THE BIG FOUR

As I write this our church staff is trying to settle into a new (temporary) set of offices.  Boxes are everywhere.  IT folks are working on getting connections made.  We're waiting on a new set of keys to the building.  I'm looking around for some books I'd like to use, right now, for this article, but things are packed away in boxes.  Those will get unpacked next week.

Everything seems a little upside-down.  One of the challenges when things are upside-down is to remember what right-side up looks like.  It is easy to lose your focus when you are dealing with things you didn't think you were going to deal with.

So what is our focus for 2014?  Where are we headed?  What parts of our life will get special attention, prayer and energy?

I am suggesting the following BIG FOUR for the coming year.  Our leaders will pray over these and offer their feedback.

THE OPEN DOOR  -  This continues to be one of the most promising ministries we have for reaching people who may not feel comfortable with a traditional church setting.  We've been in a transition during the last year, and our TOD team -led by Pastor Stacee and Travis Jeffords- are going to be leading us in a new, more focused and intentional chapter at TOD.  One of my commitments is to do what I can, from the pulpit, to invite the entire congregation at FUMCB to discover a renewed passion for The Open Door as a key way we have of reaching and serving the larger world.

HOSPITALITY  -  The larger a congregation the more thoughtful its strategy for welcoming guests must be.  It's not just a warm welcome (welcome center, loving and helpful greeter and ushers, etc.) that is needed, but a plan for follow up.  Ashli Lovell is helping us translate our love for people into a strategy for welcoming people, and helping them connect with the community at FUMCB/The Open Door.  If you like people, if you want everyone who visits here to know they are loved by God and that they matter to us, then sign up to help with ushering, greeting, or serving as a part of the hospitality team.

FRUITFUL CONGREGATIONS JOURNEY (FCJ)  -  This program is designed to help congregations move forward with vision so that they make a difference in their community and the world.  Our FCJ team has been working through a series of books that explore what it looks like for a congregation to be vital, alive, and blessing the world for God.  This Shared Learning Experience will lead us to Stage 2 which will be about assessing our ministry.  FCJ is going to help us see who we are, why we are here, where we are headed, and what this says to us about all sorts of decisions (the use of the old post office lot, our missions outreach, staffing, new ways of sharing God's unchanging truth to a world that is always changing, etc.).ah

BUILDING  -  We are at the finishing stages of the courtyard project.  Now our leaders are beginning a long-term conversation and study about deferred maintenance needs here in our historic building.  If the building at Washington and 4th is going to be an effective instrument for mission and service and worship during the next 25-50 years, what do we need to do with it?

The challenging thing with priorities, of course, is that there are all sorts of good, important, on-going ministries that will go on...need to go on.  So it isn't like the other parts of our life (PDO, children's ministries, youth and young adults, Jubilee College Ministry, small groups, Wednesday food pantry, Interfaith Winter Shelter, etc.) will stop, but the BIG FOUR are where we will be placing special energy, prayer and attention.

A devotional by Max Lucado talks about having the heart of Christ.  He points out that Christ's heart was peaceful.  The disciples worried about how to feed a crowd of thousands, but not Jesus.  He thanked God for the opportunity.  The disciples shouted for fear in the middle of the storm, but not Jesus.  He slept through it.  Peter drew his sword to fight the soldiers, but not Jesus.  He lifted his hand to heal.

His heart was peace-full.  And the heart of Jesus, Lucado points out, was purposeful.  "Most lives aim at nothing in particular and achieve it," Lucado writes in Just Like Jesus.  "Jesus...could summarize his life with one sentence: 'The Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.'  Jesus was so focused on his task that he knew when to say, 'My time has not yet come,' and when to say, 'It is finished.'"

Will you consider the BIG FOUR?  Will you pray about the BIG FOUR?  Will you do everything you can to help God's church be as alive and vital as possible?  Will you offer yourself to help us be a congregation that makes a difference not only in the lives of individuals and families but in the larger world? 

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark

HANDS UP!

The people of God are overwhelmed.  They are in the middle of the wilderness of Sinai.  Exodus 17 says they are traveling from place to place which, I hunch, means the people had no mapped out itinerary.  Everything seems kind of day-to-day which, obviously, must have driven the type-A, linear thinker, planner-types crazy.

They're thirsty.  They grumble that they have been obedient to God's call, and now God has led them to this dry place where they will die of thirst.  Some folks call the Bishop and complain about Pastor Moses.  Then, God tells Moses to strike a rock with the walking stick he has had since they crossed the sea out of Egypt, and God provides water for the people!  

Just when the people are barely making it through the wilderness, the Amalekites (an established tribe in Canaan) attack.  The Hebrew people, this tribe that has been enslaved for so long, responds.  The battle is fierce.

Now there are sections of the Hebrew Bible that require a strong stomach.  There are stories of violence and invasion, stories of unfaithfulness and deceitfulness, and you have to wade through that to get to truth that is redemptive.  In the middle of the account of this war between the Hebrews and the Amalekites, we're told that Moses along with his two colleagues, Aaron and Hur, went up on the top of a hill.  The Hebrew people could look up and see their leader, see Moses, and the Bible says when he held his hands up the armies of Israel won the fight.  When he got tired and dropped his hands, the Hebrew troops lost heart and gave ground.

Moses is tired.  Worn down.  So Aaron and Hur get a stone, put it under Moses, have him sit down, and then they sat on either side of him and held his hands up.  With their assistance, the Bible says, "his hands remained steady till sunset." (Exodus 17:12, TNIV)

We talked about this text this week in our Church Staff meeting.  Because some of the folks who have dealt most closely with the complications caused by the frozen pipes are tired.  But you may know what tired looks like...feels like.  You're weary beyond words.

God has put us together so that we can respond to the weariness of a friend, a colleague, a spouse, a child or parent, a neighbor, and maybe that looks like putting a stone under them and having them sit down.  Perhaps we, with our words or actions or prayers,  can help steady them.   Help hold their hands up.  

I asked our staff what we each could do to help steady the hands of our sisters and brothers in the room.  How can we help one another through this messy, day-by-day, period following "the flood?"  They responded by saying we might:

Be patient with one another.

Communicate well.  Be extra careful to be extra clear.

Have a flexible attitude.  How we do what we do may need to change.

Trust one another.  

Coach one another.  Offer words of counsel and encouragement and help one another identify projects that may be in danger of slipping through the cracks.

Prioritize.  Living with a too-long "to do list" every day can wear a soul down.  Be realistic about what can be done.  What will we say "yes" to?  What will we say "no" to?

Stay positive.  Don't let the grumbles take over.

Laugh.

Love.  Love God and love one another and love the mess that is the church.  

Be gracious.  Let grace fill in the broken, cracked, difficult places.  Don't expect perfection from one another or others.

Be trustworthy.  Do our very best to do our jobs.  Follow through.

So what would it look like for you to help your tired friend, your weary neighbor, your exhausted partner or spouse, to keep going?  What will you say or do to help hold their hands up?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark

The Rest of the Story

"Ministry occurs in the water, and the water shall not

 overcome it."  Isn't that how John 1:5 reads?  No?  I seem to be reading "water" into all kinds of places this week.  I certainly don't know why.  I have my marching orders from Rev. Marie Lang, the Church Administrator: "You and Mark need to be the Pastors.  Ministry needs to continue.  Ministry will continue."  The water shall not overcome First United Methodist Church! 

The water will not overcome WORSHIP!

The Word will be preached.  The Chancel Choir will sing.  The organ will play.  The Common Ground Band will rock.  Prayers will be prayed.  The Peace will be passed.  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

The water will not overcome SMALL GROUPS!

Small Group book discussions begin the first week in February.  The book being discussed is Embodying Forgiveness - A Theological Analysis by L. Gregory Jones.  I am crazy excited for us to dig into this book!  It is challenging on so many levels.  Here is a summary:

            A topic unjustly neglected in contemporary theology, forgiveness is often taken to be either too easy or too difficult. In this exciting and innovative book, L. Gregory Jones shows how practices of Christian forgiveness are richer and more comprehensive than often thought. Forgiveness, says Jones, is a way of life that carries with it distinctive concepts of love, community, confession, power, repentance, justice, punishment, remembrance, and forgetfulness.

            In Part 1 of Embodying Forgiveness Jones first recounts Dietrich Bonhoeffer's own struggle against the temptation to make forgiveness either too easy or too difficult in his thought and, even more, in his life and death at the hands of the Nazis. Jones then considers each of these temptations, focusing on the problem of "therapeutic" forgiveness and then forgiveness's "eclipse" by violence. Part 2 shows why a trinitarian identification of God is crucial for an adequate account of forgiveness. In Part 3 Jones describes forgiveness as a craft and analyzes the difficulty of loving enemies. He deals particularly with problems of disparities in power, impenitent offenders, and the relations between forgiveness, accountability, and punishment. The book concludes with a discussion of the possibility of certain "unforgiveable" situations.

            Developing a strong theological perspective on forgiveness throughout, Jones draws on films and a wide variety of literature as well as on Scripture and theological texts. In so doing, he develops a rich and comprehensive exploration of what it truly means to embody Christian forgiveness.

How do you join a Small Group? 

1. Complete a sign up online at http://www.fumcb.org/small-group-sign-up/ starting Sunday, January 19th.
2. Fill out a paper form available in the Sanctuary and at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.  Place forms in the Offering Plate/Offering Basket during the worship service.

How do you acquire a book?

1. Books are available for purchase during the work week at First United Methodist Church at the Atrium Door front entrance.  The book will be available on Sunday mornings at the "Office Table."  The cost is $19/book.  If the cost is prohibitive, please contact Rev. Stacee (sgehring@fumcb.org). 
2. You may download an electronic version on your personal electronic device.

If you have any questions about Small Groups, please contact Rev. Stacee (sgehring@fumcb.org). 

Your prayers and patience are greatly appreciated during Watermageddon 2014.  This is certainly not the end of the story for First United Methodist Church. 

Cheers!

Rev. Stacee

It's the phone call I get in my nightmares.

"Marie, I'm here at church with the firemen; and it's bad. 

          Real bad. I'm standing in water in the PDO hallway."

It's Tuesday evening. The church has been closed for two days due to the frigid temperatures. It's never easy to make a decision to close the church building. So many people rely on the church to provide a place to gather, to worship, to work, to find warmth, both human and thermal. But on Sunday morning, as the ice accumulated and the temperatures began to drop, we decided to cancel The Open Door service, close the church building after Interfaith Winter Shelter on Monday morning, and follow the school closing schedule for the next few days. Surely we w

ould be back on schedule by Wednesday morning, I thought. No need to worry about the Food Pantry now. (My retrospective apologies to Ann, Mark and the Pantry crew. I should know better that to make assumptions about Indiana weather and school schedules.)

So, again, it's Tuesday evening. I'm on the phone with our IT guy, Michael, and moving to full adrenaline mode. Water. First floor. Firemen.

"Where is coming from?"

"The third floor. Down the walls, out the elevator, through the ceiling. A pipe broke in the Great Hall, they're trying to find the shut off. I've called Erin (our building manager) I think she's on her way." Michael replied.

"Okay, Michael, can you stay there? I can't get out of my driveway. Can you stay there?" "Yeah," he replied, I can stay."

"I'll call you back in a few minutes. Stay there."

God, I need your help. Who do I call? My first call was to our Building Committee chair, Kirk White. He would arrive on the scene within minutes. I called Michael back and talked to the BFD chief. The source of the water was shut off, but gravity was already hard at work moving the water down through the building. I let him know that Kirk was on the way; he knows Chris Cockerham personally and wants to call him in. Former church administrator, Dean Roller, is heading home from his office and sees the firetrucks. Kirk, Chris and Dean. Erin, Michael, and our custodian Luz. Thank you, Lord.

The scene is in good hands. I didn't know it at the time, but angels in fireboots were pushing water towards drains and elevator shafts trying to minimize the damage. There was much that needed to be done that I could do from where I was. Dean guides me as I begin to make the list: insurance agent - make sure to tell them the alarm systems are off line (all the equipment in the second floor communications room is toast...well, wet toast); security monitoring company; cleaning company; fire suppression system technicians; plumbers... Phone calls to service providers peppered with call-waiting beeps as I receive reports from the scene. We need to have security walking through the building tonight. Chris will make the calls and gets a security firm on site.  The Fire Department gets another call and the crew is on their way out of the building. God, keep them safe from harm, bless them and return them safely to their families at shift-end.

The pastors. I need to call the other pastors. First, Stacee, at home with her family.

"What can I do? Should I head down?" she asked. I assured her that those on the scene where buttoning up the building for the night. There is nothing to do now. We'd talk more in the morning.

Next, I need to call Mark. He and Sharon were supposed to have flown out of Indianapolis Sunday evening for a much needed vacation in Ft. Myers, Florida. Two cancelled flights later, they instead made a difficult drive Columbus, Ohio, Monday afternoon where they would stay with their son's family overnight before catching a flight there Tuesday morning. By now, they were just settling in to their Florida digs. I didn't want to make that phone call, but I had no choice.

As I broke the news, Mark's first reaction was to return to the airport. I tried to assure him that, even if he could get home, there wasn't anything that we couldn't handle. I promised to call him in the morning, once we had a better picture of what needed to be done. I know I didn't convince him, but he agreed to stay put for the time being. I knew he would be pestering God with prayer all night.

Wednesday morning I called a taxi to pick me up and deliver me to the church. Scariest ride I've been on in a long, long time. Walking in the PDO entrance, I squish through a thoroughly saturated carpet. The elevator isn't working and as I trudge up the stairs, I hear Erin in the office. She had arrived at 7:00 a.m. By 8:00, several technicians are on the scene assessing the damage and starting to make plans. At some point, Erin and I drag one of the white markerboards into the office where we begin making notes about what needs to happen, what has been accomplished and who we are expecting to arrive next.

As I write this Friday afternoon, much has been accomplished and yet there is still much to be done. Fans and dehumidifiers are working hard to extract the remaining moisture from carpets and drywall. A number of ceiling tiles and light fixtures will have to come down - for cleaning or for replacement. In the process of repairing the damage to the fire sprinkler system (the scene of the original crime), two more frozen areas were detected and thawed before they too burst. Just for good measure, a copper pipe inside a wall in the PDO entrance burst Wednesday evening, allowing the cleaning technicians one more chance to use their giant sucking machines before they move on to the next disaster site.

Before regular activities can resume in the church, several things need to take place. We need to be certain that the affected areas are safe, dry, free from the danger of mold, and clean. Smoke detectors and alarms, electronic security systems, telephones, and the computer network need to be restored. Some will be repaired, some have to be completely replaced. All that will take time. The best estimates we have now suggest it may be January 27th before normal activities can resume. In the meantime, the staff is doing its best to attend to the recovery. Activities are being relocated. Sunday Worship continues.  Pastors and staff continue to attend to the business and ministries of the church. We covet your prayers and are grateful for your kind words and support.

-Marie Lang

YOU MAY BE SURPRISED...

One common characteristic of every healthy, vital, growing, faithful Christian community is the living out of sacrifice, author Gary McIntosh writes in his book "Taking Your Church to the Next Level." A Jewish carpenter named Jesus said much the same thing in Matthew 10:39 when he pointed out that to lose our life in this world for God is in fact to find our life.

A few weeks ago I overheard someone say that we don't talk enough about missions and outreach in worship. You know what? That person is exactly right! I believe God is calling us to greater involvement in the community and world. We can't do all things, but we can do more.

I also overheard someone say FUMCB doesn't support community ministries. You know what? That's not true.

You may be surprised to know that with a budget of approximately $1,400,000 in 2013 (with many of those dollars already devoted to serving ministries) our congregation gave over $201,000 away to local agencies, ministries, and also to Christian outreach around the world. $127,908 of that amount was given to the UMC at the District Level, Conference Level and to the world outreach.

Where did the remaining money go? Over $20,840 was given to a variety of major mission offerings ($13,000 went to disaster relief and One Great Hour of Sharing, just over $3,400 went to the Bishop's Offering for Children, and $2,439 went to Africa University).

Over $30,555 went to local agencies/ministries including the following (and this does not reflect all the contributions made by FUMCB members directly to these organizations):

     Habitat - $2,928.48

     Martha's House - $3,597.95

     MCUM - $6,139.45

     Shalom - $12,330.05

     Jill's House - $5,559.13

In addition to this, the FUMCB community gave $2,000 away in scholarship funds, provided $3,639.88 in Parent's Day Out (PDO day care) scholarship assistance, and provided $2,886.32 in direct emergency assistance.

Two other major commitments were the Wednesday Pantry ministry where a total of $20,607.83 has been given and/or spent, and $10,333.97 has been given and/or spent for the Interfaith Winter Shelter ministry.

We can do more, yes, but what we have done has been so good! I thought you might want to know what God's church has been up to in the past year when it comes to giving to causes beyond the four walls of our own church.

This week I walked into my office and found a check to the church for $5,000 in an envelope in my church mail box. There was a note enclosed from a couple who had made a commitment to begin tithing (giving 10% to God's work through the church) in 2013 and 2014. I want you to hear their closing words: "It brings us great joy to be able to give finally to our church the way God intended. We are praising God for this opportunity. We wish you a blessed Christmas season."

Over $200,000 for good work beyond our local church! If you are a part of FUMCB, then you are a part of a congregation that cares about the larger community and world.

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark