How Are Things

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Just checking in on the few ELCAers who venture here. How are things? How is church? Any exciting news in your life or congregation?

 

[AngCath]

I suppose our church is in an exciting time, we are in an interim period... it's mostly just exhausting, though. It's also been a little frustrating that the interim pastor's liturgical sense is not up to the, shall we say, liturgical "standard" that the congregation is used to.

In my own life, work is well and other than winter arriving nothing new is really going on.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Life is in a lot of transition for my house. My wife who has been unemployed for sometime in far down in an interview process and we are hoping she gets the job. She has put her volunteer activities on pause until she knows if she will get this job.
I was thankfully approved for ordination and entering into the assignment process for first call. We won't know for a couple months what part of the country we are going to end up in. I still have to finish my final semester though before I actually can take a position. But our hope is that in the next 6 months we will have a new place. But with the state of the economy and the ELCA we are unsure yet what the landscape for first calls will look like, on top of that being more moderate-conservative may impact where we end up too.
What moving will mean for my wife's work will also be a question. We just have a lot going on in the upcoming months. Although it feels like it is taking forever honestly.

 

[AngCath]

That is A LOT of transition to be handling at once! I will be praying for you and your wife.

That is another part of the frustration/excitement at church. Our previous pastor was pretty conservative and even toyed with re-aligning with either NALC or LCMC. Our current interim is more progressive. He is a fine pastor, that's not the issue, the issue is that the right vs. left stuff is creeping back up as we self-examine on a congregation-wide scale.

Do you have a part of the country you'd like to be in after school?

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

That is A LOT of transition to be handling at once! I will be praying for you and your wife.

That is another part of the frustration/excitement at church. Our previous pastor was pretty conservative and even toyed with re-aligning with either NALC or LCMC. Our current interim is more progressive. He is a fine pastor, that's not the issue, the issue is that the right vs. left stuff is creeping back up as we self-examine on a congregation-wide scale.

Do you have a part of the country you'd like to be in after school?

We are trying to get closer to my wife's family in IL. But we're not restricting.

 

[mdseverin]

Things are good here We had our new senior pastor start in September after 18 months of a very dificult period in our history. We are so blessed to have him. He will be starting the Alpha course next month, and we are in the middle of doing "The Story" which has been very helpful getting my wife interested in the bible and learning more.

Where in IL is your wifes family doulos?

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Things are good here We had our new senior pastor start in September after 18 months of a very dificult period in our history. We are so blessed to have him. He will be starting the Alpha course next month, and we are in the middle of doing "The Story" which has been very helpful getting my wife interested in the bible and learning more.

Where in IL is your wifes family doulos?

That's great to hear.

Her family is just southeast of Chicago on the IL-IN border.

 

[KagomeShuko]

Things are BLAAAAH as far as the ELCA goes in Lake Charles, LA. The church is terrible. I don't go there anymore because they are terrible. They lost focus on ANY faith a LONG time ago! I know this because they never cared about ministry and youth ministry. Then they said I was wrong and hurt me, my sister, my Daddy (as he was still alive at the time), and my mother.

It's a terrible place. The pastor they hired before it all unfolded (but was happening) was a Presbyterian - and they didn't make him go to any Lutheran counseling classes - so he has no counseling training - and he lied to me when he called me to a meeting. Yep, right out lied to get me to come to a meeting and yell at me, really.

Then they yelled at me, and my Daddy and stuff about my sister with her Asperger's.

So, we go to an Episcopal church in the morning and I go to a First Christian/Disciples of Christ church in the evening.

We found people who actually care about FAITH . . . but my beliefs are still very Lutheran and since there are no other ELCA churches in Lake Charles, my membership is still with the one.

I doubt I'll be back for a long time again. I don't have much time as I always seem to be working or helping my family.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Things are BLAAAAH as far as the ELCA goes in Lake Charles, LA. The church is terrible. I don't go there anymore because they are terrible. They lost focus on ANY faith a LONG time ago! I know this because they never cared about ministry and youth ministry. Then they said I was wrong and hurt me, my sister, my Daddy (as he was still alive at the time), and my mother.

It's a terrible place. The pastor they hired before it all unfolded (but was happening) was a Presbyterian - and they didn't make him go to any Lutheran counseling classes - so he has no counseling training - and he lied to me when he called me to a meeting. Yep, right out lied to get me to come to a meeting and yell at me, really.

Then they yelled at me, and my Daddy and stuff about my sister with her Asperger's.

So, we go to an Episcopal church in the morning and I go to a First Christian/Disciples of Christ church in the evening.

We found people who actually care about FAITH . . . but my beliefs are still very Lutheran and since there are no other ELCA churches in Lake Charles, my membership is still with the one.

I doubt I'll be back for a long time again. I don't have much time as I always seem to be working or helping my family.

It is saddening to hear you had such an experience and things are really bad for you right now.
This is one of the reasons I think ecumenical agreements are ideally more than always practically helpful, that is, the documents expect the pastor to come and preach, teach, and counsel according to the Lutheran tradition, while this person often will have limited connections to our tradition. It is an unfair and many times impossible expectation.
While I do not know much else in the situation, I should note that many Lutheran pastors may poorly handle a situation around asperger's too. I hope when you return you find the gospel joy again there.

 

[AngCath]

Kagome,

I am deeply saddened by your story. I wish your experience with the Lutheran church in your area were better, but it sounds as though you have found a place where the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments administered faithfully. Someday, I hope you are able to go back to the Lutheran church and find that it is a household of faith run by a pastor that you are able to trust and rely on.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I'm checking out a church that I hope will be my new church home. It describes itself as "emerging" Anglo-Catholic, and is under both an Episcopal (TEC) bishop and and a Lutheran (ELCA) bishop. So I guess those two denominations must be pretty serious about the full communion thing.

I've been following their website for a while, and made my first visit last Sunday. So far, so good, but I don't really know yet.

Over in the main Lutheran section, they seem too conservative to be anything but negative on something like this.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

I'm checking out a church that I hope will be my new church home. It describes itself as "emerging" Anglo-Catholic, and is under both an Episcopal (TEC) bishop and and a Lutheran (ELCA) bishop. So I guess those two denominations must be pretty serious about the full communion thing.

I've been following their website for a while, and made my first visit last Sunday. So far, so good, but I don't really know yet.

Over in the main Lutheran section, they seem too conservative to be anything but negative on something like this.

I hope that worked out well for you. Are you still going there?

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Things are good here We had our new senior pastor start in September after 18 months of a very dificult period in our history. We are so blessed to have him. He will be starting the Alpha course next month, and we are in the middle of doing "The Story" which has been very helpful getting my wife interested in the bible and learning more.

Where in IL is your wifes family doulos?

We are going to be in WI...well a small chance we end up just over the border in MN, but almost certainly now it will be Wisconsin.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I hope that worked out well for you. Are you still going there?

Still trying to. I missed a couple due to a cold and then transportation issues. I hope to be there this coming Sunday, and then maybe I'll have something more to report.

 

[Izdaari Eristikon]

I've had a chance to check out that TEC/ELCA church better since my last post. It's liturgical, but with a contemporary feel to it. It's a smallish church, but growing, not declining, and with a lot of people in their 20s and 30s. The music is "world fusion music", very well done, with lyrics mostly borrowed from the psalms, traditional creeds and hymns. They call the style "ancient/future", which I guess fits because it manages to sound very modern and very traditional at the same time. They've just called a new pastor, and though I haven't met him yet, he sounds really good. I'm excited about it, and I'll be starting membership and/or confirmation classes later this month.

 

[doulos_tou_kuriou]

Great to hear!