On Monday mornings I usually come into the office and go over the week with my office assistant, kind of plan out my week, look at the text for Sunday, update the website, organize a little, maybe have a meeting... Mondays are usually low key.
Today isn't anymore stressful, but with the potential of closing a congregation it seems that anything that comes up is a stresser.
Today I:
1) Continued to work on finding organ supply for Sunday mornings from Oct. 16th through the close worship date - still TBD. My organist, who has been with the congregation for 15 years, told me on Tuesday that he took a job with another congregation and his last Sunday is Oct. 9th. If I was in a normal situation this would be stressful but workable. I would delight in developing a new job description and hopes for even changing around worship and finding a person that would fit in with the vision. From what I've heard, this is not as fun as it seems, but it has to be better than just finding organ supply for 8 months because what sense does it make to do anything else? And, also going through a hard goodbye for many congregation members. Our organist is well loved by the members of this congregation - it's going to be hard when he is not in the loft on Sunday the 16th.
2) Got an email from a member about the people hanging out in the church courtyard. The building is shaped like a U. One side of the congregation is along a busy street, another side along a side street and the final side along an alley. The inside of the U is a "garden" area that faces a parking lot for the Muslim Community Center next door. This parking lot is used as a shortcut for people in the neighborhood, and apparently the courtyard has become a bit of a problem in recent months. People sleep back there at night because it's out of the way, it's kind of sheltered from the weather, its dark and quiet... So, we've had vandalism back there, trash found every morning... I know it's happening more and more because the building is used less and less. The council talked about building a fence to close it off. How awful to think about shutting people out, but we also have to be good neighbors - especially since we don't know if the building will sit vacant for some time while we try to sell it. So, I have to start getting quotes for fencing.
3) I got a phone call from a lawyer today about a memorial left to the congregation from a recently deceased member. (Over the last 2 months I have presided over 5 funerals and there are 3 people in hospice care). The amount is not a game changer, it's not even enough to pay my salary for a year, but I'm certain it is large enough for people to think that maybe we can use it to continue the ministry for a little longer. I have to meet with a Thrivent Rep. to fill out paperwork to accept the check then we have to figure out what to do with the money - this is before we have to figure out how to disperse all our other assets.
I just have these "little" things that seem to pop up and can distract me enough from organizing conversations with the congregation, outlining close documents, figuring out exactly what does the ELCA mean by "archives", writing an agenda for the council meeting, or any other kind of "closing" focused work I should be doing. And this is much, much different form the work I imagined myself doing while I was in seminary. I would rather be writing a Bible Study and figuring out ways to get people to attend them. Or, setting up Mission Weekend Tips... Closing a congregation is not on the, "ministry I hope to do" list of any pastor I know.
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