Several days later, I called Rick Nolan.
“Reverend Nolan, this is Joshua Sterner. I am
ready to start looking for a church and Wyoming looks attractive to me. I’ve
been preaching in the two Presbyterian churches in the town where my eldest son
lives. I really don’t think it is wise for me to be a minister in a very small
town where he is the family doctor. If I were serving a church in Wyoming, they
would be close enough to visit a couple times a year. Up until now I have only
visited them once before. That was several years ago. Would you send me the
data sheets on churches in your Presbytery that are available. I am open to
multiple church fields.”
“Well, that is good news to me. I think the
Laramie Church would be interested in you. I’ll look through the church data
sheets and see what other churches would be a good match with you.”
“Another request I have is that you schedule
any interviews with pulpit committees and Presbytery committees as close
together as is feasible. I will have to find a boarding house or inexpensive
motel to stay in down there. Montana is a long drive away.”
“I’ll do my best. Why don’t you look into a
hostel in Cheyenne? You would have to sleep in a dormitory with seven other men
and share a bathroom with them. However, the hostels are clean, they serve a
free continental breakfast and they only cost $30-35 a night.”
“Thank you, I’ll look into that.”
The first time that I was on the computer, I
looked for a hostel in Cheyenne and found two. One belonged to a national chain
of hostels. I bookmarked that page.
The week following Christmas, I worked on a
sermon for January 2. I wanted to work in the New Year’s and Communion. I chose
the verse 2 Corinthians 5:17 as my sermon text. It contains the phrase, “the
old things have passed away, the new things are here”.
When I went to Dakota United Presbyterian
Church that Sunday, I had twenty-five more bags with candy and a $5 bill. This
time I stapled the scene of Wise Men coming on camels. During announcement time
I said,
“ Mr. Slower Than Bear and I took bags with
candy to 25 children on Christmas Eve. I’m sure that we missed some children.
When you leave today, will you take a bag to a child we missed?”
They responded to the sermon. (I watch the
eyes and the facial expressions of the congregation.) The communion service was
like we were back two millennia and in the Upper Room with Jesus. As I read the
Scriptures and prayed the prayers in the service, I asked Mr. Slower Than Bear
to repeat my words in the native language. I saw the old people get tears in
their eyes and smiles on their faces. After the service, I really didn’t want
to leave.
The atmosphere at First Presbyterian Church
was stiff and formal. The fact that we were having the Sacrament in the service
intensified the effort to be stiff and proper and do everything just right. It
affected me. I was so nervous that I made several mistakes. I am ashamed that I
was glad when the service was over.
After the service Mr. Holcum asked if I would
be preaching the following Sunday.
“I don’t think so, Mr. Holcum.”
On Wednesday I received three sets of data
forms from Rick Nolan. One set was for the church in Laramie, another was for a
church in Gillette, Wyoming, and the third set was for a three church field of
churches in Worland, Wyoming, Thermopolis, Wyoming, and Riverton, Wyoming.
At first glance each of them had an obvious
advantage. I had already been to Laramie and knew that the people liked me.
Gillette was closest to Montana. Worland-Thermopolis-Riverton were near an
Indian Reservation, Wind River Indian Reservation. I hadn’t looked at the
salaries but I could guess that income was in inverse proportion to the
relative difficulty of pastoring the church(es).
I said my goodbyes that evening, to Phillip, Molly, Billy, and Polly, called Rick
Nolan and Joe Sheetz and told them that I would be staying at the Hostels
International in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and I would call and give them my address as
soon as I had one.
That evening Nathaniel called.
“Dad, Joy and I were married on January 1 and
then we left for a honeymoon in San Antonio. We just got home. I am taking Joy
to Ft. Bliss tomorrow. She needs to get an ID card. There are a half dozen
offices to visit, Friday morning I will leave for Ft. Bragg, North Carolina.".
The next day I drove south out of town with
blue skies above, a wet road, and snow piled up on either side.
“Laura, I’m ready to start again."
THE END
In the coming weeks I will post some of my favorite short stories.
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