One of the benefits for an aging pastor is to enjoy the KJV Scriptures and The Lutheran Hymnal.
I have to ask the executives, chairs, and committees of various printing efforts, "How did they manage to lose so many pastors and members?" Everything was done to make things better, they say, but the opposite is true.
The problems come with selling products rather than teaching the Word of God, which we need more than ever.
Many experience the most difficult times for a person or parson. The pastor who confirmed me as a teen was upended decades later by his own congregation. So he took on the job of preaching for the poor in a nearby impoverished area. That was similar to his own missionary father, who taught in India.
Here is a tiny tidbit of how God works. A tiny synod wanted to push me out so I found a nearby community center where my mother had a great time. The center was inhospitable so we found a place to build a chapel in town, with a few people. That was impossible but it happened and people out West invited several families there.
St. John's Revelation makes it clear - much like Luther - that the future is already there for us. In fact, the bad events, which seem to spoil everything, are often the best outcome (allowing for a certain amount of anguish first).
