How we May Look to Future Generations

I remember a man who grew up in Weimar Germany – the period between the Word Wars when Germany was a political and economical disaster. His wife had also come to America from impoverished Europe. The experiences of their youth changed their lives forever. He loved the seclusion and of Northern Minnesota. She loved the comforts of a well kept home and the joy of gourmet cooking. He had been too young to serve in the first war and too German to serve in the second.

I also remember the stories of those who lived through the Great Depression. There was poverty even here in Southern Minnesota. Those who lived by the railroad tracks were careful to feed the hobos but not invite them in. Some left the Midwest to find work; usually without success. Those on farms had particular ways that stayed with them even 50 years later, even to the 1980’s.

We’ve all heard about people whose lives are permanently changed by their experiences of war, political or social upheaval, economic failures, or disease. Do you know people like this? Have you gotten to know them and hear their stories? As a Pastor, I’ve heard many such stories over my years. But it has been a while in our country since so many lives have been changed by the same event. Yes, we all take off our shoes for security screening at the airport since 9/11. But the youngest generation doesn’t remember it being any other way. They’ve never been met by family when coming off an airplane or watched a loved one board the plane – only dropping off or picking up outside the terminal. And while many have been changed by their experiences of middle eastern wars, to the vast majority of our society, we have hardly noticed.

But the present pandemic has impacted us all and will no doubt change us in a way that future generations will find noticeable and peculiar. Someday, we will be back to visiting stadiums or moving like cattle through the State Fair or amusement parks. But I suspect that we will always carry some anxiety having lived through this time of social distancing. How will we feel getting into a taxi? Will we be able to sit in a theater or arena? Will we spend the rest of our lives disinfecting?

I Have Been Working From Home

On March 18, 2020, I collected what I thought I would need from my church office and brought it all home. I set up a little office in our porch: a computer, printer, extra monitor. The evening before, our Church Council responded to the national call to limit public gatherings. The previous Sunday, it was asked that public gatherings be limited to 250 people. Now the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had lowered this to 50 and the US President had called for limitations to no more than 10. So public worship services were cancelled first through the end of March and then, after the Minnesota Governor had given a Stay At Home order, through mid April. The order has been extended until at least May 4th and no doubt the call for “social distancing” will extend well beyond that.

There was an initial rush to adjust our ministry and communicate the changes to our members. The staff had agreed and the Council now approved of deploying our staff in three separate endeavors. Being most at-risk for health complications, I would work from home writing, planning, and publishing. Pastor Matheny would work from the office, providing opportunities for walk-in and small group pastoral care. Deaconess Lisa would start contacting the dozens of older members most likely to be staying at home but without internet or perhaps even cable television connections.

There were significant changes that needed to be made to our church website if we were going to use it to communicate clearly and frequently. Initial information went up. At first it was more than daily. We would still upload worship services to public access cable television for use in the coming week, but now we would also post it before Sunday so that members could watch from home. This would mean finding relevant videos of past services (which we have been recording for years) and reverse-engineering them. Rip the video from the recording. Edit out dated announcements and prayers. Add banners to the video to note that these were older recordings. And these were from the times that we were having troubles with the old audio and video. They would not look or sound as good as they should. All of this takes more time than I had expected and there was much to learn about the software needed to accomplish this. Loading, editing, rendering, uploading, and posting. Then create a bulletin so people can follow along. Usually, we design the service and then follow the order. Now the order must reflect what’s already in the service. The first Sunday, it wasn’t posted until later in the day because the process took so much time to complete.

Other congregations were experimenting with “live streaming” their services. A pastor, an organist, maybe a few singers. Those congregations which were already live streaming did this well. But many who were new to this discovered that simply using “facetime” from Facebook was harder than it looked and was less than satisfactory. There were many members who did not use Facebook. Videos were shaky, sound was bad, and timing was off. There were many other ideas being tried by congregations in our community and around the Synod. Some congregations went too far and the seminary faculties and synod theology commission responded firmly. Some congregations had no way to reach out. One congregation in our synod apparently caused a large cluster of cases and several of their members died as a result.

We decided – not all will agree – to focus on three distinct groups in our congregation: (1) those we knew who had limited internet access or online experience. Lisa would call them. (2) those who would still need to see a pastor in person. Adam would be available at open hours and by appointment for them. And (3) those who could and most likely would rely on internet communication. That would be my job. We decided that our members would prefer a service from another year with congregational singing and pipe organ. We also scrambled to be able to offer a drive in service for Easter. We were able to give it a try also on Palm Sunday. The Church Council then asked that we continue this weekly. It’s not so hard, but it adds more preparation and coordination.

I’ve Discovered That I’m Now an Old Dog

You’ve heard the saying: “It’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks.” After 29 years as a pastor with 25 years growing up in “the parsonage” and synodical schools, I had gotten pretty good, I would say, at the weekly, monthly, and annual routine of a pastor’s work. What we are doing now involves many of the same components, but the ‘new tricks’ necessary to this work have been harder for me to handle than I had expected.

I’ve learned the necessary requirements of using the new software for producing website video. That was initially quite a challenge. I am thankful for my technology-savvy boys who have helped me. But I’ve begun to noticed other things that I didn’t realize were also very important to my work.

It is difficult to create devotions or write sermons or lead worship without the regular face to face contact of God’s people. I don’t just mean the oddness of preaching to a camera instead of a congregation. What I mean is that God’s message is intended for real people; the people I see and serve week in and week out. The farther away that I am from God’s people, the harder it is for me to communicate with them effectively. Pastoral care ought to be personal care. I can communicate on the phone, but it’s harder when I haven’t seen or been with you for some time.

Over the years, I have found it very helpful to work hard when working and to not bring work home. Sure. Sometimes there are emergency phone calls or visits to be made. No problem there. My family understands that. But now that I’m “working from home” am I working or at home? Balancing these is a constant concern for pastors and their families, but “working from home” when the rest of the family is also here creates a new imbalance that is hard to correct. I don’t just get up and go to work, I also make sure my highschooler is up and doing his distance learning. I’m mixing chores and duties for home while working. What’s wrong with getting supper started between paragraphs of a sermon? What’s wrong with posting an announcement to the website after walking the dog? It should be fine, but without the usual boundaries I’m less organized and more mixed up.

Today is my 31st day working from home and I’ve found that without the structure of my daily schedule my days and nights have gotten confused. No appointments. No lunch meetings. No hospital rounds or shut-in visits. I would think that I can accomplish so much more without the interruptions, but I have discovered the usual daily schedule actually helps me do more than I can without it. Maybe this is what retired folks mean when they say that they feel busier in retirement but sometimes can’t determine what they have actually accomplished.

Meetings really are necessary to make timely decisions and accomplish the work of Boards and Committees. With ten or 12 Elders gathered for a meeting, I can describe a situation, explain our options, and have a discussion with the whole group. This is impossible during this time of social distancing and staying at home. Even a video-conference can’t replace the sit-down discussion we can have as a staff, with our boards, in our Bible studies and at church breakfasts and suppers, and so on. Doing everything on-line or one-on-one takes more time, is less efficient, less productive, and more draining. I’m thinking of how the Apostle Paul must have felt during house arrest or when in prison. I’m imagining how it must have been coming to America with a two-week crossing of the Atlantic. I can’t imagine those who live at sea or worse, in submarines! I can see how a ship’s daily routine would be essential to prevent madness.

A pastor’s work is always mostly hidden. People often wonder what we do between Sundays. But when they look at the church calendar or see that he’s in his office, they know that he must be doing something. Unless they experience it for themselves, they do not see the hours put into premarital counseling, visiting the sick or dying, writing sermons and Bible studies, picking hymns or trouble-shooting the video recording system. Circuit and District meetings are cancelled, but in the past weeks there has been more than usual to read and study about the ever-changing practices and new issues in our congregations. With our church calendar presently so bare and without time in the office, what I am doing is even more hidden. I wonder what people think I’m doing. I wonder more if I’m doing enough or doing the right things.

So it has become clear to me that I’m somewhat of an “old dog” trying to learn “new tricks” and it is certainly not easy.

What If I or a Member of My Family Gets Sick?
The Church Would Need Your Help.

I don’t believe I would be in life-threatening danger if I should contract this illness. But I do realize that if I am infected with this virus it will probably be more difficult for me than for most people considering my underlying health problems and special concerns for my wife. It would certainly be no fun, but I am more concerned with passing it on to my family and to our members than I am for my own illness. And I wonder that if I were ill how would we continue the work responsibilities I’ve had during this time? Our staff and our members are not well cross-trained. I see how some congregations have had members step up to volunteer to help with technology or outreach or other special needs. We have not had this. This has been an issue in our congregation for some time but this present situation makes it even more important that others can see something that needs to be done and do it rather than just suggesting that someone else should. Below are some examples of what we need volunteers for especially at this time. But these could be things you keep doing for some time, if you’d like.

1. Learning to run the FM broadcast for our parking lot services. Right now we depend on my 19 and 15 year old sons.
2. Learning how to find, edit, process, and upload past worship services. You’d need a top end computer and fast internet.
3. Learning how to post announcements, devotions, worship services and the like to our website and Facebook page. Others can provide the content. It’s the tech-savvy that is needed.
4. A willingness to take a list of 10-20 members to call weekly to pass on information, see how they’re doing, receive prayer requests or pass concerns to the staff.
5. Learning how to operate our new audio and video recording equipment so that when we come back to weekly worship we can have a full schedule of helpers.
6. Our grounds and courtyard are “out of sight and out of mind” but they could use a little tender loving care from those who may like some outside work.

There’s a good chance that the stay-at-home order for Minnesota will expire in early May. We will then have continued social-distancing requirements for some time after that, probably at least through the end of May or into June. We can use short-terms and long term help. I’ll make this a separate announcement on our website. Perhaps this is the time for us to realize that we need each other more than we’ve practiced in the past.