Books organized and mental organization, too

 

Counseling office & church minister's study before moving day

Church ministers combine a life of the mind with a life in the community of worshipers and surrounding society, too. This photo shows some of the built-in bookcases in the minister's offices. The years of seminary and then the decades of leading a few different congregations, attending and presenting at conferences, and exchanging books with colleagues and church members has filled many shelves with books over the years. But the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to normal face to face church life, confining it to online communication at first, then in summer 2021 with a hybrid of online together with in-person for those comfortable with the idea of mingling with others once again. Stalwart congregants got online or somehow kept in touch with some of their fellow believers. But others stopped participating casually as they would once do in seasonal high points of the church year.

Meanwhile, younger generations preoccupy themselves with things other than church fellowship and studies, praising and praying, and volunteering. Lifetime church members and friends move away, grow unable to participate freely, perhaps become sick or sometimes may die. The net result of declining attendance and therefore reduced donations of self and of money means that the fixed costs of the large property cannot be carried by the continuously shrinking body of believers. The church leaders brought a plan to the rest of the church to sell the old place and carry on the teachings of Jesus and community involvements at a smaller facility during a transitional year or two before resolving the best form to fit modern times and constraints while still supporting one another to "be God's person" or agent to enact positive change through action, relationships, and other times by inaction - being present, not just doing things.

This photo shows books organized by themes and thinkers for the current minister of the church in the weeks before vacating the old building and initiating church life in a much smaller setting so that effort, time, and money can be spent on community outreach and engagement rather than on maintenance and expenses of the 19th century worship space. The cases of books present a visual architecture of knowledge that has grown year by year organically, but which soon will be disassembled and fragmented into labeled boxes. This year by year structure of printed knowledge corresponds in some ways to the compartments and connections in the mind of the reader who has gathered these many authors of diverse eras and locations in one place. So while the physical edifice will soon be scattered into many cardboard boxes, the duplicate library inside the minister's head will remain in some ways.