Across the Pastor’s Desk by Cherie Daniel

In the early 1900s, 85 percent of all Minnesotans lived in rural areas, such as small towns and farms. There were grocery stores and car dealerships, schools and barbershops, post offices and gas stations galore. People needed services, and service people were happy to oblige. It was a bustling time.

Today, 85 percent of all Minnesotans live in urban areas: the Twin Cities, Rochester, St. Cloud and Duluth. No longer are the rural areas bustling with people who need services. Grocery stores and car dealerships are disappearing. School districts are consolidating and barbershops closing. The post offices are staffed only half days, if at all, and the gas station pumps work only if you have the right credit card. It is a quiet time.

My first son was born with non-repairable heart and lung defects. The doctor broke the horrible news to me by saying that Phillip’s condition was “incompatible with life.” I had to ponder that for a few moments. Incompatible with life. That means there will be no life as we had expected.

The situation in our small towns and rural areas is becoming incompatible with life.

The Freeborn Congregational United Church of Christ is closing its doors at the end of December after faithfully serving the community for over 141 years. There are yet signs of life, but the overall condition is incompatible with life. This is not a story unfamiliar to most. Estimates are that between 5,000 and 7,000 local churches close each year in the United States. Our aging population, lack of employment opportunities and increasing distractions from jobs, sports and entertainment are creating entities of low energy and lower numbers of participants.

My people are mourning the impending loss of an old friend, an institution and a congregation, which has nurtured and challenged individuals and has raised generations of people who have nurtured and challenged others. The word of God has been read and taught and sung and prayed within the walls of the church building and it has become a sacred space. Sunday school Christmas pageants, soup and pie suppers and Easter cantatas have been invitations to persons from a wider community to join us in celebrating life and life ever after.

Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Matthew 18:20 NRSV.

So what will my people do? They will grieve. They will regroup. They will seek out new congregations where two or more are gathered in Christ’s name to continue reading and teaching and singing and praying the word of God. Each person’s unique talents and gifts and perspectives and energies will be directed — by God — to the place they are most needed.

God planted this church here a century and a half ago. And God is still planting seeds of truth and life — but now in other places.

Know how much your unique talents and gifts and perspectives and energies are needed by God to help bring the realm of God a little closer to this earth. Cherish the life you enjoy in your local church — even if sometimes you grumble about the way some little details grate on your sensibilities. Know that God has planted you where you are, and has a plan, and loves you always.

Be life.

 

Cherie Daniel is the pastor of Freeborn Congregational United Church of Christ in Freeborn, Alden United Methodist Church in Alden and Grace United Methodist Church in Kiester.