Jun 12, 2008

Summer

I am a summer person. I think most people are. I know people who love winter but very few of them hate summer. There are things to love about winter, of course. The cripsy weather and the snow. And Christmas. But I rarely miss the darkness and the cold.

In terms of work, summer changes everything. Rather than running from one meeting to another planning things that will most probably come to nothing changes to meeting with people in services and in the streets. As a part of the clergy is on holiday those who are in town must concentrate on the essential. What if we did this the year round? What would change?

The church would probably need half the work force it has now. Things would have to be done the easy way. There would have to be more reliance on established norms and goals in stead of continuous and strenuous discussion on these norms and goals.

Summer is good practice for real life. I think there is summer in heaven. (As a little boy I was taught that it is freezing cold in hell for the Russians. Others will roast. But I don't think we Finns are so different from our eastern neighbors.)

1 comment:

Rev. Perry Sukstorf said...

I think you're on to something here. Wouldn't the laity grow more in faith if we didn't do all the "work" for them? What if they had to engage in more of the process themselves?

Is the Lutheran church in Finland a State-Church? Or, is is a volunteer organization as in the US? While it would sure be nice to have the Federal Govt. collectng our "offerings", I'm sure glad we don't have govt. involved in church politics (yet).