Recovering Pastors

Comment

Comment by Bill Gordon on November 27, 2009 at 5:50am

I live in deep thanks for this group, having been abandoned by my previous denominations when I came out first as a gay man, and then as a person who no longer identifies as Christian. I love the name "recovering", which implies it is an on-going, life-long journey.

Comment by the rev Carl Freeman Reynolds on November 8, 2009 at 8:28am

Wow!!!...you people are telling my story...ten years in a UCC Church...introduced them to CS...participation more than doubled...the old timers said 'enough is enough'...I left...they hired the most traditional, academic. same old same old person/pastor they could find...the only thing left is my name cast in bronze at the back of the Church...but they still use my tri-fold bulletin and even some of our songs: "Come Spirit Come"...........
and as of late I have begun wondering how long I can find fulfillment in the Habitat For Humanity world...this whole endeavor with CS has reignited my longing to speak, to write, to tell my story in my words...to confront the same old same old with...how 'bout we try this!!!!!!!!!
am working on it internally ...some words find their way to the page...some words find their way to my voice...and people listen...and wonder and worry, and ache for something true.....Carl

Comment by Bill Gordon on November 8, 2009 at 4:12am

Hi Wayne, I know your comment wasn't directed to me, but remember that I have been there. The church I helped to transform into a CS community in Maine has disappeared because there wasn't leadership to help it continue. A traditional Christian pastor came in and told them the "right" answers about faith, and now the entire community is all gone. The grief is real, but the child must be allowed to grow and choose its path. I know that for those eleven years though, I helped people THINK about their ideas of faith. I suspect the person who followed me had never been so challenged in the pastoral role. Those years made a difference in lives-- and CS or traditional-- that's all you ever get out when you leave those communities. You know you made a difference.

Comment by Wayne Schwandt on November 8, 2009 at 1:07am

Peter, wish we could have coffee and talk. Maybe this group should have monthly phone conferences where we can pick at an idea and share. I am struggling profoundly with my affiliation with MCC. I see so many colleagues making individual choices to follow another path. Part of my grief, I guess, is that I may well leave the progressive, CS-based congregation I founded and move on. They will be taken over by a more mainstream pastor who will lead them back into a more conventional christianity and build a more standard MCC. There are two decision here, mine and the congregation's.

Comment by Peter E. Lanzillotta on November 8, 2009 at 12:57am

Good Morning, and greetings to you Wayne, and to Bill...

Wayne, the decision was already made when we spoke in July, but it has become more concrete and definitive over these past months... In reflection, I have always been more interfaith than denominational. It has been hard to be a cheerleader for any one point of view- especially if it presents itself as being superior in any important way. For me, it was the career long battle with secular humanism, and its scientism... While they often bring out the illogiocal parts of religious beliefs, and the naive piety around creationism- all good points- there was little room for my more metaphyisical and Emersonian views, and very little of my work in spiritual direction, healing, astology, Dances of Peace etc., and unfortunately my sermons on my spiritual home as being Creation Spirituality was ever easily affirmed or accepted.

Yes, Wayne, there is some rebellion against authority, especially when those rules and expectations that are imposed on me/us that do nott come from within... structures can guide us or imprison us... In my case,the restictive ones were pre-Vatican II Catholicism, and my father being the chief of police! But guiding structures are important for us... I do hope we (as the CS community) can devise workable and realistic guidelines for becoming a CS congregation, and then choosing to step out, create our communities, resource groups, etc., claim our own new paradigm for worship and service.

Bill... thank you for your encouragement .. . I hope to finish in the next week or two... Its semi-academic, you know, lots of quotes and footnotes, in order to state that I can think like a theologian, but as I have seen and experienced it,you do have to jump through some hoops before many people in the religious mindset will accept your futuristic ideas. I do hope that progressive ministers and CS people would want to read it, as it is very much in accord with so many of the CS philosophy, and Jungian thought... If you have any ideas about who might publish a book like this, I would appreciate any guidance... Peter

Comment by Wayne Schwandt on November 8, 2009 at 12:18am

I was speaking of my own rebellion against authority in that last comment, not yours Peter. I don't know you well enough to know if that is correct for you or not. Didn't mean to offend.

Comment by Wayne Schwandt on November 8, 2009 at 12:17am

Welcome Peter. good to see you here. Have you decided to leave UU congregational work? What is the URL of your resource site? Was UU ministy too constricting for your CS work? I held UU as one of the "promised lands" where there might be hope for the likes of us. Maybe we are beyond institutionalization; well, at least, of the religious kind. It is hard to be a pastor and a rebel against authority. Unresolved childhood trauma? Perhaps.

Comment by Bill Gordon on November 7, 2009 at 2:39pm

Peter, your topic for your book sounds really interesting! Keep us informed about the possibilities for publication!

Comment by Peter E. Lanzillotta on November 6, 2009 at 2:27am

Greetings to all my CS pastoral colleagues!

Since July's meeting, it became very clear that my next personal and professional path was out of liberal ministry (26 years) and into an interfaith approach to working with people... After establishing a resource website, I turned to writing... I am in the last stages of finishing a book on pneumatology called Spirit, Time, and the Future where I look at the Creation, the functions of time and prediction, etc., from a Spirit centered approach... Now to find a publisher!

I truly look forward to contributing to this group in any way I can! Peter

Comment by Bill Gordon on October 26, 2009 at 1:02pm

Happier to talk than I have been in a while. I spent a great week with my eldest son in the State of Maine and then in the wilds of New Brunswick. We hiked in fresh snow, laughed with one another in ways I cannot remember doing in a while, and in the end I found a deeper center for myself in my understanding of spirituality. I feel refreshed and renewed, and am enjoying crafting some songs that have FUN (believe it or not!) with spirituality! I am painting, and breathing, and enjoying my life in ways that have escaped me recently. I am truly "recovering" as a person, and am deeply grateful for what is coming about in my life!

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