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Judith Gotwald

The Squandering of a Small Congregation’s Reputation

clrgyglassesChurch Vision: A Study in Black and White

Congregations and clergy, including regional leaders, are often strangers to one another.

Regional leaders can know very little about the congregations they serve or the people who support them with their offerings.

It is not likely that they visit often with lay leaders. Even if they did, lay leadership shifts every couple of years or so.

Regional leaders have only two sources of information.

  1. Annual parish reports (completed and submitted by clergy) 
  2. Pastors’ firsthand accounts which can not help but be delivered with self-interest.   

Regional leaders are likely to come into contact with congregations at pivotal times in a congregation’s history.

  1. When they need to call a new pastor for any number of reasons.
  2. When there is some form of conflict, which often involves a pastor.

Consequently, regional leaders are likely to have a very biased view of a congregation.

When they don’t know what’s going on they fall back on numbers — not seriously considering what the numbers represent.

They might send someone to visit a church and report their findings. That visitor reports there are only 14 in worship. They have no way of knowing that 50 usual attendees are really upset about something that might involve the pastor. They are not going to hear about this from the pastor! They come to the conclusion that the church cannot survive. They never deal with the problems. When the regional body is hungry for assets, it is easy to reach this lazy conclusion.

The congregation then has a reputation among clergy. The memory for this reputation is quite long. Clergy might comment: “Wasn’t there trouble in 1960?” The congregation has no idea what they are talking about!

Lay people are often unaware of the power of the clergy gossip mill. They are unlikely to be part of the conversation that can spin out of control with no way to correct misunderstandings.

Clergy are sometimes so self-absorbed that they even come up with trendy slang. Years ago, pastors talked among themselves about alligators. “Who is the alligator in your church?” they might ask one another. An alligator in clergyspeak is a lay person who lurks in the congregational water ready (in this clergy person’s mind) to snap its jaws on a pastor’s throat. Paranoia? Perhaps! It reflects neither love nor respect for their flock. It does untold damage to a congregation within the Church—all the less fortunate when it voids the congregation’s reputation outside of ecclesiastic circles.

Every congregation has a reputation in its community. Clergy can influence it or they can exist totally unaware of it.

This reputation spans longer periods of time—generations—and takes in the community’s knowledge of the congregation’s participation and response to community needs and the lives they have touched that may not be part of the congregation’s membership or collected statistics.

The community measures churches with a different yardstick.

  • They work together on community projects.
  • Their children attend schools and programs sponsored by the church.
  • The community can count on the congregation to share their facilities generously.
  • The community remembers a congregation’s response to a local disaster.
  • They may have acquaintances and family members whose lives were touched in some small but significant way.
  • The community knows nothing and cares less about denominational involvement or reputation. They only know what they see and that’s the local congregation and its members.

A regional body has no way of measuring this, except as filtered through the clergy. Too bad. This reputation is an asset to the entire denomination. It is far more powerful than slogans or logos or even press releases.

The challenge to the Church is to know a congregation’s reputation and protect and nurture it. It must learn to separate the truth from the gossip. This becomes difficult when the regional body’s interests are limited to placing pastors and accumulating assets.

2×2 published a parable about this division between clergy and lay leaders and how it impacts the small church and the mission of the church. It is based on our 60 visits to local congregations—most of them quite small. It is meant to spark discussion on how clergy and laity can work together and advance mission with the limited resources (both human and financial) which define today’s church.

LandingPageWidgetRead Undercover Bishop. Share its short chapters weekly with your congregation. Ask if they see themselves anywhere in the story. Study questions are included at the end of the book.

UndercoverBishop

08 Apr 2013

How to Learn to Play the Guitar

. . . or acquire any new skill

guitarThere is a trick to learning to play the guitar.

Never put the guitar away.

The hurdle of getting a musical instrument out of the closet and out of its case every day is an obstacle to the much-needed practice.  

This applies to other skills, too. If you put away the brushes, the next painting may never happen.

Our attics and basements tend to filled with things we carefully stored, never to be used again.

The temptation in church work is to put aside small church communities, while we wait for things to improve on their own.

Leaders neglect them. They tell us there is a plan. They are waiting for more people to show up—for donors to appear (or die) — for the right pastor with the right chemistry.

This is the ministry philosophy of many denominational leaders. They wait for ideal conditions for ministry—conditions they think they can control.

They want to avoid conflict, so they avoid ministry altogether.

They want pastors to be happy and fulfilled. They don’t want them to experience the angst that is best friends with creativity.

Creativity is necessary for transformational change. Transformational change will make everyone unhappy at least a little and for a little while. So let’s keep the small church on ice.

Ministry dies while church leaders wait.

How is this approach working?

photo credit: Hendrik Schicke via photopin cc
06 Apr 2013

The Squandering of Voice in the Church

Hearing the Voice Within

It will take a while for the Church to recognize that they can no longer control the voice of the faithful. The reason for this delay is that congregations and individual Christians do not yet realize that we have more power than ever before in history.

We are accustomed to abiding in silence, accepting what we are told and assuming that the powerful within the church have godly interests.

This is not always true.

Martin Luther took a huge risk when he hammered his list of 95 complaints onto the cathedral door. The response was predictable. Luther was forced into hiding for fear of his life. Fortunately, he made a few well-positioned friends who helped him over this rough spot. He emerged to become a respected preacher and teacher of the Word.

Martin Luther wasn’t the first to raise many of the issues he cited. He was the first to survive. He was the first with the power of a printing press to amplify his voice.

 

The old tools of intimidation still work. Clergy who are beholding to hierarchy are easily silenced.

During the extended conflict between Redeemer Lutheran Church and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod has anyone wondered why it is the lay people who have been dragged through courts? The clergy who were working with the congregation, voted with the congregation, and encouraged the congregation headed for the hills after private meetings in the synod office.

 

Today, each individual within the Church has far more power than Martin Luther.

We have a voice that will be more difficult to control.

Eventually, our voices will have influence.

Redeemer, excluded from participation within the church, started a blog. We are one of very few churches who have taken this step and use this tool for weekly outreach. It has both changed and shaped our ministry in ways we never expected.

Blogging builds community. We have encountered dozens of individual bloggers who write from a spiritual point of view. They are poets, photographers, parents, writers, artists, and adventurers. They are all over the world—Thailand, Armenia, Scandinavia, Africa, the Mideast. Some of them have church connections. Others do not. They tend to represent the age demographic that is missing in the church on Sunday morning—20-40.

They have discovered that within the Church, they have little voice, but outside the Church, they can grow.

The ability to grow as individuals is a key factor that is missing in many church communities.

Modern youth have been reared in a world where they must constantly reeducate themselves. They are involved in an ongoing process of self-discovery. In the past this discovery period ended at about age 30, when we settled down. This will no longer be true for any of us, regardless of age.

Self-rediscovery tends to be discouraged within the Church. We are likely to be assigned a task that Church needs to have accomplished. We will be told how to do it—how to teach, how to sing, how to fix the altar, and how to distribute the offering plates. Once we accept one of these jobs, it may be ours for life!

It is no wonder that people turn away from the Church. They seek community where their voices can be heard—their ideas and talents recognized.

If the Church does not find a way to welcome the voice of the people and adapt to modern expectations, they will find their churches to be empty on Sunday mornings.

Church leaders who face this change in society with tenacious resistance will enjoy fleeting successes.

A storm is coming. A wise church would nurture voice if they want transforming change.

What are we afraid of, anyway?

growblogcartoonlr

04 Apr 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Thomas the Doubter

shell gameJohn 20:19-31

The power of doubt

Poor Thomas. What a scapegoat he has been for all of us these last 2000 years!

Thomas’s mistake was not so much his unbelief—he wasn’t alone in that—then or now.

Thomas made his mistake in boasting about his superior intellect. He was no fool to be caught up in fantastic rumors.

You guys can talk all you want about the risen Lord. I’ll believe it when I see it. Strike that! I’ll believe it when I can touch his wounds.

What might have happened at this point? Jesus might never have appeared to Thomas. Thomas might have lived the rest of his days as the obscure apostle who doubted something only a few people were taken in by. In his superiority, he might have spent his remaining life retelling his “I told you so” story.

ThomasArtists in depicting Thomas’s encounter with the risen Lord have done him a great disservice. They like to show Thomas reaching out to touch the wounds of Christ, still open and bleeding. It’s more dramatic than depicting a dumbfounded Thomas.

In fact, this Gospel telling of the story reveals a proud man caught in a self-made trap.

John, the Gospel writer, does not tell us

…and then Thomas placed his hands in Jesus’ side and he believed.

Instead, John tells us that Thomas backs away from his boast. He immediately is humbled. He confesses his faith, “My Lord and my God.”

Your object lesson today is a shell game. Have three paper cups (or walnut shells) and three peas/beans or a similar small object. Set up the game in advance placing a bean under two cups ahead of time. A real shell game operator will make a great show of each cup being empty before the game starts. But your people trust you, don’t they?

As you begin your talk about Thomas, place the third bean under the third cup. Have your congregations watch as you shift the cups around as you talk.

Talk about how our fear of being proven wrong is the root of our resistance to God’s message. At the end, have someone choose a cup and reveal that there is indeed a bean to be discovered. You can reveal the other beans if you like. The point is that God made sure Thomas believed so that we might one day believe too.

God is in control of the outcome of the game.

Oh and by the way . . .

What actually became of Thomas?

Thomas is believed to have carried the gospel story as far as India. He wrote his own account of Jesus’ childhood and his own “revelation” that did not make it into the Bible.

We tend to forget the result of Thomas’s doubt.

Thomas’s doubt caused millions to believe.

photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com via photopincc
02 Apr 2013

The Resilience of Small Congregations

shepherdlrSmall Church Resilience: A Squandered Asset

Today’s Alban Institute blog post addresses church resilience. It includes the thoughts of Judith Jordan who describes resilience as not so much an “intrinsic toughness” but more as an ongoing process of nurturing and fostering of relationships. 

All churches can be resilient. We notice resilience more when the stakes are higher—but both large and small churches can rebound. They can redefine their missions. They can survive.

Resilience grows from love.

That’s what the Church is supposed to be good at. Wealth gets in the way.

The Church at every level is challenged today. Almost all church activity is funded by the contributions of individuals. That quarter that clinks in the offering tray must fund the local church, a regional body, the national church and all church agencies.

It is getting harder for church entities more distant from the members’ pockets to survive. Power is their only tool.

In the Lutheran Church with its interdependent structure, there is very little power assigned to church hierarchy. They are supposed to exist as servants of the congregations. But the economy has hit them hard. They crave more direct access to the wealth of congregations.

They start to stretch their powers, tweaking their constitutions a little here, a little there, until they are wielding powers that were never bestowed upon them in their founding documents.

The sense of mission begins to fade. It becomes replaced with pageantry. Pageantry makes things look better—for a while.

The mission of most churches today is funding their budget.

In this atmosphere it is harder to see resilience. The message of love is lost.

Love breaks down barriers. It opens hearts.

Resilience is hindered in a culture of criticism and judgment. That’s what many congregations experience within the structured church. The list of judgments against small congregations can be long and fabricated. The claims are difficult to prove, but few care as long as they are not personally affected.

  • Lay leaders are too strong.
  • People are resistant to change.
  • People are living in the past.
  • People are unwelcoming.
  • People can’t support clergy.
  • People can’t accept new ideas.

Says who? The people who want to claim church assets.

Funny, the faulty lay people who are “destroying their churches” with their backward thinking are thriving in the secular world which changes more frequently and at a faster rate.

Much of the criticism of congregations reflects denominational needs.

Running a denomination is expensive.  Offices are expensive. Staffing an office is expensive. Keeping up illusions is expensive. The ONLY source of income for denominations is congregational members.

The poor, the needy, the sick, the young and old dependents, the infirm or visionaries need not apply.

Constitutionally, in the ELCA, no congregation is required to give to the denomination. Withholding support for a denomination may be the only voice a congregation has.

But denominations can ignore the voice and interpret the lack of support as the congregation’s failure—never its own.

It should be a huge red flag within a denomination when criticism focuses on lay people to the point of naming them and suing them. Any denomination that puts limitations on the laity’s ability to serve denies the example of Christ, who nurtured a ragtag group of peasants and spent most of his time with the needy.

You don’t hear limiting words from lips of Christ. All that comes later. It echoes through the centuries and may be the undoing of the mainline church.

Both clergy and lay leaders are all capable of leading congregations in renewal. But if their view of a congregation is only a measure of dollar signs for the denomination, then there is real trouble.

Any denomination that seeks to limit any individual’s talents is doing a disservice to their message.

God is love.

01 Apr 2013

Easter 2013: Four Years Locked Out of Our Church

RedeemerEaster2013lrCan No One Roll the Stone Away?

Redeemer members gathered this Easter on the sidewalks of our forbidden house of worship. Our pastor led us in a song. We took turns singing verses of I Know That My Redeemer Lives. Redeemer still is a church full of soloists.

We then went to a member’s home for Easter Fellowship. Ham and kielbasa. Delicious.

We had changed our Easter time to accommodate the plans of our members. So when two carloads passed by the church at the normal time for Redeemer worship (10 am) they found an empty church (as opposed to an empty tomb).

We caught up with them later and took a second photo.

Fortunately, we can resurrect our sign which our bishop was so intent on destroying. It’s looking better than the church!

Take away the name. Take away the heritage. Destroy the church. Control the wealth.

SEPA, let the people who love a church, care for it. That’s the Lutheran way.

RedeemerEasterBaptism

01 Apr 2013

Lutheran Fraternal Insurer Seeks to Serve Non-Lutherans

kangaroo2Is there something to be learned from this?

Thrivent, once known as Lutheran Brotherhood, is a financial fraternal association serving the members of all Lutheran denominations.

Redeemer’s Thrivent members recently received a ballot to vote on a proposal to expand their service offerings to other Christian groups.  (They must not have heard that we’ve been kicked out of the Lutheran Church.)

It was inevitable as the Lutheran population dwindles that the financial fraternity would have to expand its economic base and welcome more people into the brotherhood.

This raises some questions about church voting. If an insurance company can open a vote to every member, why do we still rely on representative assemblies voting for us at the Synod level? Might the Digital Age afford us a better way?

Representative voting relies on voters having the knowledge and experience to do a conscientious job. In this regard, the voting procedure within the ELCA is seriously flawed.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted a quota system at the time it was formed 25 years ago—before the power of the internet was unsheathed. The original system (faulty as it was) has been tinkered with ever since. Votes are assigned by size of church, gender, language, and age. There is no good way to prove some of these characteristics. Redeemer was a church with a majority membership of color, a strong youth population and multi-lingual. Not only were we never allotted extra representation for any of these demographics, as the bylaws allow, but the bishop (at the last minute) declared us ineligible to send any voting representatives to the 2009 Synod Assembly—which the bylaws do not allow.

None of the voters at that Assembly raised any questions. We’ve been excluded ever since.

Under the quota system, credentials for representatives create a false demographic—an illusion of inclusion. A scan of the floor of a Synod Assembly might make it seem like SEPA Synod is highly diverse. We’ve visited 57 congregations. Diversity is the exception.

Twenty years of liturgical gerrymandering may have resulted in a voting pool that meets inclusion criteria but fails to be representative—or effective.

For example, many congregations have a majority female membership. They must come up with a male if they are to have the proper number of votes at Assembly. The males in the congregation may have no interest and are borderline involved in church government  but genitalia is valued above knowledge and commitment. 

An inexperienced voting assembly is putty in the hands of church leaders. How else can our Synod explain adopting six-figure deficits at a time when giving was down across the board and never stopping to think how those deficits would be overcome and at whose expense?

Voters who don’t understand the issues or consequences of their decisions follow the pack.

There are important documents and procedures which control the powers of the Assemblies and provide safeguards to the congregatons. It’s not just the constitution, with which some people have at least vague familiarity. It includes the Articles of Incorporation, which define the powers of the Assembly and control the extent to which the constitution can be changed. Practically no one is familiar with this document. For one thing it forbids the seizure of congregational property without the consent of the congregation and puts this matter outside the authority of the Synod Assembly.

Without knowledge of church government, Synod Assembly has become a venue to present a synod’s wish list for rubberstamp approval—not a venue for dialog or debate. 

All of this can be revamped for greater participation in an age where this is expected.

It is now entirely possible to allow all members a vote, but failing that they can at least be afforded a voice. It would take some thinking to make it work but it could bring benefits, fresh air, and true representation into the world of Church.

  • Regional offices will be forced to really engage with their constituency.
  • Congregations will have to be realistic about their memberships.
  • They, too, would have reason to engage members on issues that matter.
  • Members would have a sense that their involvement can make a difference.
  • Vested members may increase participation and giving.

Today issues can be presented to all church members online well in advance of the Assembly date. 

During this time, the regional office is free to communicate with all members of the church. Congregations have equal freedom to debate issues. Even individuals can take discussions online. People might actually become involved.

If it is too unwieldy to count each person, a congregation’s representatives can gather after the issues for debate have been aired for a few weeks. A one-day assembly is all that would be needed.

It’s something to think about.

It could be truly transforming!

If insurance companies can count every vote, so can churches.

Voting kangaroos have done enough damage!

29 Mar 2013

The Squandering of Legacy

amishConsider the Amish

I grew up where the Amish were always around. On my walk to grade school, I waved hello to Amish men working on a barn. In my college dorm, i often awoke on weekends to the clip-clop of Amish buggies.

The Amish are a religious community that is what is—and is what it was. They don’t spend weekends traveling to seminars to discuss “transformational ministry.” They know who they are. They broadcast who they are in their lifestyle.

No one dares to suggest that they don’t have a right to exist because they are comparatively few in number. In Pennsylvania, exceptions to laws are allowed to accommodate their beliefs. Obamacare? The Amish have their own health system. (The experts say it is a pretty good system, too!).

What the Amish have is legacy. Their small community passes on its customs from generation to generation.

Other religious denominations attempt this with mixed success. The Roman Catholic Church has some commonality in legacy in its longer list of sacraments and rituals.

Many Protestant denominations have sacrificed legacy in a quest for “full communion” with other denominations. Full communion has no real benefit to anyone but clergy. It creates a deeper pool for employment opportunities — but even that pool is growing shallower.

Generally, it has made us forget our roots. Roots help us tell our story. Telling our story helps us grow. As clergy seek “full communion,” lay people are left to remember our legacy.

Historically, Lutherans were proud to empower the laity, teaching an equality of “call.” This is being forgotten as our clergy commingle with clergy of more hierarchical denominations. There is an attempt to remember. The Lutheran agreement with the Episcopal Church ends with a page of disclaimers—but that list is rarely read! Meanwhile, we call it “full.” It isn’t. Perhaps we should call it “almost full communion” or “conditional full communion ” (which is what we always had!). Calling it “full” when it is not is a bit dishonest and misleading.

Lutheran church structure is set up for independence from hierarchical thinking. We call it “interdependence.” Sadly, no one seems to know exactly what this means.

Historically, Lutherans were huge in mission and social service. It was not unusual for a congregation to “adopt” or support individual missionaries and carefully follow their work. Now every congregation in a synod is assigned the same region in the world. Our assigned region is Northeast Tanzania. Ironically, that was the country of origin of many Redeemer members. Here in America, they were evicted from the Lutheran church.

Efficiency can squander legacy.

Lutheran social service efforts began to adapt to the secular world. The motivation was to serve more people and to have federal funding available for their work. Lutheran congregations today tend to support secular mission efforts with no attempt to link their message to their work.

This adaptation squanders legacy.

Our congregation, Redeemer, rented our educational building to a Lutheran agency to run a school. We had to remove Christian art on the walls because they accepted federal funding. This always bothered us, so we were eager, when the opportunity arose, to restore our own Christian School where we could serve our community without neglecting our mission. Our synod claimed our school property. It has stood empty for four years.

Small churches excel at retaining legacy. We may walk to the church door, passing the tombstones of our ancestors. We can remember the lives of the memorialized names on the church window. We don’t need a brochure in the rack to tell us who we are. We know.

This does not mean a congregation is living in the past. It means we are building on our past.

When managerial-minded leadership walks into a small church with a cookie-cutter mission plan that inevitably points to closure or consolidation, they squander legacy.

More egregious is the contrived notion that churches must be closed, names changed, signage removed and reopened under the control of outsiders to advance ministry. This is nonsense. It serves a denomination’s desire to control congregational wealth.

This thinking is behind church math where 2+2=1. Church leaders decide to merge churches to achieve economy. It often results in a drop in participation and income. Where two groups were getting by, if not flourishing, they end up closing both for a total loss of mission and temporary gain, perhaps, to the denomination’s purse. They have squandered legacy.

While it is not to be worshiped in itself, legacy provides a structure that has evangelical value. People like to be part of something with a history. It will affect their participation and giving.

New people are going to be watching to see how a denomination respects its very long past. It reveals our respect for the future.

photo credit: cindy47452 via photopin cc
28 Mar 2013

The Economic Potential of the Small Church

squanderBigger Is Not Always Better

An earlier post included a bold and interesting claim.

There is more economic potential in an open church than in a closed church.

Fact: The mainline church, which includes the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is economically challenged. Decline is the norm whether a congregation is large or small.

The most fragile element in the mainline church is the upper rung—the hierarchy. (Lutherans don’t believe in hierarchy, but sometimes we forget what we believe.)

Hierarchy is totally dependent on congregations. Congregations constitutionally control the land and monetary assets. They also drive mission.

This isn’t sitting well with leaders who like the idea that they are in control.

Nevertheless, this is is the way Lutherans like it. Predecessor constitutions actually forbade the synod level from owning property. Our ancestors sensed the temptation!

The ELCA’s founding documents and constitutions were originally presented to congregations protecting the congregations and empowering them with the control of their own ministry. As long as congregations are not violating the tenets of the faith, how they minister is their business. Lutheran congregations are not even required to support the hierarchy!

Today, the endangered hierarchy is making a big mistake. Their solution to riding out the economic crisis faced by every level of the church is to gain control of land and property for their own preservation. Their founding documents forbid this but most people—clergy and laity are unaware.

Hierarchies designed to shepherd and serve suddenly seek control. Power is discussed at the water cooler — not mission.

Attention and services become directed to churches of larger size with bigger offering plates. Smaller churches are neglected or ignored.

There is always a temptation of management-oriented leadership to assume that they know best. The ELCA founding documents protect congregations from this thinking by assuring congregations that their consent is required  when it comes to managing their property and ministry.

Well-intended constitutions have been ignored or amended to remove these safeguards. If a congregation does not cooperate with synod’s wishes or even if it is suspected that they might not cooperate —well, just get rid of the congregation. 

These policies, arguably illegal under Lutheran polity, squander the denomination’s strength—the community church—which sometimes is large but most often is small.

We will examine the economic potential of the small church from at least eleven vantage points:

  1. Legacy
  2. Voice
  3. Reputation
  4. Motivation
  5. Integrity
  6. Opportunity
  7. Immediacy
  8. Intimacy
  9. Mission
  10. Assets
  11. Promise
photo credit: outtacontext via photopin cc
27 Mar 2013

Adult Object Lesson: Easter

crossThe Imagery of Easter

Ask your adults to name the images of Easter.

A typical list will include:

  • The egg
  • The rabbit
  • Flowers
  • Butterflies
  • Seeds and flowers
  • Lilies
  • Candy

All of these are symbols of new life and growth. Even candy eggs have a surprise sweet filling inside and jelly beans will grow your belly if nothing else.

And there is the symbol of the lamb—the sacrificial lamb.

No shortage of objects for Easter lessons!

But one symbol is missing. Surely someone will name the cross. If they don’t be prepared to point to the cross.

Without Easter, without Jesus’ conquering of sin and death, the cross would mean very little to us. The whole Lenten journey would have evaporated—untold—into history. All those other symbols would be the trappings of pagan celebrations.

CrucifixThe cross on its own is a  symbol of torture and death. The vilest sinners were tortured on crosses. Many of the disciples standing at the foot of the cross would have their turn at torture. We have to think to remember which martyrs died which way.

We would not be likely to hang the symbol of crime, torture and death on the walls of our home—without the Resurrection.

We remember Jesus’ death on the cross, because he beat it. We look to this gruesome symbol with incongruous feelings. 

In remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice, some denominations emphasize the Crucifix. Jesus is depicted in agony on the cross. 

For others, the empty cross is a symbol of Easter. The cross has been overcome.

All the other symbols of Easter, many borrowed from pre-Christian customs, point to the cross — the empty cross — as the foundational symbol of our faith. It is the symbol of hope and expectation.

This topic resonates very differently with adults than with children. Hope is that core feeling inside of us that something in our lives will result in good.

Children hope that good will happen to them—that people will be kind—that their needs and wishes will be met.

Adult hope is often more desperate. 

Will our lives make a difference? Will we accomplish what God intends for us? Will we die appreciated? Does life mean anything? Does death mean anything?

Help your adults think about these things and draw strength today from the Easter story. 

You might close with a hymn written in the 1980s by Natalie Sleeth. It is a simple hymn suitable for all ages. It is a hopeful. Despite its simplicity, adults can embrace it.

Here is a publishing link.

The tune is lovely and simple. You can learn it by listening. Key of G or F will work.

Listen to the tune here. The singer is playing the guitar in the key of G, so you can follow his chording. The sheet music is written in F.

Hymn of Promise

In the bulb there is a flower;
In the seed, an apple tree;
In cocoons, a hidden promise:
Butterflies will soon be free!
In the cold and snow of winter,
There’s a spring that waits to be,
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see.

There’s a song in every silence,
Seeking word and melody;
There’s a dawn in every darkness,
bringing hope to you and me.
From the past will come the future;
What it holds, a mystery,
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see.

In our end is our beginning;
In our time, infinity.
In our doubt, there is believing;
In our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection;
At the last, a victory
Unrevealed until its season,
Something God alone can see.

Upper photo credit: fusky via photopin cc
25 Mar 2013