Annual Meeting! No other aspect of ministry caused me as much consistent anxiety as the congregational annual meeting. In a church with the Congregational form of organization, the annual meting is a time when the members take part in major decisions, including electing officers, voting a budget, receiving reports of the previous year, and much more. Since I was a pastor for 42 years and I participated in the annual meetings of the congregations where I was a member for most of the years up to my ordination, you’d think that they would have somehow become routine. It never happened for me. The thing that made me worried about annual meetings was that there are so many things that are unpredictable and out of the control of any single member.

A budget can be amended. A nomination can be made from the floor. A member can raise an issue that makes others squirm. There are a lot of things that you can’t anticipate that can occur. In all my years, however, I never experienced a major disaster at an annual meeting. I never got fired or had my salary cut or ended up with some group in the church trying to take over control. I’ve heard about these things happening, but they never happened in my time as a pastor or church member. Still, I worried. I thought about what might happen. Over the years, I lost a lot of sleep over annual meetings.

Such meetings, however, are at the core of what I believe about church and how churches should organize themselves. The Holy Spirit moves through the people of the church. The ordinary members of the congregation bring perspective to the decision-making process. Over and over again, my life has taught me that there is a big difference between what I want and what God intends. Getting my own way is not the way to follow God’s call. I need others. I need the community of the church to help me discern God’s call. And a meeting where the everyday member of the church are in control - not the clergy - is one of the ways that the whole church can listen to the call of the Holy Spirit.

I lost sleep over congregational meetings in part because I wholeheartedly believe in them. I care deeply about the process and about the people who participate in the process.

Suddenly (at least suddenly from my point of view), I am no longer the pastor of a congregation. I have retired from my role as a congregational leader. I may again serve as a pastor of a congregation, but for now it is right that I step aside and allow new leadership to emerge. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care. It doesn’t mean that I am not paying attention.

Over the years, I invested a lot of time and energy in preparing annual reports for congregations. I felt that it was important that the annual reports become an active historical document of the year for the church. I put a lot of attention into how the reports looked. I tried to make them readable and approachable. I worked with others to include photographs and details about the congregation and its ministries. This year, I didn’t have any annual reports to write. I didn’t edit the document or design its layout. I doubt that very many people noticed that each year the annual report set the graphic layout for the church’s documents. Each year the appearance of the annual report was reflected in the appearance of the monthly newsletter, the worship bulletins and the letterhead of the church. Those details probably have slipped in the transition of leadership in the church. Maybe they weren’t important to others.

I have taken time to read the annual reports of two congregations that are very important to me. The congregation we served for 25 years, 1st Congregational United Church of Christ in Rapid City, is one of those churches. I won’t be taking part in their annual meeting. It isn’t appropriate for me to weigh in on the decisions in front of that congregation. The other set of reports that I read carefully are those of the congregation we are in the process of joining, 1st Congregational United Church of Christ of Bellingham, Washington. I have a great deal more ability to be objective as I read reports written by people whom I have not yet met face to face. I will listen in on the annul meeting of that congregation today, but I am not yet fully a member of the congregation and will not speak or vote in the meeting. Observing, however, is a good way for me to get to know the congregation and to observe its processes as it plans for the year to come.

The fact that I am up in the middle of the night writing about it is not a sign that I am anxious. I’m more relaxed about annual meetings than I remember having been for a very long time. I’m happy to observe and see what happens. Because I will be taking the actions of the congregations I love less personally, I hope that I will be open to sensing the call of the Holy Spirit in ways that were challenging to me when the vote on the budget was a vote on my salary and the slate of nominees was he team with whom I would be working for the year to come. That doesn’t mean that I don’t care, just that my perspective has changed. That change of perspective is also an important element in my understanding of how the church works. The work of the church as it seeks to respond to God’s call is never about one generation only. God’s promise to God’s people is always a generational promise, sometimes taking several generations to be fully revealed. Leaders need to step aside and allow new leaders to emerge. The future is not in our hands, but in God’s.

As to my being up in the middle of the night there is a big difference between being retired and the years before my retirement. I can go back to bed and sleep as long as I want. I’m not losing sleep just because I am awake for a little while. I don’t have a prayer to prepare or a worship service to plan and lead. I can switch on my computer a few minutes before worship begins and leave it on for the meeting without having to be in charge. It is another lesson in retirement and a new way to understand the power of God working in the congregation. I have to admit it feels pretty good. I’m going to learn to like annual meetings.