The Pastor’s Study – June 2018

by: Rev. Alex Molozaiy, Pastor

As I write this column, it’s the last day of school for my kids. While I’m thrilled overall with the quality of their school district, their teachers, and how much they’re learning in their formal education, the truth is that there’s absolutely no way that they can learn everything they’ll need to know in school. I’ve been seeing a meme going around on Facebook about how “Every high school should have a mandatory class called ‘Life’ which teaches you how to change a tire, do your taxes…” et cetera. I chuckle every time I see it for two reasons: First, I did learn how to do many of those things in high school or even middle school. Second, even if that class lasted all day for all four years, I’m pretty certain that they would have missed something, and, even more likely, a lot of things. Many of the challenges I face on a daily basis simply didn’t exist when I was in high school. (Yes, I am in fact that old now.)

I belong to a group of colleagues called “Things They DIdn’t Teach Us in Seminary” where we can commiserate with each other about the many unforeseen challenges of this calling, but also (more importantly) share knowledge born from experience with each other and thus continue learning. There’s no way that my seminary education could have taught me how to build a website, hire a staff member, how to handle a disruptive person in worship, what exactly to say to a parent who has just lost a child to suicide, or how to deal with something as mundane as a leaky pipe. There’s no way that one’s formal education can prepare you for anything and everything. There are some things that we just have to learn ‘on the job’ of life. This is the difference between ‘technical skills’ (e.g. how to fix a running toilet) and ‘adaptive challenge’ (e.g. how to redesign church communication in the age of the internet with a broad spectrum of members of differing ages and technical abilities). While there are technical components of meeting an adaptive challenge, there’s never a one-size-fits-all solution to them. This is why congregations should always strive to be ‘learning communities.’ We can’t cover everything we’ll need to know in worship. Life comes at us with all of its particularities and complications and we seek to do our best to learn how to adapt and respond.

We won’t always get it right. Thank God for the gift of grace. As disciples of Jesus, we’re not called because we’re perfect or we’ve mastered a technical skill. We, like the first disciples, are called to minister and learn how to do ‘life’ on-the-job and without a comprehensive course. And, we are to do so together. We’re called to admit our mistakes and grow from them, to be both gracious and accountable to one another, to be creative and open-minded in dealing with the challenges that a new day brings. The only failure that a Christian risks is thinking that school is out.