Skip to main content

An Honest Day in the Life of a Minister 1/3/25

 Today started with attempting a visit of a member with Covid 19 in the hospital. The daughter wants everyone to go visit her because she's lonely. Ma'am she's in isolation because she has a contagious virus. We will call, send cards and flowers, but I will not be encouraging everyone to go visit and spread anymore germs around. So I went and masked up. Poor member was sleeping very soundly so I left my card with a small note, said a silent prayer and left. I refuse to wake someone in the hospital. It's just bad practice.

Then I printed bulletins. Copiers are weird but vital. I appreciate that this one will fold the bulletin for me. However I can't get it to fold the large print bulletins. Go figure. It's been weird not doing a bulletin every week myself. It's amazing what a good secretary and an updated piece of equipment can do for you.

Then there was the funeral. A former lay licensed minister was contacted by a former member to do a son's funeral. Never called the church or me. I just get emails about this is happening and this is who's doing it. Umm.. no. This former lay licensed minister choose to retire therefore you don't get to just officiate weddings, funerals, or any other worship service because you don't have standing. And no you don't get to wear a robe because you're not a recognized minister anymore.

This week has been emails with the licensed minister of a previous minister taught me how to do this. To now "I'm not sure I want to do it." "Can you print this bulletin that's not formatted correctly?" Can you open the obituary that was sent to me because I can't? (It wasn't sent.) Should we have coffee and tea? No lady. I'm not going to bail you out after you put me in a bad position. Had a conversation with the former lay minister before the service and anyone was around that she knows that she never should have said yes to any of this without first calling the church to make sure the date and time was available and then also calling me and asking my permission since I'm the senior pastor.

Winds up the day with having to lock up after the funeral because the former lay minister beat half of the family out of the building. How not to be present with the family 101. And people wonder why I'm tempted to go sit and have several beers or I consume large amounts of coffee, tea and diet soda.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Wrap Up

 Happy New Year's Eve! 2024 is almost gone as I type this. And it's been ... a year. To whomever may be reading this know this: I'm glad you made it through 2024. You're you and you're here. That's enough. Whether you met your goal/goals or not, you survived. You're still breathing - even if it's hard to do sometimes. I'm proud of you. Keep going. Even if all you can manage is the next minute. Keep going.  Here is my updates and reflection on 2024. The biggest thing for me has been my move and new ministry in Wisconsin. I said goodbye to two lovely rural Nebraska churches in February and started my new ministry in Wisconsin March 1. It was funny that I was actually attending a UCCB meeting in Ohio when I officially met my new conference minister in person on March 1. God has a sense of humor. This past 9 months has been learning about the systems of the church and the community and trying to find my place. I haven't been perfect in this, but I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Political vs. Partisan in Preaching

For years now, I have heard in preaching and clergy circles about being political in sermons; the good, the bad and those who state that church shouldn’t be political. There are workshops, books, and podcasts talking about politics in the church with a variety of opinions. What do people mean when they make the statement that the church shouldn’t be political? The IRS has the most say about the rules for the separation of church and state/politics. If your church wants to be tax exempt, there are rules: don’t endorse any candidate or party, if you allow one party to use your space, other political parties also must be allowed to use the space, etc. The UCC’s general counsel, Heather Kimmell, has a webinar on this topic if you’d like to hear a more detailed explanation which can be found on the UCC’s YouTube channel. Churches have gotten “creative” in how to get around this, often partnering with another non-profit group to give support to a particular group. The UCC is proud to claim...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Day in the Life: A Minister and Forgiveness

 I shared in one of my last blogs that I had complaints lodged against me by a small group in my congregation. Most seem to have moved on after our group meeting, where I apologized for a lot of things - probably more then I should have had too. But I'm the professional in those settings so I did it.  I'm not being told, second hand, that two of those in that meeting want a one on one apology from me because what I said in the meeting wasn't good enough. This is the couple who cursed in my church, have flat out lied about me and have repeatedly stated that the only outcome they're willing to accept is my termination.  Let me explain why I won't be having a one on one meeting with this couple and I won't be giving any more apologies. First, lets start with the apology part. I have apologized for my actions - maybe my misinterpretations is a better term. Based off of their actions and words, I communicated with the proper board/committee and asked for consensus ab...
Post a Comment
Read more