That's Susan Sokol Blosser the co-founder of a winery of the same name. I've had the amazing good fortune to be a part of a project to video tape the founders of the wine industry in Oregon. Jeff Peterson (also in the picture to the left) is heading up the project and hopes to have a display in place for the International Pinot Noir Celebration coming up in a few weeks on the campus of a local Baptist college (I still haven't figured that one out yet.) In addition to Sokol Blosser, we've interviewed Dick Erath, David Adelsheim and Diana Lett. If you know anything about the history of wine in the Willamette Valley that's an amazing list of people. The stories they tell of a fledgling industry just trying to find it's footing to a colossal billion dollar enterprise is compelling in the extreme (at least to me.) David Adelsheim was especially honest about his early mistakes. Early on they planted vines and then when warmer spring weather finally came didn't immediately weed around them. Another vineyard owner came by and pointed out the problem. By the time they were able to locate the plants most of them had been choked to death by the weeds. Adelsheim also shared a story of how they did some early plantings in August. Not a good idea. He ended up purchasing most of the garden hoses in Yamhill County trying to keep the plants alive.
But they got it right most of the time. Early on they realized that the hillsides in this county were ideal candidates for agricultural use. They worked with the land planning groups to get these places designated for agricultural use. Adelsheim has maps of every sight in the whole county that they thought might be good for vineyard use. My guess is that most of them now ARE vineyards! Travel over the hill from Newberg into Washington County and what you see are five acre plots with McMansions all over them. I much prefer the vineyards.
I'm working on a class for church leaders on some of the lessons I've learned by studying the early wine pioneers in this area. I asked Susan Sokol Blosser about a concept I gained from her book, At Home in the Vineyard. At some point early on she was struck by the cosmic brick and began to realize that their use of chemicals and pesticides was not healthy, nor was it sustainable. The way she explained it in the book was that they had to stop treating the vines and begin caring for the soil. They were using herbicides on the weeds around the plants and the chemicals were killing the weeds, but they were also killing the soil. When we interviewed her on Wednesday morning I asked Sokol Blosser about that concept. She replied that using chemicals and treating the plant is something like having a patient on life support. I think the idea is that the patient is fed and kept alive, but not healthy. Her revelation was to create a healthy soil and a diverse eco-system that would naturally sustain healthy vine growth. They began to make the transition to organic farm practices and were the first certified "Salmon Safe" vineyard in Oregon.
What kind of lessons can a church learn from that? In most dying churches (which is almost every mainline denominational church in Oregon) we concentrate on the people in the pews. We plan out programs to meet their needs, we visit them in their homes, we care for them when they are sick. It is easy even in a church of 100 members for the pastor to spend almost all of her or his time on those who are members. That makes sense, doesn't it? While it makes sense, I believe it is not healthy. We have to open our churches up, get people in the doors, and we won't do that by spending all of our time on those who are already there. I feel very blessed to be a part of a church that understands and lives out that concept.
I was having a conversation with some distant relatives recently and the subject of the ELCA's decision to ordain gays and lesbians came up. (The ELCA is our Lutheran national organization.) They were convinced that this decision would be the death of the church. I shared with them that we have seen significant growth because of this decision. People are seeking out the church because we welcome all people. The idea that this could ultimately be a good thing was foreign to the folks with whom I was talking. If you are so focused on only the people already in your church that is totally understandable. When several of them threaten to leave (and these departures are almost always preceded by threats of one kind or another) it's easy to think that the sky if falling. We need to look around, beyond our church people and into our greater communities.
Another lesson I've learned from studying vineyards is that pruning ensures healthy fruit. Grape vines are related to ivy, and left to their own devices they would produce nothing but vines and leaves. To get them to produce fruit you have to prune. Now, I know that WE don't do the pruning (although occasionally I'd love to have at it.) What we do is hold up our beliefs and mission and make decisions based upon those beliefs. For a church that emphasizes grace above all else this decision makes total sense to me. The pruning process is painful for the plant, and it's painful for churches. But it leads to health. When we allow a minority to hold the church ransom by their threats we do not promote growth. We remain stuck and it won't be long until we're on life support. It's exciting to meet people who have created a beautiful industry here in the Willamette Valley. When I've gotten my class organized I'll invite you all to come and sit in a vineyard, drink some wine and discuss. That is the essence of the good life to me.