Yada, yada, whinging about the weekend

I bit the bullet & had the brief discussion with the pastor regarding what happened on Friday.   I'm feeling almost worse over the conversation than if i had left it alone.

I asked when he called the insurance company & he didn't know what i was talking about.  When i said, "At what point did you call the insurance company & find out they wouldn't cover what i do?"  he told me he never made a call.  I must have looked blank. 


He said, "I didn't have to.  Anything not directly related to what we do here, church-related, is not covered."


(Hello??? You think your rummage sale is covered?  You've a greater chance at being sued for someone tripping in the parking lot than the work i do.  If your rummage sale is covered, then my doing work for donations to the church is covered as well.  If i'm not covered, i can't see how the rummage sale/fundraiser would be.)


He told me "No one knew you were coming."  


(???  I told the lady in charge three different times i would be there.)


He agreed that what happened would make me feel disrespected, but again stated, "No one knew you were coming."  He also said that had anyone known i was coming, he probably would have said i could do it this year, but not in future years.  Water under the bridge.  As he never knew what occurred Friday AM, he is not responsible for the reaction of the lady who was running the show.



I told him there is very little chance that i'd ever be sued & that i have insurance.  It made no difference to him.  "Churches, especially conservative churches, are being sued more & more," was his response.


Don't i know it?  Our church down the hill is about to be taken from the people who paid for & built it because the diocese has laid claim to it.  That church did everything it could to protect itself from the position in which it find itself, but it didn't make any difference.  Does that mean that God is removed from this process? The people there are distressed, but are trusting God to be in their midst.


I totally agree with taking necessary precautions.  But there is also over the top.  I think what he has chosen to do is over the top.  If he is that concerned, he shouldn't have the rummage sale there, either.  

I could have done something that was beneficial for the church, beneficial for the people i worked on, that would have raised a small amount of money for them, & would have had virtually no risk.  That i was told i could not do so on some mythical risk seems to me to outline the problems i'm having in this church.   


This pastor tells us to trust God & have faith in him, but then does something like this that seems to negate all the trust & faith.  If i was in a profession that had a higher risk of being sued, i could completely understand the concern.  That is not the case.  If this dubious chance of being sued was something truly potential, then yes, by all means err on the side of caution.  As there is essentially no risk, why not do good & trust God?


Amrita, you are right, we are worlds apart.  In the US, folks sue at the drop of a pin if they think they can get money for it.  It does happen.  But again, i think the church runs a greater risk of that by having folks buy stuff from us that is used.  Or by selling hot dogs.  If someone really wanted to be devious & sue the church, we have cracks in the pavement they could "trip" on & have a way to sue us.  It hasn't happened yet, in years of running this rummage sale.  But our pastor believes that people are evil, & cannot be good.  I tend to believe that most people want to be/try to be good & honest (even tho none of us can ever be as good as God). 


It was kind of the final straw for me today, when in his sermon he yelled at us about not being joyful.  He asked the congregation of we believe what we actually say in the Apostle's Creed.  Yes, of course, was the response.  "THEN WHY AREN'T YOU JOYFUL?" he shouted.  "If you believe what we state in the creed, you have to be joyful.  If you aren't joyful, you aren't saved."  (This just after telling us that if we don't know if we are saved or not, we're not reading the Bible; the Bible gives us the hope & promise of salvation.)  The fact is i do, on occasion, feel that incredible joy of my salvation, of being part of God & having him in my life & that has never occurred after being chastised like this in church. 


Duane responded negatively to his joyful stuff, too.  But he didn't recognize it for what it was:  Manipulation & shaming.  


Ok, he & i have now talked about this in depth.  This is what it comes down to:  This church doesn't work for us.  But we've an emotional attachment to it & the people there.  Therefore, we feel badly that it "doesn't work."  It hurts that we need to leave it.  It doesn't mean that we should stay.  It means that it hurts to leave.  It doesn't mean that we are judging it bad or criticizing it in a way to be gossiping or creating problems.  It.Just.Does.Not.Work.


Move on. 



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