Memorial Daze

Okay. I'm back. More or less. Spent most of the week in sort of a funk about what's up with my church. Finally, as the long weekend approached I started to lift a little. I think I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and help my folks think creatively about what comes next. I think there are a few things we could do rather than simply close in defeat and despair. The danger right now is that folks are discouraged and mad and seeking to cast blame somewhere so there is the big chance they won't pull together to look at possibilities. Some of the options I see, (cooperative venture with a larger church, closing but using assets to start fund for community ministry, use our location as base for developing a new kind of congregation) are options I've held out to them before the situation got this critical. However they are fiercely independent folks and prefered to pursue options that held out the hope of continued autonomy. Maybe now that this is truly and obviously impossible, they'll be able to be more open to these alternatives.

My parish associate and I are preaching on the Genesis lections this summer. I'm going to point out that many scholars agree that Genesis went through its final edit during the exile--during the time when the children of Israel were struggling to cope with the loss of their land and temple and everything that had given them their identity. Examining their beginnings was a way of trying to find meaning and a way forward. Maybe this can help us as we look to a very different future.

Okay--different subject. I know I'm not the most tech savy person in the universe, but I can usually figure computer things out if I apply myself. However, after repeated attempts, I can't figure out how to make the links part of this blog thing work. I think I'm following the directions correctly, but still no dice. Any advice or instructions from veteran bloggers?