Two-and-one-half truck loads and a lot of work later, we have the first of our “stuff” removed from the “old” facility of First Christian Church and placed (kinda, sorta) into the “new” facility of the SpringHouse Ministry Center. A goodly number of our folk, one each from Open Source CC in Rochester and Lake Harriet CC, chipped in, along with the strong efforts of some folk I hired off the street or from the neighborhood to add to our efforts. This second move (after we moved the
community in worship on the 15th) went much more smoothly than I anticipated it would, particularly since I had little clue a couple of weeks ago as to what was going to go and what was to stay on this trip. The Holy Spirit was there to guide us, I’m sure. Special thanks goes to Mark Peterson, President of Community Emergency Services, for the use of their truck, and his and one other volunteers’ work as driver to get the job done.
We still have our previous facility to sort through – what is left that needs to be sold or tossed or given away—but we still have some time with which to do that.
My goal is to have the additional “stuff” sorted and taken care of by the end of April (whether it happens that way will also be a work of the Holy Spirit, of course.)
In Dennis’ sermon on Sunday the 22nd, he talked about a time when, having to move, he finally got rid of a lot of “stuff” he’d been hanging on to but not using for years. It reminds me of all of the “stuff” I carry around and don’t use as well; it may be time for another sorting through and disposal on a personal level as well as a congregational level. The most important “stuff” we got over into the new building, however, is ourselves; we are, after all, what makes us a church, not that other “stuff.”

I’d like to see YOU on Sunday!
Bob

The following sermon was preached by Associate Pastor Dennis Sanders on January 22, 2012.

This April will mark five years since my partner Daniel and I moved into our home in North Minneapolis.  Like a lot of folks I don’t like moving.  And like a lot of folks, there comes a time when you stop putting things neatly in boxes.  You just want to move and get things done so, all this junk gets placed in a box and you put somewhere in your house where you won’t ever look at it again.

And it is in some cases stuff you don’t need to keep.  In my case, I still had papers from seminary and college that followed me from house to house to house.  I had things that followed me from Michigan to Washington, DC and then to Minnesota.  I had junk that I had accumulated over 20 years that was going to take up space in my new home’s basement.  I really didn’t want to have a basement full of stuff I wasn’t going to use anymore, so I decided that the collection of old term papers and knick knacks had to be dealt with.  Slowly, but surely, I got rid of stuff.  I looked at every thing and I thought I was pretty ruthless in putting things aside and to the trash bin.  I felt in someway that these things were weighing me down and I needed to get rid of them so that I could move forward.

The texts today are pretty familiar to some of you.  A number of us have heard the old story of Jonah in the belly of a big fish or whale or what have you.  He is asked by God to go and preach a word of repentance to the folks in Nineveh.  Jonah wasn’t particularly eager to do what God called him to do.  So, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah decided to get lost.  He took the first ship out of town far, far away from Nineveh.  Jonah was not interested in preaching to Nineveh.  He knew God was going to save them if they repented, something they ultimately did.  Nineveh was the big power that threatened tiny places like Israel.  Jonah wanted them to face God’s wrath.

In the gospels, we see Jesus opening his public ministry.  He comes preaching a familiar message of repentance; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” Jesus passes along and finds two sets of brothers who were fishermen.  He calls both sets to follow him and the text says they immediately drop what they are doing and follow Jesus on an amazing journey.

Whenever I’ve heard people talk about this text, people are always amazed how Peter, Andrew, James and John just give up their ways of living to follow Jesus.  Some folks say we need to emulate them.  We don’t know what they were thinking, but at some point they had to wonder what in the world they had done.  Why would anyone in their right mind give up a job to follow some strange guy claiming to be the Son of God?  Did it ever sink in how much they were giving up?

This Sunday is our Commitment Sunday and it is also the first full Sunday that we as a community are in our new place.  Unlike the disciples, we didn’t come at this “immediately.”  It took years for us to discern we need to sell our old building, to figure what were our next steps, to decide to join the partnership, and then to make all the decisions that take place during construction.  We made all those decisions and now here we are, sitting in this new room.

We are on a new path and we probably feel the same excitement the disciples felt when they decided to follow Jesus.  But we also feel some of the same fear and dread that Jonah felt.  We have been used to doing things a certain way in a certain place for half a century.  It will take time to establish the new rythyms of life around here.

This sermon is supposed to be a sermon about stewardship.  It’s supposed to be about persuading you all to make pledges for the coming to help this gathered community to God’s work in the world.  But this is also about commitment and about discipleship, about how we should follow Christ in good and bad times.

Following Christ means at times that we have to let go of things.  For the disciples it meant leaving their jobs.  For Jonah, he had to learn to give up his hatred of Nineveh and preach a word of repentance.

But letting go, committing ourselves to follow God is never an easy thing.  It’s far easier to remain in our comfort zones, because having to let go means pain and it hurts.  As a faith community, First Christian has made a bold move in deciding to follow Christ wherever we are led.  But it’s not without cost.  We have left our own nets by the seashore, but we don’t feel good leaving our old way of life tossed aside.

But letting go also opens us up to new possibilities.  Jonah preached to the Ninevites to get right with God and they did.  The disciples went on the found the church and spread the good news of Christ around the known world.

First Christian has learned to give up and let go of its past to face an unknown future.  What’s ahead of us?  I don’t know; that story is just being written.  What I do know is that in following Jesus we will be sharing the Good News of salvation to all who encounter us.  What I do know is that just like the disciples, God is right there with us as we do God’s work in the world.  We can commit to God because we know God will never, ever let us down.

There is a Central American hymn that seems to fit today:  It’s called “Tu has venido a la Orilla” or “Lord You’ve Come Down to the Lakeshore.”  Here are some of the words:

Tú has venido a la orilla,

no has buscado ni a sabios ni a ricos.

Tan sólo quieres que yo te siga.

Señor, me has mirado a los ojos,

sonriendo has dicho mi nombre.

En la arena he dejado mi barca:

junto a Ti buscaré otro mar.

Lord, you have come to the lakeshore

looking neither for wealthy nor wise ones.

You only asked me to follow humbly. 1

Refrain

O Lord, with your eyes you have searched me,

kindly smiling, have spoken my name.

Now my boat’s left on the shoreline behind me;

by your side I will seek other seas.

So, here we are.  We have left our boats of familiarity and security heading down a road we don’t know.  But we have a hope in the good news: in Jesus Christ.  We leave things behind, but look forward to so much more.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Read more about the SpringHouse Ministry Center at the website.

http://SpringHouseMN.org

Get the details about the open house from the press release.

At First Christian, we strive to make known that all are welcome at Christ’s table.  And by all, we mean all.  First Christian is a congregation that supports and welcomes all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered, questioning persons and their allies (LGBTQA) who seek to follow Christ. You are welcome at First Christian.  You are welcome at First Christian. Join us each Sunday at Christ’s table of welcome.

I’ve got a couple of things to lift up to you this week.  First of all, our Office Manager, Chris Wogaman, will be leaving us at the end of January; downsizing to part time will not get the job done for him, and he will be seeking fuller-time employment.  My thanks goes to Chris for keeping my back and getting a lot of things done that I generally don’t have time for.  Deb Murphy will be taking over office duties on an interim basis for about 3 months, and one of her tasks will be to put together a job description for what a 15 hour-per-week Office Manager position will look like as compared to 30 or 40 hours.  It is all part-and-parcel of our transition towards becoming a “medium-sized” Disciples church as compared to a “big” Disciples church.

A second matter is one that I’ve lifted up before, but with which the discussions need to take place further in this time, and that’s the matter of our distribution of assets following our move to SpringHouse.  Following our sale of the building, we totaled out about $3.7 million (not including our endowments or trustees’ other funds).  About $1.45 million is going towards construction and organ moving.  That leaves about $2.25 million to work with for the future ministry of FCC and new church starts as well.

From almost the beginning of the transition process the church’s conversation process has focused on two pieces: 1) Having a sustenance or “Living Towards the Future” Fund that would give the congregation some extra support beyond that of congregational giving for the next 10 – 15 years, and 2) Starting new congregations in the Twin Cities area.  In last month’s Board meeting, discussion of the former amount was in the area of $1.2 million; used wisely in our down-sized circumstances, that could provide anywhere from 10 – 40 years of support, depending on what the congregation does in future budgets.  Leaving $150,000 for contingencies, that would leave about $900,000 for the other work.

It takes about $400,000 to start a new church if you do it right.  About $100,000 would go to Open Source Christian Church in Rochester (which was severely underfunded to start) to help them in their start-up process; that means there’s $800,000 left, enough to start two new churches.  Conversation in last month’s Board meeting centered on whether we should give all of that money to Church Extension this year, or hold half of it back.  We hope to continue that discussion in this month’s Board meeting and at the Annual Meeting as well.  I’m telling you all of this so that you can be informed for the discussion!

I’d like to see YOU on Moving Sunday, THIS SUNDAY!

Bob

January 15 will be a bittersweet day for us.  First Christian is leaving its large home of 56 years to move to a smaller footprint.  We pastors like to remind people that a church is not a building, but it is a people and that is true, of course.  But those buildings are also places where memories take place.  For me, this place has been instrumental in my formation as a pastor.  This was where I was ordained as a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in 2002.  In 2006, I performed my first funeral here.  In 2010, rain forced my cousin to cancel his outdoor wedding at the last minute and it was rescheduled…well, you can guess where.

No doubt a lot of people connected with First Christian have memories associated with the building.  For some of you, it’s where you got married, or dedicated your child, or got baptized or buried a loved one.  The church is a people and we shouldn’t confuse a building with a community, but places hold significance in the human heart and mind.  Throughout the Bible, we find stories where place wasn’t just a building  or a rock, but it was a place where people met God and each other.

So, we leave with some sadness, but we also give thanks for what God has done at 2201.  And we move forward to what God will do at SpringHouse Ministry Center.  It will take time for us to get our bearings, but over time, new memories will be made, new stories where we will connect with God and each other.

Bob Hope used to sing the song, “Thanks for the Memories” at the close of his specials and he would thank people who took part in the event.  So, I will say, thanks for the memories, 2201.  Thanks for helping me see how God is active in the world.
-Dennis Sanders, Associate Pastor

Dear Members and Friends of First Christian Church:

First Christian Church is a Congregation on the Move!  In a few short weeks we will be leaving the hallowed halls we’ve known since 1954 and moving into a new building, the SpringHouse Ministry Center at 28^th and Garfield Avenue South (610 West 28^th St., Minneapolis, MN 55408, one block east of Lyndale Ave. S.), joining Salem English Lutheran and Lyndale United Church of Christ in property partnership and some shared ministries.

The purpose of this letter is two-fold:  We want to a) Let you know what our moving and opening activities are, and b) To remind you that our move means that the church now has an opportunity to grow in new ways, and that such ways also require continued investment in time, talents, and resources for God’s life to continue to flourish.

Our moving process begins on January 15. On that Sunday we will begin our services at the “old” First Christian then, following a prayer of farewell, proceed over to the “new” First Christian at SpringHouse for communion, worshiping in the Garden Level Sanctuary from then on.  January 22 will be our Stewardship Commitment Sunday, and January 29 will be our Annual Meeting Sunday.  Saturday, February 4, will be the day of our three-congregation Open House to the broader community, and we will have formal dedication of the building on Sunday, March 25.  We encourage you to be a part of things as we move, and then vacate our current building over the next six months.

It is also that time of year where we consider our commitments in stewardship for the coming year, our giving in time, and talents, and resources that are the elements of the ministries we do as the body of Christ.  The time and the talents are as important as the resources; money is a spiritual tool to help pay for the work of the church, but the time and the talents are our expressions of what it is to be a community of faith!  As mentioned above, our Commitment Sunday will be our first full Sunday in the new building, and we are asking you to prayerfully consider what you will give financially, but just as importantly, what you wish to give of yourself.  What talent that the rest of us might not know about is something you might be willing to share?  What sort of new initiatives would you like to see the church work on, and what part could you play?  Please think about these things, and pray about these things, as we approach this new stage in the life of First Christian Church.

If you would like to make a commitment you can fill out the pledge form below, or contact the church office for  a pledge card.  Please feel free to mail it in if you cannot be with us on January 22^nd, but we sure would like to see you there!

In Christ,

Skip Wolverton                                                                                                                              Robert Brite

FCC Finance Chair                                                                                                            Transitional Pastor

By Dennis Sanders

A few years ago, I got a call from someone who wanted to visit Community of Grace, the church start that I did a few years ago.  The person wanted to know about the church and it seemed they were interested in benig part of a church with a big choir and all that.  Well, we didn’t have all that.  At best, we were a bunch of folks who came together to worship God.  The person didn’t sound pleased, and hung up right away.

Part of being a pastor is trying to create relationships that hopefully will bring people into the doors of a church or gathered community.  I’ve been fascinated to see how Steve and Rebecca Haney who are leading a new Disciples church plant in Rochester, Minnesota are growing their community.  Steve has told me about how he has gone to various community meetings to strike up conversations that then lead at some point to faith.

I look on all that with envy, because it’s not something I can do.  I’ve said this time and time again, but being autistic makes the kind of social engagement that Steve does very hard for me.  I don’t want to give the impression that I’m blaming Asperger’s for everything, I’m just stating what I know.  But I don’t think it’s impossible for someone with Aspergers to be able to talk about their faith: it’s just harder.

But this all means trying to learn the artform of talking and sharing that seems so foreign to me.  What I’m good at is sharing information, which is what I do for a living.  But sharing information and sharing your life with someone are two different things.  I think I’m learning to share my life with others, but it’s still an uphill climb.

This all leads to inviting someone to come to First Christian in Minneapolis.  Again, I’m not good at the art of persuasion, just sharing information.  But I think I can use my information, my observations to paint a story on why this church is special, so here goes.

First Christian is not a big church.  We are a small church of about 100-120 members.  We were a big church a long time ago, but people left and the church has grown smaller.  So, we aren’t the big, downtown church.  We are the small, urban church.

If you come to our present building on a Sunday morning you will see about 80 people gathered in a sanctuary that seats about 800.  That might seem rather pathetic and I know it saddens a lot of the long time members.

But I think that this church still rocks and I think you should come to this church.  And it’s not because it has two, slammin’ pastors.

First are the kids.  We don’t have a lot of kids, but these kids are special to us.  They are the “little theologians” who teach us how to be followers of Jesus.  They aren’t just trotted out during a service to show off how cute they are, but they are becoming a part of our worship and formational life.  In their simple words of faith, they can run circles around those of us with advanced degrees in church stuff.

Second, is the mission.  This church likes to think it is not engaged in mission- not like the big churches down the street.  No, we don’t do mission that way.  But I’ve never seen a more engaged bunch of folks willing to “get dirty for Jesus.”  When I ask people to pack food for hungry kids around the world, people show up.  When I ask them to spend a day at food pantry or donate items for former homeless persons, they are present and accounted for.  When asked to help a ministry half-way around the world, they do so.  This church has people involved in refugee resettlement, prayer shawl ministry and other works of compassion.  They tend to “punch above their weight” in how many people in the church participate in acts of mercy and justice.

Third, is the committment to inclusivity.  A lot of churches talk about being inclusive, especially to gay and lesbian folk, but this church really practices it.  There aren’t a lot of churches that would accept having an openly gay person as one of their pastors and yet this church has.  But it’s not just me- this is the kind of church where a kid who grew up in the congregation can feel safe enough come out at the Christmas Eve service.  True story.  This is the kind of church where a straight woman who loves kids decides to start a ministry for gay youth and the church allows her to follow where she feels God is leading.  And they even throw some money at her to help.

This isn’t a “program” church.  First was a program kind of congregation years ago, but it at its present size, it’s far more pastoral than program.  So if you come to visit, don’t expect a youth program or outreach program.  Instead, you will find a woman who is excitied to teach one or two teens or the young adults coming together to make cookies for persons with HIV/AIDS and the like.

First Christian isn’t going to be a church for everyone.  If you want a church with  programs and lot of people your age, then we aren’t going to be your church.  If you want a church that’s packed with people, then we aren’t your church.  There are lots of other churches in the Twin Cities to fulfill those purposes.

But, if you want a church where people will welcome you not just to be nice, but because they really want to know you, this can be a church for you.  If you want to get active in ministies of justice and have ideas, this might be your church.  If you want a community that cares for each other and welcomes those outside its small circle, then this is your place.  If you are a gay person that hasn’t felt loved by a church before, this can be your church.  If you are autistic and wonder if a church could accept your “oddities,” then this is the place for you.  You get the point?

As a pastor, I’m probably not supposed to brag about the church I serve, but I do think it is pretty awesome how God has used this little church in Minneapolis.  I may not be the best “salesperson” but I hope you will come and visit sometime.  You’ll be glad you did.

Dennis Sanders is the Associate Pastor of First Christian Church in Minneapolis.

“A Thoughtful Church in the Heart of the Cities.”

Since 1877, First Christian has been a living witness of Jesus Christ in South Minneapolis.    On a Sunday morning, you will see young and old, rich and poor, coming together to worship God.  You will hear music from various traditions, the word of God preached, and your prayers will be heard by God and the church community.

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