Tonight is the biggest night of the year.

Tonight is the night that everybody has been looking forward to; well, at least some people.

Tonight the red carpet will be pulled out and countless limousines will line the streets of Hollywood.

For those of you who don’t know, tonight, everybody who is anybody in Tinseltown will show up for the Annual Academy Award Show, in hopes to receive an Oscar for excellence in movies.

The Oscars are a big deal every year, once again, for some people, but the was added attention on the yearly event this year.

I’m gonna watch ‘em tonight,

Because if the Oscars go on tonight as planned, it’ll be a miracle.

Nothing has gone right for the Oscar. First the ballots to the members of the Academy were lost in the mail and they had to be reprinted and mailed out again.

And if that wasn’t enough to slow things down, someone stole the Oscar statuettes that will be given to the winners!

But the ballots were sent out and the statuettes were recovered, so the glitter and glam of tonight’s show should go on, and many of us will be watching.

You know, sometimes I wish they would give out Oscars for things other than ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actress’, or ‘Best special effects’, and give Oscars to people who don’t live in Hollywood or who are rich and famous, but to people who do extraordinary things in real life.

If this was the case, then Clebe McClary would have won an Oscar, for…being Clebe.

Clebe grew up near Charleston and went to Clemson on an athletic scholarship. After finishing college, he joined the United States Marine Corps and was sent to the war in Vietnam.

Clebe proved to be a true leader and a hero in the jungles during the war and left Vietnam and highly decorated Marine.

But Clebe returned home to his wife and children without an arm and an eye.

Most people would be devastated by the loss of a limb and eye. Unable to tie a shoe or play catch with a child, always having to wear a patch to cover the place where our eye once was.

But Clebe is certainly not most people. Determined not to let his disability keep him from living a normal life, from enjoying the beauty that every day brings, he dwelled not in self-pity, but in love of God, and a little phrase that he would say to himself over and over as a reminder.

FIDO. F-I-D-O, Fido.

I’ve met Clebe twice and every time I’ve see him, every time he gives a motivational speech, to encourage people to grow in their lives; he never fails to mention his motto, FIDO.

For Clebe Fido is an acronym that stands for

Forget It, and Drive On.

Those words have helped him recover from his injuries sustained in Vietnam, those words helped him move from pity to personal power.

Forget It, and Drive On.

For Clebe, FIDO helped him to forget his handicap and drive on to other things, to drive on to finding a way to tie his shoes, play catch with his children and using the patch that covered his eye to reach other people and not lose himself.

Forget the bad cards that life sometimes deals, and drive on until you’re dealt a good one.

FIDO.

Sounds like wonderful advice! We would all get Oscars for overcoming personal tragedy if we all took Clebe’s advice.

If everybody would FIDO, we would no longer have feuds or lengthy quarrels, because we would forget those things that hinder us and drive on to those things that build us up.

If everybody would FIDO, lives wouldn’t be wasted dwelling on one moment, but every moment would be spent on living life to its fullest.

If everybody would FIDO, we would all get Oscars for personal growth.

Forget It, and Drive On.

The past week, Pope John Paul II, has been in Israel and he has visited the Holy sites and met with Jewish and Islamic leaders, trying to promote peace between all people.

A couple of weeks ago in an unprecedented move, the Pope asked for forgiveness of all the sins the people of the church have committed during the last twenty centuries.

It seems that the church is doing it’s best to FIDO, not necessarily forgetting the past, but definitely moving forward to the future.

FIDO seems to be the way for growth.

Or is it?

It worked for Clebe McClary and millions of other people I would bet, but is it always the best thing to things into the sea of forgetfulness?

Is Amnesia always the best route for growth?

In 1968 in Dallas, Texas, two churches joined together. The Evangelical United Brethren and the Methodist Church merged together to become the United Methodist Church.

After the merger in 1968, the United Methodist Church had over 11 million members, making it one of the largest protestant churches in the world.

It was a vibrant church, full of life and full of members who had mission and a vision.

Many of you were around when the merger happened and remember the state of the United Methodist Church.

But over the next two decades that began to change. From 1968 to 1988, our church had lost over 3 million members.

The church that once had over 11 million people now had a little over eight million people.

And along with the decline in membership also came a decline in worship attendance. Sanctuaries that were full in the sixties were now struggling to fill their church.

Sure there were some congregations that grew and continue to grow, but our church has a whole is dying.

Even though the United Methodist Church may receive the Oscar for greatest loss in church membership,

the problem isn’t only in our United Methodist Church, but the Episcopal Church, the Church of Christ, the Presbyterian USA, and the Lutheran Church have all experienced a significant loss in membership and attendance.

In fact, many churches in every denomination have experienced a decline in membership and attendance.

And with the decline in church growth means that millions of people have not heard about the Good News of God’s Love through Christ!

What has happened? Where did the life that once drove our churches to mission and nurture go?

FIDO.

I believe that we have misused the wonderful philosophy of FIDO, forget it and drive on, and the church is dying from it.

Saint Luke tells us of the early church. Not the church in the third and forth century, but THE early church, the church of the apostles.

The church that started a small group and exploded into over a billion people today.

If we are ever to live and grow once again, not just the United Methodist Church or Calhoun Falls United Methodist Church, but Christian churches all over the world, we must take ourselves back to the early church.

The philosophy of FIDO teaches that there is no future in the past, but for us to thrive, our future is IN the past.

Hear the words of Saint Luke:

They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Awe came upon everyone; because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles.

All who believed were together and had things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.

Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.

And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

The early church had four distinct characteristics that propelled it to where it is today and enabled it to reach out and change the lives of all.

Four characteristics that we shouldn’t forget about and drive on, but rather remember and replicate!

The early church devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles. The teaching of the apostles came from the words and life of Christ.

Our ancestors would devote themselves, dedicate themselves, and hang on every word about our Lord.

And the words and actions of Christ were love. In everything that Christ said or did, love was his message!

Love God and love each other!

The early church spent their lives loving God and loving each other, by their giving, compassion, charity, and devotion.

They loved. Regardless of who you are or where you came from, they showed – not just proclaimed- but showed love to all.

And they were bound together in fellowship. When we think of fellowship, many times we think of social gatherings and potlucks, because they take place in our fellowship hall, but Saint Luke viewed fellowship a little differently.

Saint Luke viewed fellowship as unity. The early church would come together as one.

They knew that the claims of the Christian family were greater than the individual.

They would take care of one another as one.

If one person was in need, they would all come to their aid, not because they were needy, but because they were brethren.

The early church broke bread.

The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion is many times misunderstood.

We sometimes feel unworthy, or uncomfortable to come and eat the bread and drink the juice.

But we do this, the early church did this, because Holy Communion is a sacrament, it is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.

It is the risen Christ and the free grace given to us in something we can plainly see, touch, smell, and taste.

It isn’t something that should be feared, but welcomed, even sought after.

When we break bread with one another, we are reminded of our unity in Christ- the unity that we share now- and the unity that we as believers will share in eternal life!

And the early church devoted themselves to prayer.

Prayer is dialogue with the divine.

The early church didn’t view it as a wish list or a confession statement, but a conversation – with talking AND listening!

Not just in worship on Sundays but while at work, driving in the car, cooking supper, talking to a friend, smiling at the sun or crying at the moon: prayer should be viewed as the first response, not the last option.

Through prayer, we are drawn to God.

In Breaking the Bread, we encounter Christ.

In fellowship we sustain each other,

And in the apostles teaching, the words and life of Christ, we are given hope and love.

Valuable, wonderful things, that we shouldn’t FIDO, we can’t FIDO.

If we are going to not only survive, but thrive, then we must remember and replicate the foundations of the early church.

Because growth doesn’t begin with large budgets or a booming town, or a eloquent preacher.

But growth begins with love, prayer, fellowship, and communion.

We don’t need to FIDO this, but we just need some R and R – remember and replicate.

"And day by day the Lord added to the number those who were being saved"

Instead of wondering who will win the Oscar for best actor tonight, let’s work on the Oscar for most like the early church, which goes hand in hand with the Oscar for church growth.

Love, prayer, fellowship, communion.

Sounds like a good plan to me.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.