Pastoral Life in the Age of Coronavirus

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

Proverbs 1:7 

Way back in the early 1980's, I was teaching my very first class of elementary school students.  I had done a good job working through the elementary education courses in college, but I was woefully unprepared for the job.  I was stubborn enough to hang in there and work on getting better.  Yet it took about three weeks of teaching before I quit telling myself, "Boy!  They sure didn't teach me this stuff in teacher school!"

Over the 29 years that I taught, it became a regular joke that I would share with my students whenever we ran into a situation in which we didn't really know what to do - other than to just plow ahead and see if we could figure things out.

I am finding myself thinking similar thoughts as I confront how to be a faithful pastor to my church as all of us are self-quarantined at home, as our church services are all done completely on-line using my computer, some pretty clever software, and a hand-held Canon video camera.  Each time I become frustrated with our current situation, and I cannot think of anything to make it easier, smoother, or more successful, I almost cry out to God: "They didn't teach me this stuff in seminary!" 

And yet...

I am finding that my past technology training is coming in very handy:

• Who knew that the Lord had prepared me for this work way back in the 1990's when I learned video-editing software?
• Who knew that when I learned to produce closed-circuit TV shows at the schools where I taught I would one day apply that knowledge to my current ministry?
• Who knew that although I didn't learn this stuff in "minister school" God made sure I learned it somewhere?

So, I have stopped complaining and lamenting...mostly.  I am now thanking God every day for the training I have and the successes we are having.  I also ask Him to bless those other pastors who don't have the same training to hang in there and do the best they can - shaky cameras, poor lighting, and a message that was never purposely intended to be put out there this way...God is blessing those messages anyway!

Perhaps all this is God's way of forcing us to look at our work in brand new ways.

Alleluia!  Amen!

Hiding Behind the Technology

PCUSA Book of Order F-3.0105:  “… we also believe that there are truths and forms with respect to which people of good characters and principles may differ.  And in all these we think it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other.”

Sometime between the early and mid 1990’s, email became a widespread communication tool.  Businesses, schools, churches, and individuals all quickly embraced this wonderful technology, and email became the major method for business and personal communication.

At the same time, email users quickly learned some lessons the hard way:

1. Once an email is sent, it is VERY difficult to get it back if you change your mind about its content, tone, or destination.
2. Email can be extremely embarrassing if it is forwarded to recipients that you never intended to read it.
3. Unless the email is sent from your home computer, any email sent by a church, business or school is property of that entity.  Just because you work there doesn’t mean you own the emails you send.
4. A mistake in an email can have unintended consequences, especially with the invention of “auto-correct” additions to email software.
5. What is written on an email can be used as grounds for legal action, personnel decisions, and even admission to colleges!

Before the advent of electronic communication – email – human beings communicated by letter, phone, or face-to-face.  Each was an efficient form of communication that usually forced a rational participant to slow down and think about what was being said or what was being heard.

Email changed all the rules!

Electronic communication is so fast that often the sender does not take the time to review the message and think about what is being said.  It is easier than ever to “hide behind the technology” and not really deal with the other person who is receiving it.  New email users were often cautioned to “be careful and thoughtful” about the emails they sent; this warning was often ignored or quickly forgotten.

Hard lessons have been learned by scores of people who had negative email experiences.  Hurt feelings have been caused which could have also been avoided – or at least softened – if the two people had met and talked face-to-face. 

Personally, I have received hateful and hurtful emails from other Christians who thought email was the perfect form to use; I have often wondered if those conversations would have been the same if they had occurred face-to-face or in a phone conversation.  Hiding behind the technology is a poor way for Christians to act!!

A good rule of thumb for email users – whether they are Christians or not – is to remember that old Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

And perhaps remember that our Book of Order reminds us to practice “mutual forbearance” toward one another; in other words, be kind.

Write and send emails as if Jesus is looking over your shoulder as you type.

Amen!