I invested my morning yesterday working in the church library. One of my volunteer positions in our church is serving as church librarian. We use a computer program for our catalogue and our books are organized by topic and shelved alphabetically by author’s name. Since I became church librarian, I have been going through the library. As I go through the books, I am putting labels on the spine with the first three letters of the author’s last name to speed up the process of shelving books when they are returned to the library. I have also made new labels for the shelves assist people in finding the volumes. In addition, I have been removing from the library volumes that are not circulating and that we don’t expect to circulate to make shelf space for new acquisitions.

When I worked as Interim Minister of Faith Formation, we acquired new volumes for the church library. Some of those volumes could not be shelved because of a lack of space in their section. The library is strong in Bible reference, biblical studies, and theology sections. It has been growing in recent years in faith formation, spirituality, economic justice, gender justice, racial justice, and environmental justice. Shelves needed to be re-organized in order to make space for new acquisitions. Some older titles have not been used in decades. Because there is such a rich wealth of literature available online it doesn’t make sense for a small church library to have a large reference section. As we shrink that part of our library we are making room for more books that circulate.

Church libraries have an issue that requires constant attention. The issue is that people donate books to the church library at a rapid pace. When they clean out their homes and discover books they want to get rid of they don’t want to throw away the books so they bring boxes of them to the church library. there were at least six boxes of unsorted books in the library when I began sorting and there are still several that I need to go through and either process into the library or donate to some other place. Many of the donations go to a public library foundation that has an annual book sale.

I am making progress, but a lot of work remains before the church library is in tip top shape. Some weeks I don’t get much time in the library at all. But I had at least three hours to work in the library yesterday and was pleased with the progress I made.

As I worked I remembered other times from decades of working in churches. I still miss my work life even though I am nearly a year into full retirement and have been partially retired for four years. Working in the church library is different from other jobs, though. Part of the difference is that not many people come and go. When I was working as a pastor, there was a constant flow of members, visitors, and neighbors in and out of my office. The hallways of our church were filled with children and parents participating in the preschool. Church members stopped by for conversation. Members of the church staff met at the coffee machine, the copier, and in the hallways, often striking up conversations. One of my work habits was to come into the church building early in the morning to get an hour or more of uninterrupted work because during the day I needed to attend to all kinds of interruptions and distractions. Usually I didn’t mind the interruptions. They offered good and meaningful work and important connections with those I was serving.

Church staffs don’t work that way these days, at least not in the church to which we now belong. I think part of the change came from covid. Decreased physical contact had people working in offices with doors closed and wearing masks when venturing out of the office. More and more meetings are being held over Zoom or other computer formats, making some things more efficient, but not supporting the informal conversations in which so much dreaming, planning and ministry took place. There were six members of the church staff working yesterday morning, but I only spoke with three of them. Two of them came by the library expecting it to be empty and looking for a place to attend a webinar together. I happened to catch the third arriving to work and had a brief conversation in the doorway of their office. There was a small group meeting in the building while I was working in the library, but those attending the meeting walked right by without stopping to chat. The church is much more business like than the informal community-based environment in which I loved to work.

Some of the change is due to the new post-covid world in which ministry now takes place. Some of the change is due to differences in education and preparation of ministers. Most seminary education is obtained online or through other distance learning these days. When we went to seminary, living on campus was required. Being a part of an in-person community, worshiping regular with classmates, faculty, and administration was expected. Those expectations are no longer present. Much of theological education is asynchronous. People go on line on their own schedule and work independently. The result is that there are a lot of pastors who are used to working alone. Forming community is less of a priority as ministers become more specialized. Sermons are more likely to grow out of individual study and preparation than out of community experiences. Pastoral visits in homes are less frequent.

I could bemoan the changes, and sometimes I do. That, however, is not a valuable contribution to the church. What I can do now that I am a lay member of a congregation is to choose ways of serving that bring me into contact with other church members. I hope that I can make the church library become a hub of community by offering new services and lots of incentives for church members to just drop into the library. That job will require a lot more work, and at this stage of my life, I am eager for meaningful work. I am grateful to have this new challenge in my life.