A Season of Hope
"So reach out and welcome one another to God's glory. Jesus
did it; now you do it! Jesus, staying true to God's purposes,
reached out in a special way to the Jewish insiders so that the
old ancestral promises would come true for them. As a result,
the non-Jewish outsiders have been able to experience mercy
and to show appreciation to God. Just think of all the Scrip-
tures that will come true in what we do! For instance:
...Isaiah's word: ’There's the root of our ancestor Jesse,
breaking through the earth and growing tree tall, Tall enough
for everyone everywhere to see and take hope!’ Oh! May the
God of green hope fill you up with joy, fill you up with peace,
so that your believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of
the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!"
~ Romans 15:7-14, The Message ~
In the movie "Jakob the Liar," Robin Williams plays a Jew (Jakob) living in the Warsaw ghetto. It's a gloomy place. There is at least one suicide each night. One day, while in the German headquarters, he hears a radio telling where a battle is going on only a few hundred kilometers away. When he relates this to a friend to keep him from doing something stupid, it becomes assumed that Jakob has a hidden radio. He is then pressed to tell more news. As long as there is news, there are no suicides in the ghetto. They have hope that deliverance is at hand. The circumstances in which Jakob finds himself cause him to conclude, "Sometimes hope is more im-portant than food."
Hope is the foundation of faith; and I hope, will be the foundation of our holiday celebrations this year! For without hope, we are left only with the ravages of life, time, and fears. Hope keeps us open to the possibilities of being, becoming and new life. Renowned spiritualist, Henri Nouwen, so aptly pointed out, "All the great spiritual leaders in history were people of hope. Abraham, Moses, Ruth, Mary, Jesus, Rumi, Gandhi, and Doro-thy Day all lived with a promise in their hearts that guided them toward the future without the need to know exactly what it would look like. Let's live with hope." I would add to this that hope, like faith, is not simply a personal experience, but a shared communal experience. I especially like the way Elie Wiesel, the Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor put it: "I have learned two lessons in my life: first, there are no sufficient literary, psychological, or historical answers to human tragedy, only moral ones. Second, just as despair can come to one another only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings."
Recently, after worship, we held a church-wide discussion on priorities. I, with the help of others, tried to outline the current financial situation we are currently facing. Then I asked three questions of everyone there:
1)What are the ministries of FUMC that you value most? 2) What areas of the church need to be expanded and what areas need to be reduced? 3) What should some of our future plans and priorities be? What I believe I ex-perienced in that meeting was a profound act of hope! Let me show you what I mean in your answers:
1) What You Value most at FUMC
Adult and Children’s Education/Ministries (including our Schenectady Center for Well Being, Youth and Children’s Ministries, Nursery and Childcare, the Student Loan and Scholarship Programs).
Missions and Outreach (including Conscience of the Downtown, Hands on Service and Charity both Lo-cally and Beyond, Ministries of Hospitality {fellowship events and Halloween party}, and the Use of our Building by more than 80 Groups, Participation in Collaborative Ministries {Schenectady Inner City Minis-tries, Union College, etc….
Worship Services - (including music, leadership, and our TV ministry).
Nurturing Ministries (including Connections of Mutual Support, Stephen Ministry Program, Reconciling Congregations Program {also an outreach ministry}, and our Annual Skye Farm Retreat).
Music Ministries (including the Chancel Choir, Bell Choir and Concert Series).
Pastoral Leadership (including Creativity, Addressing Issues of Peace and Social Concerns, Visitation and Counseling).2a) Places You Would Like to See Us Expand:
More lay involvement in worship.
Create partnerships with local schools/colleges to utilize interns in children’s education.
Look for grants to help finance some programs (like the breakfast program).
Increase outreach to the community (jobs/education, etc….
Increase visibility.
More participation in Children’s Music.
Include more diversity in worship (including ideas and cultural diversity).
Increase the utilization of our space.
Increase security.2b) Places You Think We Can Reduce:
The amount of paper that we use (newsletter and bulletin - possibly by expanding the use of digital and electronic technologies).
Music expenditures.
Monetary expenses through accepting donations of direct goods.3) Future Plans/Priorities:
Keep the doors open.
Develop a Unified Mission Statement (strategic planning and follow through are essential - brainstorming is not enough).
Welcoming!
More interaction with the immediate community (short interventional teaching).
Integration of our plans with others (Leverage connections in order to increase funds, collaborate and co-operate with other groups).As a result of this meeting, two things have become apparent to me as one of your pastors:
1) First, that hope and the expectations that come with it are still alive and well at First UMC. Your interests in maintaining what you value at FUMC and actually expanding, more than reducing, what we are about, tells me that you are driven much more by hope than by fear. However, we do still have the practical mat-ter of our 2009 budget before us. With that in mind, Mary Lois Tupper, our Church Council Chair and I have agreed that the Council will meet in December (9th) for the sole purpose of bringing the church lead-ership (and anyone else that would like to attend) together to discuss the upcoming budget and what might be done to bring spending inline with expenses.
2) The meeting after church was just the beginning of a much needed, ongoing, conversation. I would like to propose that starting in January, we begin to have series of discussions about priorities and goals. In my January Spire article I hope to outline the difference between a Mission Statement and Core Values, so that we might begin to come to a consensus on how we might focus our prayers, presence, gifts and services through the life of First UMC for the immediate future.
What does all of this focus on mission, vision and resources have to do with Advent and hope? In this sea-son of preparation for Christ’s coming (Advent), I pray that we are all reminded of what is truly important in our lives and how the Church can be, and is, a part of our deepening relationships with God, others and self. May we also remember that preparing is much more than the short term externals of window dressings and packages. It is the deeper, ongoing preparation of the mind, body and spirit. We continuously prepare for the presence of divine love, inner and outer peace, and overflowing joy. All of these are built on a foundation of hope, which is the heart of faith. May God richly bless you this holiday season! Not with stuff, but with the blessings of courageous, outrageous, and contagious Hope!
~ With Christ’s Peace! ~
Pastor Steve
Mottos, Missions, and Values… Moving Forward in 2009
Let’s start with some brief definitions: A Motto -
is a succinct statement of beliefs or ideals and may either be a sentence or a (very) short phrase. An organization may have a motto that doubles as an advertising slogan or tag line. The purpose of a motto is to remind stakeholders of the foundational beliefs that underpin an effort.A Mission Statement -
is a brief statement of the purpose of an organization. Sometimes organizations use their mission statement as a motto or advertising slogan, but the intention of a mission statement is to keep members and users aware of the organization's purpose. If a Mission Statement is too long to be easily memo-rized and quoted, a Motto should be developed as well.Core Values -
describe the attitude and character of an organization. They are typically statements of founda-tional belief that serve as a guide or code of conduct for the organization. These statements inform and shape both the Mission and Motto of the organization.In some ways we have already begun to develop a series of Core Values. When we began to describe "what we value most at First United Methodist Church" (see my December Spire article), we began to define our Core Values. We still need to organize them and pull them into more succinct statements. Then we can more accu-rately determine what our mission statement should be and whether or not we need a motto or slogan. I would suggest that in the past, we have often tried to stuff everything into one statement (Core Values) and call it a mission statement; rendering it somewhat unusable and definitely unmemorable.
Next, as part of a new year’s effort, let’s reflect on where we have been in terms of Missions Statements:
Late in 2000 -
Pastor Laurel Phillips and I adopted a default Motto/Mission Statement for our church based solely on our experiences at First UMC - "Building Community Through Faith."From 1997 to 1999
- When we voted to become a "Reconciling Congregation" in February of 1997, we adopted our "Reconciling Statement" as a Mission Statement - "All persons are recipients of God‟s love and Grace; God intends the church to be a community which embodies love, grace and justice for all people as a sign of God‟s covenant. We, therefore, will continue to seek and welcome persons of any age, gender, race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability as full participants in our community of faith." I would suggest that this is more appropriate for part of our Core Values than to be used as a Mission Statement (especially without a Motto in place).From 1993 to 1997 -
We adopted an official Mission Statement that was printed on all official publications - "First United Methodist Church is a regional church which encourages people to grow both spiritually and rationally by seeking God through a combination meaningful worship, lifelong Christian education, a caring community and service to society." Without an accompanied Motto, I would suggest that this is just too long and wordy to be a stand alone mission statement. Also, it would be helpful to have had the concepts presented here (ie. "spirituality, rationally, meaningful worship") defined by a set of Core Values.Appearing only in 1992 -
Was the following Mission Statement -"As a fellowship of believers, we affirm the centrality of God, the creator, who continues in the
process of reaching the highest potential for both persons and the universe. We further declare that
for us Jesus becomes the example of one who gave testimony and who can save the world by his
teachings and spirit. And we further believe that the Presence of God is contained in a gift, the Holy
Spirit.
We are free persons. God‟s gift of self-determination may lead us into evil actions. Our culture
may include evil systems of prejudice, hatred and violence. This freedom can also be an adventure in
striving to maximize our human God-given potentials. In our best moments we are guided by the Holy
Spirit.
We, the members of First United Methodist Church, strive to enable our local church to become a
vital congregation of faithful disciples by being a people of God, honoring Jesus and expressing our
love toward the kingdom he envisioned.
Because of these basic commitments we call ourselves a church, called by God for the purpose of
developing faith in ourselves and expressing love toward others.
Clearly this is filled with Core Values statements and is much too lengthy for a Mission Statement; especially without a Motto.
Finally, there are some other ideas that might inform our Core Values:
In 2004, I was trying to help newer people to our church figure out who we are. Here is what I wrote back then - "We are a „Progressive‟ United Methodist Church that believes that ALL People should be a part of God‟s community of grace. By calling ourselves Progressive Christians, we mean that we:
Have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God's realm, and acknowl-edge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.
Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable.
Celebrate and practice open communion.
Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe.
Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty - more value in ques-tioning than in absolutes.
See ourselves as a spiritual community in which we discover the resources required for our work in the world: striving for justice and peace among all people; bringing hope to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers.
We are mission minded…As one of the founding members of Schenectady Inner City Mission (SICM) we house a community Food Pantry which serves over 700 different needy families each month. Soon we will house the Home Furnishings Program which helps those in need with household furnishings. We send Volunteer in Missions (VIM) teams out into our neighborhoods and world (members have worked here in Schenectady and gone to places like North Carolina, Vermont, Nicaragua and Mozambique. We have people involved in and use our church building to facilitate more community ministries than we could possibly list: So come and see…ask about…and get involved in making Schenectady and our world more loving places to be.
In 1913, These words were published by our church - "The Parish of All-People…A CHURCH with a Living Faith, a Spiritual Message, a Social Creed, a World Wide Mission, a Present Day Program, Simple and Digni-fied Worship, a Modern School of Christian Culture, a Daily Open House for Prayer and Rest, an Every Day Service of Those Who Love, in the Interest of Those Who Need, and All in the Name of Jesus, Our Lord, WEL-COMES YOU!"
The Next Step for 2009:
Is, I believe, to refine our Core Values, so that we can then develop a brief Mission Statement and Possible Moot/Slogan. To do that we need as broad a participation as possible. To do that, I propose the following:
1. I will post my December Article and this one on our website under the Heading - "Visioning Our Future."
2. I will ask the Church Counsel to dedicate a large part of our February 10th meeting to this process.
3. I need you to look over all of the information that has been published in both my December and this Spire articles, so that you can make suggestions on what you believe our Core Values should be.
4. I need you to write in via mail (603 State Street, Schenectady, NY 12305) or email (fumcschenectady@yahoo.com) and suggest statements that might incorporate some of our Core Values…Also, if you have any suggestions for a Motto and/or Mission Statement, write that out as well.
5. By our Annual Church Conference (Sunday, February 22), I will provide a report on where we are in the process and we can discuss where we will go from there.
All of these steps will help us to move this process forward, so long as we all participate and share in the deci-sion making processes. Remember, if our Core Values and Mission Statement help us to focus our ministry efforts; and our Motto/Slogan helps to invite others in getting to know us and join with us in our goals and ef-forts; then what we do now could set the stage for the next decade of our church’s work together. Thank you for your time and blessings in the ministry of FUMC!
With Peace!
Pastor Steve