Sandy Drescher-Lehman, Souderton
Precisely 12:01 pm is the time that’s been set for our local ministerium to convene in the back room of China Wok each month, sometimes it’s 12:06. Our tradition is that the last pastor to arrive gets to pray – we appear to be vying for that privilege! It’s always hard to get there, hard to leave the office or hospital and all the work that never gets done, to meet with people who don’t really need me. But as soon as I arrive, I remember why I need them. These Lutheran, Episcopal, Methodist, Greek Orthodox and other pastors, chaplains and leaders of the Souderton, Telford, Harleysville and Franconia social service agencies, help me laugh at how seriously I take myself. They also inspire me to know when and how to take my role in the community and world more seriously. They expand my otherwise fairly Mennonite world with stories from the larger community of faith.
Afterward back in my office, I find ten emails that have arrived in the 78 minutes I was gone – some from people in my church, one from a friend in Germany who is thrilled to have “Googled” my name and found me again, my weekly correspondence from my soul-mate in Virginia and the one I’ve been eagerly awaiting from my daughter, visiting a friend in Australia. I’m aware of the debate about the pros and cons of doing pastoral care by email, but the alternatives for me often boil down to email them or they don’t know I even thought of them. I try to prioritize reply to the several needing an immediate response. While I do that, I listen to voicemail with messages as varied as the hats I wear.
Then there’s Facebook. My teenager tells me to stay off; it belongs to “them.” I’m feeling equal pressure from my 50-something colleagues, inviting me to be their friends. My addictive personality knows that every time I’d be on-line, I’d feel guilty if someone knew I was “on,” tried to connect and I didn’t respond. I already caved to unlimited texting, and have this undiscerning thumb reaction to every one I get, even it’s just “K” – after all, how else would I be able to communicate with my kids?!
Did I say guilty? Now there’s a word that’s fading from the categories where it’s been used so effectively in the past. I thank God that grace has replaced much of the “shoulds,” but at what cost to community?
A few years ago if someone missed Sunday morning church for a week or more, I’d have to be careful how I asked where they’d been. There was a fine line between showing an interest in their lives and keeping the list of who can safely come to the next communion. No more line! Many people seem quite content to be members of a place they frequent once a month or less.
With community at our fingertips, many are using weekends to disconnect from the world rather than celebrate together. Or they’re choosing to compliment the larger church gathering with fewer friends at a retreat house, coffee shop or living room. What was once an eager response to being apart all week and a model for not only spiritual enrichment, but also for emotional and social balance, is no longer evoked in the same way. After being a pastor for over eight years, I sometimes find myself welcoming a “guest” and realizing their name is vaguely familiar – only to remember seeing it on the membership list, I hadn’t had a chance to meet them before. I’m still learning to know who all thinks of “my church” as their community.
The truth of community remains – humans are created with a need to be in relationship; to serve and be served. The whole world has become my community, accessible in bold colors; as close as the keyboard on my lap, the headset in my ears or the Skype call on my computer. The challenge is to not become overwhelmed and numb to the needs, but to allow myself to be enticed by the invitation to join God’s activity!
More than ever, the church needs the many faces of God to be a welcoming community. With God’s grace the church is invited to be a place of acceptance. In Jesus’ mercy, the church is compelled to forgive and seek forgiveness. Copping the love of the Holy Spirit, the church draws people into its dynamic faith. Mennonites in community have been scrambled, but not disassembled.