First Christian will now make Sunday sermons available at our website for you to listen to.  We hope this will be a way for people who aren’t able to attend a Sunday or those who want to know what goes on in that building in South Minneapolis to find out.  Simply go to www.fccminneapolis.org/publications/podcasts to find a sermon to listen to.

All regular Sunday morning classes will convene ay 9:15 at picnic tables in the park. Camp songs and a more informal atmos-phere will highlight the 10 am worship service, which will have all the “regular” elements of communion, prayers and reflections.

The all-church picnic will begin following worship. The member-ship committee will furnish bever-ages and paper products, but the rest is potluck, so bring your fa-vorite dish to share. a wading pool / playground is available for all children, so bring suits and towels if anyone in your family wants to get wet.

To get to North Mississippi Park, take I-94 north to Exit 226. Go towards 53rd Avenue North and stay straight to go onto I-94, then turn slightly right onto Lyndale Avenue N (follow the signs).

Now that I’ve thought about it a bit more, I would also add that the current ministry of FCC is to be a Disciples presence in Minneapolis.  There is something distinctive about the Disciples of Christ:  Our emphasis on the table, our call to individual responsibility in growing one’s faith and understanding of Scripture, our commitment to ecumenism and cooperative ministry with others, our emphasis on mission, altogether are hallmarks of Disciples.  We are a somewhat quirky people in the context of mainline Protestantism, and I think that that is largely a good thing.

As we continue movement towards what we’ll be doing in the future, we are still called by God to work on our ministry in the present:  A ministry of evangelism and welcoming new and returning folks to the Body, a ministry of meeting needs and helping people, a ministry of sharing the distinctiveness of Disciples in the neighborhood and community.  We’re going to keep plugging away at these as we continue to navigate the course towards the future.

On a different note, Sunday, August 29, will be the second anniversary of the sale of our building to MIA.  We will be lifting that up as a theme in worship, a matter of grieving and closing.  You might, between now and then, think of those memories that are most important to you about the history here; I may be asking you to share them.

I’d like to see YOU on Sunday,

Bob

I’ve always been fascinated by the future.

I remember when I was about 8 or 9, I would sit down and think about the year 2000.  I was able to figure out that I would be 31 years old by the year 2000, which I thought was very old.

I wondered what life was going to be like in the 21^st century.  Would we have flying cars and the like?

As I got older, people started worrying about nuclear weapons.  At that point, there were times I feared if I would see the year 2000 at all.

Of course in 2010 we still don’t have flying cars.  But we do have things that I couldn’t even dream about back in 1978: the internet, cell phones, the iPad and the like.  And thankfully, we didn’t end in a nuclear fire.

The future is something that is both exciting and terrifying.  We don’t know exactly what the future holds, so we tend to imagine what things will be like.  That can lead to two things: either we get scared and or we are empowered.

A drawing by a seven year old that was drawn during the sermon. It's titled "In the Future."

The two passages that were read just now have to do about the future of two men: Elisha and Jesus.  Both were being led by God to a difficult, but nonetheless exciting future.  But along the way, both me encountered roadblocks that could have sent them off the path God would have them to go.

In First Kings, the prophet Elijah is sent to anoint several people, including a man named Elisha.  Now Elisha was excited about this new job opportunity…..but he needed to say goodbye to his parents.  In the book of Luke, we hear that Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem and along the way he meets several men that want to follow him.  To one he says, that the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.  To another who says that he has to bury his father first, Jesus tells him that the dead should bury the dead.  A third person says to Jesus to let him say goodbye to his loved ones and Jesus says that no one that looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

When you look at these texts, you have to wonder why Jesus and Elijah were being so mean.  After all, what is so bad about burying your father or saying goodbye to friends?

I have no idea if Jesus actually said these things, but what I do know is that the call to follow Jesus means that we called to put God’s kingdom first, first above our daily priorities.

In Luke, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem.  That means he was preparing himself for what was going to happen down the road: his arrest and betrayal; his death and ressurection.  Jesus had an inkling that the future was not bright for him and yet he continued preaching and teaching even in the face of death.  All of the people who want to follow him want to follow him, but they all have good reasons to delay their journey.  But Jesus will have none of it.  Now is the time we are called to follow Jesus, not later.

In our lives, we all have a desire to follow Jesus and be a disciple, but at times we let the mundane parts of life get in the way.  We let our jobs and family get in the way.  We will be interested in mission and ministry once the kids graduate from high school or once we retire from our jobs.

But Jesus is asking us to follow him NOW and to set our faces towards Jerusalem.  We are called to be his disciples now and to work towards bringing forth God’s kingdom here and now.

About a month ago, Chris Wogaman, our Office Manager, decided to show a book to myself and Deb Murphy.  It was actually a photo album containing bulletins from anniversary dinners dating at the very least back to the 1940s.  We spent about an hour looking at these snapshots of First Christian’s history.

There was one particular program that fascinated me and that was the program from the 1957 anniversary dinner.  The theme of that dinner was “Futurama.” It turns out that a play was put on during the dinner.  I haven’t seen the actual play, but the program states it was set 80 years in the future at the board meeting of First Christian Church in 2037.  By that time the church had supposedly moved to Saturn and was getting ready to celebrate its 160^th birthday.

Now, I’m pretty sure we aren’t moving to Saturn anytime soon.  And yes, this play was probably a little farsical, but I have to marvel at the audacity of those folks back in 1957, in that they were able to see what the church would be like long after they would be dead.  First Christian would still be around doing God’s work- albeit on a planet with an inhospitable atmosphere, but doing God’ work nevertheless.

God is asking us to move forward into the future.  But God is asking us to let go of what can hold us back, our fears and our obligations.  We are to set our own faces towards the Jerusalems of our lives: a place where there will be trials and temptations to be sure, but also a place where God’s spirit is present- guiding and sustaining us as we do God’s work in God’s world.

So, I leave you this morning with a question: where will First Christian be in five years or ten years?  Can we see or imagine where God will take us?  Are we willing to let go of whatever excuses that might be holding us back from following Jesus?

I am excited to see where God is leading us as a congregation.  I love seeing how the children’s Sunday School is growing.  I love seeing how the adult classes are going.  I love seeing the seeds of new ministries taking root.  I am happy to see faces being set towards Jerusalem.

There is an old saying that goes, “I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”  So, my sisters and brothers, let’s set our faces towards Jerusalem and go boldly into our future.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

.

During July, please consider dropping off nonperishable food items in the Big Barrel in the narthex, or consider giving a monetary donation. The goal is to raise $1000 and for every dollar raised, the Outreach Committee will match, dollar for dollar. Please consider giving generously.

Folks from First Christian at Feed My Starving Children. June 2010.

Then, little by little people start showing up.  By the time we get to the sharing of the peace, we have at least 70 people in the room.  It’s still small compared to the size of the sanctuary, but it’s average when compared to churches accross this land: the majority of American congregations have less than 75 people in worship.

Our “average-sized” gathering also reminds me of something else: the size of a church is not as important as the ministry it is involved in.

In the last few months, I’ve been impressed by what this small(er) congregation can do and even what it wants to do.  Back in February, we made 100 hygiene kits to help in the Haiti earthquake relief efforts. We gave $3000 to help launch the Currie Avenue Partnership, which will move 150 out of homeless shelters and into permanent housing.  We also have gone to every dollar store in the Twin Cities Area to make Welcome Baskets for those new homeowners through the Welcome Basket Drive.  We raised $1600 in March to support Groveland Foodshelf during Minnesota Foodshare and will hope to raise even more during our July drive.

We are working with Spirit of Joy Christian Church in Lakeville to sponsor of refugee family and with the help of our newly hired Director of Spiritual Formation and Community Ministry, we plan to launch a ministry to gay teens and their parents in the fall.

Not bad for an average church.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in the numbers.  Like most of you, I would love to see more people in the pews.  I still hope to that becomes a reality some day.  But there are other numbers that suggest that this faith community is housing the homeless, feeding the hungry and welcoming the outsider.  They maybe small numbers, but God seems to have a habit of taking small things and using them to make a big difference in the world.

Senior Pastor Bob Brite has asked us what would be the best thing for this church to do for the kingdom of God.  I know he is talking about the future of First Christian, but I hope you all are doing a lot in the cause of bringing for God’s realm.

Go and be the church.

Dennis Sanders
Associate Pastor for Mission and Diversity

The thirty years has gone like the blink of an eye; I have since been through a lot of changes and
moves.  I served first as an associate at Glen Oak Christian Church in Peoria, IL, then a short stint as pastor in Winterset, IA (Bridges of Madison County country), then on the regional staff of the Christian Church in Illinois and Wisconsin, then as senior pastor at Pekin, IL.  From there I spent three years out of ministry due to burn out, working as a waiter, bartender, apartment sales agent, piano tuner, and handyman, then back into ministry here in Minneapolis.  I spent my 25^th anniversary at a strawberry short cake party at the Methodist church I was attending then, having gotten my tips for the day earlier.  I’ve been married and divorced, have two wonderful daughters of which you might be sick of hearing about, and am now kinda, sorta, beginning to reflect a bit on what retirement in 12 to 14 years might be like.

Back then I was full of ambition (that was based on no small amount of anger) to bring transformation to the church.  The painful/wonderful lessons learned over those 30 years is that the only way I can be an effective agent of transformation is to be an effective witness for Christ.  A pastor can’t force transformation onto a congregation; he/she can only issue the call for such.  Over those years I’ve become less ambitious and more reflective, less focused on change for the Church and more focused on theological development, both for the Body and for myself.  I’m kinda, sorta, figuring out that what I do in ministry is not nearly as important as being the channel for what God wants me to do and be.  (Though I wish He/She would be more forthcoming on that point.)

I will issue the call here again:  What do you want for the future of your own lives, and the ministry of First Christian Church of Minneapolis?

I’d like to see YOU on Sunday,

Bob

The following is a sermon Associate Pastor Dennis Sanders preached at Plymouth Creek Christian Church in Plymouth, Minnesota on May 2, 2010.  There sermon tells a little about Art of the Covenant, First Christian’s new art-based Sunday School program for Children.  The sermon is being submitted to Shared Spirit, a new initiative of the Christian Church in the Upper Midwest to share stories of mission and ministry taking place in Disciple congregations in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa.

“Young Trees”

John 13:31-35, Acts 11:1-18

May 2, 2010

Plymouth Creek Christian Church

Plymouth, Minnesota

"Young Trees" by Deb Murphy.

How do you transform a church?  That’s the question I’ve been trying to answer over the last eighteen months in my role as the Associate Pastor at First Christian.  Working with Bob Brite, the Interim Pastor and the rest of the congregation, we are trying to find out how to make what was once a big downtown church into something that fits the current times.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but I do know that it seems difficult to find an easy answer.  We sit and pray and talk and wonder and so on.  In some ways it seems like we are just plodding along and trying to see what works.  Some people at the church think that the congregation’s best days are behind it and wonder if it is time to just give up.

At the same time, something else was quietly happening.  One of  our members, Deb Murphy was a little bit upset about the fact that there was no children’s program going on at the church.  One of the things that can happen when a congregation is in decline is that certain things tend to get left by the wayside.  The children’s ministry was one of those things that got left aside.  There were hardly any children in the church.  Well again, Deb was upset about this and she made the mistake of telling me about it.  I asked her what she could do about it.  Well, that got to Deb.  She is an artist and has worked for years in the Twin Cities theatre community.  After some thought, she came up with an idea of using arts to teach children about the Bible.

Come September of 2009, Deb started her class called Art of the Covenant.  It was kind of amazing: kids started coming to the class.  A friend from work ended up bringing her daughter to the program.  A couple started brining their three grandsons.  A woman who had stopped attending started coming back after her two adopted sons were eager to attend the class.  I can stop by on a Sunday morning and see the classroom filled with little ones.  Another couple announced they were ready to leave the church because there was not anything for their four year old son, save for this new class.

Little by little, Deb’s class is making a difference.  On Easter Sunday during the children’s sermon, there are fourteen children who came forward,  It was a wonderful scene.

Deb’s action was one of love and service.  In all the questions regarding how First Christian transforms, we had forgot about one simple thing: that we were called to love people.  Deb remembered.  She remembered to love the children.

In today’s reading in John, Jesus leaves the disciples with a very simple rule.  Love one another.  This is what I like about Jesus: he loves to keep it simple.  And yet, we tend to not be able to keep this very simple rule.  The Church, that’s the big-c church, not this church, has had a bad history of not welcoming people who might different from the norm.  We haven’t always loved those who are of a different race or nationality or sexual orientation or political persuasion.

Easter Sunday at First Christian, Minneapolis

Jesus call us to love each other.  It is what the church is all about or at least what it should be all about.  Earlier in the 13^th chapter of John, we read about Jesus getting up from the table and starting to wash his disciples feet.  Now, washing feet back in Bible times was kind of a needed thing.  Unlike modern times, the streets were not clean, but filled with dirt and grime and dung.  So, entering a house meant your feet were pretty nasty.  That’s where foot washing came in.  Jesus decided to wash his disciples feet, probably to clean their feet, but also to make a point: followers of Jesus are called to be servants, to express love in our actions.

That’s what we are called to do when Jesus asks us to love each other.  We are called to love those within our walls and those outside our churches in actions of service.  We are called to put aside our need to be right and love each other.

Kids at the Art of the Covenant Class.

But loving is hard.  It means that we are going to have to push beyond our comfort zones.  In Acts 11 Peter is called up to Jerusalem to talk to some of the leaders of the young church.  They wonder why Peter was out sharing the word of God with to the Gentiles.  Peter explains that he had a vision where a sheet came down from heaven filled with food he wasn’t supposed to eat according to his faith.  But God compels him to eat saying that what God has made was never unclean.  The Peter meets Corneilus, a Gentile who wants to know more about Jesus.  Peter shares the good news and Cornelius and his entire household become followers and he sees the Spirit working through these folks.

For Peter, loving meant not just loving his fellow disciples, but also loving someone outside his faith.  And so the circle widens.  We are called to love and be servants not just to those in the church, but to strangers along the way because they are also made of God and are not unclean.  They are part of God’s family.

Back in March, Deb wrote a devotional called “Young Trees” based on a picture she took of some of the kids she teaches.  I want to share some of that the devotion to close this sermon.  She wrote:

If you look closely, there is a lot of life in this picture.  Bob was gesturing at the moment I took the picture, so his hand is blurred with movement.  Fletcher is moving closer to see what’s in the  basket.  Elizabeth has turned around to look at her mom.  Tristan has turned toward Nancy.

Aidan is reaching out to the little girl in Val’s lap. (The two Masons are out of sight – but being active, I’m sure.)   Earl is watching intently. There are fresh red tulips. Again, if you look closely, you’ll notice communion – the bread and the cup – on the tables, symbolic of new life in Christ.

Why did I title this picture Young Trees?  Two things contributed to the title.  One is the lectionary Gospel (Luke 13: 6-9) for Sunday, March 7th.  The owner of a vineyard wants to get rid of a fig tree that hasn’t produced any fruit in the three years since it was planted.  The gardener begged to be allowed to aerate the soil and fertilize the tree to help it produce.  I see the children as the young trees in our vineyard that need both physical and spiritual nurturing and sustenance.  And if you look at the picture again, these trees of ours are surrounded by a large roomful of gardeners.

The church is called to be gardeners.  We are called to love and tend to each other and to those strangers we meet along the way.  That’s it.  It isn’t about evangelizing people, or giving more money, or anything like that.  We are called to love.

Thanks be to God.

Deb has been a member at First Christian since the early 1990s and for many years was the editor of the Courier.  Last fall, Deb felt called to start a children’s Sunday School class called Art of the Covenant, the first such class for kids in nearly a decade.

Art of the Covenant has been a success.  Children are now heard running down the halls on Sunday mornings, with their parents and grandparents in tow.

The positive response of Art of the Covenant, combined with Deb’s long-time experience in the Twin Cities arts community and her current studies pursuing an MA in Theology and the Arts at United Seminary in New Brighton, became the impetus to consider if there should be a formal position dedicated towards Spiritual Formation and if Deb should fulfill role.  After much discussion, the answer was yes, indeed.

In this new position, Deb will be working to create Spiritual Formation opportunities for children, youth and adults; work with Transitional Pastor Bob Brite and Associate Pastor Dennis Sanders in providing hands-on mission opportunities for the First Christian community and also work to create a cooperative Vacation Bible School.

Another duty Deb will have is working with the Open Table task force to create a ministry for GLBT teens and their parents.  At present, there is very little available spiritually for gay teens in the Twin Cities.  It is hoped this new ministry will start in the fall of 2010.

Deb’s initiative in starting Art of the Covenant and in taking  lead role in a new GLBT ministry is the sort of new model of ministry we hope to see more of at First Christian: one where people take their passions and gifts and use them towards the building of God’s kingdom.

Welcome aboard, Deb!

The idea started last December when Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman and Cathy ten Broeke of the City/County Office to end Homelessness visited a Salvation Army Shelter along Currie Avenue in Downtown Minneapolis.  During their visit, they met  number of clients with disabilities, which qualified them for existing state aid.  What they needed were case managers that would walk the shelter guests through the process in order to receive state assistance and move out of the shelter.

As of late April, more than $350,000 has been raised, 8 of the 10 needed case managers are now in place and at least 10 persons are moving into their new homes after spending more than 500 consecutive nights in a shelter.

“I am so blown away by the response from the congregations,” said Heidi Johnson McAllister of Downtown Congregations to End Homelessness. “This is not only a good thing, it is the right thing to do.  People with disabilities are moving off the streets where they have been living in substandard conditions for years. Not only is the housing decent and dignified, it is also cheaper to house them than to pay for living in shelters.”

First Christian might not be a large church, but the money pledged to the partnership along with the Welcome Basket Drive taking place during the month of June will go a long way towards making a big difference in the lives of “the least of these.”

Thanks be to God that First Christian was able to help bring about another sign of God’s kingdom.

A video about the Currie Avenue Partnership, produced by Hennepin County, is here.

An article about the Partnership in the StarTribune is here.