V or U Crotch

We just had to have an old hickory tree removed. The base of the trunk is over three feet in diameter. We really did not want to cut the tree down. However, it had a tight crotch which over the years had allowed water to penetrate and with freezing and thawing had begun to split. Eventually, it would have split and fallen on our house. This picture illustrates a tight crotch tree and how the tight V leads to deterioration. Our tree was in the form of a Y with the single trunk splitting into two trunks.

There is another type of crotch which is much stronger than the tight V crotch. It is one where the crotch is more U shaped. The wider U crotch allows more wood to develop between to two upper trunks.

Here are pictures of a cross-section of the healthy upper trunks and of the problem from the point of the crotch down about six feet into the single trunk.

 

I just read the white paper produced by the PCUSA Office of Theology and Worship entitled Our Challenging Way: Faithfulness, Sex, Ordination, andMarriage. The paper points to the adoption of an authoritative interpretation and a proposed amendment to the PCUSA Constitution which would allow members and those in ordered ministry to hold diametrically opposed options on the issue of same gender marriage. Those opposed to and those in favor of same gender marriage may both faithfully remain in and function within the PCUSA.

It seems to me we run the danger of growing into a tight crotch tree like the one we just took down in our yard. The upper trunks were strong and healthy. However, from the tight crotch down about six feet the single trunk was seriously deteriorated, hollowed out, with the remaining lower three feet of the trunk still relatively solid. Will we see the PCUSA develop with a V tight crotch with two healthy branches above or with a U crotch with more wood to hold the upper sections together?

Early in the white paper the writers briefly refer to forbearance. If we can exercise enough   forbearance it is possible a strong U crotch may develop. If there is little or no forbearance then the danger of a V crotch developing weakening the singular trunk from the inside. The future of the PCUSA tree depends on our mutual exercise of forbearance.

Need a New Image for Santa

Now that Christmas Eve and Day are past my natural Scroogeiness can rear its head concerning Santa Claus.

Our theology is formed in our early years of life. Very little of the secular ethos of Christmas carries any indication of grace. I remember being told as a kid, “If you aren't good Santa will only bring you a lump of coal and a bundle of switches.” Doing some reading, via Google, I discovered this goes back a long way in history. Those with whom Santa (by any of his names) was not pleased would receive these symbols of his displeasure as an incentive for better behavior in the coming year. From occasional experience I knew the switches were for a type of behavior modification applied to one’s backside. My great-grandfather lived across the street from us as I was growing up. He heated his small four room house with a coal stove. I knew coal to be dusty and dirty, necessary for warmth, but to be thrown out as a useless cinder. A single lump of coal wasn't of much use. The lesson was be good and receive gifts. Be bad and it is a lump of coal and a bundle of switches.

I also grew up hearing the song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.” Again, via Google and Wikipedia, I learned the song first was heard in 1934. The message was very clear. Santa keeps a ledger of who is naughty and who is nice. There is no hiding from Santa who sees you when you are sleeping and when you are awake.

These images are imprinted on young minds even before they begin to have awareness of God. It is but a small leap to transferring the characteristics of Santa Claus to understanding of God. There is no place we can go, nothing we can do, that God doesn't see us just like Santa seeing us when we are sleeping when we are awake. Good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. God must be keeping a list and checking it twice just like Santa.

Yes, we could proof text those attributes of God and God’s relationship with us. In some quarters those attributes are the primary ones which are taught. Lived is lived under the constant threat that if we are not good enough God will be displeased. If God is displeased God will withhold good things from us in this life and the afterlife will be unending punishment.

Is it any wonder works righteousness dominates so much of the Church’s lived theology? Lived theology is how we practice our faith in differentiation from our orthodox and academic theology. How can we construct/deconstruct/reconstruct the stories and fables about Santa Claus which are imprinted on young minds so that God’s grace, love, abundant providence and other positive attributes inform more of our lived theology from a young age?

As leaders in the church this is critical for us to figure out, especially in the modern cultural ethos. The Nativity story requires too much interpretation to become easily imprinted on young minds. How do we appropriate the prevalence of Santa Claus from a psychological manipulation of the young to behave into a positive image of grace, love and abundant providence upon all? How do we move from the early imprinting of works righteousness to “doing good” as a response to what we already have received without merit or goodness?

Fair Pay

In many congregations there is yet one thing to do as we rush headlong toward the end of this calendar year. It is not something anybody relishes talking about or doing. Ministers are usually mum on the subject. Congregational leaders are highly uncomfortable bringing it up. The subject is “How much do we pay the pastor next year?”

Pastors in a congregational polity system are largely on their own to negotiate this with congregational leaders. In some cases there is no negotiation. The leaders make a unilateral decision about if there will be an increase for the next year and how much the increase might be.

Pastors in a connectional polity system usually have some minimum standards established at a level of oversight higher than the congregation. For part-time pastors these minimum standards are usually prorated at a level for the portion of full-time equivalency the pastor is serving. Often there is a polity requirement that the pastor’s compensation be regularly reviewed and reported to the level where the minimum standards are set.

Consider the precedent for paying ministers for their service. To do so we have to begin in the Hebrew Scriptures. In Joshua 13:33 the Levites were not apportioned the possession of land. Their function was to serve at the Tent of Meeting and later the Temple. In Numbers 18:21 and also in 2^nd Chronicles 31:4, we find that the Levites received the tithes in return for their service.

In 1^st Corinthians 9:7-15 Paul asserts the right of those who service the Lord to receive compensation for their service. Do you not know that those employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in what is sacrificed on the altar? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. (NRSV)

In the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), at the time of the installation of a teaching elder as pastor, the congregation affirmatively answers this question, Do we promise to pay him (her) fairly and provide for his (her) welfare as he (she) works among us? (Book of Order W-4.4006b (3)) The presbytery establishes the minimum standards for what is “fair and providing for his/her welfare.” However, there are those in congregations who think the minimum standards are extravagant.

I believe I previously have observed in this blog two distinct mindsets in congregations concerning pastoral compensation. In my observation, there are those with what I call a “management” mindset which views the pastor as a hired laborer. Those with this mindset want optimum production for the lowest cost. On the other hand, there are those which what I call a “labor” mindset which sees the pastor as management, and everybody knows they are paid way too much. Both mindsets work together to suppress pastoral compensation.

As evidenced in every negotiation for compensation in the church or secular environments there are at least two different definitions of “fair pay.” “What is fair?” is a tough question to answer. I commend to pastors, sessions, committees/commissions on ministry and presbyteries as a body the 2010 study resolution adopted by the 219^th (2010) General Assembly entitled “Neither Poverty Nor Riches: Compensation, Equity, and the Unity of the Church” The resolution can be downloaded at https://www.pcusa.org/resource/neither-poverty-nor-riches/.

Thrill Chills

Last week I was gathered in a hotel ballroom, in Louisville, KY, with a few hundred church geeks. Most, if not all, of us are serving the church in non-pastoral positions. The vast majority of us are serving in the realm of church administration and polity. In the midst of our time dealing with various degrees of church politics I experienced “thrill chills” on two occasions. Both times came during worship opportunities. Both times, two difference worship services, came as the group was singing the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul.”

We did not have overly amplified instrumental music. We were accompanied by a simple keyboard. We sang from the new Presbyterian Hymnal “Glory to God.” What gave me “thrill chills” was the full-throated harmonic singing I seldom experience in congregational worship. In those moments I could truly say/sing, “It is well with my soul.”

Some time ago I read an article about why people, especially men, don’t sing in church anymore. I did a Google search trying to find that particular article. In my searching I discovered a score of sites addressing the lack of singing in worship. It is a malady I often observe. Time and again I have heard people say one of the reasons they like presbytery, synod and general assembly meetings is the rich full on signing which occurs, especially including the male voices. Often they remark they too had “thrill chills.”

I confess I am not a good singer, but I love to sing in a large group. That way my voice does not stand out from the rest. I do not feel I am signing alone as so often is the experience in worship spaces designed for two hundred with only 50, or fewer, scattered worshipers in attendance. As a pastor, I unsuccessfully fought the battles of trying to get people to cluster together more. For a long time I selected hymns for their words more than their familiarity and singability. After several years I decided it was more important for the congregation to sing a familiar tune with a bit more gusto than to feebly sing an unfamiliar tune which had the right words. I wore out the metrical index to find more familiar tunes to go with the words of unfamiliar hymns.

Karl Barth once said, “There is no finer sound to God’s ears than vox humana.” I cannot give a specific citation for that, but it has stuck with me for many years. One of the heavenly images in Scripture is that of heavenly choirs perpetually signing praise to God. I do not imagine that as a choral presentation. I imagine it as the whole gathering of saints in full-throated harmonic musical praise. I imagine is as a cappella void of praise bands and billowing pipe organs. (Personally, I do love to hear a well-played pipe organ with deep 16’ or 32’ bass pipes rattling the rafters.)

One of the congregations in the presbytery I once served did not have space up front for the choir, as many chancels are arranged. When it was time for the choral offering the people came from the pews to stand in front for their song. The rest of the service they were seated and sang among the rest of the congregation. They led the singing of hymns from among the people rather than separated from the people. (I think there is a general leadership point in that.) Why do we take the best singers from among the people and put them in the choir loft either up front or in back in the balcony?

My prayer is that we could all experience “thrill chills” in the singing of hymns, psalms and spiritual songs during worship.

Demonization and Doomsday

I have made some modest contributions to one of the major political parties. For the last year, especially in the run up to this year’s senatorial elections, I have been inundated with emails and phone calls requesting more contributions. I understand. Political campaigns are expensive. What I have found to be irritating are the demonization of the other party and the doomsday cries. As a result, I have not recently contributed. Their tactics were a real turnoff for me. I got so fed up with the nightly, between 6:00 and 9:00, calls from the fund-raising offices that I told one representative (in very clear language) how disturbing I found the calls and the barrage of daily emails. As he was trying to plead the case for the calls and the emails, I hung up.

It makes me wonder, how many church members have been turned off by our own demonization of others and our doomsday cries? Let me admit there have been times as a pastor and as an executive presbyter when I have guilty of both of these deadly Ds. There have been times when I have negatively characterized those of an opposing stance or action. There were times, especially around the time of budget development for the next year and the annual funding appeals, when I pointed to the worst case scenarios if we don’t raise more money. “We’ll have to lay off some of the staff. We’ll have to seriously consider cutting back to a part-time pastor.” I have heard many others pointing to the gathering dark clouds and shouting of impending disaster.

Sometimes fear can be an appropriate motivator. The problem is there is this story of the boy who cried wolf when there was no wolf. When the wolf did show up and the boy cried wolf, nobody paid any attention. Demonizing others only makes people wonder when the demonization will be turn on them. Rather than risking that they either do not offer an opposing opinion or they just go some other place.

When we read the Epistles, the opening verses are usually praising those to whom the letter was written. Later in the letter there may have been some challenging or scolding language. What if we were to focus on all the positive things the congregation, the presbytery, the denomination are doing and inviting support to do even greater things? What if we were to engage in shared discernment using the tool of polarity management, acknowledging positives of each position and working together to avoid triggering those things we fear (the negatives) of the other pole?

Are people more likely to support flourishing ministry and mission, or a sinking ship? Are people more likely to join with others who are earnestly seeking to resolve differences, or where they are so divided they demonized one another?

For the political campaigns and for the church, tell me your values; tell me about what you have done and plan to do; hold up a realistic, but challenging, vision for the future. I am not interested in hearing about how nasty the others are and how everything will go to hell in a hand basket. Engage me in making a positive difference in the world. And do not just do that at election time, or when we are trying to drum up enough money to fund next year’s budget. It has to be an ongoing and consistent interpretation and engagement.

Avoid the deadly Ds and give thanks to God in all things.

Polarity Management

Several years ago, I attended a continuing education event led by Speed Leas and Barry Johnson. The workshop was on polarity management. Barry was working on the concepts now incorporated into his book Polarity Management: Identifying and Managing Unsolvable Problems. Is that not a great title? It does not deal with solving unsolvable problems, but with identifying and managing unsolvable problems. No miracles promised in that title!

In our congregations, presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly we are faced with constant polarities which we try to solve with “yes – no” votes. A decision is made, sometimes by the narrowest of margins, but the “problem” has not been solved. Folks are still lined up on opposite sides of the “problem.” I wonder what it would look like if we tried to deal with fewer “problems” at any one meeting and applied Johnson’s polarity management as a tool for our discernment.

Johnson posits that each side of a polarity has an upside and a downside. He uses a square divided into four quadrants. Side A identifies the potential upsides of their position. Side B identifies the potential upsides of their position. Side A identifies the potential downsides of Side B. Side B identifies the potential downsides of Side A. The question for both sides is, “What must happen so we gain as much of the two potential upsides and avoid the potential downsides?” I must admit this paragraph has not even scratched the surface of Johnson’s work.

It seems to me, in applying polarity management, it is necessary for each side to acknowledge the potential upsides of the other position. I know, in the heat of our battles that is very hard to do. When emotions escalate the ability of the mind to reason decreases in direct proportion to the emotional escalation. When we think we are the sole possessors of the truth, it is impossible to acknowledge truth on the other side. It is interesting that in the Book of Order (F-3.0105) it states, we also believe that there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters and principles may differ. And in all these we think it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other.

In doing a Google search for the definition of forbearance (patient self-control; restraint and tolerance,) I found a graph depicting the use of the word over time from about 1800 to 2010. Usage of the word peaked in about 1825. Usage has since been decreasing to reach the lowest level in our present time. There is no indication of the correlation of the word being used and being forbearing in behavior. However, it seems we are not very forbearing in the incivility of our era. We are so damned convinced of our rightness, we cannot see the potential rightness of another. So we divide away from those we are convinced are wrong.

If we have a 12 inch long magnet it will have a north and a south pole. If we cut that magnet in half, each half will have a north and south pole. If we cut the two halves each of the pieces will have a north and south pole, ad infinitum. So it becomes when congregations or denominations divide. In a relatively short period of time, a polarity will develop among those who thought they were all “like minded.”

Johnson’s polarity management requires enough forbearance to even consider the possibility that the other side might have some potential upsides. I doubt the Kingdom would suddenly burst forth if we applied polarity management in our discernment for ways forward with our unsolvable problems, but what would be upside of trying?

Pastor Appreciation Day/Month

October has been proclaimed Clergy Appreciation Month. I asked myself who and by what authority was that proclamation made? A quick search of the Internet yielded three different answers.

“In 1992, layperson Jerry Frear, Jr., was brainstorming with church colleagues about how they might be of help to their minister when he glanced at a calendar and noticed that it was almost Groundhog Day. ‘I thought, if they have a day for groundhogs, there ought to be a day for the 375,000 clergy people in America.’ Frear says. So…for the last seven years the second Sunday in October has been set aside to show appreciation for our clergy.” (Sept./Oct. 1996 issue of the Saturday Evening Post related the origins of Clergy Appreciation Day.) {http://snowdenwiththefam-daneille.blogspot.com/2012/09/pastors-appreciation-day.html}

Started by Hallmark Cards in 1992, the officially-named Clergy Appreciation National Day of Honoring is usually called Pastor or Clergy Appreciation Day. It falls on the second Sunday of October each year and is sometimes promoted as a month-long time to remember and honor the work of Christian clergy. (http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-pastor-appreciation-day.htm#didyouknowout)

Focus on the Family named and began emphasizing Clergy Appreciation Month in 1994, reminding congregations that it was biblical and proper to honor their pastoral staffs and pastoral families throughout the year, but suggesting that they set aside the month of October for a special tangible tribute. (http://www.thrivingpastor.com/clergyappreciation/)

I am not going to try to decide which answer is correct. I do believe Hallmark will look for any reason to sell more “greeting cards.” There are several sites which give suggestions for observing CAM, and several more willing to sell trinkets to give to the minister. Every minister wants another appreciation plaque to hang on the wall, or ballpoint pen engraved with the minister’s name engraved on it. (I never found that prevented losing the pen and never having it returned).

I do know the kind of things which eat at a pastor’s innards, things which wear pastors down, things which make pastors weep. Some of them are: conflict in the congregation, attacks on the minister because of an unpopular sermon, gossiping about the pastor in the community, a general lack of respect, budget deficiencies, balancing the budget with no increase in pastoral compensation, gossiping about the pastor’s spouse and children, demanding 365/24/7 availability of the pastor and the list can go on and on.

There are some biblical injunctions about how to truly show pastoral appreciation.

Hebrews 13:17   New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls and will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing—for that would be harmful to you.

  

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13   New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

12 But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish you; 13 esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.

If congregations really want to show their minister/priest/rabbi/imam appreciation try living out the advice of these Scriptural passages. The congregation members will be the ones who will receive the greatest benefit.

Coaching and Pastoral Retention

In season 4 episode 5 of The Voice, the musical artist Usher stated, “Being a coach on The Voice is to make an investment in people.”¹ Coaching is a self-investment by the minister and an investment by the coach in the minister. When congregations and presbyteries encourage pastors to have a coach -- and to help fund the coaching costs -- they are making an investment in the minister. Through this multi-level investment, coaching has the potential for lengthening pastoral tenure and stemming the attrition rate of those in the early years of pastoral ministry.

Every minister can benefit by having a ministry coach, especially those in their early years of serving a congregation. It does not matter whether one has taken the path from high school to college to seminary to first call, or is a second career pastor. Serving a congregation is different than anything done before. Pastoral ministry is an art learned best through intentional reflection on one’s ministry.

Coaching is not therapy dealing with issues from the minister's past. Coaching is not a consultation seeking answers to problems from an outside agent. Coaching is not mentoring, being guided in practices and procedures by a seasoned minister. Coaching begins with the conviction that the minister is whole, resourceful and creative. Coaching draws upon the minister's gifts, skills, knowledge, insights and wisdom to establish future oriented goals addressing personal and ministry oriented issues, and developing concrete steps to realize the fulfillment of the goals. Coaching focuses on the minister not the ministry context. The coach maintains a strict standard of confidentiality. Unless it is part of the coaching contract, the coach does not report to the session or to the presbytery about the person being coached or the coaching content.

No pastor goes into their first, or any successive, call expecting it to be short-term. Coaching helps the pastor avoid the short-term call syndrome by:

Ø  Providing a safe arena for intentional reflection on the practice of ministry

Ø  Clarifying one’s role as a pastor

Ø  Dealing with multiple expectations from congregation members

Ø  Sorting the important from the urgent

Ø  Gaining perspective and avoiding blind spots in ministry

Ø  Dealing constructively with conflict

Ø  Handling frustration, failure and anger

Ø  Being a less anxious presence in a highly anxious situation

A Google search for “why pastors quit” reveals a multitude of articles listing reasons for and statistics on the startling attrition of ministers across the theological spectrum.

A frightening number of ministers face dissolution of their call within the first five years. An alarming number of ministers become disillusioned and leave ministry in the first five years. Duke University, Alban Institute and Fuller Seminary have produced studies which indicate a dropout rate of ministers in the first five years ranging from fifty percent to eighty-five percent². In today’s church environment very few will remain in ministry from ordination to retirement.

Secular employers know it is less expensive to retain an employee than constantly training new employees. On the Presbyterian Mission Agency website, it states, It costs your Presbyterian seminaries an average $109,000 to educate a Master of Divinity student for three years.³

That is a significant investment by the individual and by seminary benefactors. Short term pastorates are harmful to congregations⁴, and disheartening to ministers.

In 2004, the Board of Pensions produced a report on clergy recruitment and retention⁵. In 2006, the Board produced another study on mid-career ministers. Both studies raised the concern of attrition in the first years of pastoral service. The 2006 report stated,

In the first cohort, less than five years of service, there has been an increase in each of the years 2002-2005 of those leaving. This increase is reflected in both female and male clergy and closer analysis of the data indicates it applies to both first and second career clergy. The Comparative Statistics report produced by Research Services of the PCUSA indicates that in the years 2002-2005 there have been a total of 1,360 ordinations with an average of 340 per year. The Board of Pensions data indicates that in the same time frame 402 ministers have left and this represents an average of 100 per year. Thus, in raw percentages we are losing around 30% of those being ordained within the first five years of their ministry. It has been rightly pointed out that other professions have a higher rate of “dropout” in the early years. Nonetheless the number leaving each year continues to increase. Can we as a denomination be complacent when 30% of the newly ordained are leaving within five years⁶?

The 2004 report identified three primary contributors to the attrition: stress, conflict, and burnout. Ministers, whether new to ministry or with several years of experience, are hesitant to go to colleagues or mid-council staff with their frustrations or unfulfilled dreams. Nobody likes to admit they are having difficulties or are deeply discouraged in their present call.  Due to the referencing function of presbytery executive staff and the stigma of contacting those who fill the role of the Committee on Ministry, ministers are reluctant to seek help from them. It is unwise for ministers to bare the burdens one’s soul to congregants. The minister is left with few options other than to internalize. Internalized difficulties and unfulfilled dreams are the seedbeds for weed like growth of the contributors to attrition. A coach can help the minister and increase the potential for lengthening pastoral tenure and lessening pastoral attrition.

Coaching and having a coach is an investment worth making in the minister and the congregation(s) they serve.

https://wayostccs.com/

1.      Zayda Rivera, April 9, 2013 http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/the-voice-season-4-episode-5-recap-usher-shakira-starting-to-hold-own-as-new-

2.      Keeping Your Pastor: An Emerging Challenge, Kristin Stewart, Oakland City University 2009. http://www.oak.edu/~oakedu/assets/ck/files/Stewart+(SU+09).pdf

3.      Short-term Pastorates, Arnold Kurtz, January, 1980. https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1980/01/short-term-pastorates

4.      http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/seminaries/students/

5.      Report on Clergy Recruitment and Retention (2004)

http://www.pensions.org/AvailableResources/BookletsandPublications/Documents/pub-500.pd

6.      Supporting Mid-Career Pastors of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (2006)

http://www.pensions.org/AvailableResources/BookletsandPublications/Documents/pub-501.pdf‎

Go, Get the Hell Out, Settle Down, Come, Be Sent

I was recently talking with a colleague about their sense of call. Was God calling them to a new place; telling them to settle down in their present location; or to come to a new sense of call.

As we talked several different biblical stories came to mind. The first was Genesis 12:1. The command is “go.” The second was Exodus 12:31-32. Pharaoh told Moses and the Israelites to “get the hell out of here.” The third was Jeremiah’s counsel to the Israelites in captivity (Jeremiah 29:4-7). They are told to settle down, “to bloom where they were planted.” The fourth was Jesus’ call to disciples, “Come, follow me” (Matthew 4:19). One which just came to my mind is “I am sending you out…” (Mathew 10:16). Of course, the big on is “Go, make disciples….” (Matthew 28:19).

It is interesting, as I juxtapose those directions, to ask the question am I being called to go, to settle down where I am, to get the hell out of here, to come, or to be sent. At one time or another, every minister has struggle to discern God’s call. In a time when there are fewer fulltime pastoral positions those who are seeking a first call sometimes wait months, if not years, for that first call to become a reality. It sure is not like it was when I graduate from seminary in 1973. Then there were more congregations looking for a pastor than those seeking calls.

In midlife there are a few things which tend to encourage ministers to settle down. A mortgage, an employed spouse and children in school tend to make either going, coming or being sent difficult to do. Even with a slightly improved housing market there is no guarantee of being able to sell the house for enough to pay off the mortgage and have some money left for a down payment on a home in a new location. There is no guarantee that a spouse will be able to secure a comparable position in a new location. As the children get older and more ensconced in schools activities, it is hold to pluck them up by the roots and hope they will thrive in a new school.

It seems every congregation which is looking for a pastor does not want somebody without experience or who is looking at retirement in the next ten years or so. It can be really difficult for ministers to relocate after they are 55 years old. That is strange because they have had years of experience and gained in wisdom. There is no reason for congregations to assume a younger pastor will attract younger members. Young families do not need a pastor who is their peer. In my younger years, I served a congregation which was growing with younger families. I did not have enough maturity to really provide wise counsel for them. We fought like siblings. It reached a point where we were so embroiled in conflict that I had to leave.

Discerning our calls today is a significant endeavor. Are we to go, to settle down, to get the hell out, or are we being sent? There not a singular biblical options. There is not a singular option which applies to everybody all the time. How can we be faithful disciples in answering God’s call upon our life? Where does our personal context influence how we hear and respond to God’s call? At one time, Presbyterians spoke of permanent and temporary calls. A permanent call carried the implication that the pastor and congregation would be bound to one another, and not seeking after another. Now, all calls seem to be temporary.

What are we to do? Go? Get the hell out? Settle down? Come? Be sent? Probably somewhere in the course of our pastoral service we will experience them all.

What Do Goldilocks, Temperature, and Revelation 3:15-16 have in common?

Many of us remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The chairs were too big or too small. The soup was too hot or too cold. The beds were too hard or too soft. Eventually, she discovered one of each which was “just right.”

This morning on the Today Show the hosts were commenting about the unusually cool summer this has been in many locations. The complaint was we have not had enough weather with ninety degree temperatures, particularly in the Midwest and Eastern regions. Last winter the complaint was about unusually cold winter in the same regions. One woman complained that this year’s public swimming pool pass was really expensive compared to the number of times the weather was warm enough to go swimming.

A common complaint in many congregations is the temperature in the worship area is either too hot or too cool. Both complaints can be heard from different people on the same Sunday. One creative pastor installed a new thermostat conspicuously located in the worship area. Members would be free to set the temperature at whatever level they wanted. Those who were too hot could turn it down. Those who were to cool could turn it up. After adjusting the temperature setting neither those too cool nor too hot complained. Most felt the temperature was “just right.” What the membership was not told the thermostat was non-functional.

Revelation 3:15-16 is addressed to a particular congregation, Laodicea, but it can be attributed to many congregations, today. ¹⁵ “I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Out of fear of offending; in an effort to avoid conflict; in an attempt to keep everybody happy, many congregations can be considered lukewarm. Generally, as pastors, we say we wish they were either hot or cold. The truth be told, we are just as happy if they are lukewarm.

A lukewarm congregation is pretty easy to serve. Sermons do not have to be challenging nor addressing any controversial topics. As long as just enough money comes in to fund this year’s budget there is no need for an assertive stewardship emphasis throughout the year. Contributing to the local food and clothing pantry lets us off the hook from addressing the real causes and issues of poverty in our community. The members may be spiritually bankrupt and biblically illiterate, but as long as worship attendance it at a decent level we can assume they are being fed.

Lukewarm congregations are an indictment of us as pastors. We encourage lukewarm congregations by being lukewarm ourselves. Do we have any passion for evangelism, for social justice, for the spiritual development of the people we are called to serve? I admit, as a pastor and as a presbytery executive, I was just as happy when the congregations and presbytery I served were lukewarm. They were easier to serve; there was less conflict; there were fewer "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" being hurled in my direction. It was easier to “keep the peace” than to deal with conflict.

Is being a lukewarm pastor serving a lukewarm congregation faithful?

That Time of Year

This is the time of year when three important activities begin in many congregations. Some are intentionally ahead of the game, but only now do most begin to think about what they will do (if anything) for their stewardship emphasis. Some folks are beginning to think about next year’s budget. Finally, the nominating committee is beginning to think about who might serve on the session, the deacons and the trustees (where that is a separate function).

All three deserve the presence and attention of the teaching elder. The stewardship emphasis needs a solid biblical and theological under pinning. The development of the budget, a very difficult proposition if the stewardship emphasis in previous years has not been strong, needs to represent the core mission and ministry values of the congergation. The nominating committee needs to be kept focused on gifts and skills, rather than warm bodies.

Usually, it is not difficult for the teaching elder to have access to the stewardship committee. The committee will usually want one worship service dedicated to the theme of stewardship. But our emphasis in stewardship is really an emphasis on fund raising when done in conjunction with the budget development. The teaching elder is in a difficult position. It is nearly impossible not to be heard as encouraging increased giving so the minister can get a raise. Also, the fund raising emphasis is done at the wrong time of year.

We are still tied to an agrarian model of waiting until the harvest to be able to determine how much to give to the church. It is also the time of year when people are beginning to worry about paying off the credit cards from the summer vacation, worrying about how much utilities will cost in the coming winter, and how much they might charge on the credit cards for Christmas gifts. It was either Lyle Schaller or Ken Callahan I heard suggest the spring is a better time for fund raising. A well rounded stewardship emphasis, at least, would have worship service every quarter dedicated to the broad topic of stewardship, not just fund raising.

Having access to the budget development process, at times, is a bit more difficult. Some ministers want nothing to do with it. Some committees want the minister to have nothing to do with it. Frequently sessional budgets are developed with the assumption that income will be lower for the next years, so the budget has to be reduced. Some use the pattern of “across the board” reductions. Little thought is given to core mission and ministry values.

It has been said, “If you want to know what is most important to a person, a family, a congregation (and do we dare say to a government?) all you have to do is look at their calendar and their checkbook or credit card statements.” Looking at many church budgets reflect the value of survival. Normally, staff and facility operational costs make up the most of the budget. Programs and mission, especially mission, are among the first to be cut. At one time, it was somewhat popular to develop a challenge budget which would call upon the membership to stretch to support an enhanced or new outreach effort. It seems that has died. The minister may be a lone voice crying in the wilderness, but a vision of God’s abundance and the people’s thankful generosity has to be lifted up.

Finally, to be considered is the nominating process. If a pastor does not sit with the nominating committee, the pastor deserves the other in ordered ministry with whom the will serve. Let’s face it, not everybody in a congregation is gifted or skilled to serve on the session, deacons or trustees. Often we hear, “Sally is a new member, let’s put her on the session.” “Ralph hasn’t been too regular in worship attendance for the last year or so, maybe if he were asked to serve he would be more active.” “You know, Mildred has been a member of this congregation for 25 years and has never been asked to serve, don’t you think it is about time to ask her?” “John is from the King family. For the last fifty years a King has been on the Session. We don’t want to offend them by not having a King in the next class of elders.”

Yes, there are intracongregational political issues which enter the nominating process. How many times do nominating committees ask about the gifts and skill of those who might be nominated? We are too influenced by the idea that the session is the board of directors of the congregation to which people are nominated for political or honorific reasons. The minister can help by asking questions about who has a forward looking vision for the congregation; who has the gift of discernment, peacemaking, or inspiration? Who has a passion for the poor, the ill, the troubled or the hungry? Yes, everybody in the congregation has some gift to be employed for the health and advancement of the congregation. Not everybody in the congregation is gifted to serve on the session, the deacons, or the trustees.

The involvement of the teaching elder, minister, pastor, or whatever the position and person is called is critical in the arenas of stewardship, budgeting and nominating. It is critical not because the person in that position is the CEO of the congregation. That person is the one with the particular responsibility for raising the biblical and theological questions as the processes of stewardship, budgeting and nominating are under way.

Old Sermons and Libraries

What do you do with old sermons? That was a question I faced a year ago when I retired. For more than forty years I had carried from pastorate to pastorate and then to service as an executive presbyter my old sermons. Some were hand written, some produced on a standard typewriter, some on and IBM Selectric, some on a Commodore 64 computer and dot matrix printer, some on an IBM 8088 computer, some on a Tandy “laptop,” some on various generations of computers and programs such as WordPerfect and Word. There was an interesting study in the technological develop of my sermon stockpile.

Very seldom did I go back and “recycle” any of the old sermons. Once in a while, I would go back and look for an illustration or line of thinking related to a particular text. I know, in today’s practice of homiletics using a manuscript is frowned upon, but for the vast majority of my preaching efforts I had a full manuscript on the pulpit. It might have been interesting to do a study on the development of my theology through the use of the old sermons. That would have been a task for somebody else. One of the reasons I did not “recycle” the old sermons is frankly some of them were not worth preaching the first time. A second reason was the situation of myself, individuals, the congregations, the world was different every time the lectionary texts cycled around. A third reason for not recycling the old sermons was I needed to struggle again with the texts.

What then do you do with file drawers full of old sermons which were arranged with dividers for the books of the Bible depending on the primary text for a particular sermon? During my last week in the office, I gathered all the sermons into two large, and almost too heavy, garbage bags. I loaded them in my car; drove to the recycling center; dumped them all in the office paper bin. When I had told others what I had done some gasped in disbelief. “How could you?”

I did much the same with my library which had been a source of comfort and assurance that I was a literate person. Instead of dumping the books in a recycle bin, I carted box upon box to the Catholic Student Center at the nearby university for their annual book sale. I kept a few of the books. One cannot be void of a library of some sort, at least I cannot.

Getting rid of the old sermons and volumes from my library were acts of acknowledging an end to a particular portion of my life. I have not regretted the purging actions. Oh, there are a couple of the books I now wished I had kept, for sentimental reasons, if nothing else.

If I need a sermon, I will write a new one. If I need a book, I can download many to my laptop, iPad or Kindle. When I travel I can take dozens of books with me with the mere weight of the iPad or Kindle. It is all very freeing.

NASCAR and the Church

I will admit it. I am a NASCAR fan. During the season is it unusual if I do not watch at least one race, and often both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. I once dreamed of being a race car driver, but my parents would not allow me to have a go-cart which is where many of today’s drivers started. Out at the end of our road, where it connected to the highway, the gentleman who lived there built three-quarter midget race cars. Oh, how I wanted to just get into the seat of one of them, but again I was not allowed. The older brother of a friend at church used to race stock dragsters, back in the day before they were all slender rockets with a jet engine for power. I used to watch stock car races on TV, black and white of course. That was when real “stock” cars were races, not the modern fabricated paper thin painted sheet metal machines.

I have never been to a NASCAR race. I will fix that next Sunday. NASCAR is racing at the Michigan International Speedway, which is a bit over an hour from Detroit. I will be in Detroit for the meeting of the PC(USA) General Assembly. So Sunday morning my wife, Nancy, and I will drive over to Brooklyn, Michigan to watch the Sprint Cup race. I had hoped to snag seats high up in the grandstand to be able to see the whole race course. However, the available seats, in my price range, put us in row six at the beginning of the straightaway coming out of turn four. There will be massive noise. Ear plugs will be in order!

One of the things people say about racing, unless it is on a road course, is all you do is go fast and turn left. The race we will see is 400 miles and a two mile track. Around and around in circles for about four hours, depending on the number of caution laps at a much slower speed. In some ways, I can see a comparison with the General Assembly. In some ways, we have been going around and around in circles for years. In NASCAR there is always the potential, if not probability, of a wreck. There is always the possibility, if not probability, of a wreck at the General Assembly as the Commissioners clash on the “hot button” issues.  Sometimes the noise of our solemn assembly requires ear plugs as Commissioners wrangle in the course of the debates. Generally, if one has been to a General Assembly meeting, there is nothing new to be said relative to issues which have been before the Assembly for decades. Each time there is a wreck in NASCAR, while it is exciting, all hope the driver emerges unscathed. The wrecks which come out of the General Assembly seem assured, at the least, to leave some bruises to egos and spirits. In the highly volatile environment of the church, today, it is almost assured to cause serious damage to the body and soul of the church.

At the end of the General Assembly there is no checkered flag; no smoking tire burnout by the winner; no victory circle. Why is it we hope to come away with the least possible damage? With a heavy sigh, we pray we can say with the Apostle, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  (I Corinthians 9:24-25 New International Version)

The Church as Lapidary

I was listening, online, to the presentation of Gradye Parsons, our General Assembly Stated Clerk, addressing the Eastern Regional Benefits Conference of the Board of Pensions. Gradye was talking about the state of the church and challenging his listeners using the Apostles’ Creed as his framework. He said, And this whole forgiveness of sins, this whole relationship thing that’s in the Church where, you know, you bump against me and I bump against you and we have to get sore about it and bruised and all this stuff and work through all of those things. This reality of forgiveness and living into forgiveness. It’s hard work. It’s hard work to be in relationships. And that’s what the Church is about. Is being in relationships with each other. To care for each other. To accept each other for the broken people that we are and realize that we are accepting each other because God is accepting us for the broken people that we are.

That statement caused my mind to jump to a sermon illustration I had used a few time. The object for that illustration was a lapidary. One of those stone tumblers which polishes the stones. Even old river rock can become smooth and beautiful after enough time in the lapidary.

In the lapidary, along with a few stones, are grist and water. Over time, as the lapidary turns, the stones bump against each other. The rough edges are chipped off and the grit polishes the stones.

Have you ever thought about the Church as a lapidary where, as Gradye said, …you bump against me and I bump against you and we have to get sore about it and bruised and all this stuff and work through all of those things. In the everyday life of the church we are constantly bumping into each other. In a healthy way, we are knocking the rough edges off each other. When we engage in sharing different perspectives on Scripture, various issues and projects with the grit of Holy Spirit we are being polished into being more faithful disciples.

If it were not for the lapidary of the church we would forever be just plain old river rocks. The small and large conflicts we encounter, if we are open to it, is all part of our development and growth. Where are you bumping up against another and finding small chips of your rough edges being smoothed off. As Teaching Elders and Commissioned Ruling Elders, what are your rough edges, and are you willing to stay in the lapidary long enough to become more smoothed and polished? Or, as soon as the tumbling begins, do you start to look for another place where there is not so much bumping against others? Do you embrace the diversity of thought and action, or do you only want to be with like-minded folks?

The Great Secret

In every congregation there is a great secret. Some are in on the secret. Most do not know the secret, especially the minister. If the minister is bold enough to ask about the secret, or to stealthily go looking for the secret information, they might find the drawer slammed shut on their fingers by the guardians of the great secret. Even if the congregation uses a data program like Servant Keeper, Church Windows, the minister usually does not have access to some of the data so the great secret can be maintained. Keeping the great secret away from the minister implies a distrust of the minister and casts doubts upon the pastoral integrity of the minister.

Ministers new in their service usually want a clear empirical answer to the great secret. Ministers with some tenure in service are usually about to intuit the answer to the great secret. The great secret is not about sex, politics or theology. The great secret is about………money. In most situations it is a strongly held belief and practice that the minister should not know how much any individual or family gives to the church. Some ministers declare, “I don’t want to know.” My question is, “Why not?”

After some years serving a congregation a minister will know some of the most intimate and embarrassing details of the lives of members of the congregation. Marital problems, problems with children, addictions, failures in business, faith crises, foreclosures, sexual dysfunctions are all things a minister eventually comes to know. Yet, the one big secret of who gives how much is stringently guard, lest “the preacher should know.”

As a pastor, we are to help people grow in faith and to live more faithfully. There is no part of our being and doing which is separated from our faith. It is said when Constantine had his soldiers baptized they were to hold their right arm and their sword up out of the water so they would be free to kill in battle. It seems today that we hold our wallet out of the water so we are free from applying our faith to it. If helping people grow in faith and to live more faithfully is our task doesn’t that include their giving?

Which of us would go to the doctor for our annual physical and tell the doctor, “You can prod and probe even the most intimate parts of my body, but you can’t know my blood pressure?” For a physician, knowing a patient’s blood pressure is not the only data they need, but it is critical data in determining our physical health. Knowing a congregants level of financial support of the church is not the only data a pastor needs, but it is critical data in assessing spiritual health.

What was it Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also?” (Mt 6.21 NRSV) Ministers, will not break the seal of the great secret, but why is it so important to keep the secret?