Wow! First Luth. & Federated to totally share pastor

Pastor Matt Orendorff

Passover weekend for 2025. Christians getting ready for the big event: Easter. 

It's wonderful that "Christ died for our sins," don't get me wrong. But Good Friday has become way to bleak for me. Too much emphasis on violence. We all know what happened. But with this extent of violence as imagined by Mel Gibson? Do we have to accept his view of things? Might he just be following Hollywood's dictum of how violence sells more tickets? 

Conservative Christians are usually the type of people who are skeptical about Hollywood. Maybe it only applies to certain issues. 

It is Saturday and I visited one of the more progressive churches of Morris this morning. That's Federated in the neighborhood of the public school. I had a breakfast roll and then broke down and had a piece of apple pie. I'm a diabetic but hey we're talking apples aren't we? 

An acquaintance stopped at my table and said "I'll let you in on something." Now, don't you know that's music to my ears? Quite big news from this individual: My First Lutheran Church (FLC) along with Federated will share the same pastor starting May 4. It will be Pastor Matt who is established with Federated now, has been for several years. He's qualified to serve an ELCA Lutheran church. 

I really don't know the details of matters like this. Matt has subbed with my FLC from time to time. Seems like an agreeable fellow, competent if not charismatic. Has roots in Wisconsin. 

FLC has been sort of treading water. Pastor Dan retired and then Pastor Rich came on as interim, but then he left prematurely. Rich had to be closer to his wife who has health issues, we were told. Well my goodness, our churches are full of older people who confront a variety of health issues. I hope the younger people understand. 

 

First Lutheran Church, Morris

Ready to join hands?

Will FLC be comfortable sharing a pastor fully with the Methodist Church in town? Actually Federated is blended with the UMC and UCC, the latter being United Church of Christ which I know nothing about. I have no interest in getting into the nuts and bolts of such things. The Methodists have been fractured by - you know - the whole gay thing. What a price the organized Christian faith has had to pay in America. 

FLC of the ELCA has had to deal with the headwinds of the ELCA getting caught up not only in gay rights but in "progressivism" in general. I liked Pastor Dan but I know he rankled some of our "conservative" folks. You have to be careful today saying things like "I am my brother's keeper." Also, as I have reported before, pastors across the USA have found that maybe it's best not to quote from Jesus Christ's Sermon on the Mount. It has been reported that pastors get harsh feedback from the people who can get so prickly on political matters. 

You know who you are, all you people who listen to "conservative radio." And you can sure fill your plate with the "podcast" world, n'est-ce pas? I can't believe how some people want to listen to this stuff for hours on end. Some people are prepared to confront Christ Himself. Well, there was a lot of that happening with the crucifixion. Nailed to the cross. That's violent enough but then there's the Mel Gibson movie. 

Hollywood! And I thought all you conservative types looked down on Hollywood. I guess you're selective. And Jesus Christ could sound a little like Bernie Sanders sometimes. So that's the problem. I will take the side of JC anytime. And I don't think JC would look down on me because I am a skeptic of Donald Trump. Would JC be approving of the kind of life lived by Donald Trump? At present, shunning the justices of the Supreme Court who said his administration ought to return a man sent to a wicked foreign prison due to an "administrative error." 

Can you believe it? And that's your guy? 

Federated Church, Morris

My feeling this a.m. as the news sinks in about First Lutheran and Federated, is that there will be a letdown probably felt at both churches. Each will lose some of its identity in the community. 

I think a sense of identity is vital for a church. Will Pastor Matt give the same sermon at both churches? Well then what's the point of having two separate churches, of having him go through that so slavishly? And he'll have to pretend he's so devoted to both churches. He'll try to make it real I'm sure. 

But don't we expect a pastor to be focused on a single church, to be a fixture within that church and its building? The FLC building looks more dated all the time. Its designer seemed to go out of his way to put steps and stairs in as many places as possible. Imagine being so detached from concerns related to handicapped and elderly. But that's the way it was in an earlier time. Can the FLC building be considered an outright albatross now? 

When I bring my annual check into the FLC office, will the $ go to the two different churches? I mean, we're sharing a pastor. Not sure I go for that. 

 

Beacon to the north?

I keep hearing reports that Good Shepherd is growing and thriving. Not only that, it appears to be mellowing. No, you'll never see a gay pastor at our LCMC churches! Nor will you hear any public talk there about being sympathetic to gay people. Certainly no gay activism! Heavens. But is there a truly harsh or condemning attitude toward gays? I gather the answer is "no." 

A Good Shepherd member in good standing told me "gays are welcome to worship at our church." 

I am not gay but I'm rather inclined to support Bernie Sanders. And I would feel comfortable based on all the vibes to attend an LCMC church like Good Shepherd. 

Faith Lutheran Church, Morris

So maybe the answer now is to just have the thriving Good Shepherd Church "swallow up" First Lutheran, Federated and maybe even Faith Lutheran. Faith Lutheran has a reputation of having lots of young families. But Faith has the stigma of being part of the ELCA. That might be hard to overcome. The Faith building is nice but the surrounding area seems in places like Europe at the end of WWII. Enough to make me less than enthused to even go over there. 

How about a new megachurch for all the Lutherans? Maybe not Wisconsin or Missouri Synods but most of the others. Couldn't we all just be one big happy family? I guess that's my theme for today on this Saturday of Palm Sunday weekend. I have no desire to see images of Jesus Christ under total torture. I'll happily come back to church after Easter.

 

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com