Sullivan UMC—J. Michael Smith
Since we were not able to publish our normal monthly newsletter last week, I’m using today’s letter to share two pieces with you. First is Janet Roney’s look back into our church’s past with a true story about the time the bishop sent a bear to be the church’s pastor.
The second is a letter from Sara Isbel, our district superintendent, on the polarizing issue of ICE in our country—and a pastoral perspective on the subject.
Papa and Mama Bear and the Three Little Bears
Rev. Orval Bear was the fifty-eighth pastor of our church serving from 1955-1962. He was the son of a Methodist preacher and began preaching at Bluffs right out of Monmouth College. Along with some time as a Navy Chaplain, he served three churches before coming to Sullivan. By then, he and his wife, Gerry, were in their mid-thirties and had three young boys.
Our church was thriving with a very active Sunday School that had separate classes for each grade, high school, and two classes for adults that met in the basement, Fellowship Hall, second floor, and even in the kitchen. Everyone gathered in the old Fellowship Hall once a month for singing, fellowship, and recognition of birthdays led by Hugh Murray and later Marvin Rice. One time, for Rally Sunday, we had a goal of 300 attendance in Sunday School, and we made it! One of the invitees, a young boy who was not active, got to break an actual record (not vinyl) in front of the crowd.
Shortly after Rev. Bear arrived, he recognized the need for a Methodist Youth Fellowship. He gathered all the teenagers in the church at Wyman Park and helped us get organized. He set up a point system for participation in MYF which included attendance, giving lessons at our weekly Sunday evening meetings in the basement, and helping with fund raising activities. One of our chief fundraisers was a novel idea for the time which was home delivered meals cooked by ladies in the church which were called “Sputnik Suppers” after the 1957 Russian satellite!
Those in the MYF with enough points in the spring were eligible to go on trips with the group. We attended the WLS Barn Dance radio program in Chicago, went boating on the Lake of the Ozarks, had a sunrise service at Lake Junaluska and visited Red Bird Mission and Mammoth Cave in the Smokies, and toured Washington D. C. Parents were drivers and chaperones on these trips, so it became a good time for fellowship between the generations. Several youths from the local Presbyterian Church came to our MYF meetings after their meetings and our youth attended theirs.
Rev. Bear was also known for his frequent visits to local bars, not to drink, but to reach out to those in the community who might need a friend. In appreciation for his community efforts, one Easter morning, a brand-new Volkswagen “beetle” wrapped in a big red bow showed up in his driveway, an anonymous gift from appreciative community leaders.
Rev. Bear was also known for his short sermons…maybe fifteen minutes maximum. He put a lot of emphasis on music because he had a strong base voice. He served as our choir director, too, with Josephine Howsmon as our wonderful organist. Several of the teenage MYF members began singing in the adult choir, where lasting friendships were made with the older folks in church.
Indirectly, Rev. Bear’s ministry led to our beautiful, big present parsonage. Goldie Tucker, one of the elderly women in church, noticed how crowded the Bear family was in the small parsonage on West Jefferson Street with their three young, rambunctious, growing boys. She contacted lawyer Bill Ingram, a church member, to help her create an endowment from her estate for a new parsonage that would be large enough for a big family, a church office, and a large area for church meetings. After her death three pastors later, the parsonage on Jackson Street became a reality. It has continued to be one of the church’s principal assets.
After serving our church, Rev. Bear went to Lincoln and Onarga. In 1971, he began working for the Conference Board of Pensions and the Preacher’s Aid Society located in Decatur. After six years he resigned and went back into the active ministry. After just a year serving Arthur, Illinois, he was stricken with a heart attack and died. He was just 59 years old, leaving a “host of friends and a memory of willing service rendered to his Lord and to the people of central Illinois.”
A Word from Our District Superintendent
Don’t be afraid to stand up for the rights of the most vulnerable. Don’t be afraid to speak for those who have no voice. Don’t be afraid to call out injustice. That’s what the Old Testament prophets and Jesus did. They knew they would get push-back – even punishment – and indeed, they did. But they recognized that others were being pushed even harder, and they used their voice and their privilege to lift others up. You can do that, too.
But do it with love. Do it with respect. Speak out AFTER you have listened to people on all sides of an issue, so you know which of your words can be heard by those who may disagree. You cannot change the hearts of those who cannot hear you. You cannot change the minds of those whom you have wounded or whose trust you have broken. Meet your people where they are, acknowledge the dignity of their feelings and fears, learn from those who disagree with you, do what you can to find common ground. And then you will have earned the right to speak the prophetic word that is often so hard to hear.
Don’t assume your congregation lives in the same (ideological) world you inhabit. If they consume a different news outlet than you do, they may not share the same assumptions about the way things are – they may come from a very different place, even to the point of believing different things are true. But try “leaning in” rather than “leaning out,” and let the Church be a wonderful, safe, creative, mutually respectful place to come to understand different points of view, knowing that we share our ideas in Christian love, for the thriving of all.
And – one more thing: please don’t do it over Facebook. Nobody ever had their heart strangely warmed via Facebook. They only either had their previous biases confirmed, or they got really mad. Engage your church in two-way conversation, based on care for peoplerather than political affiliation. Practice walking in somebody else’s shoes. And always pray that the Spirit will guide you into all truth. (John 16:13) I’ll be praying for you, and with you, too.
Repertoire 