Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples,
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
(Matthew 16.13-15)
Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?) /
I really wanna know (who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
(The Who)
Something quite interesting (from my perspective as the Interim Pastor) happened at a recent “listening session” held by the church Session/council. We invited people to give us feedback on a Vision Statement, Mission Statement, and a description of the current church logo (Celtic knot with the church name).
The “interesting” thing was the reaction to the logo. It wasn’t the description of the logo that was the center of the reaction–the description tied the church’s ethos to Celtic spirituality esp. Earth-care). The reaction was to how the logo was or wasn’t adopted by the congregation. It seems (to this outsider) that there was no “buy in” on the part of the congregation. Someone made a decision without congregational input.
As the conversation ensued, I discerned that the reaction wasn’t really about the logo. We were talking about identity. As one person commented, “This isn’t how we do things here.” When I made the comment that I thought we were talking about more than a logo, many heads nodded in agreement. “Now,” I thought, “we’re getting somewhere.’
Interim ministry means you often step in a pile of poo… unintentionally! We are temporary shepherds and shepherds walk through fields of poo because sheep… poop. So do people (flock of God). Interim work doesn’t avoid the hot mess but invites the congregation to figure out how THEY will deal with… identity, dashed dreams, unfulfilled promises, broken pastoral relationships.
The Open Door is going through what all congregations go through during the transition. Questions about identity are normal and healthy. Who this congregation was (20, 15, 10, 5 years ago) is not who it is now. That can be celebrated as spiritually transformative or resisted as “changing who we are.” The only thing that doesn’t change is a thing that’s dead. And Open Door is NOT dead.
By the way, manure is used for rebuilding soil and plant growth. Who knew about poo?