...between going on a rant about how stupid and fake the institutional church can be and being pastoral and caring about you.
Hmmm.... O screw your feelings! The church today sucks! ... oh.. sorry.
seriously:
Much of the church is dysfunctional. Much of it is SO dysfunctional that it is no longer, in fact, the church. Its just a bunch of rabid puppies at prayer. Those of us in professional ministry give our hearts, our souls, our energy to the service of God and to the people in the church and when they bite our hand like a rabid dog... it hurts. We feel betrayed and discouraged. When their "bite" crosses the line from vicious to evil (as in the case of Jenna's DS) and people start whispering hurtful lies in order to intentionally destroy us... it is truly devastating.
However, when conflict reaches this level and their is no one with the health and the authority to intervene and insist on some process of healing there is nothing to be done. Her congregational system is sick but the larger denominational system is ALSO sick and Jenna doesn't have the power to address that larger institutional sickness in any meaningful way. Jenna will either need to pretend to acquiesce until she is ordained and attains a level of power in the system that allows her to withstand the storm or she needs to escape the system somehow. Not an easy choice to make, but was it ever, really Jenna's call to serve inside a sick system that is not and probably has not been for a very long time -- the Church of Jesus Christ? I'm thinking probably not. As scary as the prospect is, she probably needs to hang on until you are employed and then bail out and seek ordination in another District or Conference or in another denomination. You probably need to search for a call nationally and to hell with Iowa.
In any case, I didn't mean to start dispensing free advice (its probably worth exactly what you paid for it) You are in my prayers you old Fart. neither you nor Jenna deserve this. Its just what happens to prophets ... always has ... always will. At least they haven't tried to throw you off the cliff yet.
