PASTOR STACEE, SOUTH AFRICA BOUND!

As I write to you, I'm in a place of anticipation and excitement, preparing for my travels to South Africa in October. From the 4th-16th, I will be traveling with the Wabash Pastoral Leadership Team on a Study Tour, "South Africa: A Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope."  Many of you have followed my participation in the Wabash Pastoral Leadership program, a two-year continuing education program funded by the Lilly Endowment. Over the past two years, I have had the great privilege of gathering every other month for a two-day seminar with 18 Indiana pastors. We have spent time learning about leadership strategies and studying issues that impact our ministry, including poverty, education, health care, economics and immigration. The program is designed to help pastors shape their ministry by understanding the local contexts in which we serve, evaluate the needs of our communities, and network with secular and religious organizations to foster well being in our local and global communities.

We will close out our two years together with a two-week study tour to South Africa organized through the lens of "a pilgrimage of pain and hope." Every day, we will visit a place of pain in South Africa, and visit a place through which God has brought hope through Christian leaders and churches. We'll spend time becoming acquainted with pastors, learning about their ministry, experience worship in a variety of South African church settings, and identify resources in Christian thought and practice that guide and support Christians in South Africa.

This will be the second trip to South Africa for the Wabash Pastoral Leadership program. Our leaders have traveled to South Africa numerous times and organized the trip after multiple site visits to the locations we will tour. An incredible amount of time has been devoted to ensuring we have the most enriching and safe experience possible. South Africa was chosen for our study tour as it demonstrates both the challenges facing communities related to poverty, education, and economics, as well as the impact Christian organizations can have when they understand and respond to the needs of God's children. Issues such as reconciliation, justice, and forgiveness will be explored with leaders who help the nation heal following decades of apartheid. We'll answer the question "how can transformation occur when the Church dwells in the pain of those who are hurting and brings the hope of Christ?"

Here is a virtual snapshot of some of our pilgrimage destinations:

• Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 28 years.

 http://www.robben-island.org.za/

• Gugulethu, a township in Cape Town

http://www.capetown.travel/attractions/entry/Gugulethu

• Table Top Mountain

http://www.sanparks.org/parks/table_mountain/news.php?id=1878

• Khayelitsha Township

http://www.capetown.travel/attractions/entry/Khayelitsha_Township_Tour_and_Craft_Market

• Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/01/letter-from-johannesburg-methodist-mission

• Stellenbosch University

http://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/theology

We will also have the privilege of meeting with many of those who were involved in the struggle for justice during the years of apartheid.

While I am away, I will post updates and photos to my personal Facebook page.  I look forward to sharing my experiences from the pulpit with all of you upon my return on Sunday, October 19th.  Additionally, I welcome opportunities to meet in small group forums to my share photos and stories. 

I'll conclude with the words of Pastor Libby Manning, Assistant Director of the leadership program: "We travel to South Africa, paying attention to the stories of the people and communities we meet. We humbly recognize that we and the congregations we serve are a key part of God's larger story and God's mission to bring healing to the entire world. Rev. Dr. Peter Storey said 'the local parish, together with the local pastor, is God's best plan for the healing of the entire universe.'"

Thank you all for your prayers and support as I participate in this incredible pilgrimage. I am excited beyond words to experience and see how the Holy Spirit will use this incredible opportunity to guide the congregation of FUMC/The Open Door and me as one of your pastors.

Cheers!

Pastor Stacee 

ARE WE THERE, YET?

Our family was headed off on vacation. We were traveling from our home in Brussels down to Switzerland. I remember sitting in the back seat of our station wagon, studying the rise and fall of the telephone lines as they moved from pole to pole, and asking (repeatedly!), "Are we there yet?" The journey, for this 3rd grader, was a waste. The only thing I was interested in was arriving.

The church is often spoken of as a community whose purpose is to get people "there." We think of the church as a community where people have faith. They've made a decision to trust the grace and truth of God in Jesus.

Some of us have a robust, life-transforming faith in God and in Jesus as the Son of God...Savior and Lord. Many of us can explain how we came to this place of faith, and others of us would struggle to explain it: we just have faith (or it has us!).

Here is what I want you to hear: many of us in the church aren't "there." Oh, we have these moments when we trust, when we move forward in faith, when things seem clear, but often we find ourselves on a journey in search of faith. Our glimpses of faith are often partial. We are like a visitor to Denali National Park who sees the mountain, briefly, and then the view is obscured again by thick clouds that settle in for days.

I tell you this because those of us who don't have "it" wonder if this is the place for us. We hear others who seem so confident, so certain, and we feel like someone who is afraid of heights and ends up in sky diving class. "Do I even belong here?" we ask ourselves.

The church is a community on the way more than it is a community that has arrived. Some of us have faith but many of us are seeking it. We are, as Dorothy C. Bass and Susan Briehl suggest in their book On Our Way (Upper Room), "following Jesus, learning to believe along the Way. On any given day, we may or may not 'have faith.' We may not believe in love or build up from the ruins. We may or may not doubt or dispute or lose heart or complain."

This is a place for those who have the gift of faith, and it is a community for those who are seeking faith. Bass and Briehl write: "But we do follow. We do study. We do explore and engage, attend and interpret, rehearse and enact. And as often as we can, we do turn off the lamp, climb out onto the roof, and behold the inexhaustible sky."

In Romans 4:20, Paul talks about the Old Testament patriarch, Abraham, as a model of faith: "He didn't hesitate with a lack of faith in God's promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God." The full picture, though, shows us Abraham and Sarai laughing at the promises of God. They ended up giving up on the promises of God, and developed their own plan for starting a family by using a servant girl as a surrogate mother. It took Sarah and Abraham a long time to get to the point where faith in God filled them to the point that it shaped who they were and how they lived.

Wonder if this place is for you since you haven't gotten "there" yet? Yes, this place is for you.

Honestly, there are days when I have a tough time seeing the mountain...but I walk on, I serve on, I sing on, trusting that the clouds will pull back and I'll see God with a faith-full heart.

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

THREE AMAZING WORDS

I could be writing this email devotional about the words "I love you," but I'm not. (Although those are three amazing words.)

I could be writing this email devotional about the words "I am sorry," but I'm not. (Although those are three amazing words.)

I'm struck today by the words Jesus speaks to the fishermen working along the edge of the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 4:19 (Common English Bible): "Come, follow me."

I keep noticing what Jesus doesn't say. Jesus doesn't say, "Come, let's sit and talk about God and theological mysteries." Jesus doesn't say, "Come, you tell me what you want from God, and I'll do what I can to meet your needs." Jesus doesn't say, "Come, let's build a building." Jesus doesn't even say, "Come and believe."

Jesus says, "Come, follow me."

Which means so very much!

When Jesus says, "Come, follow me" it tells us that to be on this adventure with the Nazarene will involve moving. It's a journey. If you're going to be on this adventure with God, then you're going to need to get up and move. Things are going to shift. The invitation isn't to hold onto where we are, comfortable and settled, but it is to pick up and move.

Which means change.

Which means being open to new places and people and truths and ways.

Which means sorting and packing.

Which means deciding there are some things you need to discard or leave behind.

Which means deciding there are some treasures we need to pack carefully and take with us.

To hang out with the Nazarene means to move and change and see and adjust and discover.

To be a Christian is to live focused on the life and teachings of Jesus. To be on the journey is to walk with the crucified and risen Lord. Not in a dogmatic, close-minded, judgmental way, but in an open, loving, courageous, faithful way.

Sometimes we forget the journey, the community we have, is all about the Nazarene. But Jesus won't let us forget. "Come, follow me," he says. He doesn't call us to follow a brand of political thought and cultural trends. He doesn't call us to give ourselves to a plot of ground or a building, or to offer our deepest devotion to a small group of insiders or a dynamic and persuasive personality/leader. "Follow me." We're tempted to forget that.

Years ago Will Campbell, a whiskey-drinking Southern Baptist preacher who worked with the KKK along with the NAACP, Black Panthers and other groups down South, was visiting Duke Chapel as a preacher. He and the university chaplain, Will Willimon, were walking down a path through the pine trees that surround the massive Gothic cathedral that is Duke Chapel. The spires tower above the trees. Will stopped, leaned back, studied the magnificent building, shook his head, and said, "It's worth remembering that all of this was begun by an itinerant carpenter who had no place to lay his head."

"Come, follow me," the Carpenter says to us.

Oh, and I want you to notice one last thing. You can't miss this. When Jesus invites ordinary men and women to follow him, he gives them a job: "I'll show you how to fish for people." Amazing! He doesn't say, "Follow me and I'll give you want you want, do what you want, and keep you happy." Jesus tells his would-be disciples right from the beginning that he is calling them to something bigger than their own needs, wants, fears, and desires.

Three amazing words: "Come, follow me."

Do you think we've heard them, yet?

   

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

THE JEEP, THE BOAT, AND THE HELICOPTER

There's an old joke -- if you've heard this look to the end of the article because there is some important news there! -- about the devout resident of a river town who refused to leave his house as the waters of a nearby river began to rise. "I was praying and the Lord told me he would rescue me," he assured neighbors and friends as they left their homes and headed for higher ground.

A little while later, a sheriff's deputy showed up in a Jeep as the water began to lap at the man's front porch. The man waved off the would be rescuer and said, "No, the Lord told me he would rescue me."

The next day the man had moved to a second bedroom because of the rising river. A Civil Defense team came by in a small motorboat and offered the man a way to safety, but he assured them the Lord had promised to rescue him.

Twenty-four hours later the man was perched precariously on his roof. A National Guard helicopter swooped down and asked the man if he wanted them to drop a basket for him to use to escape. He shouted back that the Lord had promised to rescue him.

A day later the man drowned. When he met God in heaven, he was furious. "You promised to rescue me!" he growled at the Creator. God snapped back, "I sent you a Jeep, a boat and a helicopter: what more did you want?"

Sometimes we turn away from the very thing we've asked for. I've never encountered anyone who said, "I don't want you to pay attention to my perspective, thoughts or feelings." I have never met someone who said, "Disregard me and my concerns and my hopes." I have never known anyone who said, "This church and what it is all about means so much to me it's hard to put into words, but you can ignore my sense of where God wants us to be and what God wants us to do."

You have several very key, strategic opportunities to share your thoughts, feelings, dreams, concerns and hopes for our congregation's future coming up. The first is the on-line Fruitful Congregations Journey (FCJ) survey. This on-line survey can be accessed at www.surveymonkey.com/s/FCJStep2Fall13, and it will take about 20-30 minutes to complete. Results go to the UMC Church Development office in Indianapolis, and the identity of each respondent is protected. If you don't get this done by the start of the third week in September, you'll miss out!

The second opportunity for you to share your perspective on our church's present and future -- as well as learning about some of the dynamics of a healthy, vital congregation -- will be at the October 25th "All-Church FCJ Workshop" in our Great Hall from 10:15 a.m. - 3 p.m. You can register in the Gathering Place or the Buskirk-Chumley Theater lobby this Sunday, September 7th or the 14th. Spaces are limited and you will need to make a $7 donation for the catered lunch. (On top of these opportunities, 35 laity will be a part of an FCJ Focus Group on the Friday night of the weekend consultation.)

Last week I saw a great cartoon that showed two dinosaurs looking at the just departed Noah's Ark. The one says to the other, "Oh, I thought they were loading tomorrow." They missed the boat. Fill out that survey this week, won't you? Register for the All-Church Workshop.

Proverbs 14:5 says "a faithful witness does not lie" and verse 6 reminds us that "knowledge is easy for one who understands." Share your knowledge. Put your faith and wisdom and grace to work. Complete the survey and register for the workshop!

In Christ and for Christ,

  

Mark Fenstermacher