"And So It Goes"

Sometimes it's hard to "move on." I know that I've been stuck over the last few days. Woodchucks! Woodchucks love living under the tool shed in the corner of our back yard. We had a family of these critters when we first moved here seven years ago. But then they either moved or they became more subtle in their movements. At least we hadn't noticed them again until this summer.

We inherited the tool shed from the previous owners. There is evidence that they had also dealt with the attraction of the tool shed to the neighborhood wildlife. And, we've known that we needed to do something more to plug up the gaps under the floor. Clearly, the time was now.

So, we called the pest control company to come and remove the woodchucks. For a fee that caused us some extended hyperventilation the pest control person (PCP) would come, set traps and remove the woodchucks to a forested area a safe distance away from our home. The contract was signed, the trap was set, and over a period of two days two woodchucks were safely caught and set free in a new home.

Meanwhile the problem of plugging the gaps under the tool shed weighed on our minds. We needed to coordinate this effort with the removal of the woodchucks, of course. We also needed to develop a design, a schedule, a budget, in short, a plan that we could work around work schedules, weather, limited labor skills and a desire to do it as cheaply as possible.

It was all so paralyzing. I could think of little else. In meetings, sitting at my computer in my office, driving along the road, lying awake in the middle of the night I went over all of these things in my mind. Stones. Pavers. Edgers. Leveling the tool shed. Getting enough dirt for the landscaping. Over and over again in my mind. It seems simple enough. But I kept getting stuck. The more I thought about it the more complicated it got.

I was willing to buy the stones, the pavers and the edgers. but I absolutely didn't want to buy the dirt. But in order to get enough dirt without buying it, I needed to take it from another part of my yard. I could do that if I decided to extend the width of our driveway (another longstanding project). But did I really want to do that too?

...And so it goes...

I run into many situations in ministry where the foundations of our decision making and problem solving similarly consist of so much shifting sand.

I know of a small country church that is searching for a new pastor. They want the new part time pastor to help "grow" the church by providing a presence in the community, building the Sunday school, conducting adult Bible studies, all for $12,000 per year!

They are particularly interested in redeveloping the Sunday school. They had three to five children in attendance at worship nearly every Sunday but were awaiting the arrival of the next pastor before starting any programs for these children.

But what if someone in the congregation decided to do something to teach the children some Bible stories, or help them to memorize some prayers or teach them some hymns. It might take an extra fifteen minutes either before or after worship (maybe during the coffee hour).

The church might find that they have a nascent Sunday school developing through one person's plan to share the Church's faith and tradition with some children in an uncomplicated, straightforward manner.

Addressing the issues that present themselves to us in today's global culture boggle the imagination. One round of letters to the editor in the Syracuse papers recently has involved the issue of interfaith relationships. Words such as pluralism, multiculturalism, and tolerance signify the breakdown of the American way of life to some people. They represent the only hope of world peace and justice to others.

Yesterday, I met Jill Carroll, director of the Boniuk Center for the Study and Advancement of Religious Tolerance at Rice University. The Boniuk Center was founded by a grant from a millionaire (after whom the center is named) who thought that he could transform the world and bring about complete interfaith tolerance if he produced and distributed Religious Tolerance lapel pins to everyone in the world.

Jill and other staff of the Boniuk Center decided that there might be a better, more realistic plan to achieve this goal. They developed the Amazing Faiths Project based upon the premise that if they brought people from different faith perspectives together for a simple meal and a carefully planned and moderated discussion of various issues of faith, then a new culture of mutual respect and cooperation would develop. These discussion would not be interfaith dialogues, but rather conversations among people of different faith traditions about life. Based in Houston, TX the program has spread to other cities in Texas and beyond. InterFaith Works of Central New York is planning to bring this program to the Syracuse area.

Interfaith cooperation like any kind of cooperation between races, genders, ethnicities is difficult. Reports from the Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, to the United States prove this premise. But starting with a simple plan, having dinner together, just might start something totally new.

At the end of his life the prophet Moses received the Word from God that he passed onto God's people. The message was the choice between life and death. Such choices rarely present themselves in life' big events. Most often these choices come in the mundane moments of deciding whether or not to opt for hope and possibility or for the fear of anything new or different.

Do we encourage the new member who has different ideas about how to keep the books, or organize the church growth program or church supper? Or do we dismiss them with the seven last words of the church ("We've never done it that way before!")?

What if we really wanted to have the services of a full time pastor, even though we were a small church with a budget to match? We learned that we could call a full time pastor if we were willing to share pastoral services with another congregation. Things progress. Both churches are more than willing. The job description is developed. The decision is nearly made. There is one problem. Both churches worship at the same hour. The churches have the choice. What is most important, calling a full time minister to this new two-point "charge" or keeping the integrity of their existing schedule of worship? Which priority brings the greater promise of life rather than death?

Choices. Deciding to make them, or not. As we Develop an idea, make a plan and take one step at a time we just might find that suddenly the shifting sands under our feet have become a firm foundation upon which we can build a new life of faith and faithfulness.

As far as decisions about matters in my own back yard go, I dug a trench around the tool shed. I nailed some edging to the floor frame and filled the bottom of the trench with rocks. Then I covered over the stones with the readily available. I'll do the rest of the landscaping soon. I will use the dirt from the section of my driveway that I will extend. It will take the rest of the summer probably. But for now, the woodchucks will not find it easy to get under the tool shed.

...And so it goes...

Blessings,

Rick Cowles