The Sunday Trap

Here a couple of pics of the church that I belong to-St. Paul's Lutheran. The congregation belongs to the Michigan district of the Missouri Synod.

Up until my confirmation, our services were pretty conservative and deviated little as the church seasons came and went. Divine Worship II every single week it seemed like. Shortly after my confirmation the pastor transfered. No one talked about it. When I asked my parents about it, all they said was that there was some kind of issue between the pastor and the Board of Elders. Rumor had it that Pastor K. had been caught by an elder buying lottery tickets. Because gambling is a no-no in the church, he got flak for it I guess.
We had transition pastor for a while. Then an orthodox pastor stayed for a while before he accepted a call out west. The current pastor is alright even if he is a bit of a ham.

St. Paul's used to have a number of vicars coming through for training. Our last one caused quite the commotion. After the 9-11 attacks, I believe it was the synod president who participated in an inter-faith prayer service. That caused an uproar with the more conservative members of the church who do not believe in joint services with other heterodox churches. Our vicar was one of these and he left to form his own church. Two prominent families left with him. We haven't had another vicar since.

I genuinely like this church and have a hard time considering leaving it. While the church itself seems to be conservative, the members themselves are very nice and friends. Granted, it takes a while for a newcomer to be accepted but it doesn't take long if there is some effort. The pastor is extremely friendly and very outgoing. I hear he drives motorcycles.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I had only found out about this site from the Tyler Whitney 'controversy'. I saw your posts and disagreed with several things. But now I have read your posts about this church and several other things. It almost made me cry because it really hit home that while many of us may fight tooth and nail over politics or other issues ... deep down we are all pretty much the same. Your website very much reflects that. Thank you for expressing what I guess would be called sincere humanity.
Mon Jun 18, 02:53:00 AM EDT
David said…
Well thank you, DCKyle. I used to be a lot more partisan in my "youth" but after working in politics, I've lost a taste for bringing it up here on the blog. Most of friends are liberal and we often have interesting discussions between ourselves but only after we established a live and let live attitude. It does wonders for your blood pressure. :-)

You are quite welcome to come back and disagree anytime you want.
Mon Jun 18, 09:52:00 AM EDT
japanesewhispers said…
Isn't it sad though that it's hard to find Christians in a church! If people spent more time understanding what it is to be a Christian and less time worrying who's pews closer to the alter they may reap the benefits!
Thu Jul 19, 11:13:00 AM EDT
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