A Word from Laura: Facing Our Dragon
Dear Western Church family,
I write you this week with love and a broken heart. Our new Director of Music Ministry Samuel Gray has respectfully resigned, giving us two weeks’ notice as requested in our policy. Sam has shared the details with me, and he is making a good choice for himself. His last Sunday will be September 24, and we will be looking for a new interim.
I grieve for two reasons. First, because I was looking forward to working with Sam, a gifted colleague in ministry who was excited about worship and leading Western into the future God has in store.
More significantly, because Sam’s reasons for leaving relate to what I have come to call our church dragon. The dragon is a metaphor for unhealthy, potentially destructive behavioral patterns around church conflict and how we react when things don’t go the way we want. The dragon shows up in times of stress or anxiety or disagreements, particularly around worship or finances or the building or personnel. And any new Director of Music Ministry will have conversations about at least three of the four topics.
Let me be clear that the dragon is not one person, but lives within our church culture. It can raise its head in any of us, myself included. It’s sneaky that way. And it’s been around since long before my time.
Have we lived with the dragon so long that we don’t see it? Maybe we can’t imagine ourselves without it or think we’re powerless to change. Maybe we get excited by dragon-fire. Maybe we’ve forgotten how it feels to get burned, or we’ve gotten burned and now avoid the fire.
The truth: No one in their right mind wants to come near a dragon - no staff, no church members, no visitors. The staff have requested that we not move forward with filling the permanent position until we have taken some steps as a church to address and resolve our problematic behaviors. The session has heard the staff, and are working on some next steps to do just that.
It’s time for Western to face our dragon. Just as the dragon doesn’t live in one person, facing our dragon is not one person’s responsibility. It’s all of ours, together. With God’s grace, we can do it.
I can imagine some of you feeling like this dragon is nonsense. Chances are you’ve been away for a while or you’re new or you’re worshiping on-line these days. But in the sadness around Sam’s resignation I’ve heard clearly, “yes, we have a problem, and we can’t let it continue.”
This Sunday’s sermon will be a little different. We’ll hear from Paul in the lectionary passage, Romans 14 – sacred wisdom on non-judgmentalism and “mutual upbuilding” as we live out our shared identity in God. And we’ll also have a chance to practice that sacred wisdom, as I invite you to help figure out “dragon fire” and how we might do better. As someone working on my own dragons, I’ll share a story of a young person and a dragon that has helped me imagine a different way.
Sam and Libby will still be with us this Sunday. I don’t expect you to try actively to change his mind. I do hope they sense both our sadness that we won’t be in ministry together and our strong desire to be better as a church. Come join us on Sunday, and in a way that shows God’s love is stronger than any dragon, Western’s or otherwise.
May we all know Christ’s grace for dragons, within and without,
Laura