More of what I've been up to

[luscious_purple]

Which is mostly church stuff, the last couple of weeks. We trustees, the lone five of us, have spent lots of time down "in the weeds," to manage the details of things that a church administrator should be doing (except we don't have one) or a volunteer committee should be handling (except volunteers are in short supply). I am assistant secretary on top of being a trustee, and it's hard to take notes AND participate meaningfully in a discussion. I grew up with the journalistic paradigm of sitting in a corner and writing everything down and not saying anything until it's time to ask questions at the end of the meeting.

We're dealing with so many different things that it's like watching the guy spinning plates on top of sticks on The Ed Sullivan Show. We talk about finding a temporary alternate worship site and what to do about the busted Internet/phone system in the RE Building and what should we do about the small private school that leases our space, and then church members who are not on the Board press us to repeat our explanation about why we didn't approve the mortgage, when are we going to fix the deck (with what money?), why can't we use our building when the school is using it (because the school is mostly using outdoor pavilions as classrooms).

And on and on and on, until I want to start screaming: Do we even want to be together as a congregation anymore? Do people want to do more than just tune into Zoom or Facebook Live once a week? We used to have lots of different activities, but nobody seems to be starting them up again as the pandemic recedes. So many of us are getting old. We don't even have children's religious education stuff anymore, because virtually no one in the congregation has young kids.

I just wish we would settle on the big picture so that we could fill in the details, instead of just running on a treadmill of endless details. We're rather like the five blind men who examined an elephant and came to different conclusions. (Sorry if I'm mixing metaphors and tales here, but I'm tired.)

Comments

[fauxklore]

The blind men and the elephant seems apt to me.

It sounds like your church needs some goal-setting, which is never easy.

[luscious_purple]

During the previous church year (July '21 to June '22), we had a Moving Forward Team that collected members' "hopes and visions" for the church community. The team (of which I was NOT a part) identified eight themes; two of them were "buildings and grounds" and "financial stability." But I don't think we identified a way to make those "visions" real.

I probably shouldn't write so much here, but (a) my real name is not associated with this journal and (b) sometimes I need a reality check.

[sister_raphael]

That's a tricky thing. Any kind of group meeting seems to have taken a bit of a hit with virtual meetings stepping in. I really don't know what the answer is.