Christian Teacher

Fr. Lehrer prepares for Communion

Today was the Rev. Christian Lehrer's last Sunday as our supply priest.

("Lehrer" means teacher in German, and I doubt that there has ever been a person's name--Christian teacher--more suited to his or her eventual profession.)

During the coffee hour Father Lehrer spent quite a bit of time talking to us about the search for a new Bishop in the Diocese. The field has been winnowed to three candidates and the vote will be taken next month. Our smallish church will have two voting delegates, while larger ones have many more.

Christian was an active member of St. Luke's in San Francisco before he was accepted to seminary. As a lay delegate he participated in past elections. It took only three rounds of voting to select the current Bishop, but the previous incumbent was elected after 19 ballots. IMHO, the previous guy was better; the difficulty in deciding a winner is not necessarily indicative of his excellence or effectiveness.

The ability to upend expectations both positively and negatively has always been a characteristic of human beings, and as humanity enters the age of predictive analytics, genetic determinism, and algorithmic predestination (dare we call it psychohistory?), long may we continue to surprise.