Reset or Recalibrate?

In the last couple of days, I have encountered two words concerning whatever will be our experience post-pandemic life. The first word was “reset.” The writer was asking if we need to “hit the reset button.” The other word was "recalibrate." The writer was suggesting taking a hard look at what we have been doing and, in a world of few people and fewer resources, and to change our expectations of being church.

For me the word “reset” bring to mind resetting my computer to factory specifications. I hear that as taking things back to the way the computer was set up when I first got it. In some ways, it is going back to the way things were. I was recently having a few issues with my laptop. The technician suggested that we reinstall (reset) the basic operating system. That would have meant losing all the programs and settings I use, and having to recreate from scratch.

To recalibrate, on the other hand, means to adjust my expectations of how fast the laptop will run and how many program are taking up disc space and memory capacity on the laptop. Do I really need twenty programs running in the back ground and twelve taps open on my screen? Do we really need two worship services, eight different Sunday school classes, and a staff of five or more?

Recalibration means we make changes in light of our current and expected future circumstances. Physically, I can no longer daily run a minimum of five miles, as I did many years ago. To recalibrate means I make adjustments to what I can do based on my particular age, ailments, and physical abilities. For each of us, recalibration will have some differences.

Do we have the courage to look at our expectations in light of present realities and recalibrate? Let’s admit that “hitting the reset button,” and going back to what we did and how we did it is not possible. Recalibration requires that we honestly assess our capabilities, and to adjust to those realities. There will be some who insist on a reset, or continuing with just as we have been. Both are a denial of reality. We must adjust or deny we are not the same as we were. Only God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Sometimes, I wonder if the process theologians are not correct in asserting that even God recalibrates and adjusts to current realities.

 

 

          Not enough horses to pull all the wagons

https://www.britannica.com/technology/prairie-schooner

The other day I was in a conversation with an elder in one of the Synod’s presbyteries. His concern was, “Are we realistically aligned, in mid-councils, for the future?” He noted the decreasing number of people willing, available, and able to carry on the operation, programs, and mission of the synod and the presbyteries. He asked if the synod needs to realign its presbyteries for a more effective, efficient, and economical functioning. The corollary is, do presbyteries need to realign their congregations for more effective, efficient, and economical functioning?

It was noted that many in the synod, the presbyteries and congregations cannot afford the kind of pastoral and staff services they knew in the past. I responded, “There aren’t enough horses to pull all the wagons.”

I do not know why, but the conversation triggered, in my mind, the image of the great Westward expansion in our nation’s history, the wagons and wagon trains. For some people, they think the image of the great Conestoga wagons winding their way from some place in the Midwest across the great plains to a destination in the far West. In reality, “The Conestoga wagon was far too heavy for westward expansion. Typical farm wagons were merely covered for westward expansion and heavily relied upon along such travel routes as the Great Wagon Road, the Mormon Trail, the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails, covered wagons carried settlers seeking land, gold, and new futures ever further west.” (Wikipedia)

One account told of wagon masters ordering that the wagon, supplies, goods and people should weigh total of no more than one to one and one-half tons. The Conestoga wagons, used primarily in the East, weighed that much before loading. (https://www.britannica.com/technology/prairie-schooner) Have we been trying to move forward in following Jesus using Conestoga wagons which have become more and more of a hinderance? I am thinking of all the structures and programs which seem to have served us well where we were, but are weighing us down in our time and on our current journey.

There are stories about the treasure troves of antiques from the Eastern and Mid-Western states which could be found in second-hand and antique stores, which sprang up in later years, along the trails of the wagon trains. Why were these treasures found there? As one travels Westward from the Mississippi River one is climbing an incline all the way to the Continental Divide. The incline is nearly imperceptible, but will wear down humans, and the animals which were pulling the wagons. It became necessary to lighten the load. Obviously, the first things to be discarded were anything heavy which was not a necessity.

It is a steep climb from where we were a few decades ago as the church journeys forward. Covid-19 and its variants of Delta and Omicron have taken their toll on our morale and energy as surely as various diseases zapped energy, eroded morale, and claimed lives among those on the wagon trains. What do we need to leave along the trail to lighten the load? I suggest the first thing is the insistence on “having it my way.” How many times have we heard complaints about everything from different styles of worship music to the unmet expectations by leadership? That insistence weighs us down as surely has the metal stoves and oak furniture loaded on wagons at the beginning of the journey.

A person said, the other day, “It seems the wheels have come off the church.”  That would happen to wagons. Typically, the wagon wheels were made of a wooden hub, wooden spokes, wooden felloes (the round outside circle), and the steal band around the felloes. In a moderately humid climate, moisture would swell the wood, the steel band would stay in place, and there would be some flex in the wooden parts. (Things which are rigid break more easily.) In the more arid climates of the plains and deserts the wood dried, become more brittle, and shrank. This allowed the metal band to come off. It was not uncommon for the wood to break upon hitting a rock, or for the spokes to become dislodged between the hub and the felloes. The wheel literally would come off the wagon. With a broken or dislodged wheel, the wagon was dead in its tracks. The whole train might be stopped until the wheel could be repaired, or the wagon could be pulled out of the way. https://www.joliet86.org/assets/1/6/The_Prairie_Schooner_AKA_the_Covered_Wagon.pdf

Where have the wheels come off the church? I recently heard an executive presbyter urging the presbytery to become more flexible, not to be so stayed in its old traditions and ways of doing things. The executive presbyter encouraged the presbytery to not be afraid of establishing precedents by doing one thing in one situation, and having to do the something different in another similar situation. There are times, many times, when our processes and procedures, our traditions and our doctrines have become dry, rigid, and brittle. There is little flexibility in “we have always done it this way.” Why is 11:00 a.m. on Sunday morning the normal worship time? Most of the members of the church they no longer have to make sure the livestock is fed and watered, or that the cows are milked before gathering for worship. Some members work varying shifts and have to work on Sundays. Why is it necessary to keep a congregation of 10 people barely functioning when there is another congregation of 50 people three miles away (maybe of another denomination), as is often the case in Pennsylvania? Very few people walk to church anymore. Almost all drive, and some drive past the 50-member church to get to their 10-member congregation.

Another adversity faced by those in a wagon train was the death of their draft animals. It was not an uncommon situation for there to be more wagons to be pulled than horses, mules, or oxen available to pull them. Generally, the draft animals were hitched in pairs, sometimes with two or more pair per wagon. Today, there are more leadership, organizational, and programmatic wagons in the church than there are “horses/mules/oxen to pull them.” Yet, consolidation of congregations and presbyteries is resisted even as the number of overall members and continues to decrease. While ministers of Word and sacrament are necessarily “dying under the stress,” according to many reports there are a great number leaving ministry. Congregations often cannot afford to replace those who have sought “greener pastures,” or who have left the vocation. https://churchleaders.com/news/396413-reports-of-an-unsettling-trend-of-pastors-leaving-the-ministry.html

At the presbytery and congregational levels to provide more “horses, mules, and oxen,” a new draft creature has been created in an attempt to fill the void. “Ruling elders commissioned to particular pastoral service (CRE)” now serve with the full responsibility and authority as ministers in congregations and presbyteries. CREs serve with only a fraction of the theological and pragmatic training of ministers. On the whole, CREs are a lot cheaper than installed ministers. There is no obligatory participation in a pension and major medical plan. In many cases, it is like bringing in miniature Belgian draft horses to pull a load intended for a yoke of full-sized Percheron or Babe the Blue Ox. The result is like giving palliative care to a congregation week after week, barely keeping the congregation alive, until the last member dies. Our mission is not to keep congregations alive, but to actively participate in being an exhibition of the kingdom of God.

The Westward travelers used various animals to pull their wagons: horses, mules and oxen. The horses and mules could travel faster then the oxen. Oxen, while more plodding, were more reliable. Horses and mules were more susceptible to wearing down, breaking a leg, starving, and contracting disease. All the animals required water and feed. “Oxen were slower than mules or horses but were cheaper, survived on prairie grass better, and had better stamina. Their normal speed of two miles per hour was a comfortable speed for the thousands who walked along with the wagons.” Price, speed and reliability were considerations for the travelers. (http://heritage.uen.org/resources/Wcdb79b3effa80.shtml)

Are not those considerations for congregations and mid-councils? More and more congregations and mid-councils are finding themselves less and less able to afford the costs of full time, experienced leadership (pastor or administrator.) A newly ordained minister of Word and Sacrament is generally less expensive than a minister with ten to twenty years of experience. The newly minted minister comes with a lot of energy, frequently traveling faster and further than the congregation can keep up. The terrain is rough and uncharted. New ideas and new ways keep the congregation off balance and confused. Members feel jerked this way and that, like trying to ride an unbroken horse or mule. Congregations and mid-councils fear they don’t have time to move more deliberately. They want to move quickly to change things. Yet, the changes and speed are resisted by the very people who want a “quick fix.” What is really desired is not a new destination, not a new life, but to recreate what now lies many miles and many time zones behind the travelers.

The church can no more afford to function as it did in the 1950s or 1960s than we would attempt to make the Westward trek in a covered wagon pulled by horses, mules or oxen. What is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and over, and expecting different results. The world has changed. The church must change to be able to fulfill its mission, to carry forward its message.

There was an old ditty sung to the tune of Onward Christian Soldiers, “Like a herd of turtles, moves the church of God…” Today one can drive coast to coast in mere days instead of months. One can fly coast to coast in less than a day. One can communicate face-to-face with people all over the world without leaving one’s home. But it took a total Covid shutdown for many congregations to begin offering worship, bible studies, care for the shut-ins through the medium of the internet. Only in the last eighteen months has the church stopped wasting countless hours and dollars with people driving, flying, and overnighting to attend meetings. Thank you Covid. Mission and ministry opportunities can cooperate and respond to critical needs/opportunities in minutes. Yet, there are those voicing a longing to “get back to normal.” Bulletin, bulletin, bulletin, 2019 normal does not exist anymore. The church only has two choices. It can dwell in the past and die, or it can joyfully, boldly, and courageously move into the future (unknown as it may be) to find new life.

What was most loved in the past is precisely what must be let go of to enter the future. The church buildings at the country crossroads or in suburban developments must be repurposed or eliminated. The cozy little clique must expand to welcome the stranger. The funding of mission must be transformed into doing mission. Solemn worship must be revived with exuberant joy. Entering the church and immediately, silently, sitting in the pews must be replaced with the celebration of siblings gathering as if long separated. Funereal worship, as if God has died, must be replaced experiencing the truth that the Word became flesh and dwells among us. Living so as to get into Heaven when we die, must be replaced with living to be co-creators of heaven on earth: caring for the poor, ill, excluded, and suffers from injustice. Governance by insiders must become more participatory and transparent.

There most be a better means of making decisions than months of meetings. While it is important to carefully weigh the costs of a new ministry or mission, leaders need to have the freedom to lead. Three and five year plans are a thing of the past. Clear, simply stated purpose statements with the flexibility to quickly respond to emerging needs become the measure of governance. Purposes seldom change, but the means of fulfilling the purpose change with changing circumstances.

Wagon trails which waited too long to begin their journey would find their way blocked by snow as they tried to make their way through treacherous mountain passes. In such conditions supplies for humans and grass for the animals soon ran out. Being ill-equipped, trapped, and out of supplies was a formula for disaster. Getting started too late made even attempting a detour doubtful of success, witness the Donner party. https://www.history.com/news/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-donner-party.

For whatever reason, getting started in a new direction of mission, ministry or governance can present more path blockages for the church than starting early. Starting too late increases an urgency to hurry to make up for lost time. Undue haste leads to non-calculated risk-taking. Hurrying to catch up, to make up for lost time, leads to inadequate communication, confusion, sloppy preparation, bad decisions, and overtaxing of those pulling the wagons. Starting too late does not provide time to deal with the unexpected along the way.

These are a few lessons to be learned by the church from the Westward expansion by the wagon trains of the past. They are lessons to be well learned by the church in the uncertain journey upon which it is currently embarked. The inertia of the known, comfortable, and fear of the unknown inhibit the realignments needed by congregations, mid-councils and denominations. Today, not tomorrow or next year, is the time to begin the realignments necessary for effective, efficient, and economical future of the church. Anything or anyone which is too much of a burden or resistance must be left behind, as difficult and painful as that maybe.

The Enemy Is Us

This morning (4-5-2020) a CBS Sunday Morning commentator said “I look forward to us being nicer to one another like after 9/11. People opened doors for one another.”  Now, transcending national origin or religion my next-door neighbor might be the enemy as an unknowingly transmitting a deadly agent called COVID-19.

Quoted in an April 3rd article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf said, during a news conference, “Please assume everyone has the virus, including yourself. This next month will be difficult.”  https://www.post-gazette.com/business/healthcare-business/2020/04/03/Brookville-Glove-Manufacturing-protective-face-masks-orders-COVID-19-Jefferson/stories/202004020145?fbclid=IwAR3Rbr17xn8UknStiM8Gqmm-iASSPvkiRf0GyfVeiHTe71slzJDJf6ZBaAo

Rather than assuming everyone to be a friend everyone could be the one who infects us, or we them, with COVID-19. How can such a warning encourage us to being nicer to one another? In relation to 911 we rallied against an external enemy. With COVID-19 the enemy could be anyone: a stranger, a friend, a family member, a random cougher or sneezer. Why would one be willing to open a door for another when the last person who touched the door handle was a carrier?

Now, we are told that even in a conversation the virus molecules can be expelled into the air between people. We were told that the six-foot distancing of physical separation was sufficient. Now we are told that breathing can propel the molecules into the air. (https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/you-may-be-able-spread-coronavirus-just-breathing-new-report-finds#) This is one factor encouraging wearing masks when we are in public spaces.

Social distancing and wearing masks when we are out and about might make us more fearful of one another, just as concealed carry makes us wearier of the stranger on the street. At least, the eyes are still visible even if behind a clear shield. One can learn a lot by watching the eyes of another.

Even when not seeing the whole expressions on one’s face we can get some indication of another’s emotions just by watching their eyes and forehead. It is called reading the micro expressions.(https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/to-read-someones-mind-look-into-their-eyes/) If one is wearing a mask and very dark sunglasses it is much more difficult to read their emotions. In interpersonal contacts “smiling eyes” can mean the person is glad to see us, or merely giving a pleasant greeting.

Smiling eyes cannot tell us if the person is an asymptomatic carrier of not. Governor Wolf’s statement, even in the presence of smiling eyes, might make us even more cautious about one another as possible carriers of a virus which can sicken and even kill us. As Walt Kelly’s Pogo declared, “We have met the enemy and he is us."

Commerce and Church

In the last sixty years, the trend in commerce and the trend of the church in the United States can be tracked on a similar path. From sustainable stores in every community to Amazon. From viable congregations of multiple denominations in every town to thousands of congregations closing annually. In the words of the American troubadour, Bob Dylan, “The times they are a changin'.”

We can trace the changes in our past. It is difficult to predict the changes yet to come. Once thriving business centers in small towns now stand desolate. Even though some still have a post office most do not have a grocery store. Dollar General stores sprout up to fill a need in rural areas. They are mini-WalMarts offering everything from milk to tools. Those who once owned and operated the businesses on Main Street blame the ubiquitous presence of the real WalMarts for killing off their stores.

Larger towns saw the development of malls with national brand “anchor stores.” Malls were once bustling arenas for shopping and cross-cultural engagement. For decades stores like Sears, Macy’s, and J.C. Penney were stable brands. Over the last few years, these behemoths have disappeared from the malls and have gone the way of the mom and pop stores of previous eras. Now, the malls are struggling to survive. What do they do with these massive empty shells? Are they to be turned into casinos and indoor playgrounds? Can they be turned into multi-resident facilities?

Of course, the malls and the once major brand stores blame the rise of Amazon for their demise. One can stay home wearing their PJs and order about anything one can imagine and have it delivered within two days by UPS, Fed-Ex or the USPS. What will be the next innovation in “shopping” which will be the stressor which jeopardizes the future of Amazon?

The above three paragraphs are illustrative of the decline of the situation the Church in Europe and the United States in the last sixty years. Once flourishing congregations in towns, country and cities are mere shadows of their former being. Depending on whose statistics one reads, between 5,000 and 10,000 congregations close annually. Congregations, mid-councils, and denominations search for reasons, methods for “turn-around,” and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars maintaining facilities hoping to one day get butts in the pews and bucks in the offering plates which were once there.

The “church of what’s happening now” down the street appears to be bursting at the seems of their metal buildings with a non-descript front door. Worship is criticized as being more entertainment than with which traditionalists are comfortable. Preachers are accused of delivering sermons which are pablum and re-enforcing of what attendees already believe.

Some “non-traditional” congregations have grown into “mega-congregations” which seat hundreds in theatre style worship areas. Multi-campus congregations gather under the name of the spawning congregation with local worship leaders and sermons live-streamed from the “mothership.” Will these congregations eventually go the way of the once vibrant malls?

We can count on one truth, the future of commerce and church
will be different than it is today.

Language and Culture

(CreoFire.com)

What holds a culture together? What are the elements of cultural cohesion? No doubt there are many items which could be suggested such as language, rituals, shared values, and community/organizational structure. 

  

When a language dies or is overtaken by another language, the culture changes or dies. Consider what happened with many First Nation cultures as they were forbidden to speak their mother tongues. Tribal elders remember a time when Indian culture was nearly lost because speaking the language, conducting the dances and putting on the ceremonies was forbidden by authorities. (https://www.heraldandnews.com/special_reports/culture-and-traditions-the-glue-that-holds-our-society-together/article_5c3a041c-5b56-11e1-9530-0019bb2963f4.html) Mandatory American boarding schools forbade native languages to be spoken. Children, alienated from their families, began to lose their languages and their cultures during their stay at these institutions. Unable to perform ceremonies and traditions in native tongues, a slow loss of tradition and identity became inevitable. (https://www.nps.gov/articles/negotiating-identity.htm) 

Language is important, critical, for cultural cohesion and transmission. Across the world, languages are being lost at an alarming rate. Linguists estimate roughly half of the world's 6,000 languages will vanish within 100 years. (http://news.psu.edu/story/141259/2008/02/11/research/probing-question-what-lost-when-language-dies) When a language dies or is overtaken by an imposed other language a worldview is lost. As Connor P. Williams states, ...(L)osing a language means losing knowledge of the world that is at once subtle and comprehensive, unique, and intuitive. It means losing pieces of information, certainly, but it also means reducing the number of perspectives we have for viewing the world. Or, to put it best, it means losing worldviews. Think of a language as a shortcut that obscures some things about human experience and elevates others. (https://www.newamerica.org/education-policy/edcentral/multilingualismmatters/) 

Even within subgroups within societies identifying languages are dying. Take the Presbyterian Church as an example. What one calls something carries with it a theological understanding as well as a functional meaning. In the last couple of decades, Presbyterians have not been able to agree on what to call those who function as "pastor." At one time, there were several names in the Book of Order, based on various functions. After some time, the official name for the functional role became "Minister of Word and Sacrament." When the Book of Order was rewritten, the term "teaching elder" was introduced to indicate an equality yet functional difference with "ruling elders." Almost immediately a rebellion arose. Two years ago, the denomination reverted to Minister of Word and Sacrament as the official term. One of the reasons claimed for the reversion was that our members and our ecumenical partners did not know what a "teaching elder" is. 

One of the things I have noticed in my nearly forty-eight years of ordained service in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and its predecessors is we have lost much of what once was our common language. This has seemed true since the 1983 coming together of the former PCUS and UPCUSA denominations. At one-point sessions, presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly were known as "judicatories" which were then called "governing bodies" and now, with the adoption of the rewritten Book of Order, they are referred to as "councils." No longer do we have a common language to describe the various functional areas. For instance, ministerial relations became committees/commissions on ministry, and now each presbytery can choose its own name for the group carrying out these functions. The list of changed and changing terms goes on and on. 

The result of all the changing nomenclature is a loss of a common language supporting a particular ecclesiological culture and a particular theological understanding. Some would applaud the freedom to restructure and give their own names to various functions. On the other hand, it is far more confusing and difficult to identify who is doing what across the denomination. How can we who are elder elders pass on the culture of the denomination if the language is constantly changing? What has been lost, and what has been gained?  

BIRD FEEDER BULLIES

It is a simple pleasure. It is relatively inexpensive. I can do it in the warm comfort of our house while sitting in the chair at my desk. Usually, I see the normal suspects but once in a while, a stranger shows up to keep things interesting. I have been watching the birds coming and going from the feeder I have hanging in the maple tree. Periodically, I have to put on my coat and refill the feeder. Without pushing the metaphor too far, I am a provident agent in this economy of nature. I think I have seen some commonalities between us and our feathered friends. 

I see what I will categorize as four different types of birds. The first category I will call the poor. In this group, I will include the doves which are unable to land on the feeder. Instead, they glean the seeds which have been dropped into the stones beneath the feeder. Usually, there will be two to five doves walking humbly with their heads down hoping to find a morsel here or there. They spook easily and fly away quickly at any perception of threat. 

The second group I will call the working poor. They are the sparrow, finch, titmouse, and others who fly to the feeder and then to a limb to eat the small seed they were able to quickly grab. In less than a minute they fly back to the feeder get another of the small seeds and return to a limb to crack open the seed so they can consume the miniscule nourishment. If they make one trip to the feeder they make 15 or 20 forays. They too are skittish and flash away at any sign of threat. 

The third category I will call the middle class. The primary birds in this group are the cardinals. They are bigger than the working poor and their plumage is generally finer. The cardinals feast on the large black sunflower seeds. They still have to work to hold on to the feeder. They don't fly as far away from the feeder as the working poor. They move to a nearby limb, easily crack open the casing which contained a substantially larger meat for their meal. 

The fourth classification is the bullies. They are the Blue Jays. Usually, a flock of five or six arrive in close proximity. All the other birds are easily intimidated by the larger more aggressive Jays. The gathered Jays chase off everybody else and take turns coming to the feeder. One leaves and another arrives. They are like fighter planes strafing the feeder. Their beaks are larger than all the others and they are not afraid of using it to drive away all the others. They never seem to get their fill. They are gluttonous and belligerent. They have no concern for the poor, the working poor, or the middle class. The only thing is that once in a while they will spill some seeds from the tray for the poor doves to seek out in the crevices between the stones. 

There is a fifth category but they are rarely seen. That would be the occasional hawk looking for a quick capture from among all the others. When the hawk shows up, even the Jays take flight. They are massive compared to all the others. Their crooked beak is perfect for ripping their prey to shreds. The seeds in the feeder are not their concern. They are the super-powers in our back year. All they have to do is screech from a nearby top of a tree, or more aggressively perch on the fence 10 yards from the feeder and all other flee in fear. 

Am I projecting what is see in our local and national politics upon the birds? It is possible. Like many others watching what is going on in our state and national capitols, it is hard not to see a similarity. Since the hawks rarely show up, I see a lot of the bullies, the Jays, in nature and in our political environment. The Jays are only out for themselves. If they could construct an economic structure I am sure it would involve a "trickle down" aspect and would claim the whole feeder as their own.