More Evanston - September 2, 2015

This morning  I spoke with the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Evanston, over coffee in a delightful coffee cafe  - bookstore - antique shop on main street. Larry Turpin has been here only a year, having moved here from Chicago where he went to seminary and pastored churches for many  years. He is an experienced pastor who has come  to a very  different environment from Chicago. The congregation here is small, attendance ranging from  18 to 80. Larry has been very active in social justice causes in Chicago. It will be a challenge for him, I think, to bring that same perspective to his ministry here. As so many have told me, Wyomians do not like to  talk about conflict. They would rather ignore it. This may be true in most places,  but it is noticeably true here: it has been noted in all the conversations I have had so far. Larry also made another interesting observation:  he said that, in his experience, theology matters very little to a congregation, but worship style matters a lot. And a very important part of worship style is music. It's no wonder that the earliest Presbyterian controversies were over whether hymns should be sung, or just psalms, and then over whether or not instruments should be used in worship. I think everyone  is pretty much ok now with hymns and organs, but there is passionate division about guitars and praise songs. Part of the division is generational, but not all of it.

I spent part of the  afternoon in Kemmerer,Wyoming, which boasts the world's largest open-pit coal mine, I was told. They are worried that restrictions on carbon emissions will  hurt their economy. No fans  of  the President there  either. But its major attraction is the home of J. C. Penny, and the original "mother store". Really. J. C. Penny started his chain in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Two more interesting tidbits: His father was a Baptist minister. And his full name is James Cash Penney. Really.

Here are the picture; store and house 1902