Oh for the old days!

It's been a while since a post has been added to this blog and probably most people have stopped checking to see if something new has been added. That's OK in my book, the less people really know about what I think is sometimes safer for me. I've learned that over the years of working in the church. It has taken some hard knocks and some failures, but I have learned that speaking one's mind is not always the best. Especially, if one's mind is not aware of all the facts and information that may be forming one's opinion.
Years ago there was a character on Saturday Night Live (the church lady) who would go on and on about a particular subject only to be informed that the subject she was so upset about wasn't really a problem. She ended her skit with the phrase: Oh well, never mind. In my business of the church I find that often we become upset because we react to certain information that we have and form a conclusion before we really check out the complete story. We have preconditioned reactions based on past experiences, suspicions and conversations and when a certain story reaches our ears that confirms what we think we already know, well it can be embarrassing to say the least. Then we are faced with having to make an apology (oooh so hard to admit when we are wrong) or try to quietly fade into the background Priest and lay people alike have difficulties with the church. The smart ones have quiet conversations, ask a lot of questions and form very few opinions about individuals and their motives. Then, there is the rest of us. Passionate about the church, afraid that the changes in liturgy, polity and ministry will somehow threaten our experience of the Holy. I know it is not rational and I have had to admit that some of the things that seemed just untenable at the time have proved to be some of the best changes for me and for others. But there is good change and there is bad change. Sometimes things that look the best at the beginning end up being a horrible choice for the church. Remember tie dyed vestments? I was upset when we brought the altar out from the wall and began facing the congregation when we celebrated Eucharist. I didn't want to see the face of the priest, I wanted to know that we all stood the same way before God! Then, the theology kind of grew on me. God is not up in the sky, aloof from God's creation. No, God is in our midst. My fussing and fuming about the changes of the altar were not useless, but they were based on a fear that my change in worship would threaten my relationship with God. I don't like change, never have.
I just read an article by The Rt. Rev. Wendell Gibbs in the January edition of The Record. It reminded me that change is a part of living. We change or we die. I look at the declining membership of the major denominations and wonder if we have changed too much or if we have not changed enough? It would be comforting for me to think that we have changed to much--and that by somehow going back a few years the church would be the same strong institution that she once was. But, probably that is not the case....it would be way to simple. Most likely the case is that we have a lot of change in our future and maybe the church will never be the kind of institution she once was. Maybe that is a good thing. But, I long for the days of full churches, full sunday schools and programs with a full staff. Oh for the days of Egypt!