Dear Loved Ones:

When this issue of The Lighthouse is printed I will be taking vacation and continuing education. So I’m doing something I’ve never before done. I’m writing my pastor’s letter ahead of time.

I usually wait to write my letter until the rest of the newsletter is finished. Like most pastors, I feel responsible for the newsletter overall, so I put the rest of it first. And by saving my letter for last, I know how much space is left for my contribution.

However, writing doesn’t come easily for me. Too often, when the newsletter committee arrives to fold, label and affix stamps to the newsletter, I am struggling to finish my last paragraph. Being under that kind of pressure feels stressful. As I suffer with every newsletter, it occurred to me long ago that I should write my letter ahead of time.

It has taken me until now, however, to engage in this new behavior. It had to be forced on me by circumstances! Right away, I noticed that I feel uncomfortable to be writing without a deadline.

I’m used to writing on tight deadlines. In 39 years of either being a student or working in the publishing industry, I learned to race against the clock as I write. Writing under pressure feels comfortable because it is familiar. Doing away with the stress of writing under pressure sounds easy, but requires a rewiring of my entire approach.

I suspect I am not alone. Old habits die hard.

Clinging to that which is familiar is innate to us humans. Doing so can seem to us like a matter of life or death. Makes sense—since changing means going through discomfort to get to the other side.

Even when doing things the same old way fails to produce our desired results, we individuals and the organizations to which we belong—even our congregation—can cling to habits that are no longer useful. And we often need a push to make the change.

At FPC, with a membership that has long been declining and aging, few would argue that we need to do church ‘the way we always have.’ Yet as part of a mainline denomination widely experiencing the same problems we are, we have a push to help us. I’m talking about Looking Up!.

Looking Up! seeks to bring into balance four essentials of being Church: 1) reliance for all we do on The Triune God, 2) the teaching/guidance of a pastor, 3) an actively participating membership, 4) that is aware of and engaged in God’s mission. Congregations that are weak in any of these areas will suffer.

A couple of months ago, Session participated in a self-examination as part of Looking Up!. Elders identified a tendency for members to step into leadership when FPC is without an installed pastor, —but to say “Let the pastor do it—that’s what he/she is paid for,” when we have an installed pastor. This patterns leads to our being a pastor-driven church. The imbalance can lead to frustration all around. So, we just need to restore balance!  Easy, right? Just like writing my letter ahead of time.

There’s the rub—change is hard. So the leaders of Looking Up! have themselves been working through the discomfort of moving into leadership roles that are not somehow pastor-dependent. It has been as exciting to watch as it has been difficult. Only God could bring about the shift and He has! Our future is bright, as we each take the step of faith toward finding God-centered balance in our congregational life. And guess what—with God’s help I just finished my letter, well ahead of the deadline.

In Christ’s Love—

Your Pastor Laura