MORE OR LESS: Choosing a Lifestyle of Excessive Generosity

When John D. Rockefeller was asked, "What is enough?" he replied, "Just a little bit more."

One of the struggles many of us have is this desire for more. Even as we want more, though, we know that just having more is not always better. In fact, sometimes the more we get, the less happy we are.

How much is enough? How much is too much? Where do we draw the line?

This Sunday, November 2nd, we begin a four week series of messages intended to help us all become more free and less controlled by the need for "just a little bit more."

You'll discover that this series of messages is more than a verbal exercise or worship moment, but we'll be talking about life change. Every week there will be a "TRY IT!" element to the messages.

Nov 2nd the sermon is THE TREADMILL, and you'll be challenged to spend the following week eating what you already have in your house. Then, on Sunday the 9th, we're invited to bring food for FUMCB/Open Door Food Pantry and fill the front of the sanctuary/theater.

Nov 9th the message is YOU'RE GOOD ENOUGH, and we'll invite you -during the following week- to go through your closets. On the 16th bring all the clothes you haven't worn in a year as we fill a truck with clothing we're not using, but someone else can! (A truck will be parked at the Atrium Entrance before the 8:45 and 10 o'clock services. Bring your clothing to the truck before worship, and then the truck will be moved around to the front of the Buskirk in time for that congregation as people arrive for worship.)

Nov 16th is ENOUGH TIME and we'll talk about how we can give away one hour of time to someone else. You'll be invited to give more than one hour away. Then, on the 23rd, bring the equivalent of one hour of your weekly pay as a second mile gift to Africa University Scholarships.

Finally, on our STEWARDSHIP CELEBRATION WEEKEND of Nov 23rd, the message will be WHEN TOO MUCH IS JUST RIGHT. Matthew 15:29-39 will help us frame our lives in terms of generosity and freedom. Every friend or member of the church will be invited to bring their Faith Promise towards our life with God in 2015 forward in a time of celebration.

Begin praying about this series of messages. You might want to pick up a copy of the book, and invite a friend to join you in worship. (Many of your neighbors and friends are struggling with the need to have more, or they are being overwhelmed by a mountain of debt.)

The goal of all of this is to be more free, more alive, and to live with less so we can give more away!

Jesus, when he sends out the Twelve in Matthew 10, tells them not to fill their money belts, or take two shirts, or a walking stick. What does that mean for us? I believe Jesus is telling us that life is best when we travel light.

Traveling light is a good way to live.

Generosity is the chance to experience freedom in a world obsessed with gaining more.

See you Sunday as we begin this journey towards a life that is more free and generous, celebrate Communion, and rejoice in the lives of those saints who have died during the past year.

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Please note on our web site, next week, the full FCJ Consultation Report. You'll find printed copies at the Welcome Desk in the Atrium or at the reception area in the church office if you didn't get your copy last Sunday. Also, every household in the church with email will receive an electronic copy of the report next week. Please read the report carefully and prayerfully, jot down your questions, and then participate in one of the upcoming Town Hall meetings designed to provide a forum where your questions can be answered.

Our congregation -meeting in a Church Conference- will vote on Monday, December 15th, at 6:30 p.m. in the Great Hall. (You must be a church member to vote, and the vote will be to either accept or reject the report in its entirety.)

Our congregation has responded generously to the call to support the work of United Methodist Committee on Relief in West Africa to fight the Ebola epidemic. You can still help! Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=_or7k0WqSHk  to see about the United Methodist Committee on Relief's response to the Ebola outbreak, and go to  http://www.umcor.org/umcor/donate/ebolaresponse to donate today if you haven't yet given or feel called to give more.

God is good!

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

A CONTINENTAL DIVIDE?

We're coming up -as a congregation- on a big moment. This FCJ Weekend reminds me of a particular spot on a state highway that runs north and south just west of Lake Webster, where our extended family has had a cottage for more than 80 years.

The terrain isn't anywhere near as hilly and lovely as our neck of the woods, but it has its own charm. A sign at the edge of this nondescript piece of blacktop announces CONTINENTAL DIVIDE. All the rain that falls on one side of a small rise moves toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the rain that falls on the other side heads for the Atlantic Ocean. (I think that's how it goes...)

So, from a geographic point of view, it's a big deal. Although it all looks rather ordinary.

We're coming up on a moment that will determine which way our future "flows." Will this Christ-centered servant community thrive, reach out with renewed passion and focus, embrace a needy world and share the Good News of God's love in Christ, or will the patterns of the past 20-25 years continue?

Churches are often in the middle of a book study, a planning process, and even our own FUMCB went through a rigorous "strategic planning" (with congregational survey) approximately eight years ago. The results included great insights about ministry needs (hospitality, children's ministries, a ministry to college students, etc.), but there wasn't much of a strategy for moving forward. So as we approach this moment we may be tempted to shrug and say "nothing much will change." I believe, however, we are approaching a "continental divide" moment.

Paul, in Ephesians 4, speaks to a group of people like us. He encourages them to stay connected with God, to open their hearts and minds to what God is saying, and "renew" their thinking as the Spirit speaks to them. The missionary pastor invites them (5:2) to live their lives with love, "following the example of Christ." Whether they will take up this offer at new life, at a new way of being God's community, is up to them.

We're approaching a big moment. Everything in me says this will determine which way our congregation's life will "flow" for the next generation.

I invite you to pray. I invite you to have open minds and open hearts. I invite you to have faith in the God who works through ordinary men and women.

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Please note the listing of events for the upcoming FCJ Weekend Consultation.

You'll find in this email information about how you can help respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa (bring your checks this weekend or go online to donate - see the details below).

Finally, you'll find out about our next series of messages and some very specific life steps we are inviting you to take in simplifying your life, giving to others, and growing your faith.

Be generous with the check you will bring this weekend for UMCOR-Disaster Response. Go to www.youtube.com/watch?v=_or7k0WqSHk to see about the United Methodist Committee on Relief's response to the Ebola outbreak, and go to  http://www.umcor.org/umcor/donate/ebolaresponse to donate today if you can't wait for Sunday.

God is good!

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

CHIRPING ON A GRAY DAY

It's been a week that has felt like life in Seattle: rainy and gray. I'm not complaining for all sorts of reasons. The rain is a blessing. Every day is a gift, and I know the forecast says it is going to be a beautiful weekend, but that Fall sun is not shining today, not as I write this.

Yesterday, as I walked out of the Y, every adult face I saw seemed to be glum. Everyone seemed to be half bent over with the weight of the gloom and the rain and the low clouds. Then, there was this little girl walking with her mother. The 3 or 4-year-old girl, dressed up in colorful jacket and boots, was tugging at her Mom's hand and smiling from ear to ear. The little girl was chirping like a bird!

I liked that.

People of faith hurt. People of faith have bad days. I know that, but there is also something about people of faith, who have had a life-changing encounter with God in Jesus, that gives them a buoyant hope, a courage that perseveres, a confidence in how the story of the world will end.

In his letter to the Jesus followers at Thessalonica, Paul says (2nd Thessalonians 3) that "the Lord is faithful and will give you strength and protect you from the evil one." He prays that the people of God -whatever the season- will have hearts that "express God's love and Christ's endurance." Paul encourages us not to get discouraged in doing what is right, and near the end of his letter he offers this blessing: "May the Lord of peace himself give you peace always in every way."

May God so fill your heart that even on the gray and rainy days of your journey, you may chirp with hope and faith!

Please note the listing of events for the upcoming FCJ Weekend Consultation.

You'll find in this email information about how you can help respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa (bring your checks this weekend or go online to donate - see the details below).

Finally, you'll find out about our next series of messages and some very specific life steps we are inviting you to take in simplifying your life, giving to others, and growing your faith.

Be generous with the check you will bring this weekend for UMCOR-Disaster Response. Go to  www.youtube.com/watch?v=_or7k0WqSHk to see about the United Methodist Committee on Relief's response to the Ebola outbreak, and go to  http://www.umcor.org/umcor/donate/ebolaresponse to donate today if you can't wait for Sunday.

Let's be a part of the solution!

God is good!

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

SLEEP AND WORSHIP (Notice the title isn't "Sleep in Worship")

I don't get enough sleep. In the overall scheme of things, I don't think that is a big deal. There is always one more thing to do, right? I want to get the most out of each day so I keep going.

Getting enough sleep, it turns out, is a big deal! In her September 22nd TIME article on the power of sleep, Alice Park explains how our brain -as we sleep- begins to cleanse itself of toxins and repair circuits that have been worked hard. "The brain also runs checks on itself to ensure that the exquisite balance of hormones, enzymes and proteins isn't too far off kilter," Park writes. "And all the while, cleaners follow in close pursuit to sweep out the toxic detritus that the brain doesn't need and which can cause all kinds of problems if it builds up."

Sleep, scientists are discovering, is "nature's panacea, more powerful than any drug in its ability to restore and rejuvenate the human brain and body." The trouble is that "sleep works only if we get enough of it." Up to 70 million of us are not getting enough sleep, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention see this as a public-health epidemic.

Sleep is the only time the brain "has a chance to catch its breath." And chronic sleep deprivation is a stress on the body, according to Dr. Peter Liu, professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

"Catching up sleep" on the weekends may undo some of the damage to the brain, after a week of sleeping only five or six hours a night, but it doesn't repair all the damage.

Alice Park talks about the importance of getting to bed and waking up at a predictable, regular time each day. She also talks about getting as much exposure to natural light as we can each day, daily exercise, and avoiding too much time in front of a TV or computer screen before going to bed.

As I read the article, I kept thinking about how important Sabbath is for our lives. God stopped on the 7th day of creation, and God knows that all sorts of damage gets done to our souls, bodies and relationships when we refuse to stop each week for worship and play. Making the decision to leave Sunday free for God, fellowship, worship, play, and just hanging out with the people we love most is a decision for health. God uses the Sabbath to heal what is broken, and the acts of prayer, worship and fellowship have a way of carrying away the toxins that have built up in our head and heart.

My Grandpa Owen, a devout Presbyterian, would combine spirituality and sleep by regularly sleeping through the sermons at Wallace Street Presbyterian. He told me, when I was very young, that if you couldn't sleep in church the world would have gotten to a terrible place. (I thought that was much funnier before seminary than I do today...J) The sermons weren't that bad, but now I realize he would wake up at 4:30 every day, be one of the first officials in the State House each day, and last to leave at night. My Grandpa was tired...sleep-deprived!

The psalmist says this in Psalm 27: "It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for (God) gives sleep to (God's) beloved."

Jesus, in Matthew 11:28, teaches us something deep and true: "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Sometimes our bodies are trying to teach us something. Our need for sleep, I believe, points us back to the deeper need for a life rhythm that includes Sabbath.

See you Sunday! (And if you need to close your eyes awhile during the sermon...I'll try not to bother you.)

God is good!

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher

PLAYING OFF THE SAME SCORE

On a recent Sunday morning in another city a congregation gathered for worship. A new leader of the music team was front-and-center in worship. It was his first time there, and the congregation had high hopes for this young leader.

When the worship team began to play, the whole thing seemed disjointed. It was a jumble. Singers were singing and musicians were playing their instruments, but nothing seemed to hang together.

After the service the mystery was solved: the worship leader had been given different song sheets than some of the musicians. People weren't playing and singing off the same sheets of music. It's tough to make good music if you're not playing off the same score.

A week ago several members of our church staff attended The Leadership Institute in Kansas City. A Presbyterian pastor from the north side of Chicago, Christine Chakoian, talked with a room full of laity and pastors about the role of a leader. A leader in the church is like an orchestra conductor, she said as she spoke about changing the culture of an institution.

Every section of the orchestra matters, she said. They don't just matter, but they each need to listen to one another.

The score is not their own agenda. The score they're working off of is Christ's agenda for this congregation. It's not about us or our tradition or our own group's priorities, but what Christ wants to do through us.

The role of a leader or pastor is to see that everyone is playing off the same score. The conductor also encourages each section to listen to the other sections, and respect the role they play in making music together.

Christine suggested three key roles for every leader (whether pastor, lay leader or church/small group leader) in the church.

First, every leader and pastor must engage the score that is Christ's message. The conductor must learn the score backwards and forwards. What is God's call for us in this place and time? What kind of music does God want us to make so that the world will be blessed and healed?

Second, every leader and pastor needs to engage the orchestra, and coach the leaders of each section. The conductor looks for the leaders who understand the score and can get the most out of each section.

Finally, the leader or conductor or pastor makes it clear to everyone how we will play together. Some people talk about the "how we play together" as core values. What will we do and what will we not do? In Christine's church people agreed that words like honesty, respect, integrity, and excellence described how they would play the music of the gospel together. The congregation also decided it was not okay for people to be mean, disrespectful, talk behind one another's backs, or assume the worst of one another.

My hunch is we have all been in places where people in an organization, church, orchestra, or team seemed to be playing off different scores. People just weren't on the same page. When that happens it is difficult to see, to listen to, or to be a part of.

On the other hand we have been a part of churches, organizations, businesses or teams where there was a beautiful kind of harmony and rhythm. People had their differences, but down deep they knew what they were about, and they were headed in the same direction for the same mission.

Paul, in Ephesians 4, says this: "We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. He keeps us in step with each other. His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."

Are we playing off the same score?

Not only in our church life, but in our own personal lives. Are the various parts of your life working in harmony, shaped by God, or are the different parts of your life in conflict with one another? Is your inner life marked by harmony or conflict, music or discordant noises?

What would it look like if we took our lead from Christ?

In Christ and for Christ,

Mark Fenstermacher