NONSENSE AT 3RD BASE (OR IS IT?)

Communication is an art.  It's easy to miss what someone is trying to say to us.  We can miss crucial information.  Not pay attention to the signals.

I realized that recently when we were in the stands for an IU baseball game.  When the Hoosiers were at bat the 3rd base coach would send all sorts of signals to the batter at home plate or the runner on first.  The coach would tap the bill of his cap, tap his right arm three times with his left hand, touch his nose, tap his right elbow, and then go back to his cap.  The batter would stand outside the batter's box watching all of this, or the runner at first would study the coach before leaning towards second.

It all looked like nonsense.  And yet it all meant something.  A colleague who also is a baseball umpire told me that sometimes the signal means the batter is to bunt, or the batter is to not to swing at the next pitch, or that the coach wants a hit-and-run play.  There are times when the coach is telling the runner on first to steal second, and there are signals that mean only ignore all the previous signals.

I smiled at the nonsense going on at 3rd base, but what looks like nonsense actually means something.

Jesus knew how important it was for his friends to understand the basics of the Kingdom of God.  That is why he spent his days and nights with a group of twelve close friends.  Over and over he did his best to make sure they didn't miss the life-giving signals God was sending the world.

This coming weekend we are going to be sending some signals, and I don't want you to miss them.  A profound -and potentially life-changing-  conversation has been going on around FUMCB for months.  It's called "Fruitful Congregation Journey" or FCJ.  Sunday you are going to hear very briefly about the first of five BIG IDEAS the FCJ team has begun to understand about healthy, vital, Christ-centered, world-changing churches.

You'll hear just a few minutes about this month's BIG IDEA in worship (this will happen one Sunday each month for the next five months), and then you are invited to an FCJ "Learning Session" immediately following worship.  After the 9 o'clock service an FCJ "Learning Session" will be in the Chapel.  Following the 10:15 service the "Learning Session" will be in the Sanctuary, and the FCJ "Learning Session" will be in the Buskirk-Chumley Theater immediately after The Open Door.

A refrain I have heard from a few church members over the years is "I didn't know" or "a small group must be making decisions" or "I feel like I'm on the outside."  We want you to be in the room.  We want you to be a part of the conversation because there are going to be some major decisions ahead of us about how we will live out our mission for God to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

Some brothers and sisters are going to be doing their very best to signal you this weekend about what God has been saying, and they want to hear what this means to you.  They want to hear your questions. 

They don't want you to be caught off base.  Left out of the game that is the blessed life of this faith community.  If you remain in the stands, as a bystander, it may look like nonsense down there at 3rd.  But those signals all mean something!

What do you need to do to become better at picking up the signals that others (and God!) are sending your way?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

HOW DOES THE PARADE END?

It seems odd.  This Holy Week I find myself thinking about parades. 

The rather shabby little parade we would have in the middle of Nome for the "Midnight Sun Festival."  (We didn't know it was a rather shabby little parade. In our small village in northwest Alaska, it looked rather spectacular!) 

The much more impressive "Christmas Parade" our family watched last November march down Michigan Avenue in Chicago was on a bitterly cold night. Olivia was on my shoulders as we watched the bands march by, the radio and tv personalities perched on floats, the spotlights moving left and right across the crowds and the skyscrapers that seemed to be leaning in towards us.  We were stuck back behind the crowd, but then people invited us forward.  Gave up their spots for us so we could see better.

As we step into the Christian celebration of the last week of Jesus' earthly life, as we allow ourselves to be drawn into the middle of the Passion Story, I always find myself thinking about parades.  Because this week begins, John 12:13 tells us, with a parade into the city of Jerusalem.

There will be other processions during this week that involve Jesus.  There is the walk with the disciples to a room where they can celebrate one more meal together.  There is the walk out of the city, down across the valley east of the city, and up the hill towards the olive orchard known as the Garden of Gethsemane.  It is there that Jesus is arrested.  He is tied up and bundled away to a hearing in the middle of the night.  There is then a procession through the streets of the city to Pilate...to Herod...and back to Pilate.  Finally, he is sentenced to death and there is the bloody march out to the edge of the city where the executioners await.  It seems like Jesus is on the move through the entire story.  Until he is nailed to the cross by the Romans.

How does this parade end?  What do you do when the last "units" roll by?  What will you do with the Galilean carpenter-turned-teacher who has died with a prayer of forgiveness on his lips?

When the last unit in the Christmas Parade went by, we scurried back to the warmth of the hotel.  Moved on with our lives. 

What will you do after this parade in Jerusalem is finished?  Will you go back to the warmth of the ordinary, or will you see God...the world...and your own life...in a new way so you nothing will be ordinary ever again?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

Kids & the Fruitful Congregations Journey

Over the past several months I have heard the question raised in various locations by various people: "Why are we doing FCJ?"

After it was announced in services several weeks ago that the church council had voted to move on to step 2 in the FCJ process, I wanted my Sunday school teachers to know the exciting news that they would miss hearing in the service. I took a couple of minutes to share the news that I had previously heard at 9 am and then decided spur of the moment to try and help the kids relate to the larger decisions the church is making right now.

Many of the children hear the initials FCJ, and I can only imagine they are thinking of other initials we use in daily life that are relevant to them - PB&J, KFC, TTYL, LOL, etc.

Do they wonder if we are talking about food or if this is special language adults use in their text messages about church? Or maybe it's just another church word they don't understand.

From my standpoint as Director of Children's Ministries at First United Methodist, I feel that we are taking these important steps to make sure that our church is alive and relevant for the children in our congregation so they can bring their children here in 20+ years.

I shared with the kids that there were two special girls in our classroom whose mom had attended our church when she was a little girl, and because adults had loved and cared for our church in previous generations, these two kiddos could attend the church their mom had when she was young. I wish I could accurately describe the look of pride on the faces of Lainey and Katelyn Jeffers when they found out I was talking about their mom Melissa.

I told the kids that the adults were making these special decisions right now because they cared about God and our church and wanted to make sure that kids like Laurel and Eli and Ethan and Andreina all had a church where they could bring their kids when they were mommies and daddies.

How powerful for kids to know that we don't just care about them right now, but we care about who they will become and how we can help them know and experience God's love both now, and also in the distant future.

Another question I have heard is "But are we doing a bad job?"

Any time people, plans and institutions are evaluated there's a level of anxiety. However, going through several years of schooling to obtain my teaching degree, along with supervising student teachers in my later years of teaching, I came to appreciate the need for evaluation and to see that the word 'evaluation' didn't need to have a negative connotation.

At first I was anxious. Would I fail? Would it all be bad? What if they had nothing good to say? After several evaluations from supervising teachers, principals and university officials, I realized that they would point out several items that I was doing properly and then choose something for me to work on before the next evaluation.

It was never presented as 'man - you're horrible at this or 'maybe you should rethink teaching as your career path'. It was constructive feedback that would further my knowledge and skill as an educator and really - who wants to stay mediocre? Don't we want to continue growing and maturing? I continue to strive to be a better friend, employee, spouse, parent, daughter and child of God on a daily basis and if I can gleam knowledge that will help me in that quest I am all ears. I am excited that my church family has chosen to do the same in this place that we call home.

I liken this second step of the FCJ process to a student teaching evaluation. We will have evaluators come through our doors and experience how we do church. They will observe, ask questions and try to discern how we live out Christ's mission within our church walls, as well as in the community that surrounds our church.  It's a scary thought, but I have a hunch they will find many things that we do well and another list of things that we can pursue to become even better at sharing God's love with others. The constructive feedback from those involved and our commitment to continually strive for better-than-mediocre will ensure that our downtown Bloomington church is making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world for years to come.

Alex Lamb

Director of Children's Ministries

GOD'S TODAY SHOW

you see Jesus "saving" you from this wicked world and delivering you to heaven someday, or do you believe God shows up to "save" you to a better life today?  Is hanging out with Jesus all about getting your ticket "punched" for heaven when you die or does living in Christ mean a new world here and now?

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The encounter takes place in the village of Bethany, not far from Jerusalem.  Jesus, who is just days away from being sold for silver and delivered into the hands of powerful, scared men, has heard his friend, Lazarus, has died.  So he and his disciples show up in the village.

Martha, the sister of Lazarus, runs out to Jesus.  Jesus assures her that her brother will be raised to new life, and Mary says she knows this will happen "on the last day."  New life will come, she believes, at the end of the age.

Jesus makes an astounding claim.  The Nazarene says,  "I am the resurrection and the life.  Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live."

+++++

Some of us grew up with talk of heaven dominating any talk about the blessing of being a person of faith, saved, or twice born.  "When We All Get to Heaven" we'd sing.  There was talk of golden streets and getting to worship God all day long.  (Honestly, the thought of an unending worship service  -no matter how inspired-  left me wondering if that sounded like such a good thing.)  Some days in the summer I would look out the sanctuary windows, and heaven looked like it was out there...with me on my bike, my dog Goldie running alongside, and an afternoon at the beach.  Preachers would talk about being saved so we wouldn't cook in hell.  Salvation was a ticket to a better life someday after we died.

Jesus, in his comments to Martha, reminds us that salvation is all about new life in the now.  Things should change  -we should change-  today with God!  Jesus shows up and life changes now...today.

If faith doesn't work today, if our journey with God doesn't change who we are and how we live today, then something is wrong.  In fact, John Wesley pointed out that God not only wanted to save individuals, God wanted to restore the world...save whole communities.  So when people decided to embrace God's way that meant that employers treated their employees differently, families related to one another differently, medical care was offered to those who had little or no money.  Even secular historians say that the Wesley revival in England had a revolutionary impact on society.

So will our lives be different today, will the street where we live and the nation we love, be different today because we live as God's beloved, forgiven, called people?

Heaven will be cool.  A lot of worship and praise and light, the Bible says, and I am hoping for time at some cosmic beach with a good book, a faithful dog, friends, and some fine music.  All of that and a ton of healing...unity...and time with God. 

But in the meantime, God wants to bring heaven to earth...in us...through us.  Justice, mercy, peace, faithfulness,  joy....that kind of thing.

Today, you see?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher