A Church Divided

Image: churchgraphics.blogspot.com

Last Sunday, my church had a big party celebrating the retirement of our senior pastor. There were tears and laughter, as we had a full church for service and then a full room for the meal afterwards. It was bittersweet, especially since Pastor Mark has been Emily's pastor her whole life.

And now, our church will get an interim senior pastor and we will start the call process. May not seem like a big deal but for me, it brings up bad memories. Because when I was not all the much older than Emily, this exact situation tore the church I grew up in apart.

When my parents moved to Holland when I was fairly young, we joined Peace Lutheran Church. It was a great church that my family loved. But the senior pastor was getting older and finally when I was in high school (I think), he retired.

The new pastor that was called was very different. He introduced a lot of pomp and circumstance that we had never had before into the services and in general left a bad taste in people's mouth. I wasn't very privy to the ins and outs, but I do remember my mom saying that she was just angry all the time going to church because of the new pastor.

Enough people agreed with my parents, which caused the church to split in half. The people who left, including my family, left the ELCA (one of types of Lutherans) and formed a brand new Missouri synod church called Christ Our Savior.

Starting a brand new church is really hard. I'm sure it was more stressful on my parents and the other adults, but as a young person it just felt strange. We had no home for a while because we had to rent space before we could raise enough money to build a new building. And one we had a space, it took a while for it to feel church-y and home-like.

And there was quite a bit of drama that sounded the 2nd church as well, having to do with different pastors and the like. I don't remember a lot of the details because it was years ago.

In the end, I have a very uneasy feeling. I hope that my current church is able to find a pastor that fits in well with our congregation. We've been lucky to have Pastor Mark for 22 years, and now there is unfortunately a big hole. I pray for my community because I don't want to go through having a church divided again.

Captain America and Hydra

Image: nypost.com

It's pretty obvious from my blog that I'm a huge geek. I've never been much of a comic books geek though. I know all the characters, but most of my familiarity with them comes cartoons and movies. I love the Batman animated series - I remember rushing home from school in order to see it every day.

I didn't know a lot about the Marvel characters until the MCU started up. I remember Todd telling me that I had to go see Iron Man because it was so good. I loved it as well. I enjoyed Thor and the 2nd Iron Man movie too, but when Captain America: The First Avenger came out I was blown away.

Since that time Cap has been my favorite super hero. He's brave, strong, has a good moral compass and tries to do what he thinks is right. He's all American and I just love him.

When the internet lost its' mind a few days ago over the last page of the new Captain America #1 where Cap is showing saying, "Hail Hydra", I was pretty annoyed. There is no way, in my mind, that Steve Rodgers would be Hydra. Let alone Hydra for 70+ years!

It wasn't until I saw a post last night that it started making me feel angry. On Tumblr, several people posted how kids were really upset over Cap being Hydra. When I talked to Emily, who is 7, and asked her if she thought Steve could ever be Hydra she looked at me like I had two heads. No way is he ever could be evil.

Yes, Marvel can do what it wants. Yes, they can retcon this like so many other storylines / characters. But it's still vastly out of the character of Captain America. I think a lot of fans would be happier to read new stories with new characters instead of comic book writers gutting favorites for shock value.

For me, I'll be clinging to MCU Steve who would never bee Hydra. I was watching The Winter Soldier and then Age of Ultron last night. Cap spent the whole of The Winter Soldier fighting against Hydra and he was so shocked and appalled that SHIELD was basically hiding Hydra that he punched a screen in anger.

If I could draw, I'd try to make my own comic. I'm positive it's not easy but I'm sure I could come up with a better story than the one within Captain America #1.