Posted in Grace, Life

Back to class

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This morning I was reading John 16, and towards the end of the chapter, Jesus’ disciples basically say to him, “Now we understand what you’re talking about. We believe. We trust you.” Jesus replies (my paraphrase), “Oh yeah? We haven’t even gotten to the hard part yet, when you all run away and leave me alone.” In other words, we haven’t even gotten to the main event, the cross and all that would mean. Jesus was teaching them about His departure and the arrival of the Spirit because they would need it later. “In this world, you will have tribulation,” Jesus said, “But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

What I’ve noticed is just when you think you’ve got it all figured out, just when you think you might be able to do this, to be faithful, to follow Christ, something happens and you need to learn to trust him all over again. Illness happens, financial uncertainty happens, conflict happens, disaster happens, and just about anything you can think of. What we learn is good for about a day. Tomorrow there will be another lesson. I once heard someone say that life is like algebra class: there’s always another problem.
Posted in Life, Ministry

Haiti in October

Posted on by William Douthwaite
I am heading down to the health department today to get a few immunizations in preparation for our trip to Haiti in October. Lisa and I (along with Gail, an RN friend) are going to be part of a medical mission team sponsored by LCMS World Relief and Human Care. We’ll be in Poto, a rural community much affected by the earthquake and storms, but far away from where most relief efforts have taken place so far. I get to be a chaplain for the team, as well as providing care and counsel for some of the patients. I am looking forward to seeing firsthand some of the affected people and places I’ve only seen and heard about in the news.

Other than smallpox, polio, and tetanus, I haven’t had many immunizations. I’m old enough to be of the generation that actually had all the diseases we now immunize against. I had measles, chickenpox, rubella, and mumps. I think I had most of them in the first grade. I also broke my ankle that year. It was a rough year, but I survived.

My international travel experience includes three days in Freeport in the Bahamas and one night in Vancouver, British Columbia. Time to expand my horizons a little. While we’re there we hope to see some of the people Lisa met last March when she accompanied a team to Port-au-Prince. Our connections to them via Facebook and email makes the world seem very, very small.

Posted in Life

Keeping in touch

Posted on by William Douthwaite
With more and more ways to communicate available to us, in some ways it’s harder that ever to keep in touch with people. Some of it is generational, I’m sure. To effective shepherd a congregation, it seems like you have to master many modes of communication.

Telephone. Ah, yes, old school. But for some members, that’s the best way to get in touch with them. Some do not even have any kind of voice mail, so it’s hit or miss, and you need to be persistent to catch them at home. If your a grandparent, you’re a fan of the phone, although some younger families prefer it, too.

Email. If you’re a parent, you do a lot of this and you’ve been doing it for a long time. Fortunately, most email clients effectively filter out spam, so it’s a lot more productive than it used to be. Plus, you can check it at work, home, or on your smart phone.

Social media. Lots of adults use Facebook updates, messages, and chats as their main form of communication. Some forget that status updates are public, so you’re sometimes updating the entire world about some personal issues. But it’s cool to see all the pics of what you and your family are doing.

Text. In high school or below? You text and you text a lot.

Mail. By mail, I mean a letter in an envelope with a stamp delivered to a person’s home. If all else fails, I will mail a letter.

In order to reach the entire congregation with information, I use all of the above. There is no one method that will reach more than half of the people. The trick is knowing who likes to use what. Once you discover that, you’re golden.

What methods of communication have you found effective?

Posted in Life

Sophomore year

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today was the beginning of a new school year here in Flagler County, Florida. My youngest is a Sophomore this year, kind of an in-between year of high school. No freshman jitters, yet no Junior or Senior excitement yet, either. The challenges will be geometry (one of my all-time favorite subjects), honors biology (mom, you get to help with homework in that subject), and world history (there is a lot more history to learn than when I was in high school!)

I am stretching my brain, trying to remember my Sophomore year in high school (1972-1973). We had a three-year high school, so it was my first year at the senior high. I remember walking to school each day, about 1-1/2 miles (no buses for us). I had Algebra 2 with Mrs. Miller, who’s favorite phrase was “that’s good mathematics” when an elegant solution was presented. I had chemistry with Mr. Yoder (wow, pulled his name out of a hat). Somehow I got put in the advanced half of the class, which meant we were left alone in a lab to conduct unauthorized experiments which often resulted in unknown, noxious gases which forced a hurried evacuation from the room. Let’s see, Mrs. Cavanaugh taught English, probably one of the most attractive teachers we had all throughout high school. I had health the first half of the year with Mr. Schnellenbach, the wrestling coach, who taught us more about wrestling than anything about health. Und second year German with Mr. Maiwold, who made our lives miserable until winter break, when he died, and was replaced with Mrs. Carpenter, who was just slightly worse. We had Phys Ed — every year back then — and had to take showers before heading to our next class. And band, which was always fun. Back then we marched to “Get it On,” the Olympic Fanfare, “Parade of the Chariots” from Ben Hur, and jammed to “Jingo” in the stands.

I guess my memory hasn’t totally let me down yet. Things we didn’t have: smart phones, Internet, texting, AIDS, airport security, hand-held calculators, digital cameras, bike helmets, microwave ovens, cable or satellite TV and DVRs. We did have Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars, curable STDs, classic rock before it was “classic”, pot, great high school football and $.29 McDonald’s hamburgers. It wasn’t such a bad year.

Posted in Grace, Ministry

Hoping to catch a glimpse

Posted on by William Douthwaite
In the Treasury of Daily Prayer the other day, August 3, it was the day to remember Joanna, Mary, and Salome, the women who brought spices to Jesus’ tomb very early on the first day of the week, the third day after his death. At first glance, their work doesn’t seem to be anything of great significance. They were just doing what anyone would do for a friend who had died. Yet, they became the first to see the empty tomb and proclaim the resurrection.

The readings and prayers came in a timely fashion, as I have been lately wondering, “Now what?” As our congregation enters into her fall programs it feels like the same old same old. I don’t have any compelling vision to cast before the congregation, just encouragement to keep doing what we’ve been doing. How do you stay motivated when the work becomes routine and unexciting?

Perhaps it is in the routine proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments that we get a chance to witness the life-giving grace of God. Maybe it is exactly a time like this when I should have my radar on, so that I don’t miss what God is doing among us and in our community.

Casting vision is something I’ve always been told is very important for a leader, but never something I’ve been good at. Each day I hope to catch a glimpse of those lives that God touches and calls into his kingdom by the Gospel.

Posted in Life

Another step into the grown-up world

Posted on by William Douthwaite
Over the past few days, my youngest daughter who just turned fifteen has taken a couple of giant steps into the grown-up world. She got her learner’s permit to drive and she opened some bank accounts. Suddenly, she’s driving me around. Money isn’t going out as fast as it comes in, but is being saved and budgeted. Real world stuff.

I think I was younger when I opened my first bank account, a passbook savings account. One where the teller wrote in what you were depositing or withdrawing in a little book. A far cry from the online banking world we’re in now where you don’t ever actually see your cash.

I learned how to drive in driver’s education class in high school. I remember cruising along in a car with a second brake pedal on the passenger side which the instructor seemed to use quite often, and two classmates in the back seat either heckling or praying.

Even though we’ve passed these milestones with our two older children, it’s no less exciting or rewarding to share these moments.

Posted in Rant

“Pastor, we quit.”

Posted on by William Douthwaite
In the past few weeks I’ve gotten a brief letter from one member of the congregation and an email from another saying basically the same thing: “Pastor, we quit.” The communications came with no warning, no previous discussion or complaint, or even a hint that anything was wrong. Just a one sentence communication, “Please remove us from membership because we won’t be attending worship there anymore.”

My first reaction is one of guilt. What did do? What did I say? What didn’t I do? I asked my elders if they had any information, but they were as surprised as I was. So I called to find out what was going on. I was right. It was me. But it was also a lot of other things. As I listened, it seemed like everything was a problem. A huge laundry list of reasons why it just wasn’t working out anymore.

My next reaction, then, was of cynicism. You needed ten reasons to quit? You couldn’t even call? You just decided not to show up anymore? Nice commitment. Glad we could count on you. For those kinds of attitudes I ask forgiveness. Shepherds really aren’t supposed to feel that way, are they?

Then, came acceptance. Over the years I’ve learned and have come to accept that people come and people go. Especially in our culture. It’s doesn’t take much to cause people to switch hairdressers, grocery stores, and churches. In the past, I’ve been on the receiving end. Families have joined our church, relating how miserable their previous pastor and congregation were. It shouldn’t surprise me that some will leave and go someplace else with similar stories about us. Many Jews stopped following Jesus himself at certain points in his ministry. And the student shouldn’t expect to be treated differently than the teacher.

I am thankful that there are other churches in our area which are working out better for them, where they are now attending. I think I’ll keep them on my email list, too. Maybe they’ll read my emails. Maybe they’ll block me. Either way is OK.

Posted in Rant

Your church wedding

Posted on by William Douthwaite
I had two weddings this past weekend — one on Saturday, one on Sunday. For most pastors, weddings are not in the top ten list of things we like to do. Why?Well, let me count the ways.

My thoughts here are about those things a couple should expect when they come to the pastor and say, “We’d like to get married at the church.” (The following items are based on 24 years of experience in the parish, somewhere between 150 and 200 weddings, and a Lutheran bias when it come to worship and ministry.)

  • A wedding in the church is a worship service, including an invocation, scripture readings, a sermon, prayers and a benediction. We worship the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While you may have always envisioned your wedding beginning with “Here comes the bride” (the Bridal Chorus) and ending with “There goes the bride” (i.e. the Wedding March), you can do so much better than that! There are so many powerful hymns you can choose from that truly honor the God before whom you will take your vows. Give them a chance.
  • We preach the word. We proclaim Christ crucified. When you pick your scriptures for the wedding, why not look beyond 1 Corinthians 13:4-7? Those overused verses about “love” weren’t written about marriage at all. The apostle Paul wrote them to a church divided about who had better teachers and abilities. Why not consider some passages important to you? Like a confirmation verse, or one that helped you grow in your faith. Let the pastor suggest some passages that speak to you and your relationship. You’ll get a much better message that way.
  • Just because it’s “your day” doesn’t mean you get to do anything you want. Remember, when  you step into the church, it’s really not about you, but about God. If you have some really unique (read “bizarre”) things you’d like to do for your wedding, don’t plan a church wedding. Have your ceremony on the beach, in your home, in a backyard or a museum.
  • I probably won’t attend your rehearsal dinner or reception. Why? Unless you are an active member of our congregation, I probably won’t know many people there and it’s not that much fun sitting off in the corner by yourself. Need a prayer before the meal. I’ll gladly write one for someone else to say.
  • Try to  show up on time for both the rehearsal and ceremony. Besides myself, many people have set aside some time to witness your vows and celebrate with you. Unexpected things always come up, but if you arrive a little early, it relieves some of the stress of that day.

In the early days of my ministry, I was honored when someone asked me to do their wedding. I soon grew to dread it when I learned I was basically just being hired to preform a service, along with the photographer and florist. In the past few years, however, I have begun to enjoy it again as I have worked with a number of young couples who had a marvelous faith and relationship with the Lord. I am grateful to them for helping me rediscover some of the joy of performing a wedding ceremony.

Posted in Ministry

How to survive a lousy Sunday

Posted on by William Douthwaite
By a lousy Sunday, I mean a dramatic drop in attendance. This year we’ve been averaging about 275 in worship each Sunday, but this past week, only counted 175 in attendance. Worst turnout since June of 2006. As unsanctified as it sounds, pastors tend to obsess about such things. If we’re not careful, it becomes personal, as if the numbers were a direct reflection of our performance.

Reasons for the anomaly? Plenty to be sure. First of all, it is the middle of the summer. Even I was among those absent, having left town to take the high school youth group to the national youth gathering in New Orleans. There’s always someone sick or tired. Or entertaining guests. Cars that won’t start. Mental health days. Malfunctioning alarm clocks. Hangovers. Perhaps an information leak that the elders were leading the worship service and there wouldn’t be any communion that day.

I guess if I can embrace the ridiculously high attendance figures on Easter Sunday, I should accept the dips, too. An even better idea is to stop counting. Then it wouldn’t be an issue, would it? Until someone asks for an average attendance reports. Or wants to know how many worship folders to print.

Worst worship attendance ever: when all of Jesus’ disciples ran and left him alone. His passion was the highlight of his message and no one showed. But it was still effective. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

From now on, when someone asks me how big our church is, or how many come to worship, I’m going to say, “I’m not sure; how many do you think there are?” I’ll just let someone else worry about it.