Across the Pastor’s Desk by Janet White

This is a challenging time to be the “church” and to be a pastor. All generations have faced unique challenges, but I think this is a particularly hard time. In my lifetime I have seen the role of church in our American culture diminish, and along with that, the role of the pastor.

There are fewer expectations of church among people anymore. Going to church on a Sunday morning as a family is not an every Sunday event or expectation. Older generations of believers have a hard time understanding why younger generations don’t seem to share their values where faith is concerned or their commitment to a local church. Younger generations don’t understand why older generations seem unwilling to try new and different things in the life of the church and wonder about the relevance of the local congregation.

The good news for me as a pastor is that it’s not up to me to solve this. I know that God is living among us, and God will continue to inspire us to find those new and different things to try in the life of our churches, even as we continue to embrace those things that people have valued over the years.

I have confidence in the future of the church because people will continue to need to hear of the love of God in their lives. People of all ages will continue to seek ways to find significance in being alive, and only God can ultimately provide that. All people have spiritual needs that will continue to lead them to God.

Recently, I was leading worship and providing Holy Communion to senior citizens at a care center in Northfield. I do that every Saturday morning with my husband. On this particular day, two of our granddaughters happened to be with us. The girls wanted to help me with Holy Communion, and since I know how much the residents enjoy seeing children, I let them.

Seven-year-old Alice held the chalice of wine and her sister, 5-year-old Emilia, held the plate of communion wafers. As I communed 96-year-old Angie, she reached out from her wheelchair to take Alice’s arm, looked at Alice and said, “God bless you, honey,” and Alice looked right back in her eyes and responded in her child’s voice, “God bless you, too.”

It was a touching moment. For just an instant I had glimpse of how we are a family of God, called across generations and blessed across generations. In that moment I had a sense of how God is working in our world and in our human interactions. God was blessing “the generations.”

These are challenging days to be the church, but through these challenges we have the opportunity to change and grow. I tell the people at Grace Lutheran Church that the church will survive, but the church of the future will probably look different than the church of today. And that’s okay. What school looks the way it did 50 years ago? What hospital looks the way it did 50 years ago? Albert Lea doesn’t look the way it looked 50 years ago.

God will continue to work among us. God will continue to work through pastors like me, whether we realize it or not sometimes. And God will continue to work through you in whatever church you attend or in whatever way you live out your faith in the world. It’s that reality that gives me confidence as a pastor to do my work and trust that God continues to be present to all of us, whatever the challenges may be.

 

Janet White is the interim senior pastor of Grace Lutheran Church.