Sunday morning I was nervous. That seemed to
help the delivery of my sermon. The attendance was about normal, maybe a little
more people than usual. Before the service began I saw the Reverend Joe Sheetz
sitting in the rear. I asked him if I could call on him for the Benediction.
“No. If you usually recognize visitors, say I
am Mr. Joe Sheetz visiting from Louisiana.”
At the end of the service I pronounced the
benediction, announced that the congregational meeting would now begin. I
waited while a few people slipped out of the church. Then I opened the
congregational meeting with prayer. After that I stated that a quorum was
present. I asked Mr. Fike to be secretary and keep the minutes of the meeting.
I then told the congregation that I was requesting that the Presbytery dissolve
the pastoral relations between me and this church as of November 30. My reasons
were that the rumors that had gone around town after the death of my wife were
making it difficult to continue to be a pastor here. Also, I have not been able
to grieve her loss because of all the controversy.
“I will now entertain a motion to tell
Presbytery that the congregation is agreeable or that it is not agreeable to my
request. We will then vote on the motion. If a motion to agree passes, Presbytery
will grant my request. If it doesn’t pass, or if a motion not to agrre passes, Presbytery
will give the Church an opportunity to state its reasons why I should continue
to serve as your pastor. Does someone have a motion?”
Mrs. Alfritz said, “I move that the
congregation of First Presbyterian Church is in favor of Reverend Sterner
leaving.”
Mr. Bigelow, “I second that motion.”
“The motion is made and seconded. Is there
any discussion?”
Nancy Friborg, one of Dr. Rumfeldt’s nurses
stood up. Mrs. Alfritz also stood and said,
“I am the maker of the motion. I have the
right to be the first speaker.”
Nancy Friborg sat down.
“Our church has been
the object of scorn ever since it became known that he let his wife die without
doing anything to help her. Then we found out from his sons that there is an
inheritance involved. Imagine, he is being sued by his own sons! Moreover, I
think you will all agree that he has not been doing much work for the church
since his wife became ill. Let him go and let’s get someone who will work at
building this church up.”
Nancy Friborg stood up again. “I can’t
believe how many people believed and repeated that rumor. I know that they
haven’t seen anyone in the last stages of cancer. Anyone who has seen someone
dying of cancer will know how much work Reverend Sterner had to do every night
to try to make her comfortable. Anyone with an open mind who will ask Dr.
Rumfeldt or Patsy Godwin will find out that Laura Sterner lived longer than
they expected and that there was nothing Reverend Sterner could have done to
keep her from dying. It was a blessing when she died. You cannot imagine how
much she suffered in these last months.”
Johnny Fox, a quiet man who was a mechanic
said, “When we vote, I want it to be by written ballot.”
“Is there any more discussion?....Hearing
none, it has been requested that we vote by written ballot. Is there a second
to that motion?”
“Second”
“All in favor signify by saying ‘Aye’”. There were a number of voices saying “Aye”.
“All opposed the same sign.” About the same
number of voices was heard.
“I cannot tell from a voice vote. All who are
in favor of voting by written ballot please stand. Mr. Bigelow, please count
the ones standing on your side of the aisle, Mrs. Alfritz please count the ones
standing on your side of the aisle. Then give your counts to Mr. Fike.
“Please be seated. Those opposed to voting by
written ballot please stand. Mr. Bigelow and Mrs. Alfritz please count.”
The motion to vote by written ballot was
defeated.
“We are now ready to vote on the motion ‘…that
the congregation of First Presbyterian Church is in favor of Reverend Sterner
leaving.’ All in favor of the motion, please stand. You may be seated. All
opposed to the motion, please stand. The motion passes. There being no other
business, is there a motion to adjourn?”
The motion was made and I closed the meeting
in prayer.
Joe Sheetz came up to me after the meeting.
“Let’s go get some dinner. It will be my
treat.”
While we were eating I asked him,
“When Presbytery dissolves the relationship,
could it specify that I be allowed to continue living in the manse until the
end of the year? My trial is scheduled for December 10.”
“That is more than reasonable. Have you given
any thought to what you want to do after this?”
“If the trial is December 10 and isn’t
postponed, presumably my bank accounts will be unfrozen. If so, I want to take
a couple months vacation, maybe go to be with my grandchildren on Christmas.
After that I will look for a church.”
“That sounds good. You definitely need some
time off.”
After the meal we shook hands and went our
separate ways. I went home and sat on the sofa. Despite the encouragement from
Joe Sheetz, I felt depressed. As I looked back over twenty-seven years as a
pastor, there was not one pastorate that I had left on my own accord. In each
case I had left under some kind of pressure or another.
After I had been in my first pastorate of
three rural churches for three years, the presbytery urged me to lead the
churches in increasing the amount of my support that they would pay and
decreasing the amount they requested from the presbytery. The elders in the
churches reacted strongly against this idea. They had been receiving support
from the presbytery for over ninety years. They regarded it as their right. I
was caught in the middle between the presbytery committee which had oversight
over me and the sessions of the three churches. I began to look for an escape.
I went to a church where half of the
congregation wanted to leave the denomination and the other half wanted to
stay. Neither half could have supported a pastor and a building without the
other half. The presbytery executive helped me to work out a plan in which the
church could designate how its benevolence money would be used. They could
designate it for missionary work and orphanages and colleges, but refuse to
support social action other unpopular causes. Everyone was able to unite under
this arrangement.
The church had no children’s Sunday School or youth group. I
was able to build up a large children’s work. We had scavenger hunts, bicycle
hikes, roller skating and swimming parties, a Hallowe’en haunted house, and we took
them to summer camp. All these activities were to attract and keep children and
young people in the church. In the end it was young people who brought me
tumbling down.
Next door to the church was a large vacant
lot which was owned by the church. The Deacons had said that young people could
use the lot for recreation. One of the elders lived next to the lot. One
Saturday when I was out of town at a Presbytery meeting, Philip and a dozen
other boys were playing softball on that lot. In the middle of the game, this
elder came charging out of his house, singled out Philip, and stood there
yelling at him and threatening to throw him in jail if he brought his friends
back to the lot again. The other boys walked away and went home. Philip went
home shaking. He was white as a sheet. Laura asked him what was wrong. He was
only 12 or 13.
“Mr. Richfield said he was going to have me
thrown in jail if I brought kids to play on that lot again. I didn’t bring
them. Everyone just came together there. Anyhow, the Deacons said we could play
on that lot.”
When I came home, Laura told me what had
happened. The next day, when Worship was over and people were leaving the
church, I left the foyer, where I had been shaking hands with the people, and
walked out to the sidewalk where Mr. Richfield was standing.
“If you ever dare correct one of my sons,
yell at him, embarrass him in front of his friends, you and I will go at each
other with fists until one of us goes down. If you have a complaint against one
of them, you take it up with me. If they need correcting, I will correct them.
In this case you were in the wrong. The deacons voted that the young people
could use that lot for play. If you don’t like that decision, go yell at the
Deacons, not some 12 year old boy.”
Needless to say my days were numbered in that
pastorate. The next pastorate was a two church field. I was at that pastorate
for eight years. I did a good work on that field and it is now two separate
churches, each with its own pastor. Toward the end, something went sour. I’m
not sure what it was. The collections began to decline until the treasurer
couldn’t pay my salary. I was able to go on active duty with the National Guard
for several months while I looked for another church. The salary I made on
active duty was enough to support my family until we moved.
My next pastorate was one church in a busy
town. Our sons were growing up, Philip and Thomas were in college. For most of
the time that I was there, the work prospered. In the fifth year, the woman who
was treasurer resigned and quit coming to church. One of her daughters-in-law
had a nephew who died. I had been preaching sermons on Elijah and Elisha. I
didn’t know that this young lady was going to be in church. She had been away
for several weeks. In the Scripture reading there was the story of Elisha
raising a boy from the dead. The young lady stood up in the pew and screamed a
high pitched primal scream and then marched out. At the next Session meeting
they told me that they wanted me gone as soon as possible.
That was when I came here. I had been here
longer than in any other pastorate. Now it was again time to go. Am I a no good
pastor? What do some men have that allows them to spend their entire career in
the same pastorate?
I took my shoes off and lay down on the sofa
and tried to take a nap. When I awoke it was dark outside. The clock said that
it was nearly midnight. I was hungry. I went to the refrigerator and got a can
of peaches and the cottage cheese. I put some peaches and syrup in a bowl and
topped it with cottage cheese. I ate these and then went back to the bedroom,
undressed, showered, put on my pajamas and went to bed.
The next morning I went to Mr. Bilton’s
office. I asked him if he had completed the audit that I had requested.
“Yes, I have. Here is the original and two
copies of my audit. Here are the two envelopes of bills and cancelled checks.”
“Was the bill $500?”
"Yes.”
“Here are five $100 bills.”
“Thank you, Reverend Sterner. I am going to
miss seeing you around town.”
“Thank you, Mr. Bilton.”
From there I went to lawyer Capon’s office.
“Mr. Capon, I would like to give you the
original of Mr. Bilton’s audit of the account that held Laura’s inheritance,
and also two envelopes containing bills and cancelled checks from that account.
I am giving them to you for safekeeping since they may be used as evidence in
the lawsuit pending against me.”
“Yes, we will take them and keep them safe.
I’ll have my secretary give you a receipt. I notice that you have two copies of
the audit. If you will give me the addresses of the two sons who are suing you,
I will send a copy of the audit to them and suggest that they drop the lawsuit
in the light of this compelling evidence. I will remind them that courts do not
like frivolous lawsuits and that they could end up having to pay all court
costs and your legal expenses.”
“That would be nice if they had to pay.”
I started for home intending to spend the
rest of the day resting and recuperating. On the way I made a
spur-of-the-moment decision and drove to the Hazelwood Presbyterian Church. The
dirt rectangle and a small tin marker showed me where Laura was buried. I won’t
be able to buy her a headstone as long as my bank accounts are frozen. I stood
by Laura’s grave and told her all that had been happening. I poured out my
heart and soul to her, just as I had on other occasions while she was still
with me. She is now in heaven, part of the great cloud of witnesses. God has
wiped away all tears from her eyes. I can still be hurt and be sad, but not
Laura! I cried my heart out.
After supper I looked through the mail. The
letters reminded me that it was time to write Nathaniel.
Dear
Nathaniel,
Here it
is November already. Soon we will be thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Yesterday
we had a congregational meeting at the church. I announced that I was resigning
as pastor effective the end of November. There is just so much here that
reminds me of Laura’s pain and suffering. I want to go to some place where I
can escape those sad memories.
When I
think of all the happy memories of life together with her, I always wish for
you that someday you will meet a woman who will make your life as happy and
complete as the life that Laura and I had together.
Love,
Dad
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