This weekend I have the incredible honor of returning to the church where I was a member more than two decades ago, First Congregational UCC in Menomonie WI, to preach on the occasion of their 150th Anniversary. I first joined the church while teaching math in town and later served as CE Director while going to seminary. This is my first church home and the place where I was ordained. But I left Menomonie and First Cong’l when I was just 25, a kid going out into the world, and much has changed since in my world since then. What have I seen and learned in the past two decades that might be relevant and healthy and hopefully helpful to share?
An important factoid, which isn’t so minor, is that the church has actually blossomed in the years that I’ve been away. It’s a rather humbling to admit that these fabulous years happened when I wasn’t even around, but it’s true. In the 1990’s when mainline churches began to slide into decline all across America, this previously sleepy church in northern Wisconsin took off on an amazing growth spurt. There were several contributing factors, not the least of which was good pastoral leadership. Other factors included the unfortunate internal combustion of a couple of other mainline churches in town and more importantly the often underrated congregation-wide effort to revamp and expand the facilities. Having gotten everyone involved in imagining a more helpful facility, not only did they fund it but they also filled it with programs that tend community needs. The church was in my knowing an amazing community; it is even more so now. In truth, I should be studying their story not sharing mine.
But it is always easier to point at someone else’s story than to examine our own. And what it is that we need for learning and healing and growth today isn’t going to come from someone else’s story. When I think about my story, both personal and professional, I see the warty version. Knowing what has gone into the sausage that is my life and ministry, it is less appealing than the version someone else might have. As I consider my life alongside yours, I find myself comparing my insides to your outsides which always leaves me feeling inadequate. Commiserating the costly choices for authentic living, one happy friend jokingly lamented, “my life used to have curb appeal!” Although the humor is painfully close, even in the moments when I am tempted to waste precious time grieving the loss of curb appeal in my life, I cannot help but give thanks for the happiness that is mine today.
So what is mine to share?
What I can share with integrity is that the journey to our most authentic selves is worth the cost and then some. In fairness, I think I was offered a semblance of safe space to begin naming and claiming my truth all those years ago. But the church didn’t exist in a vacuum and loving though the community was I was swimming upstream against all kinds of cultural expectations. What they were able to give to me back then was a strong affirmation of my call to ministry and a solid example of loving church community. Perhaps most precious was the promise that such communities exist, a promise which continues to fuel my search to find and share such communities.
What I can share is my surprise and delight in the invitation to preach on this occasion. Having fast forwarded, the folks in the pew are largely folks I haven’t even yet had the pleasure of meeting. Even so, they already know the part of me that I couldn’t even name when I sat in those same pews. All the more sweet is the invitation to come home, wife and all.
I have to believe that offering a safe place to be genuinely who we are is the most precious gift that we can offer to one another in community. I received this gift at First Congregational UCC in Menomonie, Wisconsin 25 years ago… I share it now in the church I currently serve, and I pray this amazing gift for you, wherever you may be.