Tempted....but not for long.
I wouldn’t work in a restaurant where I wouldn’t eat.
I wouldn’t sell clothes that I wouldn’t wear. (Let’s say L.L. Bean vs. Guess, for instance.)
That settles it. I just can’t work in a Lutheran church. You have to belive in your product. Whether the ‘product’ is tangible or spiritual.

Yesterday afternoon, a parishioner that works with an ecumenical social action group came in to the rectory and just happened to mention to a friend of mine that she knew of a church that was looking for an office worker for about 20 hours a week at a pay rate that was close to double what I am making now. Just at a nice little Lutheran church a few miles down the road. It would be dishonest to say that I didn’t think about it for a minute or two.

But the decision not to pursue the whole thing was quite easy. I can’t ‘sell’ what I don’t believe in. (And, yes, at work I have had callers ask me, “do you really believe all this?”) Having been a Lutheran at one time, I know that it is not just the lite catholic church. It is different. It is, may I say without rancor, heresy. What makes my job extrememly satisfying, whatever task I am performing, is knowing that I am not just bringing home a paycheck. I am a small part of the mission of the Church. This is not the spirit I could bring to a Lutheran church office.

No matter how it worked out, it would not be good. I would have a responsibility to give my employer my best work. That would not be easy if I didn’t believe in the importance of the work. So I could be guilty of cheating the Lutherans out of their money.

Then there would be the temptation to be the Catholic mole/evangelizing bollix. For example, what if someone called to ask which Sundays were communion days.? Could I resist having a little heart-to-heart with the caller? Imploring him not to believe all the consubstantiation talk that he might remember from catechism class. Asking him, does he not really want the True Presence of Jesus - Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity? And offering to hook him up with the people who can help him find it. Seven days a week; not just one or two illusory Sundays a month. That could be a wonderful challenge.....

I do not say any of this to hurt or offend Lutherans. I was a Lutheran. Many of my friends are Lutherans. Many of my favorite relatives (r.i.p.) were Wisconsin Synod Lutherans. But.............
when it’s time to type the Reformation Sunday announcements, I’m just not their girl.