Well … here I am.
70 years young and retiring from parish ministry.
No more regular paycheck … no more of the daily stuff I have done for the last 40 years.
Or is it???
I confess, I will be taking these next few weeks trying to figure out what life is like without being responsible for meeting the emotional/spiritual needs of a couple hundred people all at the same time.
Should be interesting.
Stay tuned!
Published in 2015 but written in 2013 …
I’ll be honest … the events of last week, coupled with the infinite details I’m managing in preparation for our May 18th Design Charrette, all underscored by the change in season, a teenager daughter, a new home I’ve only lived in since November, and the desire to be gardening (if it weren’t so freaking cold out) have me very happy to be taking some psychic space away from everybody this afternoon!
I wonder how other people do it.
Shepherding / Pastoring a group through transition
Back in August, I wrote this and just found it:
So I was talking with a friend of mine about a mutual friend and I learned that the mutual friend has felt lovely as a lesbian in her community. Before my brain could even respond, my mouth said, “Me, too.” And I found myself thinking about this all day ever since.
So here’s the deal … did I really mean to say “lovely” or did I mis-type “lonely” ???
Wrote this in September 2013 at the Evangelism Conference at the Trade Winds … just published today. Got lost somewhere in cyber space!
Day Two at the conference and it’s been a FULL and rich day.
Heard Deborah Hirsch this morning. She’s really thought-provoking; great way to start the day.
THEN … had a morning clinic on Missional Leadership. It was mezza-mezz … a lot of academic information and fancy language.
At the end of the afternoon, I attended a workshop on how Spiritual leaders can maintain their own Spiritual Support. Nothing I hadn’t heard and known before, but it was good to reinforce it.
I guess the bottom line for me on the day (and I think the other two from South would agree) was that it was more and more confirmation that South is ahead of the curve and we’re doing great things. I am so proud and honored to be part of this team of worship leaders. Not sure what God has in store, but I sure do love seeing how it all unfolds day after day.
Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds in store! 😀
I was reading the other day that Starbuck’s has 82,000 choices available in just one store (give or take a few dozen) when it comes to combinations, etc. Diana Butler Bass in Christianity After Religion writes:
“Americans, even those of modest means, exercise more choices in a single day than some of our ancestors did in a month or perhaps even a year. From the moment we awaken, we are bombarded with choices — from caffeinated or decaffeinated, to flipping on any one of a hundred television stations as we ready the children for school, to getting our news in print, online, or via a mobile device, to what sort of spinach to buy to go with dinner (local, organic, fresh, frozen, chopped, whole leaf, bagged, or bunched).”
A little later on, she writes:
“The economic, social, and political world in which we live has opened up the possibility for 82,000 choices at the coffee shop and probably about ten times that many when it comes to worshiping God and loving your neighbor. Some will choose well, others badly. Some will choose thoughtfully, others not so much. Some choose something new, others choose what they have always known. In the end, however, everybody chooses. Contemporary spirituality is a little like that line at the coffee shop. Everybody makes a selection. Even if you only want black coffee.”
Some churches would say we have a choice now, too … believe and be saved; don’t and be damned. But what I am really coming to believe is that because each one of us has a private relationship with God, there are infinite ways to approach religion and spirituality. So what’s the bid deal? It’s always been that way.
It’s only been in the folly of human minds that we think there’s any kind of unified “religion.” Isn’t religion supposed to be just the way that we individuals come together in order to find a common way that doesn’t offend too many of us and share our spiritual experiences? We’re SUPPOSED to be individual … but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some practices in common.
Isn’t is like a car dealership? Each car is individual but there’s a lot in common.
I don’t know… it all just seems like a lot of WORDS to provide an excuse for folks who want to keep division going.
To me it’s a lot like the presidential campaigning that’s going on now where we’re focused on dogs, on some pretty petty stuff. I just want to say, “C’mon, guys … let’s get down to the real issues here.”
President Obama is is on The View right now. I don’t normally watch it, but I really want to see him. They are talking with him about his new stand in support of gay marriage. That’s another thing… isn’t it like abortion? To be Pro Choice does not mean that you will FORCE someone t have one. It means a person has a choice. To be pro-gay marriage doesn’t mean that you have to FORCE people to support it. It means it’s a choice.
It’s a choice like our 82,000 choices at Starbuck’s.
Not every law, not every rule, not every religion or even every Christian Church is for everyone. We just have to have some grace and generosity of spirit so there’s room for everyone at the table.
Isn’t that what Jesus was all about?
I’m just sayin’ … 🙂
Saw one of my friends today who was talking with me about “Stepford Clergy” and that brought me around to “Stepford Believers.”
If it’s one thing that I’m sure of: the original followers (men and women) of Jesus were REAL PEOPLE with real emotions, real foibles, real problems, real temptations, and real joys!
The goal of the church … or ANY body of believers … should not be to “even out” the emotions, but to engance and make them more visible, more contageous to other people. Don’t you think?
One reason I don’t want to be a runner is because I never see runners smiling. They’re always looking so serious — or so oblivious with their earbuds in. Maybe they don’t smile so that they don’t get bugs in their teeth …but any way you look at it, they’re not good marketers for their sport.
And churches?
The same thing. People either look pious or ecstatic. What ever happened to REAL? Just sloggin’ through life with an underlying joy and belief that all will work out eventually, but …
How can we BE the people of God if we are not WITH “the people?”
How can there be Gospel without JUSTICE?
There can’t.
So don’t talk to me about believing but not doing … or about how you’ve “paid your dues” and shouldn’t have to contribute anymore.
We are all sloggin’ through this together or we’re not. There’s no half-way!
Thus endeth the message for this morning!
“A rose by any other name …”
I am so tired of how the whole concept of “church” and “religious community” has been co-opted by the conservative among us. They’re entitled to use the terms, for sure, but so are those of us on the Christian Left. (Check them out at http://www.thechristianleft.org/ or on Facebook and Twitter) I remember in seminary feeling like “I want my Jesus back.”
Well, guess what! “Jesus” and “Christian” DO issue forth from my lips and I rather like it because J (as I call him … we’re on a first letter basis) was/is a kick-@## kind of guy and one I can really relate to. He IS a figure for the 21st century.
But what about those places where we gather to talk about him and his rockin’ ways? Do we have to call it “church?” What awful associations that word has with hypocrisy, and killing people (hello, Inquisition), with antisemitism, heterosexism and use of abusive power. I mean really … why WOULD anyone want to join a group with that kind of history and bad press.
If only we could use another word … “fellowship” is just to male for me … what are some more ideas?
See … until we can get people passed that whole association-thing, it will be nearly impossible t get them to envision what it MIGHT be like to have a group of like-minded people living a collective life working toward justice for ALL everywhere, with no strings (you have to believe or you don’t get the help) attached.
Sometimes I think small “house gatherings” are the way to go and have them all be “pods” connected to each other so that once a month everybody would come together for a larger group experience.That might be cool. And share the expenses, governance, etc.
Enough for this morning. My brain’s gonna fall out now.
Hope you have a good day wrestling with some of this stuff.
Deb
I’ve started reading Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening by Diana Butler-Bass. So much of what I’m reading is just what I struggle with: the nature of God and how to share that with others in a world where the very word “God” is a turn-off for so many people. How can I bring people to understand what it is to be in relationship with Creator when they don’t want to even think of (or admit to) there being a Creator.
I don’t, for a minute, think that I am meant to run around and convince people to be Christian. But I DO believe that we are supposed to bring people to their own relationships with that One. We model … we talk about … we LIVE that relationship and I guess that’s all we can do, but I have to say that I wish we could find a way to reach OUT and prompt dialogue about these topics.
Any ideas?
Even on Twitter and Facebook everybody operates out of a Silo mentality, i.e. little individual “positions” but never really merging the grain!
Might be safer from contamination, but that’s no way to feed the people.
It kinda sucks: just found out my friend, Susie’s mom died, along with my beloved Kay, and then Phyllis’ mom was last week. Strong women who molded and shaped a generation of strong women and as “right” and “in the flow” as I know it to be … I’m not crazy about moving up to be the matriarchal generation, if you know what I mean. 
Then, too, it’s not just the women. My former minister, Bill Rambo (isn’t it a great name for a minister?) died in January and I just learned of his passing. Would love to find a way to let his wife, Sue, know that I’m thinking of them. They stood by me at a time in my life when few others did and I am committed to reconciliation and justice largely through them and their faith in me.
I’ve been around death for most of my life and I’m very comfortable with it. But it just seems to be in abundance right now — which, juxtaposed with springtime, is quite a contrast.Maybe that’s what life is about — the contrasts. Rests to tones; white space to print; dogs to cats … I don’t know. Maybe not.
But I did have someone tell me once that a sign of mental health was one’s ability to hold ambiguity and contrast in tension at the same time.
So it’s a beautiful Saturday. My sermon is finished. The sun is shining in through our lovely windows. The dogs and cat are all resting. My sweetie is reading the paper and I’m about to take a nap!
Blessed be.
Transformational Whispers 