Another one bites the dust.

Last night I participated in a function of my office (my role in this thing we call the Body of Christ, Presbyterian division) that I find disturbing. Last night we voted as a Presbytery to dissolve a relationship between pastor and congregation, and it was not pretty. Word is that this guy got squeezed out by a minority of parishioners who wanted him gone.

As happens in our tradition, a commission of folks had been put in place months ago to try and sort out the conflict, to establish some order, and to try to restore the "peace, unity, and purity" of the church.

The powerful, vocal minority wanted none of that, thankyouverymuch.

There was debate last night over his severance package. Some people who don't really understand how we do things in our division, (despite having held the same office I hold for over 20 years) started a campaign to reject the severance package in the effort to circumvent the dissolution, in hopes that the church would somehow change its mind and restore him to the pastorate. What a disaster that would have been!

The truth is, by the time an administrative commission is in place, the die is usually cast. Somebody is packing their bags, and it usually is not the noisy troublemakers in the congregation. This is due, in part, to our (colleagues in ministry's, which means Presytery's in our language) reluctance to get in the middle of church conflict until it has reached critical mass, IMHO.

I admit that part of my sadness is fear-based. If charismatic, young, brilliant, compassionate, patient, and articulate didn't cut it at Pretty Little Church Up The Road, what are my chances here?