Living with - or without - the drama

I was talking with a very close friend of mine the other day.  This person was telling me about all of the "drama" that was going on at their workplace... morale is bad, gossip is flying around, the boss is caught between "the troops" and "upper management," and on and on.  It was frustrating to hear about how hard this was for my friend.

Something then occurred to me while we were talking.  I said, "You love the work that you're doing.  The challenge now is that it's so easy to get caught up with all of the other stuff... all of the drama in the workplace.  What I'd do, I think, is ignore the drama; concentrate on the job that you love."  That seemed to make a lot of sense to my friend.

I then realized how easy it is for me to get caught up in all of the drama in life as well.  It's easy for me to worry about the future of the congregation I serve, when finances continue to be a problem and the building continues to be a drain.  It's easy for me to look back at our history, at times when our membership was well over 1,300 people, and wonder what I'm doing wrong, or what I'm not doing right, that barely sustains our membership numbers at around 330.  Sadly, in our current culture in the life of the broader Church, sustaining membership is not a bad thing!  And when I think of that, I get caught up in that drama also...what will happen to the Church in our culture?  What will happen within our presbytery?  How are we going to decide to staff the presbytery and its ministries... and how will we afford what we decide?  Will we decide we can play in the same proverbial sandbox as our neighboring presbyteries, perhaps daring to do more in sharing programs, plans, ministries, and even staff?  And will the Synod still be around to help us?  Drama... drama... drama!

I can't ignore the issues behind the drama.  Those are issues that need to be addressed, and addressed with all of the "energy, intelligence, imagination, and love" that I can muster... for which I vowed when I was ordained, and which I reaffirmed when I was installed as the pastor at Central Pres.  So I want to continue to tackle those issues head-on.  But what I don't want to do is get caught up in the kind of wringing-of-the-hands, longing for illusory good-old-days, drama that only exists to suck dry whatever energy, intelligence, imagination, and love I'm left to muster.

So, I've been trying to take my reflections offered to my friend, and apply them to my own situation.  I love what I do - both in the congregation I serve, and in the presbytery I serve as well.  I really do!  What I need to do, then, is concentrate on doing and living the ministries to which God has entrusted me and for which God has graciously gifted me... and not get caught up in the drama in which it would be so easy to lose my footing and drown.

I intend to live without the drama.  I'll try to let you know how it goes.