It’s heartwarming when people rally during bad times, but it also makes me sad. Why does it take a crisis for us to unite?
The pastor at my church is very sick. Major health issues. I have seen little to no compassion shown toward him since I began my part time church lady job in early October. Until now. All of a sudden, people are with him.
I’m not bitter, just saddened. He has a fighting spirit, always charging ahead and willing to take a stand on the tough issues in the church. Lately the issue is coming to terms with the bleeding out of people and funds. Interesting parallel here because one of his health problems has to do with internal bleeding. It’s a comparison I’d prefer to not make, but it’s there.
Yes, my pastor is my 60-something friend I wrote about yesterday. As part time secretary at my church, I have learned so much about him, and we have shared a lot of good conversation. He and I have been a united team of two in the face of a lot of static that doesn’t matter, while trying to wake people up to the larger problems the church faces.
My church is very small. Other than me, we have a part time organist and a part time janitor on staff. That is it. My pastor friend has been ministering to the entire community of Durant for over a year in absence of pastors at the other two churches in town. And I work 20 hours a week. That’s a lot of work for each of us to squeeze into limited time.
And now the time seems even more limited. People had better rally, because he and I can’t do it all. We couldn’t do it before, but when crisis is ignored, the status quo takes hold. But the in-your-face crisis of pastor’s illness couldn’t be ignored.
People who once nit picked at every little thing my friend did are now full of concern. I wonder if they will hold on to that empathy if and when he gets better. My guess is they will gradually regress to the way they were before. A few might change for good.
I wish we all could rally on the good days, or even the ordinary days. We are so independent, centered around our own things. We divide our time amongst work, volunteer work, family, friends, and other issues. And in the meantime we forget to respect one another and reach out in kindness. We also waste our energy on static – the stuff in between the clear pictures that really doesn’t matter. I just wastes our time.
My friend is waiting for lab test results that are supposed to arrive by Tuesday. In the meantime, he and I can wait and ponder things like this.
Mel's Musings 
Thoughts and prayers are with you and your Pastor Friend as best solutions are revealed. When time exists greater in ones moments lived rather than in ones future, uncertainty becomes no longer important. Years in numbers seem to melt away to reveal those special moments we wish forever to cling. As a wife of a superintendent of schools once shared personal discoveries of their career experiences. “Most often it was at departure that we discovered who our real friends in that community had been”. At a ladies funeral last summer one of her sons played piano and sang, “At my funeral my friends will gather”. It is the more glamous things that contribute to human decisions at our Y intersections of life — as humans, we think we are in control. With opportunity of retrospect – each choice or decision had been but a small move within the power of a supposedly designed purpose or destiny. Take care – travel safe! God Bless!