Don't you wonder?

I do plenty of head-scratching things in my life and I'm certain that more that a few times a day somebody wonders what my problems are. However, some observations over the past week have really made me wonder.

I'll start with our annual meeting at church last Sunday. I am now an employee of this congregation and certainly there are many fine people that are a part of this place. It is, like most places and most especially maybe churches, not without its dysfunction and conflicts. I wish to share one of these moments and some reflections on this. At this annual meeting one of the tasks is to nominate and elect new council members. These positions have had their stressful moments in the past few years and it is not easy to find members willing to put themselves in that position. We have a nominating committee and after many phone calls and numerous rejections they were able to get the three people necessary to fill the open positions.

Here's where the fun begins. One of the nominees received an anonymous phone call on her answering machine telling them that they weren't ready for such a position and that they should remove their name from the ballot. This person did end up pulling out. Now my thoughts.

This was so wrong in so many ways was my first reaction. I'm still there for the most part but am doing my best to see the side of the caller. Our pastor did a marvelous job of just stating the facts of what happened and that this is not how the business of the church should be done. What are my issues?:
1. Anonymous calls of this nature and well of any nature are just plain BS. Sorry I don't know how else to state that. If you truly feel that God has given you a message to protect this person or this congregation or whatever your purpose was, then go boldly with God's message and share it with your name, in person. This cowardice approach is just wrong. I most respect those that disagree or have a grievance with me who talk to me face-to-face and state their views and feelings. I may not agree, may take offense even, but I respect them. At least it is out in front of me to deal with. If you truly care and are concerned about me or the people I have relationships with then please let's keep these things out in the open. The behind the back, talk to everyone else, or doing it anonymously thing does not work towards peace and reconciliation, no quite the opposite. It is a sure path to hurt and escalated conflict.

2. I struggle with those who claim to know God's will more that others who are sincerely praying and listening to God's call. I don't want to be God and certainly don't pretend to have a more divine or direct route to His will but I also know that God does things out of love and calls us to do the same. I really have to question in these instances whether love was anywhere near the intention of the caller. Maybe it was and I should give the benefit of the doubt. Maybe God did send them to give this message. If so, the style of delivery sucks and because of my struggle with this I have sincere doubts about God's hand in that phone call. Wouldn't God want his people in that congregation to vote and let that be the will of God as to whether this person was "ready" to be on council?

3. Even in these times of disconcerting actions and I'm sure hurt for the person called, God was at hand. I started wondering about those people that do communicate what they believe to be His message in a positive, loving, non-anonymous way even if it is one that shakes the foundations of our comfort zone. Okay, I like those kind of messages unless of course they deal directly with me...HA! I think we all need to pray for the gift of discernment so that we can separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak. There are undoubtedly numerous messages being given that are challenging, uncomfortable and hard to hear that are the voice of Jesus. God knows that in this era of unbelievable communication tools (internet, blogs, texting, skype, etc.) that for every message that is truly from above there are thousands and maybe millions that are not.

We as a congregation made through the meeting with a few scars but with God's hand still leading us. This will be something we can learn from, reconcile with, and hopefully find a way to be peaceful in our disarray. I go back to my days of being a varsity coach and having parents and players upset with me. Often times I probably deserved being admonished to some degree. That really isn't the point. I had a great deal of respect for those who were willing to share their disagreements in person and in a way that sought out resolution. We didn't always find a resolution but certainly had an opportunity to have a better understanding of where we each were coming from. This was far better for everyone than the behind the back or late night screaming phone calls that occurred on occasion.

Lots of other observations but this already too long. I have been blessed with some really powerful conversations with some very dear friends this past few weeks. If you are one who reads this, thank you! You have no idea what your presence in my life means to me. (I better let you know then, shouldn't I!)

Peace my friends!