Thoughts from
Rev. Dr. Tassie Green,
Interim Senior Pastor

Dear friends –
Last Sunday in worship, I asked, “How many of you watched Sesame Street either for yourself or with your kids or grandkids?” Maybe you remember the skit where Ernie wants to learn to play the saxophone, and Mr. Hoots is ready to teach him. There is only one problem. Ernie is clutching his beloved duckie for dear life.

Mr. Hoots sings to Ernie, “Ya gotta put down the duckie.”

Why? It’s preventing Ernie from playing beautiful music—its squeaks interfere with intended saxophone notes.
  • I wonder as a church, “What is your duckie?”
  • What beloved item or past memory do you cling to that keeps you from learning the new, from playing beautiful music?
  • I wonder “What is your saxophone?” What do you want to learn and to try that is new? What new is God calling you to as a church?

I ask this set of questions as you prepare for an exciting event: greeting a pastoral candidate this Sunday, Nov 2. They will preach the sermon and officiate at communion with me. At the called congregational meeting following worship, the candidate will be introduced by the PNC and members will have the opportunity to vote on the candidate and their terms of call. All this will be followed by our fall agape meal in Roy Hall.

This is why it is a particularly good week to ask, “What might be holding you and FPCE back from moving forward into God’s good future.

At one church, its “duckie” was mourning the loss of the previous pastor, with whom each person felt an especially close bond of friendship. At another, it was two factions’ carrying forward a conflict, despite attempts at mediation and reconciliation. The two parties refused to “put down the duckie,” perhaps because it gave each power and a following, with anger as one fuel source. Some “duckies” cause more harm that others; some squeak softly while others bite.

What are the duckies to which FPCE clings: your history, favorite items, or beloved ideas, which may no longer be useful to you but squeak loudly? And what is the beautiful music FPCE might make together as you “pick up the saxophone” and “put down the duckie?”

As your transitional minister of two+ years, it helps for me to ask you to consider these questions now, rather than expecting your next, brand-new pastor to say to you, “Thanks for calling me to serve alongside you at FPCE. Thanks for the big welcome. Now cut it out! ‘Put down that duckie!’” What are your “duckies?” I’d love to hear from you! Drop me a note or set up a time for coffee or lunch: gro.notsnaveeserptsrif@neergt or call my direct line 224-420-3501.

On the journey with you,

Pastor Tassie