Eve Day is Tuesday and Christmas Day is Wednesday. Can we put Trump on the back-burner, get away from his constant anger and insults? Like what he said about Rep. Chip Roy of Texas a few days ago? Can't the incoming president at least be a little more respectful? Can't he do it with Christmas Eve just a few days away?
Shouldn't we rise up and demand a change in tone? Rep. Roy was elected by the people in his district. This might not matter though for Trump who acts like he doesn't want to be bothered by the legislative branch of government. Yours truly can already see this, clearly understand it. Am I that smart? That perceptive? There is an element in Morris obviously that would say "no" to that.
The Lord's day
So it's Sunday and it's a day of regular church services for our peaceful little burg. My church's coffee hour goes from 10 to 11. I arrived at 10:20 at First Lutheran and just one table was occupied. Such a contrast with the grand heyday of First Lutheran. It was a prime church in the county and considered most mainstream. We had a pastor for many years including my youth who was a Nixon Republican.
So many people came through our doors who just wanted to seem "normal." Then the gay rights issue bubbled up. Our UMM stuck its neck out on that, got a reputation. I have always argued that UMM's zeal was misplaced and hurt the institution's reputation locally.
So am I for gay rights? I think a large majority of our population has come around to accepting gay rights. Many of us have family or relatives who are gay, would want them to be treated fairly and with love. In the short term the gay rights push was highly disruptive as it developed. I never thought it was necessary for ELCA pastors to even mention it much, to put it before us.
We're willing to accept the rights as a matter of fair policy and fair attitude. But we don't want it dragged before us. We don't want to see church officials like in the bureaucracy become "activists" on the matter. The short-term damage was hard on my church of First Lutheran.
A "transient" nature here
We had one table of people present for church coffee at about 10:20. A few more came later. We have an interim pastor who has his heart in his work. That's terrific but he is "interim." Morris is such a town of "transients." I once remarked to Sharon Ehlers at the library that we had been through several recent "goodbye" celebrations for people around the community. Too many of these, I suggested to her. And she agreed. It would be better to say "hello" more often.
UMM has historically had a problem with hiring because of a lack of job opportunities for spouses in the community.
 |
| Pastor Emmy |
The CW of late is that Emmy has been the greatest thing since sliced bread over there at Faith Lutheran "across the tracks" in west Morris. It's a fine church building but holy cow, the area immediately around the building is shall we say "run down." It has reminded me of war-torn Europe at the end of WWII. Remember the town in "Saving Private Ryan?" And BTW couldn't the military unit have waited for the tank-busting planes to come along before engaging the Germans? The unit could have re-deployed outside the town.
Pastor Emmy is leaving. Someone showed me the program from the Faith services this morning. The announcement was there so I'm not just sharing rumor. She's leaving. Of course she'll stick around for Christmas.
This is my opinion: she should have shown a commitment to stay longer. I think this would have been the ethical thing to do as a professional. She wasn't here long enough. IMHO a pastor should commit for about ten years. You can make it work. But in Emmy's case we see the old Morris problem re-surface. That of limited job opportunities for spouses of important people.
We could sort of see the writing on the wall when Emmy's husband accepted a job that would be based in Minot ND. That's a fur piece from here.
I feel sorry for some of my Faith Lutheran friends who argued for a while that the husband could keep this commitment without spending a lot of time in Minot. Hey, he could work from home, online-based! I listened respectively to such talk but I never stopped shaking my head about it. "No way." And so now it looks like my senses are intact.
And so now after a period of time where Faith Lutheran had big advantages over my First Lutheran, Faith might have to struggle. Well, both churches may have to struggle, mightily in fact. Leading to what? Well as they say, that's above my pay grade.
No mystery
All the adversity began developing when a major portion of Stevens County got revulsed over the issue of gay rights and gay ordination. The drifting-away started. A canary in the coal mine was the now-deceased Truman Carlson. A whole new church was put up north of Morris as a visceral reaction if that's the right way to describe it. A whole new church! Thanks UMM, I think you had a role in inspiring this. It got to be too much.
Today UMM is stressed, so much so, I don't think it is going to want to stick its neck out on anything political. We're not seeing the oddball and oft-offensive student behavior any more. "Gay devil worshipers." Looks like UMM students are just getting down to business with their priorities. Perhaps this could have been forced sooner.
But in the meantime the once-proud ELCA churches - the churches that do NOT stand for supporting Donald Trump - have been thrown on their heels.
If I were a Faith Luth. parishioner, I would not go out of my way to praise or honor Emmy at all. Just say "goodbye" and then attend to the daunting task of keeping things going. It won't be easy. It will be very difficult.
The salad days of my First Lutheran are in the rear view mirror. But it's Christmas. Let us try to feel love.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
No comments:
Post a Comment