Hello All:

Today was an odd Sunday. We went to church, and heard a sermon about the new “truths” of post-modern thought from the former minister of a neighboring congregation that now attends our congregation. The sermon included quotes from the movie “Titanic.”

Also, the elders came up to the front with both of our preachers, and both of our new, young ministers announced that they would be leaving the church. One is moving to Abilene, Texas to finish his graduate studies (he had been traveling back and forth between Portland and Abilene) and the other is taking time off to work on his marriage.

I wish both of these men and their families well. While I don’t know either of them very well, they have both been very active in the congregation and have touched many peoples lives. It is a shame that they are both leaving at the same time.

The second minister who is taking time off may come back after consultation with the elders, but that didn’t sound highly likely.

Its hard to know exactly what is going on around us. Both my wife and I feel that we should be asking some questions because the timing is a little odd and we both wonder if there isn’t more to this than was announced. At the same time, I’m not very inclined to ask questions when both situations are very much filled with personal problems.

I just pray that God’s will is being pursued by these changes in the congregation.

And I hope that we don’t hear any more sermons on Post-Modern thought for a while.

-Clarke