Musings From Behind The Pulpit
Disappointments are part of life.
It is bad enough when we are disappointed in others. It is worse when we are disappointed in ourselves. Either way, the situation is made harmful only if we dwell on the disappointment rather than moving on from it and working to overcome it.
On January 6, I was disappointed in a number of people. For at least two months, I had been inviting and encouraging all those under fifty (or with children still in school) to participate in that day's visioning session.
I had hopes that with that advance notice (and with my constant reminders), people would mark it on their calendars and that we would have at least 20 people gathering at the church to exchange ideas, express thoughts, and share visions about what this congregation would/could/should be like in ten or twenty years. I was encouraged on the morning of the 6th when no one told me that he/she would not be able to attend.
And then, at the scheduled time, five people showed up. I was bummed. I saw this gathering as important for the congregation and I attempted to convey that to the congregation. And on January 6 only five people showed up.
By the next morning I found, however, that my greater disappointment was with myself.
I realized that I had chosen a poor date. January 6 was too close to the Christmas break, both because some were still participating in holiday gatherings and because some found it necessary to catch up on all the work that needed to be done and which had been put aside for the holidays. Furthermore, while holidays are supposed to give us rest, the opposite is often true - we find them tiring.
I was also disappointed in myself because, having made it clear that we were to vision, at times I led us into a discussion that approached planning for the present. Despite my best intentions, all too often I got us talking more about what we should do now instead of first figuring out where we would like to be in ten years and saving for a later day the discussion as to how to get there.
[Now, don't get me wrong. The discussion we had was valuable. The quintet that showed up was a sharp group and they brought and shared a number of ideas - at least one of which is being put into action this Spring. I am very grateful to those five.]
But I refuse to dwell on my disappointment with either the size of the group or with my own failure to lead those who did toward real visioning.
As my first attempt to move beyond January 6, I have decided to try the Rip Van Winkle approach.
Thus, I invite you (including those over the half century mark) to pretend you are Rip Van Winkle, that you have slept for a decade, and that you have been dreaming about what our congregation would/could/should be like.
Then get up, find a rest room (after ten years of sleep that would undoubtedly be your first need) and after that, write down your dream. You can type it or write it in paragraphs or in notes. It doesn't matter. The object is to get your ideas. It is not to evaluate your literary skills.
I urge you to include some or all of these often intertwined areas: worship; building; nurture and education; evangelism; mission and ministry; fellowship and connection; organizational structure; pastoral care; and the impression we make on visitors. [Note: Any vision exceeding twenty five pages will be edited.]
Then as a birthday present, give me copies of what you have written on either February 24 or March 3. I will do the same and will put all of what we have done into a booklet that will be available as a tool for our next visioning session - which won't be right after Christmas.
Jim