February 3, 2019 - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany - Who wants to be a Prophet? / Disappointment in Last Week's Congregational Meeting Remains

This is another Sunday worship appearing like a continuation of what happened the week before.

Three weeks ago there was the celebration Jesus's baptism followed the next Sunday with the baptism of Sadie. This Sunday continues last week's Gospel story about Jesus preaching in Nazareth. Unlike the positive, "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth." Jesus speaks about God's grace not being confined to the people of Israel and the synagogue fills with rage.

Pastor Ray began his sermon with a question to the congregation, "Who wants to be a prophet?"

Predictably no one raised their hand. No one saw themselves as an inspired teacher or proclaimer of the will of God. And who wants to express to their community any possible signs of trouble that others may not judge important? Predicting a future issue, that may need to be addressed unless we change direction, is hard to substantiate and not popular. Yet we are all the body of Christ and need to witness to others how God calls us to be as individuals and as a community. Christianity is not just a way of looking at certain thing, it is a certain way of looking at all things.

Pastor Ray's focused on how people can myopically cling to their own sense of being in a group with exclusive claims on the truth, Pastor Ray's question, his sermon, and this continuation of last week's Gospel together called me to post what continues to bother me about last week's congregational meeting. The emotion I am writing about is the disappointment I still feel.

For those who don't know, our council recently identified Creator's 2019 financial pressures around sustainability. They shared this at both a recent informational meeting and last week's congregational meeting that focused on a projected shortfall at year end.

After our Stewardship drive, our projected income was considerably less than our projected expense. This is neither new or unique to Creator as a church in recent times. We have dealt with projected shortfalls for years. There were, however, differences in the assumptions, discussions and decisions at this meeting.

At the end of this year Creator retains most of a one time cell tower sign up bonus. Even with that included, there was still a five-figure projected year end shortfall. Given that fact, the council prudently decided to reject giving a portion of that cell tower bonus to ministry. This was not brought up for consideration by, or to, the congregation at either the informational meeting or the congregational meeting.

Creator is also not using the bonus to pay out our currently promised benevolence either. This was brought up at both meetings and there was no conversation by, or to, the congregation about any ramifications or consequences except that saying we were not obligated to pay benevolence unlike our other expenses.

Based on congregational feedback from the informational meeting, salary increases were eliminated, and benevolence was cut in half to try to address the projected shortfall. The main discussion around that was the shared regret that this needed to be done.

Everyone felt the usual financial anxiety and fear hit home. That anxiety and fear made the predictable discussion seem like a natural response and appropriate way to address these issues. There was no magic wand solution to the difficulty nor did proposing that having faith that "God will provide" feel like an appropriate response.

The truth is the congregation trusts that the Stewardship Team and council will gather the data and information. They will draft financial plans for how to address our financial future considering our aging and mobile community. We were given a clear-eyed synopsis of what most churches are currently facing and will face in the future. That synopsis inspired the congregation's trust.

My disappointment was more centered in our collective response at the congregational meeting's presentation.  I realized, by the reactions we displayed, that we weren't completely seeing things as they are. We were seeing them as we are. Here is a question that came to my mind then and in the mind of many I have subsequently talked to:

How can we live as Christians and minimize our financial fears and anxieties without burying our head in the sand about financial obligations?

This is a central concern in what Jesus taught us. Ideally our community response would serve as a model for how we want our individual members to act. I don't think this happened in last week's meeting for a variety of reasons. The meeting did not seem to be an appropriate time for voicing what might have been such a response.

I do not want blow this reaction out of proportion. Proportion can be lost when you are disappointed. This unburdening has already lessened that emotion. Yet I still want to do something to help our next collective response and to reduce what may be a collective anxiety and fear at the next congregational meeting.

Coming back to the question Pastor Ray used to begin his sermon, we know a prophet is the proclaimer of God's will. We don't recognize prophets, as such, these days. So, who can proclaim God's plan today? Should God's plan be expressed in a discussion about the church budget and, if so, how would we know how God's plan would influence a budget?

I have been told that, at times, the church must be called upon to act as a business. As a former council member and president, I recognize that strong call. At those times the council and the Stewardship team focus, as they should, on addressing immediate financial issues and longer term planning. Yet there is something more to be done as a church

Our Facebook Bible reading group today was introduced to Bonhoeffer's writing of our lives being lived as a "cantus firmus", He suggests various aspects and influences work within us and express themselves like other melodies in counterpoint to the main melody we are living.

This eloquently describes the deep silence I heard in last week's discussion. Certainly the melody of our financial concerns came thorough loud and clear but a softer counterpoint response was unexpressed. That was something unusual for Creator.

The counterpoint is a question that we also need work around to develop. How does the church flourish in bringing about God's kingdom while these financial issues are addressed? There may be some change that can be inspired by our example and the answer to this question may determine how Creator continues from here.