Bread

Over the years I have collected bits of “wit, wisdom, stolen quotes, attributed quotes, and smart ass comments.” I call them my RoEs (rules of engagement). Most are not a “practical” as Gibbs’ Rules on NCIS. Some of my RoEs are original to me. Some I thought were original and then in reading other material find that I have not been the only one to think in a particular direction.

One RoE which I came up with several years ago is, In the midst of an economic crisis many are too willing to give up their freedoms in order to have a loaf of bread; others are too willing to take away freedoms to increase their control over who gets a loaf of bread. This seems ever more true today. It is not just here in the USA, but in all countries, where this seem frighteningly true. In part, it explains cries to keep out the foreigners.

We could easily substitute “security” for the words “loaf of bread” in my RoE above. We encourage the government to make rules and to take action which will make us more safe and secure, to ensure we get our loaf of bread (even if it means others do not). I remember when automobile seat belts were first introduced and then required as safety equipment on all autos. Now, they are not only required to be installed they are required to be used. “Click it or ticket” signs are frequently seen along our highways. I remember when motorcyclists were first required to wear a helmet. There was a huge uproar about both seat belts and helmets. To counter the uproar official slogans and not so official statements were offered. “Seat belts save lives.” “What do you call a motorcyclist who refuses to wear a helmet? An organ donor.”

Economic security, or a great number of people feeling they have no economic security, has given rise in the current political campaigns to close our southern border to those who enter illegally because “they are taking our jobs and are a drain on public services.” In very few quarters do we hear calls to stop the exportation of the jobs which fueled the rise of the middle class in this country, or to stop the relocation of corporate entities to other countries to avoid paying taxes here. Those last two items are more to blame for the shrinkage of the middle class than foreign workers, illegally or legally, in the country.

Labor unions have lost their voice and teeth in fear of plants being closed, or whole industries being moved off shore. The United Auto Workers and the Teamsters were two of the largest and strongest forces in the country. The greatest “democratic socialism” we have seen in this country were the unions. It used to be that a presidential candidate knew there was very little chance of being elected without the endorsement of the unions. Now, it seems the candidates only give a slight nod to the unions.

In the name of personal security, the number of hand guns being sold and the number of concealed carry permit applications have sky rocketed. I read a slogan on Facebook which stated, “An armed society is a more polite society.” If I am afraid you are packing, I am going to be far more careful about what I say and how I act. I know that even the most level headed person can “go off” sometimes. If the other feels they have been unduly “disrespected,” or if they feel some level of physical threat, it is very possible they will meet threat with what their answer to stop or eliminate the threat. Even the sanest among us lives on the edge of insanity. Nobody knows the tipping point for themselves or others.

What if we all worked to make sure bread is broadly and evenly distributed to all? In Exodus the people were told to gather enough manna for their household for one day. None went hungry, there was enough for all. There still is enough for all. It is merely a problem of distribution and sharing equally. If the “bread” is evenly distributed and shared equally freedoms would abound and none could control who gets bread.

Fear

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I have been reading and contributing on Facebook a lot in the last few days. It is true for me as for many others, when emotions go up the ability to reason diminishes. Some of the more intense topics have been gun control, pro-Trump and anti-Obama, racism, anti-Muslim, and welcoming refugees. Name any possible hot button in today’s news and it is an open topic for the social media. I have found very few conversations where there is any openness to the legitimacy of the other side.

Falwell, Jr. urges the students of Liberty University (there is irony in that name) to arm themselves. I have friends who are ardent supporters of the NRA and expanding concealed carry. Some of my friends even support the open availability of military type weapons for the general population. I am not anti-gun, but neither am I in favor of the general populace being armed to the teeth. Some of my friends believe we all need to be armed in order to resist a coming tyrannical government in our own country.

It seems the primary driving force in our country, in deed in the world, is fear. Fear is a base emotion which lives within each of us. We all fear something. We may fear the dark, spiders, snakes, terrorists, going broke, losing our job, or any number of things and situations. Sometimes we can overcome our fear. It may be that we have enough positive experiences associated with that which we have feared we learn the worst does not and will not happen. We might cognitively realize our fear is irrational.

I know some folks who fear driving in Pittsburgh because they might be shot. Do shootings happen in Pittsburgh? Yes. Of all the people driving in Pittsburgh are some shot? Yes. How many of those who drive in Pittsburgh are shot? Not very many. If I drive in Pittsburgh what are my chances of being shot? Minuscule. Do I allow my fear of being shot while driving in Pittsburgh keep me from going to Pittsburgh? No. I am not captive to my fear.

Fear cages us, enslaves us, immobilizes us. Fear motivates us to build walls on our borders. Fear drives us to not only arm ourselves, but to do so with the biggest, bad ass, weapon we can get our hands on. Fear diminishes us individually and collectively. Can/will we rise above our fears? Can/will we choose to live freely? Can/will we risk that which we fear in order to exhibit the kingdom of God? That is what we are called to.

"Diggin' Up Bones"

In 2012 Randy Travis wrote and recorded a song titled “Diggin’ Up Bones.” Yes, I have long listened to that genre of music. It is what I was raised on, payed on radios at home and jukeboxes in taverns and bars. Travis' song is about a guy grieving a relationship which has died. Here is the link to the song on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6M2YuAVxuQ. Here are the words of the refrain,

I'm diggin' up bones, I'm diggin' up bones
Exhuming things that's better left alone
I'm resurrecting memories of a love that's dead and gone
Yeah tonight I'm sittin' alone diggin' up bones

One of the things I catch myself doing is "diggin’ up bones" of the church as I once thought it to be. I grieve its loss. I think many of us do that. It doesn’t matter if we are teaching elders (ministers), ruling elders, or members. Many of us who have a length of tenure in the church have a tendency to dwell on former years and experiences in the church. Today, compared to the former days, feels like a dearly held love which has left us alone.

We walk past the rogues’ gallery of portraits of former pastors, and sigh thinking how good things were back then. Somewhere in a classroom or on the walls in the basement are pictures of the men’s Sunday school class fifty plus souls strong. In a display case are the trophies from the church league softball, volleyball or basketball championships our folks won. Our hearts grow sad as those days have blown away like late Autumn leaves skimmering across the road, except in the memories we cling to while hoping beyond hope for their return.

We gather in naves built for two or three hundred or more worshipers and can still imagine seeing Aunt Minnie and Uncle Al Hoppe where they used sit, sometimes their ghosts appear occupying the pew. But the thirty of us who now come continue to sit in our usual places where our families used to fill a whole eight foot pew. On Christmas and Easter we sometimes took up a pew and a half, or had to sit on folding chairs in the aisles. Now, we feel so damn alone. Great voids of space exist between us another worshiper. The minister once joked that she felt the need to wear sunglasses on Sunday during worship so as to not be blinded by the shine off the varnish of the empty pews. That was cruel, and she didn’t need to say that.

Honestly, we spend a lot of time “diggin’ up bones.” We sit entombed waiting for Jesus to call to us, “Lazarus, come out!” and to give instructions to others for our unbinding. Maybe what is keeping us from finding new life is our propensity for “Exhuming things that's better left alone, and resurrecting memories of a church that's dead and gone.” The way it used to be is not the way the church is going to be. Can we dare bury the portraits, the pictures, the trophies of yesterday to make room for what the Spirit may be creating for tomorrow? Can we give up our sacred pew spaces to gather into a more critical mass as we pray and sing? Are we willing to clear out the reminders of yesterday for new treasures today and tomorrow? Or are we content to sit alone “diggin’ up bones?”

Unburied Skeletons

"Abandoned Church - Winter" by Brian Wallace

Across the stretches of rural areas and in the midst of urban neighborhoods lay grim reminders of communities and congregations which have literally given up the ghost. Abandoned and delict church buildings belie the ever optimistic challenge to renew, revitalize, transform a congregation which is just waiting to die, waiting for the last few members to die, waiting, waiting, waiting.

What witness do these buildings give? What hope do they offer? What consolation do they bring to others who are creepingly moving toward the same fate? No longer do hymns resound from them giving glory to God and fortifying the worshippers. Today, they stand like skeletons which were not buried. They are monuments to a past and warnings for the future. Mercifully some have collapsed in the wind, or have become a pile of ashes from a consuming fire. The agony of those still standing presses upon the souls who pass by them traveling to another destination.

Current congregants of declining congregations look upon them as a portent of things to come to their own frail existence. Even as the last gasps of life bleeds from the lungs of the dying ones, they insist, “That will never happened to us.” Some will seek to rally the troops with tales of the exceptional resuscitation of one which had been on the edge of demise. “If it could happen to them, it may be God’s will for us.” There is no one to play the piano or organ. The paint and wallpaper are stained with water from the leaking roof. A window, here and there is cracked from foundation settlement and bulging walls.

In far flung regions where the railroads and highways by-passed once communities fill of promise the people moved on rather than being starved of commercial and industrial energy which would have kept them alive. Yet their edifices of stores, homes, schools, saloons and churches stand in resistance to the primal elements. Only those who go seeking them find them standing lonely against the horizon. The “pickers,” the human vultures, have carried off anything which might have a few pennies of value. In the urban areas some have been repurposed into breweries where there is more life and fellowship than the congregation knew in its last decade or so. Others have become squatter havens and crack houses for those as bereft of life and hope as the cold and drafty buildings themselves.

Vestries, sessions and boards did their best to keep the spirit alive as along as possible. Dioceses, presbyteries and associations sought to provide the necessary life support. In successive efforts to save themselves from death only ensured their death. More tightly they drew their huddling. Insisting on maintaining their solo existence, and refusing to join forces with others near or distant to share resources, to reduce expenses, and to expand mission and ministry.

Has God abandoned them, abandoned us? It is God’s will or our stubbornness which has left these wreckages littering the landscape?  Vainly we struggle to delineate a new identify to carry into a changed and ever changing world. What witness shall we leave behind us, decaying structures of yesterday or vibrant communities of grace, peace, and reconciliation? Do we hasten our death in seeking to save ourselves, or do we boldly proclaim and demonstrate a new and vibrant life spending ourselves for the sake of others?

When we look upon the abandoned edifices of the past let them be a warning to us and a call to us to see our survival is bound to the abundance and free life of all others. Shall we learn nothing or everything from those unburied skeletons of the past?

What Is in a Name?

Names are very important. It is interesting in Genesis 2:19-23, God give the man the opportunity to name all the creatures of the earth. The, in the account, the female was created and the man called this creature “woman.” This new creature was the only one with which the man made a personal identification. I can imagine the man pointing to the different creatures and saying in a rote pattern: that’s a horse, that’s a cow, that’s a Northern pike, that’s a sloth, that’s a……. But with the creation of this last creature, I can imagine the man jumping up and down with excitement, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” (NRSV) This last creature was one with which the Man directly identified.

Maybe I have related this previously, but when my wife and I were expecting our children she wanted names which were not frequently used in her kindergarten classes. I wanted names which had a deeper meaning to them. We wore out more than one baby names book. So for our first born, a boy, we settled on Quinn (Irish, wisdom or the wise) and Amiel (Hebrew, the people of God). Our second born, a girl, we chose Chaya (Hebrew, life) and Elizabeth (Hebrew, the gift or promise of God). Not names frequently found in clsssrooms and names with a deeper meaning.

In Scripture there are several instances of people being given a different name to indicate a change in who/what they are. Abram become Abraham. Sari becomes Sarah. Jacob become Israel. Saul becomes Paul. Simon become Peter. What we call something speaks to its purpose or essence.

I have been fascinated with the changing names for various things or functions in the PC(USA) Book of Order. At one time the four decision making bodies were known a judicatories or courts. Their purpose was to make wise decisions for the life of the church and to render discipline as appropriate (really meaning to settle differences in behavior and theology.) Then, with the 1983 reunion and the cultural distancing from “discipline,” the name of these bodies was changed to “governing bodies.”  Again, in the first decade of the Twenty-first Century, the cultural enmity toward centralized, impositional, governance the name was changed to councils. The effort was to reframe the work of these bodies to be more for discernment than disciplining or governing. The idea is what we call it creates its purpose.

Another example of our renaming has had to do with those who are charged to provide theological leadership within congregations. From Scotland the name was Minister of the Word. As we began to experience liturgical renewal and the sacraments were lifted up, the name was expanded to be Minister of Word and Sacrament. There was a move to reclaim some of the other designations for this functional role, among which was bishop which had been used in pre-reunion days. Again in the early decade of this Century, the ecclesiastical name was changed to teaching elder. Some would say the name is a rather limiting name for the role, and one nobody outside of the officialdom of the PC(USA) understands what it means.

A third instance of changing names in the Book of Order and life of the church has been for some serving in non-ordained specialize service in the church. One of the oldest, I remember, was commissioned church worker. People with that designation may, or may not, have received some special preparation to serve as Christian educators or who had been given permission to lead worship in congregations without an ordained minister. In the later years of the 20^th Century that designation disappeared and a new name and function was given. In order to provide worship leadership for far-flung or language specific congregations the title of certified lay preacher was bestowed upon some. Within a couple of years that name was changed to Commissioned Lay Pastor, and a host of possible additional functions were added. In the early years of the 21^st Century the name was changed to Ruling Elders Commissioned to particular pastoral service. The keep it short they are known as Commissioned Ruling Elders.

The changing of names has become a difficult hurdle for some in the church. It could be likened to changing from the American System of measurement to the metric systems of measurement. It can be very mind twisting. How can we be clear about naming roles and functions without having to have people learn a new language? How do we remain identified excitedly identified with a particular thing if we are always changing its name? Follow this line, the General Assembly Council and the General Assembly Mission Board became the General Assembly Mission Council and then became the General Assembly Mission Agency. Now, there is discussion of combining the General Assembly Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly into something which is yet to be named.

I guess we adapt the old rule that “form follows function,” and roll with “name follows function and cultural sensitivities.” Even the Bard deals with the difficulty of what one is named and places it upon the lips of Juliet,

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself. (Romeo and Juliet)

The Hispanic question is at the root of it all ¿Cómo te llamas?.  How are you called?

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A Reflection and A Projection

The recent edition of “The Alban Weekly” (https://alban.org/archive/alternative-pastoral-models/) deals with the issue of congregations not being able to afford full-time pastoral leadership. One of the models offered as an alternative is bi-vocational pastors. This model is nothing new, even though it is now being touted as the wave of the future. I remember when I was in elementary school (a long, long time ago) the local Baptist minister drove a school bus in addition to serving the congregation.

For over twenty years I advocated that prior to presenting a person for ordination as a teaching elder (PCUSA speak for minister) they must be able to demonstrate a second set of skills by which they could earn a living. I could see (serving a presbytery of mainly smaller, rural, aging congregations) that fewer and fewer would be able to afford a full-time pastor. The two general presbyters before me, going back into the 1970s, were already dealing with that. They developed and maintained a larger parish program with a single minister serving as many as six to ten congregations. The minister would itinerate among them on a revolving schedule and usually leading worship in two congregations each week. The congregations paid into the pool for compensation and the presbytery allocated mission funds from the larger congregation to provide a full-time compensation and benefits. For several years this model seemed to work as a means of keeping smaller membership congregations having weekly worship.

A few things eventually led to the end of that model in the presbytery. One was the reluctance of ministers to move into the area and to serve multiple congregations. Another was the growing reluctance of some of the congregations to share pastoral leadership. A third was a decreasing mission income to the presbytery and a greater inability of the participating congregations to contribute to the compensation pool. And I admit, my bias that just keeping the doors open on Sundays was not a particularly faithful model of stewardship.

As our larger parish model was phasing out, the denomination developed a ministry model called commissioned lay preachers. Initially this model was for congregations which were far flung from another with which to share a pastor, with insufficient financial resources, and for language specific congregations. The concept was that a congregation would identify a person in the congregation to serve the worship and pastoral needs of the congregation. Within a short period of time the name was change to commissioned lay pastor (CLP) and some specific educational grounding in worship, theology and polity was required, which was the responsibility of the presbytery to provide. Not too long after that the name was again changed to “ruling elder commissioned to particular pastoral service.” Usually, they were called commissioned ruling elders (CREs).

During this developmental process presbyteries began to determine that the CLPs and then the CREs should not/shall not serve their own congregation. Additionally, presbyteries began a general use of this model as a standard model to provide worship and limited pastoral care for smaller membership congregations. Many congregations seemed to feel entitled to have their own CRE rather than sharing a full-time teaching elder. CREs were not required to receive the full compensation and benefits which were required for installed ministers, or which some presbyteries required for those serving in what are now called “temporary pastoral positions.” By some they were referred it as the “cheaper preacher” model. It was more affordable for the congregations.

There were several consequences arising from this model. One consequence was that some CREs began to expect to be treated with the same status as those ordained as teaching elders. Some even began to wear the preaching robes, which had previously been an indicator of advanced theological education. In a few situations some even began to be referred to as “pastor.” As time passed some of the “sending congregations,” those from which the CREs came, began to want to hold on to their own cadre of leaders instead of sending them off to serve another congregation. Also, some of the CREs missed out on worship and participation in their “home” congregation. In our general area, we saw fewer and fewer people entering the educational process to serve as CREs. We had a consortium of presbyteries and a seminary working together to provide both face to face and virtual preparation courses. Just recently, the seminary has decided it would no longer provide the administrative and virtual support for the program due to decreased enrollment.

Another factor is the denomination, in an effort to give more desecration/power to the presbyteries, eliminated the specific requirements of educational areas for the preparation of CREs. Now each presbytery may decide what, if any, additional areas of preparation will be required. In the early CLP years, the presbytery I served made the decision that a person only needed a high school education to serve as a CLP and then CRE. My former partner in presbytery leadership rightly stated, “The CLPs/CREs are natural speakers of the indigenous theology found in the congregations.” I question if that is enough. A congregation’s theology and practice will only grow to the extent of the one(s)

teaching and preaching in the congregation.

I suggest we move to the hub and satellite model? The teaching elders of the congregations which are still able to afford an installed minister would serve as the hub for support, encouragement, teaching and oversight of the smaller congregations being served by a CRE from within that congregation? The teaching elder of the hub congregation would provide developmental support to the CREs in some core subject areas. In many ways this would reflect what Calvin did in Geneva. It is much the model which is in use in other parts of the world. I am specifically acquainted with Rwanda. The “evangelists” serving the outlying congregations gather regularly with the ordained minister for education, strategy and fellowship. Of course, the congregations with teaching elders and the teaching elders would need to see this as part of their mission.

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PAINFUL TRANSITION

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There may be no more painful transition than being fired. It strikes deep into our sense of self-worth. It raises fear for the future. At first, the only reaction is one of being stunned, especially if things had seemed to be going well until the moment of being handed the “pink slip.” One moment you thought the future would be the same as the past. Suddenly, in European terms, you are considered “redundant.” It feels like you has been grabbed by the shirt collar and thrown out on the trash heap.

Some organizations do provide some level of severance, but not many. Some offer “out placement services” to help with preparing a resume, and seeking a new position. Depending on the circumstances, one might qualify for unemployment insurance which might provide enough income to buy bread for a while between employments.

For ministers, it seems doubly painful. Most ministers understand their serving a congregation as their “call,” their God ordained reason for being. That is true in a broad sense of call to serve as a minister. It is also true in the specific call to serve a particular congregation. After conducting any number of baptisms, weddings, funerals the minister has developed a relationship with the people of the congregation. Add on top of that the myriad of hospital visits, home visits, being there in various crisis moments, leading classes and worship services and a bond, a sacred bond, is formed.

When the governing body of the congregation decides to seek dissolution of the pastoral relationship news often reaches the minister through back channels. A member who might be particularly close to the minister may call or stop by the pastor’s study with the news. I once came back from vacation early. My car was parked in front of the church. Two separate people stopped to tell me the news that the session had been polled and they were going to ask for my resignation. The session’s process was totally out of order, but the deed was done. After feeling the blood drain from my body leaving me with an icy feeling, I wanted to run to the restroom and puke. Being who I am, my next reaction was to mount a full counter assault, but the deed was done. Thankfully, enough time was bought in seeking to reconcile the situation to allow me time to seek and find a new call.

The church, at least the part in which many serve, has a non-existent out-placement process. The presbytery, conference, association or whatever the overseeing body is, may have some requirement for severance to be paid, because ministers are not eligible for unemployment compensation from the state. If anything beyond the minimum severance is to be paid the minister has to plead their own case and hope for a modicum of “Christian charity” to be extended. The sense of betrayal by those one has served is sword-edge sharp.

The usual time it takes to seek and acquire a new call is between a year and eighteen months. Dissolution of a pastoral call is a time of fear for the minister and their family. It is a time of grief and mourning. William Bridges, writes, I had always confused mourning and grieving, seeing them both as referring to missing the dead person terribly and weeping when you recalled things that you had done together. …(B)ut for me mourning was different. It was an almost cognitive process, where inwardly and at levels that I could only occasionally glimpse, I was dismantling a whole life structure and relinquishing the outlook that went with it. (The Way of Transition:Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments, William Bridges, Perseus Publishing, 2001, Kindle Location 880).

Ending a “call” with another in hand is sad in the ending, but the pain of severing relationship is softened with the promise of moving into a new position in a new place. Ending a call due to an involuntary dissolution of the pastoral relationship is more like the mourning described by Bridges. It is dismantling a whole life structure and relinquishing the outlook that went with it. One begins to question if the broader call to ministry was misread, and seriously doubts the ability to fulfill a particular call. It is a dark and lonely place.

From personal experience and by observing multiple involuntary termination of pastors, I know it is important to have another, who is not involved in the situation, to walk with the terminated pastor. Dismantling what was and taking steps toward a new future is hard work. A competent coach is a significant help in living through the transition.

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Wayne A Yost Coaching and Consulting Services

Sabotaging Change

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Whenever one is trying to initiate change there will be resistance. Some resistance will be rather benign. Other resistance will be conscious or subconscious sabotage. Suppose you have announced to your co-workers that you are going to try to lose twenty-five pounds of excess weight. Everybody in the office knows you are especially fond of jelly filled rolls. You can usually resist all other donuts and rolls, but jelly-filled are particularly irresistible. It is an office tradition for one of the staff members to stop at the local bakery and to pick up a dozen donuts and rolls. Nobody else in the office is fond of jelly-filled rolls. Yet, every Friday, there are two jelly filled rolls in the box when the staff gathers for a morning break. Quite without thought the purchaser of the pastries is sabotaging your weight lose goal.

I am the kind of person who likes to talk through an idea before beginning to take steps toward initiating a change. In one congregation I served I would often go to the secretary’s office to engage her in such conversations. She was a member of the congregation and a very capable secretary. She would politely listen to me spin out my idea. Often she would ask some excellent questions about it. I did wonder, a few times, when I would introduce an idea at a session meeting, why there were already some who seemed to know about the idea in advance. One day a member of the congregation stopped by the office for a chat. He said, “The other night when you brought up your idea for the stewardship campaign to the session, I sat there and realized I had heard about that a few weeks ago. Do you realize your secretary tells her husband about your conversations, and he talks about them at the golf course in the Nineteenth Hole?” Intentional or not, I was being sabotaged.

The next time the secretary was in the office, I went in to talk with her. We had the usual chit-chat about families and pets and such. Then I said to her, “I am disturbed to learn your share our conversations about ideas I am working on with your husband and he then shares them in the Nineteenth Hole when the men’s league plays. I feel you are sabotaging me, before the idea is full blown and I am ready to take it to the session. It needs to stop, or we’ll not be able to work together anymore.” Needless to say, that did not go over very well. When I left her office, she immediately wrote a letter of resignation. She stated as the reason that “I had yelled at her.” The letter was sent to every member of the session. Maybe I could have handled it differently.

John C. Norcross, PhD, writes in response to the question, “What should I do if someone is sabotaging my efforts to change?” Dr. Norcross suggests, Based on research and experience, we know that it helps to address the potential saboteurs from the get-go. That’s addressing, not confronting, mind you. (https://www.sharecare.com/health/wellness-healthy-living/what-do-sabotaging-efforts-change) That is all well and good if one anticipates not just the possibility but the probability of sabotage and deals with it proactively as Dr. Norcross suggests.

In later years, while still preferring to talk through ideas, I learned to go to whoever I was going to discuss an idea, and began the conversation saying, “I have an idea running around in my head. I would like your feedback on it, but this has to be limited to just the two of us.” In most cases, that seemed to work.

Initiating Change

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How do you go about initiating changed? Some may seek to initiate change with the “royal decree.” The formal, or titular leader, may simply make a declaration that the old way will cease and a new way will commence. “As of tomorrow we will no longer use the latest version of the iPhone and must use landline phones.” That is one way to initiate, but what preparation was made to ensure everybody in the organization understood the reason for the change and had landline accessibility. Cell phones have become so ubiquitous why revert to landlines? There would be a great deal of organizational anxiety, and resistance (active and passive).

Some may seek to initiate change using the maxim, “Rub raw the sores of social discontent.”  What are people dissatisfied with, angry about, and fearful of? To initiate change one keeps reminding people of their dissatisfaction, anger and fear while magnifying it to ever greater heights. Keep pounding home how bad things are and paint a picture of how good things could be. In the current political environment and the U.S.A. presidential campaign, some are maximizing their message around dissatisfaction, anger and fear.

The strategy is to rouse the populace to the point of “revolution.” That is the way of Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky. In some ways it is the model I was taught by my professor Hal Wareheim and (in my view) is used, in a modified form, by consultant Del Poling (http://delpoling.com/ministry_services.html)

in his Leading Congregations Through Major Change. It is also the means used by disgruntled congregation members when trying to get rid of the minister. Keep telling the stories of what you, and others, do not like about the pastor’s service until greater and greater numbers begin to adopt your dissatisfaction or come up with their own. The more logs which are thrown on the fire the hotter it gets. The solution is clear, get rid of the pastor and everything will be right, again.

Consultant Alan Hirsch proposes another way (http://www.alanhirsch.org/). In his blog entry Stir Up Holy Discontent Hirsch states,

Questing is the result of holy discontent, and more often than not, as in all genuine renewal movements, they are the result of the Holy Spirit working directly in our lives. And behind every good quest lies at least one really good question—we do well to heed Einstein’s advice to a young admirer when he said, “The important thing is to not stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existence.”

(http://www.alanhirsch.org/blog//cultivating-learning-and-innovation-iv-stir-up-holy-discontent)

What is God calling us to be and do? What will expand the realm of God in our community? What would things be like if we sought a more peaceful means of resolving our differences? How might we improve our educational endeavors, from cradle to grave, for our members? What else could we do to proclaim and demonstrate the good news of the Gospel?

Questions are expansive, open, seeking a multiplicity of possibilities. Questions stir the imagination. Questions are non-judgmental. Questions are egalitarian, rather than the imposition of a solution from the “king on the mountain.” As Hamlet says to Horatio, There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. (Hamlet (1.5.167-8)

CHANGE AND TRANSITION

I am in the midst of reading The Way of Transition: Embracing Life’s Most Difficult Moments, William Bridges (Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, Mass, 2001). In it, so far, he has been relating the changes and transitions in his life during his wife’s dealing with cancer and her death. Bridges alternates his narrative with chapters drawing out his learning about change and transition. The narrative pulls at one’s heart string as we walk with him and Mondi, especially as her death draws closer and finally occurs. For Bridges and Mondi, there was considerable time for anticipating and preparing for the change which would be occasioned by her death. Not everyone has that has that excruciating luxury.

As I was reading, I could not help think about the difference between change and transition as they are related to the life of a pastor and congregation. We may spend intentional time, prior to the change, trying to help the congregation, and our self, prepare for the proposed change. The session (church board) acts to make a change. It could be changing the church school curriculum, worship times, relocation of the place of the congregation, or anything else. This week worship is held at 11:00. Next week worship be held at 9:00. The change happens.

How do we deal with the transition, the adaption, to the change? The rhythm of Sunday morning to which all have long been accustomed is disrupted. The air conditioning or heating of the worship space has to be adjusted for the comfort of the worshipers. Parents with young children have to get up earlier and awaken the kids earlier so all can get to worship on time. For some medication times have to be adjusted. It is not uncommon to hear remarks such as, “I didn’t like the idea when I first heard about it. I don’t like it now. I feel like my whole Sunday routine has been taken away. It just doesn’t feel right.” “I’ve had to give up lunch with my friends. Now we have to do brunch. It just doesn’t feel right.”

The process of transition is the inner emotional work of letting go of what was and moving toward the acceptance of what is coming to be. Transitions take time to make the trip from the past to the future which is becoming. Last winter my wife and I had to make the hard decision of putting down our 12 year old cat. He was very sick and was not going to get well. One day he was with us and the next day he wasn’t. Many mornings went by before I stopped looking for him on the top step waiting for us to come down stairs and fix his breakfast. We gave away most of the stuff and equipment we had accumulated, yet we kept expecting him to jump up on Nancy’s lap or my desk in the evening. It took us weeks to come to terms that Misha was gone. The tapestry of our life had to be unknotted and strings pulled out to move into life in his absence.

It is important to realize that just because a change has been announced or happens everybody immediately is not going to be on board and living comfortably with the new situation. It takes time for many to go through the processing of letting go and taking hold. We need to work as hard, or harder, helping people while they go through the transition as in planning and enacting the change.

Pastoral Transitions

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A significant interest and focus of mine is the various transitions experienced by those who serve in a pastoral role. How do we engage, navigate, and reflect upon these transitions for a more fruitful future ministry? As a pastoral coach, walking with pastors through that engagement, navigation and reflection for future fruitful ministry is the core of what I offer to pastors.

A recent Google search for “pastoral transitions” found that most sites deal with the transitions of entry and exit. While these are the bookend transitions in pastoral ministry they are not the only transitions pastors encounter. Transitioning from the “honeymoon” to more realistically seeing and being seen by the congregation is significant. Transitioning through the first conflict often sets the tone and style for future ministry. Membership increases and decreases are sometime subtle and sometime dramatic. Either way they present a transition from what was to what is and to what may be. The loss of a significant financial supporter forces a difficult transition. The congregation’s edifice being destroyed is a traumatic transition.

Many pastoral transitions are faced for the first time by neophyte pastors. While local denominational staff and area colleagues may be able to provide immediate support neither have the time to provide consistent and longer term support for the pastor engaging, navigating and reflecting on the transitions for future fruitful ministry. This is not a disparaging of local denominational staff nor of area colleagues. It is a simple fact of life.

Thanks to the relative ease of cross-continental relocation for ministers, the transition of moving from one culture to another can be difficult. Imagine the cultural transition experienced, even by a seasoned pastor, in moving from a metropolitan area to a rural area or vice-versa. How about moving from a congregation with an annual average attendance of 70 to a congregation with an attendance of 250? It is not as easy as some may suspect.

Every day is a transition from yesterday to today. Every day brings new challenges and opportunities. Every day our relationships with other people are in transition, either evolving of devolving. Every day a pastor’s well planned tasks for the day can change with the next phone call or the next person encountered on the street.

Think of the transitions faced by the disciples. One day they were going about their daily routines, and the next Jesus called them to follow him. One day they were settled the next day they were itinerating throughout Galilee. One day they were gathered around Jesus and the next they were sent out two by two. One evening they were gathered at supper with Jesus and by the next evening He had been crucified and buried. One day they were a confident band, the next evening they were fearfully huddled behind closed and locked doors. Within a year they were no longer gathering in the close community they had enjoyed to being scattered as individual evangelists.

Jesus promised them a new companion, the Paraclete, to comfort, teach and embolden them. In Christian theology the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, comes alongside as an advocate or counselor. As pastors engage, navigate and reflect upon transitions for future fruitful ministry, a coach can be an instrument of the Paraclete. Pastors do not have to engage, navigate and reflect upon transitions alone. The probability of future fruitful ministry is enhanced by engaging a coach.

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Absolutely

When was the last time you were wrong about something?

Last week my wife and I had dental appointments an hour apart in a small town not far from us were we used to live. Even though it is about a thirty minute drive we have stayed with the same dentist and ophthalmologist. They are both very good and we trust them. After our appointments we were going to drive out to a fabric store Nancy wanted to visit, but it didn’t open for over an hour. So we decided to get lunch. We agreed on the restaurant. I started to turn toward the restaurant and Nancy indicated I was turning at the wrong place. Sternly I insisted I was making the proper turn. (And I was right) She didn’t appreciate either my tone or my choice of words. She said, “In spite of what you think, you are not always right.” Ouch, but she was right. I think I made a mistake last year.

In many areas of life absolutism is the current base of discourse. We shout at and talk past each other with our absolutes. Listen to the political ads on the TV. There is one and only one answer to each of the issues, depending on who is talking. One candidate states that the only way to deal with an issue is their way. Another candidate will declare their proposal is the only reasonable solution to the same issue. Politics is not the only arena where absolutism is at play.

In the Church, we have been pretty good at the game of absolutism. It is absolutely true that the sun revolves around the earth. It is absolutely true that a day at creation had 24 hours. It is absolutely true there is only one view of marriage in the Bible. It is absolutely true that Israel is righteous in dealing with the Palestinians. It is absolutely true that Israel’s dealing with the Palestinians is unwarranted and evil. It is absolutely true that intinction is the best way to distribute the Elements for Communion. It is absolutely true that passing the Elements down the pew is the way it has always been done. It is absolutely true that dogs were created before cats.

Our absolutism can become absolutely ridiculous. Is it possibly true that “In spite of what you think, you are not always right?”  Some people cannot fathom the possibility there might be more than one answer to a problem or opportunity. There is only one way to balance the church budget, cut the fat and by that I mean the pastor’s salary. The only way we will ever balance the budget is to increase income. We have to insist on tithing from our members. Does it really have to be all one way or the other? Actually, we probably can find some ways to reduce some expense and to encourage increased giving.

Is there not any room for ambiguity? Are there not times where more than one answer will work? Is it not possible that the Reformed Tradition and Roman Catholicism have something to teach each other? Does one have to be either a strict creationist or an evolutionist? What do the two dominant American political parties have to teach each other? Can technology and spirituality co-exist?

I admit I can suffer as much as anybody from the disease of absolutism. However, I have to constantly be reminded and to remind myself, The moment we are convinced were are dead right, is precisely the moment when we are most vulnerable to be dead wrong.

Privilege

Have you ever thought when you go out to eat in a nice restaurant that the person serving you probably can’t afford to eat in that restaurant? How about when you stay in a mid-range lodging have you considered that the housekeeping staff can’t afford to stay there? The fact that you and I can afford the restaurant or lodging means we are privileged.

Yes, we are privileged. We read this blog on the internet. We are privileged, because there are people living within a radius of no more than two and one-half miles from us who cannot afford a computer or internet service. The fact you and I can read means we are privileged. As hard as it may be to believe there of men, women, boys and girls in the same two and one-half miles who are functionally illiterate. More often than not, we do not consider these things as making us privileged.

You bet we are privileged. Can you go to a faucet, in your house, turn it on and have access to all the clear and clean water you want? There are people even here in the good ole USA who cannot do that. If you can you are privileged. I remember, when I was in Rwanda, seeing young children and baby carrying mothers hauling home large jerry cans of water which they had just scooped out of a muddy creek. I am painfully aware I am privileged.

Often it is difficult to acknowledge and accept the fact that in one or multiple ways you and I are privileged. If one student in a class room has two pencils and the student sitting beside her has no pencils the one with two is privileged. Now, some would have us feel guilty about being privileged. The real question is, do we use whatever privilege we might have to level the playing field for those less privileged? It is not just sharing one of the two pencils we may be holding. What are we doing to make sure the one with no pencils has the where with all to obtain pencils for themself. It is not about telling those less privileged to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.  Have you ever tried to pick up both of your feet at the same time by your ankles? It cannot be done.

Trickle down economics can only be advocated by the super-privileged. It is based on the fallacious notion that as one gets richer the riches will flow down to those less privileged. The basic human inclination is to always want more than we currently have. Jesus told a story about trickle down economics in Luke 16:19-31.  Dives had to settle for the crumbs which trickled down from the table of Lazarus. The challenge to those with privilege is in reading what happened after both Lazarus and Dives died.

How do we use our privilege to level the field for those less privileged? That is the question I am wrestling with and hope you will wrestle with it also.

Train the Elders Well

A new military recruit is immediately taken from the recruiting station and assigned to be a squad leader in a war zone. The recruit has no previous military training or experience. The recruit has not been through basic training, not to mention specialty school. The recruit does not know how to load a weapon, much less how to clean one. The recruit knows nothing about strategy and tactics. The recruit has absolutely no experience in leading other people to accomplish a task. Yet, here is the recruit assigned as a squad leader in a war zone. That sound very improbable, doesn’t it?

In some ways that is what we do to new members of a congregation, even ones who are new believers. I have seen many situations where a new member of a congregation is quickly nominated and elected to be an elder, serving on the session (governing board). Maybe the new member has come from a congregational or episcopal form of being church. They know very little about what it means to be in a Reformed/Presbyterian congregation. They know little, if anything, about Reformed theology and polity. Because the new member is now on the session, he/she is named chairperson of a committee. Talk about being in over one’s head, just like the new recruit the new member, now elder, is in way over her/his head.

Yes, the Book of Order states, G-2.0402 Preparation for Ministry as a Ruling Elder or Deacon When persons have been elected to the ordered ministry of ruling elder or deacon, the session shall provide a period of study and preparation, after which the session shall examine them as to their personal faith; knowledge of the doctrine, government, and discipline contained in the Constitution of the church; and the duties of the ministry. Many/most ministers find it difficult to get more than a couple, two hour, classes for newly elected elders for their study and preparation. Obviously, their study and preparation is superficial.

About all that can be done is acquaint the elders with the Book of Confessions, the Book or Order and the session’s manual of administrative operations. Some sessions give newly elected elders a copy of each other three documents, and send them home with an admonition to read them. However, many do not even do that. Giving new elders the three documents and asking them to read them is like giving a high school biology student a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, but without the illustrations, and expecting the student to be qualified to be a physician. In many cases the volumes are taken home and put on a shelf. They are too daunting to tackle alone.

Some pastors try to incorporate a time of elder development into each session meeting. Often such efforts are met with reluctance or outright resistance from those on the session. Elders can be heard in protest exclaiming, “Session meetings are too long as it is, let’s get to the business so we can go home.” After a while the pastor relents and drops the elder development from the agenda.

Elders are to be spiritual leaders of the congregation. How can one be an effective spiritual and community life leader if one does not know the theology and polity of the portion of the church they are elected to serve? In Presbyterian theology and polity ruling and teaching elders share a common ministry with shared and different functions. How can a common can they be on equal footing if ruling elders are not adequately prepared for their calling, and if sessions are disinterested in continuing development in their understanding and application of theology and polity?

Pastors, don’t abdicate your role as teaching elders among the ruling elders. What if all on the session were expected to bring their Bible, the Book of Confessions and the Book of Order to every session meeting? What is some of the lesser important business items were delegated to individuals, committees or commissions? What if you, as the moderator, insisted that part of the session meeting be dedicated to study and discussion of Scripture, theology and polity? Is it laziness or arrogance when ruling elders refuse to expand their understanding of what we believe and how we have agreed to be together as a community of faith?

If we think it is absurd to make a new military recruit, with no training or experience, a squad leader. Why would we ever entertain the idea of making a new member an elder and expect them to be a spiritual and temporal leader in the congregation?

Your Are the Moderator

There are stories which come out of every military conflict of newly minted junior officers acting like they know everything there is about leading a group of soldiers into combat. The smart junior officers knew they had very little experience in combat, and relied upon their senior sergeants for advice and counsel. The wise senior sergeants spoke privately with the junior officer in a manner of coaching rather than contradicting the junior office in front of the troops, or directing the junior officer with do this not that directives.

Too often, I have observed newly minted teaching elders (ministers) interacting with the session like the moderator is in charge. In the polity of the Presbyterian Church (USA), the pastor is the moderator of the session. For a first call pastor the words, “You are the Moderator,” ought to send cold chills down one’s spine. When I was a young pup in ministry I was not proficient in moderating a session. Although I had had plenty of group process training in college, I didn’t fully understand the theology, polity or practicality of moderating a session. My mother in executive service, Evlyn Fulton, often stated that most ministers do know what it means to be a moderator.

A moderator is, in the words of Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership, first among equals. The only difference between the moderator and the others elders on the session is function. The moderator is the presence of the presbytery in the session meeting to insure the mission and ministry of the congregation is in accord with the mission strategy of the presbytery. Yes, the moderator functions as the chairperson in the session meeting. That means it is the moderator’s responsibility to keep the business moving and the debates civil. The moderator’s function is also to keep the business and debate biblically and theologically focused. To use an image from family systems theory, the moderator is to be the least anxious person at the table.

I know there were times when I was the most anxious person at the table. I had in mind what should be done; how it should be done; who should do it; and when it should be done. If the session were significantly deviating from that, my anxiety would skyrocket and I became very ineffective as the moderator. I forgot that when one acts like the most knowledgeable person in the room, you are proving you are not. One of the core theological and polity beliefs we have is, even though councils can and do err, the decisions of the group are generally far better than those of an individual. The moderator’s function is NOT that of a dictator.

The moderator’s voice should not be the most heard nor the loudest voice at the table. There are appropriate times for the moderator to ask a question and sometimes for the moderator to make a brief statement. It is generally ill-advised for the moderator to scold the other members of the session, or to speak at length favoring one side or the other, or to filibuster on a topic. If the moderator wishes to make their opinion known, if is best to ask the clerk or another elder to function as the moderator.

In our system the moderator has a vote in session meetings, due to their having been elected by the congregation. Temporary, non-installed, moderators do not have a vote. My counsel to pastors has been either always vote or never vote. Cherry picking issues upon which to vote is a dangerous pattern. If there is an equal number of ruling elders on the session and the moderator’s vote would decide the question, one way or the other, means there is not a clear discerning of direction. It is likely the losing side of the question will feel resentment of the power play by the moderator in voting on that issue if the moderator usually does not vote on lesser matters.

I know I would have greatly benefitted by having had a coach with whom I could have debriefed the session meetings, and who could have helped me better lead the session. Having taught polity on the M.Div level and for those preparing to serve as ruling elders commissioned to pastoral service, I know there is not enough time to cover the material and to prepare the students to function as effective moderators. If I were doing it again, I would insist folks come to class fully knowledgeable of the material for that class, and we would spend the most of the class time in practice session meetings. I believe it would have been more effective than covering the material in class. Effective moderating requires knowing the material, and artfully applying it.

Newly minted moderators, who is your coach?

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