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Pastor’s column
Published 12:00 p.m., October 3, 2008
The Rev. Kate Bruns
Change upsets what is
The sidewalk superintendents have been busy these days watching the demolition of old store fronts along Lincoln Avenue. It has become the buzz in the coffee shops. The stores in that block, we assumed, would always be there — just like their predecessor building — the Grant Hotel — before the cyclone.
Seeing the rubble behind the fence, whether from 1919 or 2008, causes us to grieve for what used to be.
Those buildings have been torn down to make room for the new Walgreens. It sounds flippant to those who cherish traditions and things of historic value to say, “Out with the old; in with the new,” but it is not so easy to accept change.
Admit it. We like what is familiar (what is), and we do not like change (what is not yet). Recently The Daily Journal ran an article covering the various transformations of the O’Meara Department Store building (currently Great Plains Natural Gas) with accompanying pictures showing the façade changing over the years to reflect a changing business climate.
We shrug our shoulders, admit we have no control over businesses closing their doors and others taking their place, and we call it progress.
However, there are traditional practices that come to an end, and sometimes we are happy about it. Since 1914, the Bayer aspirin bottle has included a cotton ball on top. The company decided to remove the cotton because it served no purpose. It did not protect the aspirin, and it was hard to get out of the bottle. We had no control over that decision either.
So, what is it we do have control over? What we know best is ourselves and the choices we make. We can examine our lives, realize that changes need to be made, and then believe in the One who says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
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The Rev. Kate Bruns serves Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Fergus Falls and Augustana Lutheran Church in Elizabeth.
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