Q: How many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb?
A: CHANGE?!
It’s an old joke, and to be fair, Presbyterians probably aren’t any more afraid of change than other denominations (though, again, to be fair, my first serious crisis in leadership as a pastor involved pouring oil on the waters of an insurrection that erupted when a couple of young woman in the congregation—one of whom was the Pastor’s Wife—changed the setup of tables in the fellowship hall of the Gonzales Community Presbyterian Church where I served my first call).
Churches and pastors put a lot of time and energy into studying change within congregations. We learn how to manage change and even to lead change that is constructive and life-affirming, and as a result we are getting better at changing within the church. Less well-studied, and less familiar, is how to address change that happens outside of the church. When society changes we feel it in the church but we don’t always know how, as congregations, to address the feelings of discomfort societal change can bring.
I’m mentioning this because currently we are living in a time of societal change and upheaval. We’ve entered into an era when Americans are having to face the fact that our economic, educational, and justice systems are organized around preserving White privilege, and, while we’re at it, we’re needing to confront the fact that the United States used torture in a futile attempt to gather intelligence during the war on terror.
And as we’re processing all of this change, we need also to address the fact that old modes of protest and trusted forms of dissent no longer seem to work—or at least they’re not being used by today’s leading activists. Todays’ protestors are more likely to block a freeway than to boycott a business. They’re more prone to die-ins than to teach-ins. The change is hard to confront, hard to process, hard to accept.
What hasn’t changed is this: congregations like ours can be places of mutual support and strength. If we live with a lot of grace and extra measures of patience and kindness, if we do not neglect the sacred duty of laughter, if we remember to love one another, then our congregation can be support and strength, even in the most strenuous days of change.
Here’s what I know about MPC: in the past, during times of societal change you have been a strong support for each other, and I know you are equal to the task of meeting the stress of contemporary change. I’m glad I’m here with you for the ride.