The Pastor's Place

I needed a copy of a song for next Sunday's worship and checked around in an attempt to find someone that had a copy. I was told that a certain teacher at De Motte Chrisitian school would have a copy. I called her on Sunday past and she said to meet her in her classroom yesterday morning. When I reached her classroom, she greeted me warmly. We began to visit. An hour and a half later, I walked out with my music. Judy (not her real name) is the wife of one of our former ministers. She and her husband live in the same area but they attend a different church now. She is a dear woman of God and one with whom I feel I have a special bond. She explained how much she missed our fellowship. To be honest, my heart ached for her. You see, about ten years ago, the relationship between our church and her husband became very strained as so many of those relationships do these days. Eventually, her husband was asked to leave his position. I remember Ken and I fighting those efforts and attempting to support our pastor. We saw areas that needed improvement but there was not valid reason to seperate the marriage of pastor and congregation. At least that was the way we saw it at the time and probably would still see it that way. Several months of strained relationships developed between pastor and congregation and between those congregational members for the pastor and against the pastor. It was ugly for everyone. I recall grieving deeply over it all. I grieved especially for the pastor, his wife and his children. Eventually, the pastor seperated from the congregation. That wasn't the end of things however. Those who made the most noise continued to be unhappy. Eventually, some of those, too, left the congregation and went on to greener pastures.

The pastor and his family relocated in an adjoining town. He found work as a chaplain in a hospital which fit his gifts perfectly. They joined a sister church. As we visited yesterday, it occurred to me that Judy is still feeling the results of that ugly affair. She shared that she misses some of the relationships she had developed in our fellowship.

I smile as I think of how God has worked in the lives of both our congregation and that pastor and his wife. He has done what He does best, He has put us all back together. Only He can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. The pastor has had a satisfying job for the last ten years. His wife continues to enjoy her teaching job at the same school at which she was working then. Their children have all grown and most have married and are on their own. Judy and her husband have grown in their personal lives and are healing from what our church did to them. Our church has healed, too. We went on in God's grace and rebuilt the family of God at Community. Our church has grown twice or three times its size since then. Even as a result of the sin of His people, God is gracious and heals those situations that come about at the failure of human beings. He is so good. His dealings with us remind me very much of His dealings with the Israelites. No matter how many times they failed Him, He brought them through even using supernatural methods.

I think those of us who were congregants at Community Church during that dark time in our history, would do next to anything to avoid such a time as that again. We learned much through that experience. One of the best lessons is that all people are human with frailties peculiar to each individual. We learned that we can't expect perfection and that God has awarded each of His children with specific gifts and abilities and can use those to His glory.

Forgive our nation's churches, Lord, for the way we treat your servants.