Another funeral
I have a funeral this morning. The man was 93 years old and I never met him. This will be my 14th funeral in 12 months! All part of being a pastor in a rural community.

As I visited with his family yesterday, I was struck with how different life was way back when. He used to harvest corn with his bare hands and it would take all day to harvest nearly 100 bushels of corn. Today we harvest 100 bushels of corn in about two minutes!

Technology has clearly led to more efficient production on the farm but it is also bringing the death of the small family farm. Will it eventually bring the death of rural America?

I find that when I talk to these old timers I am embarrassed at how easily I get discouraged and how quick I am to loss hope.

The church will survive. It may not be very successful. It may be very dysfunctional. But it will survive. Jesus will make sure that it does. Eugene Peterson in his book Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work has a wonderful discussion concerning the perseverance of the church in even unhealthy and dysfunctional forms. I would encourage all e/p/w (emerging, postmodern, whatever) church leaders and thinkers to read this book.

This book encouraged me, that even though my small churches (I pastor two "yoked" churches) are dysfunctional and full of people who don't get it (especially that without change the churches will continue to decline) that they are still the gathered community of God and he will continue to work through them and persevere them.