A Volley from the Canon, #84, "Get Out the Word!"

A VOLLEY FROM THE CANON, #84

“GET OUT THE WORD!”

We have historic, attractive churches, which often are not open during the week when people might be passing by to notice. We put signs out front, which direct people to our worship times and to our websites. Those signs can only bear so much information, though.

We can learn a technique from realtors. They put out weather-proof stands to hold brochures on a property right in front of the property, for those who pass by and see the for-sale sign when no one is there. I’ve seen such at churches, too—sometimes cleverly constructed to mimic the architecture of the church itself, sometimes sheltered within enclosed entry porches. They can contain an attractive color folder on the church life, the current parish newsletter, a note of invitation including event times, and contact information. How about a means of requesting prayers by the congregation? An opportunity to request some kind of pastoral attention? An offer to participate in the congregation’s service ministries?

People do drop by church buildings at odd times, especially historic and beautiful ones. In a perfect world, they would be able to go inside to pray or to learn more about the congregation’s life. Alas, that is no longer practical in many places. In response, we can bring some of the inside out for casual visitors to discover.

Perhaps some will be drawn to return, when the family is home!

A Volley from the Canon, #82, "And the Award for Avoidance Goes to..."

A VOLLEY FROM THE CANON, NUMBER 82

“And the Award for Avoidance Goes to….”

I’ve recently caught on to a powerful technique for avoiding actually dealing with an unpleasant reality. It’s subtle, and it works every time.

What we can do--when presented with an unpalatable quandary, the solution to which will be difficult, complex, and controversial, however necessary-- is put off that unpleasantness indefinitely by discussing and arguing over the CAUSES of the quandary. In reality, of course, the causes are of little consequence at this point. In any case, there is nothing to be done about them, and all of our points about them may be quite valid to some degree. However, discussing the causes is endlessly fascinating. Everyone has an opinion about it, most of those opinions may be at least partly correct, and no one can disprove any of them. The endless discussion accomplishes its purposes, though: first, we get the pleasure of assigning blame, preferably as far from ourselves as possible. Second, the fixation on causes prevents us having to have the more difficult discussion about what to do, or to engage in the hard work of implementing a plan, or to face the inevitable conflict any plan that involves change would encounter.

It isn’t that we don’t want to address the matter, oh, no. We just never get around to it. We have to figure out what caused it, first.