Montclair Presbyterian Church

Dear Friends,

Here’s a confession: sometimes it’s hard to get my Contact article in on time. Usually, this has nothing to do with finding something to say (sometimes I have writer’s block, but I am a preacher; we seldom are at a loss for words), rather, I have a hard time writing for Contact because I usually end up writing my column at about three o’clock in the afternoon, a time of day when I tend to be drowsy, and when I have a hard time getting motivated. I know a lot of writers, and, as far as I know, none of them write in the afternoon. Afternoons seem designed for napping, especially in September when it’s sunny and warm in Northern California.

Generally, my Contact writing gets pushed to the afternoon, because my mornings are filled with activity as I try to keep up with everything that going on here at Montclair Presbyterian Church. And there is a lot going on. Every time I open my calendar I am amazed at how much is happening–adult education, youth group activities, social justice actions, various administrative meetings, small groups, planning sessions, choir rehearsal, storytelling–ours is a mid-sized congregation with the tall-steeple schedule.

This is a good problem to have: our calendar is a sign of enthusiasm and excitement, and I couldn’t be happier. However, pitfalls can attend a church’s busy calendar as well, and here are a few ideas about how to negotiate the crowded schedule.

First, know that not everyone can make every event. If everyone came to everything the church has to offer, we’d all get burned out.

Second, don’t feel guilty if you need a night off. I love the fact that ours is a church with an attractive program that provides community for so many people. I also know that most people need a break from time to time. I always want church members to be engaged at church, and I know that the occasional rest makes church members able to engage with greater strength and intentionality.

Third, be patient as meetings, groups, events, and rehearsals overlap. Sherrill in the office does a great job of scheduling, but sometimes our various activities and goings on must happen at the same time (in different spaces, of course) and sometimes because of unavoidable time constraints big events get placed on successive days or in the same week. Such things are natural to a congregation brimming with life.

Finally, join me in giving thanks to God for a congregation so wonderfully endowed with energy and ideas and enthusiasm. I know I wouldn’t want it any other way, especially since there is coffee to keep me alert when–with everything going on–I start to feel drowsy when the afternoon is warm and a siesta’s siren song beckons as for the first time in hours I have time to think about what to write.

With Big Affection (and a fairly large yawn as well),
Ben

When I was a teenager several members of my church got excited about the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. This was a time when many politically progressive Christians hoped the rebels who overthrew the U.S. backed dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza might have the opportunity to establish a government, and a Central America, that was the embodiment of liberal values espoused and shared by the American left.

During those years I watched as several members of my home church left for Nicaragua. They went to build houses and schools, and to see first-hand what was happening in that small and war-torn nation. My high school Spanish teacher, several of the folks who taught me in Sunday School, and my own brother was among their number, and when they returned I saw their pictures and listened to their stories with admiration and a longing to be a part of such a hopeful society as seemed to be unfolding along the shores of Lake Managua and in the highlands of Matagalpa.

Later, in my own travels through parts of Central America (though not Nicaragua) I met refugees, who had been brutalized by the Sandinista army, and I became somewhat disillusioned with the Sandinistas; but the hope and longing I felt prior to my disillusionment remained. It flew above the transom of my life’s ship like an albatross searching for dry land upon which to rest its weary wings.

Now I confess that bird has landed in Scotland. In 10 days the people of Scotland will vote in a referendum to decide if they should become a nation independent from United Kingdom, and I have found myself following the movement for Scottish independence with the same hope, the same longing, that people in my home church once reserved for the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

The Scottish independence movement is driven largely by a desire, on the part of Scots, to have a government free from the dominance of big business and financial interests that drive the politics of Westminster (much in the same way these same interests determine the decision-making in Washington). If Scotland wins its independence and is able to rid itself from the influence of unfettered capitalism, the Scottish people will have the opportunity to establish a government that is more democratic, more people oriented, and with greater concern for the poor than the government currently calling the shots in Britain.

In addition, most of the folks who seek Scotland’s independence from the United Kingdom are committed to removing British submarine-based (and California-made) nuclear weapons from Scotland’s waters, and while much of Scotland’s economy, in the short term, will be based upon revenue from North Sea oil, long-term plans for Scotland’s economy include the development of sustainable energy generation using wind and tide power.

This mixture of economic justice and ecological concern appeals to me. There is, of course, no guarantee that hopes for a Scottish government based on progressive values will come to pass, even if independence is won, but the fact that so many people in Scotland are so eager to form a polity based upon the common good is inspiring. And regardless of how the vote turns out, any one of us as individuals can follow the example of those striving for Scottish independence, for independence starts in the human soul. We can live lives free from the dominance of business interests. We can choose people over money. We can choose a spiritual independence that shakes off the bonds of a consumer driven culture, that sees value in a nuclear-free world, and that hopes to preserve the health of the earth.

I’ll be watching next week’s referendum with interest, but whatever happens, Scotland already has helped me to be free.
Ben