Off to Pierre
04/10/14 04:33
I’m off to Pierre this morning. For a few years, the South Dakota Conference of the United Church of Christ has held an “Emerging Ministries Summit” in the fall. There was a time when Conferences were units of programming for churches. As recently as 15 or so years ago I invested many days traveling around the state each fall, taking programs to local churches on behalf of the Conference. For a couple of decades, I served as an educational consultant for our church’s national setting. I went to many local churches and associations to introduce several different generations of educational resources, promote publications of United Church Press and hold teacher training workshops. I still have boxes of sample resources and workshop materials stored away.
But the life of the church has changed. Local congregations rarely turn to denominations for resources. They use the Internet to access the resources they need. And denominations don’t have the financial resources to offer programs in local congregations. In the midst of all of these changes, our memories continue to be active. And there is still some sense that the South Dakota Conference ought to be at least a place of coordination of programs to resource local congregations.
The Emerging Ministries Summit was envisioned as a gathering of congregations to share new ideas and new ministries that are part of life of some congregations and might be shared with others. In practice, however, the events have turned out like the old programming modules that we used to present. There are a series of workshops and participants choose a couple of workshops and try to find resources and ideas that they can take home.
Maybe it is just my old age, but this year’s roster of workshops seems to be almost completely devoid of new ideas. If this is what is “emerging” than the future will look a whole lot like the past.
Of course there are places in the church where I am excited about emerging ministries. I am enthralled when I speak with my friend Ryan, who is pastor of a brand new congregation that is very different from traditional congregations. I am energized by a couple of new publishers who are specializing in ministry books and books of new ways of thinking. I am fired up about our Woodchuck program and the emergence of stained glass arts as in our church. When I invest a day in suicide prevention I end up more excited than tired.
But the Conference seems to act like a giant sponge that absorbs my energy. I find myself dreading the meetings of the conference and enduring them rather than becoming edited and participating fully.
It has not always been that way.
I can remember being a new pastor when getting together with other pastors was one of the high points of my life. I can remember when I was excited about Conference meetings and couldn’t wait for those days.
Most likely what I need is an attitude adjustment. You get out of these events what you put into them. I am traveling today because I am a workshop presenter. I was asked to present on church copyright law - not a subject that is one of my favorites - but I have the opportunity to make my corner of the program a time of high energy and present some ideas and resources that might be of use. Of course a lecture on the nuances of law probably won’t even interest a lawyer. But when I think of the story of the use of arts in worship and the way that the church once was a source of drama, fine art, music, literature and other artistic expressions, I know that part of the solution to current copyright dilemmas is for the church to return to the role of being a prodder rather than consumer. Maybe I can turn a rather dry topic into a source of new ideas about how the arts might revive worship and breathe new life into our communities.
At a bare minimum, one of the gifts of this day is an opportunity to drive across the prairie and to look down on Ft. Pierre and Pierre, our state capitol. The name itself, though pronounced in a distinctly South Dakota, not-French way, reminds me of the story of our state. There was a time when this was the land of indigenous tribes and the only Europeans who came to the area were here for the purpose of trading with the natives. There was, to the north and east of South Dakota a huge competition that often looked like war over control of the trade of furs from North America in the European Market. While the British seemed to have the upper hand when it came to navies, shipping and military might, the French had more contacts within the native communities. French traders and trappers tended to live with their trading partners, speak their language, use their modes of transportation, and get along. The British seemed to be afraid to go into the woods and get away from the coasts. Too often they never even learned the languages of those with whom they wanted to trade. Brute force only goes so far in building an economy.
More than 300 years later, we have inherited place names with French spelling even if we have our own way of pronouncing those places.
I doubt if Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye ever set foot in South Dakota. If either he or any of his four sons did so, it would have been only in the extreme northeast corner. They explored and opened up the area west of Lake Superior to the fur trade and may have followed the Red River up the eastern side of what is today North Dakota in search of a route from the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Winnipeg and the northwest fur trade area. Somehow, we got his first name for the fort and later for the capital of our state. It is is a good location at the center of our state and right along the Missouri River.
The drive from here to there and there to here is beautiful.
If nothing else, I have the drive home to look forward to.
But the life of the church has changed. Local congregations rarely turn to denominations for resources. They use the Internet to access the resources they need. And denominations don’t have the financial resources to offer programs in local congregations. In the midst of all of these changes, our memories continue to be active. And there is still some sense that the South Dakota Conference ought to be at least a place of coordination of programs to resource local congregations.
The Emerging Ministries Summit was envisioned as a gathering of congregations to share new ideas and new ministries that are part of life of some congregations and might be shared with others. In practice, however, the events have turned out like the old programming modules that we used to present. There are a series of workshops and participants choose a couple of workshops and try to find resources and ideas that they can take home.
Maybe it is just my old age, but this year’s roster of workshops seems to be almost completely devoid of new ideas. If this is what is “emerging” than the future will look a whole lot like the past.
Of course there are places in the church where I am excited about emerging ministries. I am enthralled when I speak with my friend Ryan, who is pastor of a brand new congregation that is very different from traditional congregations. I am energized by a couple of new publishers who are specializing in ministry books and books of new ways of thinking. I am fired up about our Woodchuck program and the emergence of stained glass arts as in our church. When I invest a day in suicide prevention I end up more excited than tired.
But the Conference seems to act like a giant sponge that absorbs my energy. I find myself dreading the meetings of the conference and enduring them rather than becoming edited and participating fully.
It has not always been that way.
I can remember being a new pastor when getting together with other pastors was one of the high points of my life. I can remember when I was excited about Conference meetings and couldn’t wait for those days.
Most likely what I need is an attitude adjustment. You get out of these events what you put into them. I am traveling today because I am a workshop presenter. I was asked to present on church copyright law - not a subject that is one of my favorites - but I have the opportunity to make my corner of the program a time of high energy and present some ideas and resources that might be of use. Of course a lecture on the nuances of law probably won’t even interest a lawyer. But when I think of the story of the use of arts in worship and the way that the church once was a source of drama, fine art, music, literature and other artistic expressions, I know that part of the solution to current copyright dilemmas is for the church to return to the role of being a prodder rather than consumer. Maybe I can turn a rather dry topic into a source of new ideas about how the arts might revive worship and breathe new life into our communities.
At a bare minimum, one of the gifts of this day is an opportunity to drive across the prairie and to look down on Ft. Pierre and Pierre, our state capitol. The name itself, though pronounced in a distinctly South Dakota, not-French way, reminds me of the story of our state. There was a time when this was the land of indigenous tribes and the only Europeans who came to the area were here for the purpose of trading with the natives. There was, to the north and east of South Dakota a huge competition that often looked like war over control of the trade of furs from North America in the European Market. While the British seemed to have the upper hand when it came to navies, shipping and military might, the French had more contacts within the native communities. French traders and trappers tended to live with their trading partners, speak their language, use their modes of transportation, and get along. The British seemed to be afraid to go into the woods and get away from the coasts. Too often they never even learned the languages of those with whom they wanted to trade. Brute force only goes so far in building an economy.
More than 300 years later, we have inherited place names with French spelling even if we have our own way of pronouncing those places.
I doubt if Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye ever set foot in South Dakota. If either he or any of his four sons did so, it would have been only in the extreme northeast corner. They explored and opened up the area west of Lake Superior to the fur trade and may have followed the Red River up the eastern side of what is today North Dakota in search of a route from the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Winnipeg and the northwest fur trade area. Somehow, we got his first name for the fort and later for the capital of our state. It is is a good location at the center of our state and right along the Missouri River.
The drive from here to there and there to here is beautiful.
If nothing else, I have the drive home to look forward to.