I have rust returned from a national Conference for Lutheran School Administrators. It was held in New Orleans. While there I attended two excellent workshops. I’m proud to say they were led by my nephew Kevin on the topic of “Lutheran School in Community.” One of the great illustrations he shared was that at the school where his children attend there is a Friday afternoon ritual. The kids from the two upper grades take the last half hour each Friday to walk their community and pick up trash. They do more than pick up trash. They meet the neighbors. They ask questions. They share short stories and warm greetings. Slowly the blocks around the school are embracing the school and the feeling is mutual.
It reminded me of another very different urban community. Years ago I sat in a tenement house apartment in upper Harlem in New York. I was meeting with parents and other community leaders who were concerned that the local Lutheran school (School on the Hill) which had served them for a long time was in danger of closing. In the midst of our discussion they shared how the kids who attended there were watched over by the community
They said to me “You know Mrs. Jones. She runs the newspaper kiosk at the end of that school street. She watches each kid that walks to by her shop on the way to school.” And they said, “You know around the corner is good soul Mr. Smith. He just sits on his stoop every morning and afternoon and he knows those kids by name.” A third chimed in, “The one we really like is Mr. Waters. He makes sure he walks his dog just before and after school. Those kids all know that big Rottweiler and that dog loves those kids. Nobody messes around with a kid wearing a School on the Hill uniform!”
When the meeting ended quite a bit later and I was at the door, one of them gently and firmly grabbed me by my arm and said, “Let me just walk with you to your car. I noticed you parked it on 145th Street. “
Unfortunately there was new leadership at the school. The pastor was too busy with whatever he thought was more important than to ever meet the Smiths or the Waters. They weren’t even members of the congregation. The principal saved 10 cents a day by bringing his own water rather than picking it up at the kiosk. He worried about a guy who seemed to just sit on his stoop all day. Before long the school closed.
Yet I thank God for what it once was. Years later I was sitting in a TV studio being made-up for an interview. The person doing the job was a real pro. Then she said to me, “I heard you were with the Lutheran schools. I could just cry when I think about the one I attended. We were a community. Everybody (even the pastor, whose name was Pr. Clem Sabourin) knew my name. We looked after each other. We shared dreams and stories of faith. And the reason I want to cry is because I went to a Lutheran school about which you may never have heard. It was called the School on the Hill and next to my family it is God’s greatest gift to me. “
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
Always the Unexpected
It was spring of 1950. About 100 of us were excitedly assembled in that large oval room on the ground floor of the Administration Building at Concordia Teachers College, River Forest, Illinois. We were there to receive our “Solemn Calls”. In those days the church-wide Council of Presidents (Bishops Conference) had met with the appropriate college and seminary placement directors. They had assembled all the requests from congregations across the church for the assignment of officially approved “ teaching ministers of religion”. Those decisions had been made without further consultation with the candidates (that what we were called). Each of us was assigned to a particular congregation or other church entity. The assumption was that each candidate would accept the assignment as made.
The suspense in the room was great. None of us knew where we would be assigned or what our specific duties would be. Previous to this we had, of course, met with our Placement Directors and discussed our gifts, our preferences and any unusual circumstances affecting our placement. For me there was really only one over riding question “To which Lutheran church and school in Texas would I be assigned?” The general consensus of the time was that Texans would be assigned to Texas congregations.
I dutifully waited until my name was called and the Placement Director announced “ Melvin Kieschnick, St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, Tracy, California “. Within 72 hours I informed St. Paul’s that I was their newly assigned principal/teacher/youth director and that I was prayerfully accepting their call.
The surprises kept coming;. When once a month I found myself collecting newspapers from garages throughout Tracy I wondered if that was part of the “divine call“, but I really needed to raise the money somehow to pay for curtains in the classroom so that I could effectively operate that brand new film strip projector. I unexpectedly played basketball in the city league as part of a team sponsored by a not very reputable pool hall and filled in as preacher when my pastor’s alcohol problems kept him out of the pulpit. I learned that one really could complete a Master’s thesis if one’s spouse was willing to type after midnight.
The unexpected never stopped. When, without prior consultationwith me, the Church’s Foreign Mission Board extended me a call to Hong Kong. I had to locate a map to find out where Hong Kong was. Once there I learned to take in stride visits to the poorest of the poor among the refugees in hillside huts and to go from there to a formal party for the British Queen at the Governor’s Mansion.
An unexpected cerebral aneurysm in my wife’s brain brought me back to the Sates and to roles as divergent as leadership for a Churchwide Capital Funds Drive to District School Superintendency, to national churchwide offices, to parent training around the world and to the privilege of serving Lutheran schools in the South Bronx, Long Island and other parts of the Metro New York area.
Even in retirement the surprises never stop and all of them flow from One whom I believe has both a sense of humor and wonderful surprises!
*NOTE: This is one in a series of six blog entries related to a presentation I will make at the 2010 Lutheran Education Association National Administrators Conference in New Orleans in February 2010.
Following that event my blog will again be more in the” All Things Considered category”.
The suspense in the room was great. None of us knew where we would be assigned or what our specific duties would be. Previous to this we had, of course, met with our Placement Directors and discussed our gifts, our preferences and any unusual circumstances affecting our placement. For me there was really only one over riding question “To which Lutheran church and school in Texas would I be assigned?” The general consensus of the time was that Texans would be assigned to Texas congregations.
I dutifully waited until my name was called and the Placement Director announced “ Melvin Kieschnick, St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, Tracy, California “. Within 72 hours I informed St. Paul’s that I was their newly assigned principal/teacher/youth director and that I was prayerfully accepting their call.
The surprises kept coming;. When once a month I found myself collecting newspapers from garages throughout Tracy I wondered if that was part of the “divine call“, but I really needed to raise the money somehow to pay for curtains in the classroom so that I could effectively operate that brand new film strip projector. I unexpectedly played basketball in the city league as part of a team sponsored by a not very reputable pool hall and filled in as preacher when my pastor’s alcohol problems kept him out of the pulpit. I learned that one really could complete a Master’s thesis if one’s spouse was willing to type after midnight.
The unexpected never stopped. When, without prior consultationwith me, the Church’s Foreign Mission Board extended me a call to Hong Kong. I had to locate a map to find out where Hong Kong was. Once there I learned to take in stride visits to the poorest of the poor among the refugees in hillside huts and to go from there to a formal party for the British Queen at the Governor’s Mansion.
An unexpected cerebral aneurysm in my wife’s brain brought me back to the Sates and to roles as divergent as leadership for a Churchwide Capital Funds Drive to District School Superintendency, to national churchwide offices, to parent training around the world and to the privilege of serving Lutheran schools in the South Bronx, Long Island and other parts of the Metro New York area.
Even in retirement the surprises never stop and all of them flow from One whom I believe has both a sense of humor and wonderful surprises!
*NOTE: This is one in a series of six blog entries related to a presentation I will make at the 2010 Lutheran Education Association National Administrators Conference in New Orleans in February 2010.
Following that event my blog will again be more in the” All Things Considered category”.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Male and Female*
I spent the first six years of my professional life as a Lutheran school principal in California, first in the northern and then in the southern part of the state. I recall with gratitude and appreciation the 100 or so principals who were my colleagues. We met together often. They served me as mentors and models. They impressed me by not only serving as principals, but at the same time being full-time classroom teachers and more often than not also being their congregation’s organist and choir director. One other factor stands out: All 100 of them were male.
In the mid 1950’s I accepted a position as a major leader for setting up a Lutheran school system in Hong Kong (which today enrolls some 25,000 students.). My memory is that when the World Mission Board considered candidates for that position they looked at no female possibilities.
I recall with admiration and appreciation the Lutheran school principals who were my colleagues in Michigan when I served them as their District Superintendent in the late 60’s and early 70’s. They served from the heart of Detroit to the village of Bach. There were over 100 of them in those days. I visited in the homes of as many as possible. This, too, I recall, 109 were male; 1 was female.
In the later 80’s my duties took me to the Center for Urban Education Ministries in New York. It didn’t take long to notice: more and more principals of urban Lutheran schools were female. We convened a significant number of them and asked them to share their stories. They told us that often they had been selected only when no male would accept the position. The more we listened the more we learned another obvious point. These women were committed, capable, professional models for all.
Today when I read the web sites, blogs and other literature I am struck by the fact that one of the most challenging positions within the entire Lutheran Church is the position of Early Childhood Center Director. These leaders deal with incredibly complex issues ranging from extremely complicated tuition and fees schedules, to complicated salary schedules, to concerns ranging from peanut butter to recording devises hidden in the kids’ back packs. Another reality hits me. Almost all of these competent servant leaders are female.
In reflection I am saddened again with the realization of how any society or segment of society deprives itself when it chooses to not utilize the gifts of all members of the society, male and female.
*NOTE: This is one in a series of six blog entries related to a presentation I will make at the 2010 Lutheran Education Association National Administrators Conference in New Orleans in February 2010.
Following that event my blog will again be more in the “All Things Considered” category.
In the mid 1950’s I accepted a position as a major leader for setting up a Lutheran school system in Hong Kong (which today enrolls some 25,000 students.). My memory is that when the World Mission Board considered candidates for that position they looked at no female possibilities.
I recall with admiration and appreciation the Lutheran school principals who were my colleagues in Michigan when I served them as their District Superintendent in the late 60’s and early 70’s. They served from the heart of Detroit to the village of Bach. There were over 100 of them in those days. I visited in the homes of as many as possible. This, too, I recall, 109 were male; 1 was female.
In the later 80’s my duties took me to the Center for Urban Education Ministries in New York. It didn’t take long to notice: more and more principals of urban Lutheran schools were female. We convened a significant number of them and asked them to share their stories. They told us that often they had been selected only when no male would accept the position. The more we listened the more we learned another obvious point. These women were committed, capable, professional models for all.
Today when I read the web sites, blogs and other literature I am struck by the fact that one of the most challenging positions within the entire Lutheran Church is the position of Early Childhood Center Director. These leaders deal with incredibly complex issues ranging from extremely complicated tuition and fees schedules, to complicated salary schedules, to concerns ranging from peanut butter to recording devises hidden in the kids’ back packs. Another reality hits me. Almost all of these competent servant leaders are female.
In reflection I am saddened again with the realization of how any society or segment of society deprives itself when it chooses to not utilize the gifts of all members of the society, male and female.
*NOTE: This is one in a series of six blog entries related to a presentation I will make at the 2010 Lutheran Education Association National Administrators Conference in New Orleans in February 2010.
Following that event my blog will again be more in the “All Things Considered” category.
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