Short Stuff #4

Here’s what’s been on my mind lately, in no particular order:

Having problems with people feeling like they belong? Even when they’ve been members for years and have served in leadership roles? Maybe stop being curious only about the work and start being curious about each other; one membership professional I know said they met with a committee full of people who’d known each other for a decade or more, and no one knew a majority of the others were fluent in the same second language, or where they worked, or even who else was in their family.

Filmmaker Greta Gerwig makes sure everyone who works on one of her movies understands that they are the keeper of the story, and they have a role in learning it, shaping it, and sharing it with others. Imagine if we felt the same way about our faith.

We need to reevaluate what congregational endowments are for (spoiler: not just buildings), and how endowments are used (and who determines that. I say this not because every endowment committee is like Smaug, but because some of them are.

Successful congregations understand that the real fight is never the Congregation versus the Staff; it’s the Congregation AND Staff against the trick of corporatism, division, and hopelessness.

If the most important thing you do with a covenant is wordsmith it, it’s not a covenant that is shared by anyone but a couple of wordsmiths.

How about we not scold other grown-ass adults? Maybe this is why they don’t trust you. Maybe this is why they leave.

It’s been a few years since our congregations moved back into their buildings, which should be places to grow. If you haven’t, maybe the problem isn’t your building.

The most used self-quote in my sermons is “we have to get it right inside our walls if we have any hope of getting it right outside our walls.” That’s not just for congregations, by the way, that’s for the walls of protection we build around our hearts.

If everyone thinks a program is important but no one wants to run it, maybe the program isn’t so important after all. Give it the honor and closure it deserves and do what is calling you now.

A note to ministers: it’s time to be braver from the pulpit. Braver about the world, braver about spiritual matters, braver about theology, braver about the human condition. People are starving for bravery - it’s how they become a little braver. No, it’s not easy. I’m still a bit uncomfortable with it, but it gets easier every time - as long as it’s authentic and not performative. Sure, one or two will hate it, but one or two hate everything. Most will welcome your bravery.

Finally, breathe. We aren’t breathing enough. By which I mean both literally and the slightly more metaphorical breaths and pauses and moments of recentering. There is so much to do. Slow down.