Wading in familiar water
30/03/16 05:22
Yesterday was a day to take a trip down memory lane for us. We drove up to Hettinger, North Dakota, to officiate at a funeral. The service was held in Centennial Chapel, which is next door to the home where we lived for seven years. It was the home to which both of our children came as infants. We moved from that home when our children were two and four years old. It is always a time of remembering when we go there. Some things have changed. There is no longer a sand box in the front yard. The house has different siding and is a different color. The school across the street has a new mascot and new busses parked in the yard. Some of the businesses in the town have changed. Some things are just the same. The church is virtually unchanged. Even the carpet is the same. I sat on the same chair behind the pulpit. I remember the day we bought the piano that is in the sanctuary.
At the conclusion of the funeral, we drove to the neighboring town of Reeder for the committal. In the days we lived in North Dakota, we served churches in both towns, so the drive was very familiar. The wind at the cemetery was very familiar. After the committal, we gathered at the Senior Citizen’s center in town, a place that has hosted a lot of different gatherings over the years.
Along the way, we greeted old friends and remembered the good years that we lived and worked with those people.
Then we got in our car and drove back home. The drive, too is very familiar to us. In the days when we lived in North Dakota, we would make regular trips to Rapid City for shopping and medical care. The trip is slightly faster these days because we no longer have a national 55 mph speed limit. It was probably a bit quieter, too, because we have a newer and more comfortable car than was the case back then.
Back in Rapid City we picked up a friend who came to town as a part of her job with a company that supplies products to local grocery stores. We had dinner and another hour of conversation with her. She is from Boise, Idaho, where we lived for a decade between our time in North Dakota and our move to Rapid City. She was in the youth group at our church in Idaho. The evening was filled with more stories, more catching up and more memories.
It was not, however, a day of going back. All of the activities reminded us of how things have changed over the years. When we lived in North Dakota, we served two lively congregations. Both have closed their doors now. The towns are much smaller and there are fewer businesses open in both towns. The building where the funeral was held now belongs to a funeral home and is almost identical to how it looked as a church and serves a similar function as a place for funerals. We didn’t even go to the other church building, which has been sold. Each trip we make to that town there are fewer familiar faces. The drive back to South Dakota included conversations about the people we did not see while we were there.
The woman with whom we met in the evening is now married with children of her own. In fact, her eldest son is the age her brother was when we moved to Boise. Her parents have some health challenges. She brought stories of others who have grown and changed.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is reported to have said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Change is a part of life and everything changes. It seems evident that this is the case every time we go back to visit places that remind us of our past. As we have grown and changed and gotten on with our lives, so to have those who remained in the places we left behind.
Sometimes in the church we encounter resistance to change. People come to church, in part, in search of the familiar and the comfortable. Their lives are filled with constant change and constant bombardment from media that forces them to encounter the change. They find comfort in the familiar and many of the rites and ceremonies of the church are familiar to them. But even the church is in the process of changing. New language and new songs are introduced. New ways of doing business come into play.
When we moved to North Dakota we had a manual typewriter. The church had virtually no office equipment. We didn’t need any. There was a mimeograph machine at the court house where we could duplicate our worship bulletins. In the years that we served those congregations, we started a newsletter, got a mailing permit, and purchased a small copy machine. An electronic typewriter found its home in the church office. When we lived in Boise that church made the change from typewriters to computers and upgraded printers and copiers many times. Now we work with wireless connectivity, a dependency upon the Internet for our cloud based applications and data services, and a full color digital printer.
It isn’t just the equipment that has changed.
People’s lives have changed as well. The constant connectivity of smart phones and other mobile devices means that we have all kinds of conversations that take place over various forms of media. We have all kinds of friendships that don’t involve very much face to face contact. We are bombarded by information, much of which is not useful and clutters our lives. Patterns of church participation have shifted radically. One thing that we often notice is that folks who were once really active in church, attending weekly or even more often, are less active these days. Part of the conversation we had last night reminded us that the woman with whom we met has not been to the church we attended in those days any more often than we. We live 950 miles from that church these days. She lives as close as she did 20 years ago.
Still, it is good to step into a familiar stream even though we know that both the water and we have changed. Yesterday was a good day to remember. Today is a day to move forward and discover new challenges.
At the conclusion of the funeral, we drove to the neighboring town of Reeder for the committal. In the days we lived in North Dakota, we served churches in both towns, so the drive was very familiar. The wind at the cemetery was very familiar. After the committal, we gathered at the Senior Citizen’s center in town, a place that has hosted a lot of different gatherings over the years.
Along the way, we greeted old friends and remembered the good years that we lived and worked with those people.
Then we got in our car and drove back home. The drive, too is very familiar to us. In the days when we lived in North Dakota, we would make regular trips to Rapid City for shopping and medical care. The trip is slightly faster these days because we no longer have a national 55 mph speed limit. It was probably a bit quieter, too, because we have a newer and more comfortable car than was the case back then.
Back in Rapid City we picked up a friend who came to town as a part of her job with a company that supplies products to local grocery stores. We had dinner and another hour of conversation with her. She is from Boise, Idaho, where we lived for a decade between our time in North Dakota and our move to Rapid City. She was in the youth group at our church in Idaho. The evening was filled with more stories, more catching up and more memories.
It was not, however, a day of going back. All of the activities reminded us of how things have changed over the years. When we lived in North Dakota, we served two lively congregations. Both have closed their doors now. The towns are much smaller and there are fewer businesses open in both towns. The building where the funeral was held now belongs to a funeral home and is almost identical to how it looked as a church and serves a similar function as a place for funerals. We didn’t even go to the other church building, which has been sold. Each trip we make to that town there are fewer familiar faces. The drive back to South Dakota included conversations about the people we did not see while we were there.
The woman with whom we met in the evening is now married with children of her own. In fact, her eldest son is the age her brother was when we moved to Boise. Her parents have some health challenges. She brought stories of others who have grown and changed.
The Greek philosopher Heraclitus is reported to have said, “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Change is a part of life and everything changes. It seems evident that this is the case every time we go back to visit places that remind us of our past. As we have grown and changed and gotten on with our lives, so to have those who remained in the places we left behind.
Sometimes in the church we encounter resistance to change. People come to church, in part, in search of the familiar and the comfortable. Their lives are filled with constant change and constant bombardment from media that forces them to encounter the change. They find comfort in the familiar and many of the rites and ceremonies of the church are familiar to them. But even the church is in the process of changing. New language and new songs are introduced. New ways of doing business come into play.
When we moved to North Dakota we had a manual typewriter. The church had virtually no office equipment. We didn’t need any. There was a mimeograph machine at the court house where we could duplicate our worship bulletins. In the years that we served those congregations, we started a newsletter, got a mailing permit, and purchased a small copy machine. An electronic typewriter found its home in the church office. When we lived in Boise that church made the change from typewriters to computers and upgraded printers and copiers many times. Now we work with wireless connectivity, a dependency upon the Internet for our cloud based applications and data services, and a full color digital printer.
It isn’t just the equipment that has changed.
People’s lives have changed as well. The constant connectivity of smart phones and other mobile devices means that we have all kinds of conversations that take place over various forms of media. We have all kinds of friendships that don’t involve very much face to face contact. We are bombarded by information, much of which is not useful and clutters our lives. Patterns of church participation have shifted radically. One thing that we often notice is that folks who were once really active in church, attending weekly or even more often, are less active these days. Part of the conversation we had last night reminded us that the woman with whom we met has not been to the church we attended in those days any more often than we. We live 950 miles from that church these days. She lives as close as she did 20 years ago.
Still, it is good to step into a familiar stream even though we know that both the water and we have changed. Yesterday was a good day to remember. Today is a day to move forward and discover new challenges.