I learned lessons in church politics by watching my parents. They were active in our local congregation. Both served on boards and committees in the church, and we attended congregational meetings as a family. In our congregation, children did not vote, but were welcome to speak at congregational meetings, but I don’t remember ever doing so before I was confirmed. I was 14 when I officially joined the church, voted at meetings, and served on committees as soon as I joined. One of the lessons I learned before I was a voting member of our congregation is that things don’t always go your way at congregational meetings.

Our church remodeled its sanctuary when I was a child. The church was strong and growing in those days. They had added classrooms and a new fellowship hall to the building when I was very young, with much of the work done by congregational members. They had built a cabin at our church camp, and members had done the work again. The sanctuary remodeling involved installing paneling on some walls, lowering the ceiling slightly, and installing faux beams with indirect lighting. While the work was being done, they removed the pews. We worshiped sitting on folding chairs during the work, sometimes with the chairs set up in the fellowship hall, but usually with them set up in the sanctuary. Our father was active in the work. He stored most of the pews in a building at his business while the work progressed. He provided a truck to haul some materials to and from the church. When the pews were in storage, there was a congregational meeting about remodeling details. A motion was made to purchase new pews for the sanctuary. Our father rose to speak against the motion. He said the existing pews were made of hardwood and could be easily refinished and last for decades. Others argued that the old pews were uncomfortable. He quipped that we don’t go to church to be comfortable. When the vote on the motion was taken, it was clear that the majority wanted new pews. My parents and one other couple were the only ones to vote against the pews.

My father was disappointed in the vote and reacted by grabbing the catalogue of new pews circulated around the meeting. He looked at the price list in the back and made a motion to purchase the most expensive pews in the catalogue as a protest against the decision to buy new pews. He didn’t expect his motion to pass. He just wanted to demonstrate how foolish purchasing new pews was.

That is how our church got padded pews with gold brocade upholstery. My father was the first member to write a check to purchase a pew. Despite having voted against his own motion, he showed his children that we still belonged to the church, even when things didn’t go our way.

As an adult, I have often voted with the minority in church meetings. However, this didn’t happen frequently in the congregations I served, where I usually did not vote. As an employee of the congregation, I felt it was best to allow the other members to make the decisions. When it came to Conference meetings, however, I often dissented. I gained a reputation as a frequent solo dissenter when I served on the Board of our Conference. I always tried to vote my conscience and to remain loyal to the institution, whether or not I was in the majority. Like my father, I often got out my checkbook and donated to a project or cause I had opposed.

I started attending Conference annual meetings when I was still in high school and have rarely missed those meetings. Here in the Pacific Northwest Conference, attendance at the annual meeting is a requirement of ministers with standing. There is a process by which a minister can be excused due to health or sabbatical, but we have not had to use that process. When we moved to this conference, the meetings were held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the conference returned to in-person annual meetings, the first was held in our home congregation, so we attended in person. We were on the church staff then and had duties related to hosting the gathering. We have participated in the meetings online. One of the roles that retired ministers can assume is to lead worship for active pastors so that they can travel across the state to attend meetings. We had been set to lead worship at an island congregation on Sunday and planned to participate in this year’s meeting online. Then the ferry to the island is scheduled for maintenance this weekend, and the congregation will worship with lay leadership since we can’t get to the island except by private boat.

So today we’ll begin the first of three days of online meetings. We’ll use our computers to participate in the plenary sessions and will also be able to participate in breakout sessions via Zoom link. It is not my preferred way of attending meetings. I don’t enjoy sitting in front of my computer for hours at a time. These days, I’m pretty passive at church meetings. I don’t speak much and I usually watch. If we were attending in person, I’d probably choose a seat near he back of the room. It isn’t that I don’t care. I have strong feelings about the decisions that face our conference. However, I have had my years of being up front and leading meetings. I have served as a conference moderator and led conference meetings. It is time for new leaders, and one of the ways I encourage new leadership is to step aside and allow them to take charge.

Our conference will be making some big decisions. We are in an interim period with a temporary Conference Minister and will be making leadership decisions. We have a tight budget and must make some difficult financial decisions. There are some critical social justice issues the church should not remain silent about. So I will participate as fully as I am able. It is a family tradition. I also will probably carry on the family tradition of taking one or more minority positions in which the majority votes differently from me. I don’t mind. I will continue to belong and to support the ministries of the conference.

And when the annual meeting rolls around next year, I’ll participate once again.