"Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you...Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper." Jeremiah 29:7, NIV
"Shalom means wholeness, the dynamic, vibrating health of a society that pulses with divinely directed purpose and surges with life-transforming love. Seek the shalom and pray for it. Throw yourselves into the place in which you find yourself, but not on its terms, on God's terms. Pray. Search for that center in which God's will is being worked out (which is what we do when we pray) and work from that center." Run with the Horses: The Quest for Life at Its Best by Eugene H. Peterson
For most of you who regularly read this
blog this will be old news by now but last Tuesday, April 5, I was
elected mayor of the City of Chetek. Of the 673 citizens who voted,
481 voted for me which adds up to about 75% of the cast votes.
Whether that translates into a mandate or not you decide but one
thing is for certain: I now have an office at city hall.
Following my primary win in February, I
determined that before this was through I would visit every home in
Chetek. In the eight days prior to the election, every night after
track practice until dark as well as on the Saturday and Sunday
before, I went door-to-door handing out my home-made fliers through
the four wards of the city. That in itself was an education. Not
everybody was home, of course, and there were a few homes that their
dog looked ornery enough that I chose to pass but during that
peripatetic week before the election I passed out nearly 900 fliers.
 |
| This was one of them |
My spiel was brief: “Hi, my name is
Jeff and I'm running for mayor. We have an election next week and I'd
appreciate your consideration.” Most took my flier, wished me luck,
said 'thank-you' and the like. Several smiled at me and said they
were going to be out of town on Tuesday but they had already cast
their absentee ballot in my favor. After handing out my flyer to the
lady of the house at one home, her husband chased me down and offered
to help me in my canvassing. On the cold days, I would be offered a
cup of hot coffee or hot chocolate. And a few invited me in and were
curious to learn my position on certain matters.
In fact, of all the homes I stopped at
only three refused my hand-out: one because she informed me that she
wasn't voting for me, one because she informed me that she made it a
habit to never vote and one because...well, she didn't give me an
answer. Otherwise people were generally friendly and encouraging
which made this experience more fun than I ever expected it would be.
There are a few moments during my
travels I will remember for a long time to come, however:
■ On Saturday afternoon, after
walking for hours, I needed a break. As I looked at the ward map I
noticed that a mile or more out of town at the end of a dead-end road
sandwiched against the interstate was a house that though surrounded
by the Town of Prairie Lake was actually in the city limits. I drove
out there for a look-see. I had run out there several times before
and knew that there was a house there but I wasn't aware that it
inhabited. But when I pulled up, a man came out to meet me. His name
is Chuck and he lives all by himself at the end of this dead-end
road. “No one ever comes out this way,” he remarked to me. I
introduced myself and told him why I was there. He then asked me a
question about his water bill to which I had no answer. “Why don't
you call Carmen?” I suggested (Carmen is the city clerk and the
real person in charge in these here parts). “Good idea,” he
replied. “You've got my vote.” That five minute conversation was
worth the drive.
■ On Monday evening, I was reminded
of the fact that more and more people in town don't really use their
front door (neither do the Martins, for that matter). After knocking
on a front door and surmising that it was more or less decoration, I
heard the lady of the house speaking on her phone through an open
window. As I moved to the back door, in the interim she had concluded
her phone call and presumably moved to the front door but now I was
banging on her back door. As she was coming to the door she remarked,
“Make up your damm mind,” and then turned a shade of pink when
she realized who it was. “Pastor, I'm so sorry. Please come in.”
I quickly put her at ease – after all, I'm the one who provoked her
– and she had me sit at her dining room table so she could learn
who I was running against. After we conferred a bit she looked at me
and said, “Pastor, you're a good man, an honest man and you have a
good reputation in town. So, you have my vote. And I'm sorry for
swearing.”
■ But maybe the crème de la crème
for me was the gift from our neighbor John. John describes himself as
an avowed atheist. As far as I know he has been so his whole adult
life. Though something of a recluse from time to time over the years
he has taken me to task for sponsoring prayer events on school
grounds and has threatened to turn me into the A.C.L.U. (even though
none of these events have ever occurred while school has been in
session). That's not to say we've been on bad terms. Most summers he
hires me to cut his lawn. And many of the things that grow
perennially in our yard come from his, gifts he has brought us over
the years. But on the Saturday before the election he placed a book
in our back door entryway with this inscription in his spidery
handwriting:
GIFT TO JEFF MARTIN
CHETEK, WISCONSIN
“BEST OF HEALTH”
BEST OF LUCK – SEEKING PUBLIC OFFICE
MAYOR – CITY OF CHETEK, WISCONSIN
It's about a close as an endorsement as
I'm gonna get. Even if I never read it, I will hold on to that book
for a long time to come as I so appreciate the gesture it represents.
So now I'm in for the next two years.
It's a part-time job and traditionally the hours are set by the mayor
himself. He or she can be as busy as they want to be. What do I do?
Among other things, I will be responsible to facilitate the monthly
council meetings and serve on other committees as well as appoint
others to serve on such. I'll represent the city, and, along with the
council, provide oversight to the police department. Beyond that, it
will be a work in progress. As my father-in-law has already
forewarned me I will find out what I'm supposed to do as I fail to do
certain things and then I'll be duly informed of what I should have
done. All that aside, I'm really looking forward to my OJT.
In the nearly 25 years we have lived
here, all the mayors have been retirees. I will be the first in
recent memory who is still working his craft (I will continue to
pastor Refuge and coach HS CC as well as MS track). What's more, as
far as I can tell, I am the first pastor who has ever been elected
mayor of our fine city. What this will look like I can't say yet but
I think it could be a very good thing. I certainly hope it will.
When this journey began back in
December, I posted at this site my reasons for running for elected
office. What I stated in that post remains the same (Why I'm running for office). I
have no agenda whatsoever except to do what the Lord exhorted the
exiles to do while they lived in Babylon:
“Make
yourselves at home there and work for the country’s welfare. Pray
for Babylon’s well-being. If things go well for Babylon, things
will go well for you.” (Jeremiah
29:7, The Message).
Most of us know that the word “well-being” (elsewhere
translated “peace” or “welfare”) is the best English
equivalent of the Hebrew word “shalom”. “Shalom” means way
more than you or I just putting up a “peace sign.” It means
wholeness, health, justice, and being at peace with one another.
That's what I have been after as a pastor in the City of Chetek.
That's what I'll be after as mayor of the City of Chetek, working for
the well-being of our entire community.
This
whole thing has been fun for so many people in town. As one of my
friends remarked to me several weeks ago, “You're the
non-establishment candidate in this race.” I'm pretty sure his
comparison with me to Trump ended right there but my candidacy seemed
to energize a whole lot of people. Kids at Roselawn, kids at the
middle and high school, people in the neighborhood, seniors at the
nursing home. In fact, the operative question this past week has
been, “What do we call you now? Mayor-Pastor or
Pastor-Mayor?” A friend from
Refuge suggested MASTOR
(you
know, Mayor and pASTOR). A Children's Pastor serving in Eau Claire
who grew up at Refuge suggested, GAPO – Great and Powerful Oz –
but when I mentioned that to a friend at the fitness center yesterday
he said, “Nah, you don't want to be the man behind the curtain. You
want to be the one in front of it.” So, I guess in the end people
will call me what they want – I'll answer to most.
The
City Clerk will swear me in today at City Hall at lunch time (or, as
she remarked laughingly, swear at
me). It will be Carmen, Linda and I and Dilly Bars all around as it
should be for the pastor of the fellowship that's right behind the
Dairy Queen.
