We had a small series of technological glitches at the church in the past week. On Saturday, we noticed that we were unable to send or receive email on our church accounts. At first we thought it was a problem with one computer, but we checked and we were unable to connect to the church system, including our Microsoft Teams accounts. Upon arrival at the church on Sunday morning, we found out that we weren’t the only ones having problems. It soon became evident that the entire Microsoft Exchange system was down and that it was a problem that would require technicians to solve on Monday.

We usually don’t go into the church on Mondays, but others discovered upon their arrival that their electronic key fobs did not work. The office door is the only door with an electronic lock and there is no way to bypass that lock with a key, so those entering the building with their keys, had to use a different door and those working in the office could not open the door by pushing the usual remote.

By the time we arrived at the church on Tuesday morning, the email system was working once again and a technician was working on the electronic lock system.

The desktop computer in our office had to be rebooted to get it to work and then we discovered that although the print dialogues came up on the computer, it was not connecting to the printer.

None of these small troubles would have consumed a minute of my time in the first two parishes I served. We didn’t have computer networks. We didn’t use the office copier as our printer. We didn’t use Microsoft Exchange. We didn’t have electronic locks. Our first parish didn’t even have a computer. We used a typewriter and a mimeograph machine.

OK, I admit that a mimeograph machine consumed a bunch of time and energy and operating it was very messy. Life wasn’t perfect before all of the technology came to church.

Some of the technological problems may have had their origins in the weather. The coast was battered by high winds over the weekend. There were gusts that exceeded 60 mph. Many areas experienced power failures. Power failures can cause various components of a computer network to get out of sync and sometimes it requires a technical to get everything rebooted in the proper manner.

Meanwhile, we were able to connect for a virtual staff meeting using our computers. Our music director, who lives near the ski hill on Mount Baker, experienced a power failure during the meeting and disappeared from our screens for a few minutes. She reported that there were over two feet of fresh snow on the ski resort, that it was snowing at a rate of over 2 inches per hour, and that the ski area was packed and all of the parking lots were full. It is spring break for most of the area public schools this week and often spring break marks the end of the ski season on the mountain.

Down here next to the water it didn’t snow. It didn’t even get below 45 degrees. The wind blew and it rained a bit, but we are getting used to rain and it doesn’t seem to have much impact on our lives or activities. At home, we haven’t experienced any power failures and our home Internet service has continued without interruption. Besides, I am no longer the lead pastor of a congregation. The buck doesn’t stop at my desk. The problems of sorting out the technological glitches don’t fall on my shoulders. I teach a few classes, led a few book studies, prepare a few children’s moments for worship, and do a bit of planning. I go home from work and don’t spend much energy worrying or trying to fix things when there are problems. Life is pretty good.

There are a lot of things about a lifetime of ministry that I could not have anticipated when I was a seminary student. I thoroughly enjoyed the academic work of graduate school. I love libraries and books and I didn’t mind writing papers and studying for examinations. I immersed myself in the culture of the school, discussing ideas with colleagues at every turn. When I began serving a congregation, there was no problem with the quality of my exegesis. My academic skills were well-honed. The challenge was making connections between the lives of the people i served and the texts I had studied. People don’t go to church to hear academic lectures. They attend worship to have their spirits lifted and the meaning of their everyday lives celebrated. They connect with others and build community.

The years, however, have passed. The towns where we served during the first years of our ministry have continued to decline as farms grow in size and the number of families on the farms shrinks. Both of the two rural congregations of our first call have now closed as churches. They didn’t run out of money. They ran out of people. Too many funerals and too many people moving out of town left the churches without critical mass to continue. You can’t run a Sunday School without children.

Somehow the journey of our lives and our careers has led us to a congregation we probably would have never found earlier in our lives in a place we didn’t expect to be. And somehow that journey has found us in a very good place, despite occasional technological glitches. I have have a deeper understanding of the stories of Abram and Sarai leaving the place of their forebears to go to a place that God would show them than I possessed earlier in my life. The stories of the Bible connect with my story in ways I could not foresee.

Learning to relax is another skill I have acquired along the way. Technology has never been as important in the practice of ministry as relationship. The job that I love is about working with people. So if I missed a few emails, we’ll blame the computers or the software. If you can’t get in touch with me, stop by. I’d love to talk to you face to face.