“God, I wish you would bless me and extend the borders of my property!” These words are attributed to some guy named Jabez in the Bible book 1 Chronicles 4:10. Jabez plays only a bit role in the Bible but a book entitled “The Prayer of Jabez” by Dr. Bruce Wilkinson has given this minor player major play. I can’t say that I recommend the book any more than I would recommend “The Secret” or “The Power of Positive Thinking” (all three are essentially the same concept). But I remembered Jabez recently when the landscaping company working in my neighbor’s yard made a startling observation; the neighbor had landscaped over about fifteen feet of our property! The neighbor had planted ground cover which had grown over the stone marker placed back in 1968 when the home was built. I didn’t even pray for it and God extended my border! I think something like this is happening to churches too, but not every church sees it as a blessing!
Every day at FUMC Hudson somebody reveals to me that our church “border” has extended.
· A clinical psychologist asks for space to set-up practice in our church reminding the trustees that the region’s mentally ill are underserved. Our border extends fifteen feet into the territory of soldiers returning from war with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and fifteen feet into the realm of survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
· A teen-aged member is accepted for a mission trip to China to learn more about peace. Our border extends fifteen feet into the Republic of China and it extends fifteen feet into the town of Hudson where residents are asked to care about, contribute toward and learn from this extraordinary mission.
· A member is stricken with cancer and we gather around the website Caring Bridge like farm animals gather at the fence looking for any sign of the feed truck. Our border extends fifteen feet toward actually fighting cancer wherever it occurs with every tool in our tool box, and fifteen feet into the realm of Internet Technologies like Caring Bridge that are changing the ways we care.
When I saw that the border of my property extended an additional fifteen feet, my mind went immediately to the responsibility to mow and tend that extra lawn. I think many of us have similar ambivalence about outreach toward new people in our ever-expanding community. “It was the neighbor’s property before, let them continue to maintain it!” We assume someone else is taking responsibility for reaching the mentally ill, people in foreign lands and all of those others who never go to church services and so look for (but only really find superficial) community online. We lament the size of our present lawn and cannot fathom the kind of machine necessary to tend that much and more.
Yet we already have the machinery we need!
Our church has a Vision Fund which was set-up to initiate live-giving new ministries. Anyone on the church with a dream for outreach can send me or a Lay Leader a request for seed money. To see an example of how this works, visit the Pepsi Refesh website HERE.
Next week we will begin revamping our communications so that our message is more helpful to a greater number of people. We currently utilize the pulpit (140), Cable television, E-news (240), Hope for Hudson Website, Front Porch Hudson Blog, Hope for Hudson Facebook Page (47) [along with worship and Vacation Bible Camp Facebook pages], Printed newsletters (250) and of course word-of-mouth conversation for outreach. We can use all of these tools much more effectively.
We are forming a Task Force which will help us understand the needs of our community. This group will meet and research in July and August, presenting findings gradually next Fall so that our church can restructure in order to address the needs we have discovered. By November the church should have a clear since of where God has placed that stone marker and a passionate desire to stick together to tend that new territory. Want to JOIN The group?
We have the machinery to care for the additional territory we are discovering. I also believe we have the determination to “serve God with single mind and willing heart” (a quotation taken from the same book where we find the story of Jabez, 1 Chronicles 28:9. Read the whole text HERE.).
May God increase your border!
Doug
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Worship at FUMC: What's our Style?
Last night after learning the newest “America Idol” we accidentally tuned-in to the cartoon series “King of the Hill”. We joined the episode at the moment when the dad was arguing with the pastor of his United Methodist Church about assigned seating—the Smiths had stolen his family’s pew! The man was so outraged that he yanked his family out of the United Methodist church and went across town to the more contemporary mega-church. A tram service shuttles worshippers between the church bookstore/coffee bar and the shiny-metal and glass worship center. “THIS church offers assigned seating!” the usher proudly informs the family. The family has found a new home church--so long United Methodist Church of open seating!
Here at First United Methodist Church (of the open pew) of Hudson, our pews are reminders of days when pews WERE assigned. The pews are numbered. Once upon a time members “leased” their family pew from the church. A nifty fundraiser, the practice never-the-less fell out of favor and is now forbidden by our United Methodist Book of Discipline. Sure, people informally settle into certain favorite spots in the sanctuary and do occasionally feel perturbed when a newcomer sits unknowingly in that favorite spot. But for the most part our worship seating practices have modernized toward more flexible seating arrangements.
What other aspects of worship should modernize? I suppose much depends on what we believe worship is meant to accomplish.
On one point of the star, what some call “Liturgical Worship” or “formal” worship, the purpose is to offer dignified space and practices that predictably emphasize a somewhat vertical experience of God.
Another type of worship, what some might call “Charismatic Worship”, allows space for the Holy Spirit of God to come down and for God’s presence to become immanent in the lives of participants.
Another unique form of worship, what some have called “Contemporary Music Driven Worship”, offers contemporary space and practices which are relevant to everyday lives so that people are drawn into authentic relationship with Jesus Christ.
Another point on the “worship types star” is what some have called “Emergent Worship” which emphasizes a horizontal experience of God (God is in us and we are in God) through eclectic (with endless variety) space and practices.
I think our current worship is 75% Liturgical, 15% Contemporary, 7% Emergent and 3% Charismatic. What do you think?
I am not always satisfied with how we worship together, often wishing the star was more symmetrical at least, or maybe even with a longer “emergent” beam of light, because I personally experience God best when I am hearing God speak through the surprisingly mundane actions and words of others. But I suspect that a majority of FUMC parishioners prefer a longer “liturgical” shaft of light, so I continue to offer more vertical space and practices (such as using a program that lists everything we expect to do in worship, wearing a robe, preaching from the pulpit, placing offering on the altar.) I can offer these practices faithfully because I believe in a God who can use something as simple as a shrub (See “Burning Bush”) or bread (See “Last Supper”) in order to be “experienced”. And to me, that is the mid-point of the star, the space where these diverse lines intersect, the reason and purpose of worship:
God CAN be experienced!
A vital, authentic experience of God leads to loving relationship with God.
A loving relationship with God leads to a vitalized, loving relationship with all of creation.
Whatever your preference for worship, I hope you will meet with us one day soon so together we can share in the love of God!
Pastor Doug
Here at First United Methodist Church (of the open pew) of Hudson, our pews are reminders of days when pews WERE assigned. The pews are numbered. Once upon a time members “leased” their family pew from the church. A nifty fundraiser, the practice never-the-less fell out of favor and is now forbidden by our United Methodist Book of Discipline. Sure, people informally settle into certain favorite spots in the sanctuary and do occasionally feel perturbed when a newcomer sits unknowingly in that favorite spot. But for the most part our worship seating practices have modernized toward more flexible seating arrangements.
What other aspects of worship should modernize? I suppose much depends on what we believe worship is meant to accomplish.
On one point of the star, what some call “Liturgical Worship” or “formal” worship, the purpose is to offer dignified space and practices that predictably emphasize a somewhat vertical experience of God.
Another type of worship, what some might call “Charismatic Worship”, allows space for the Holy Spirit of God to come down and for God’s presence to become immanent in the lives of participants.
Another unique form of worship, what some have called “Contemporary Music Driven Worship”, offers contemporary space and practices which are relevant to everyday lives so that people are drawn into authentic relationship with Jesus Christ.
Another point on the “worship types star” is what some have called “Emergent Worship” which emphasizes a horizontal experience of God (God is in us and we are in God) through eclectic (with endless variety) space and practices.
I think our current worship is 75% Liturgical, 15% Contemporary, 7% Emergent and 3% Charismatic. What do you think?
I am not always satisfied with how we worship together, often wishing the star was more symmetrical at least, or maybe even with a longer “emergent” beam of light, because I personally experience God best when I am hearing God speak through the surprisingly mundane actions and words of others. But I suspect that a majority of FUMC parishioners prefer a longer “liturgical” shaft of light, so I continue to offer more vertical space and practices (such as using a program that lists everything we expect to do in worship, wearing a robe, preaching from the pulpit, placing offering on the altar.) I can offer these practices faithfully because I believe in a God who can use something as simple as a shrub (See “Burning Bush”) or bread (See “Last Supper”) in order to be “experienced”. And to me, that is the mid-point of the star, the space where these diverse lines intersect, the reason and purpose of worship:
God CAN be experienced!
A vital, authentic experience of God leads to loving relationship with God.
A loving relationship with God leads to a vitalized, loving relationship with all of creation.
Whatever your preference for worship, I hope you will meet with us one day soon so together we can share in the love of God!
Pastor Doug
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Faith Development of Teens
When I first interviewed here at FUMC in 2008 a committee member asked me how I felt about cheese puffs and shaving cream. The group showed me a picture of FUMC youth on Ski Retreat playing a game that required a person to don a trash bag and shower cap and smear shaving cream all over their head and face. Team members would carefully pitch cheese puffs, lodging them in the shaving cream to tally-up points for the side. Was I the kind of pastor to do such things or would I be one of those stuffy academic types who could not be playful?
Looking at all of the pictures of youth ministry in Lamson Hall I find it easy to thank God for all of those youth and adults who have said “yes” to the shaving cream and cheese puffs. I am thankful for service projects like the 30 Hour Famine and CROP Walk and for all of those late night gatherings around illuminated crosses and for the Bring Your Own Bible studies and for the scores of programs offered by church leaders. I am also thankful for the relationships youth counselors Matt, Susan, Laurie, Sara, Michelle and Diana (and other over the years) have built with these kids.
Yet those pictures also make me aware of kids who do not seem to be a regular part of the life of our congregation. It happens in every church; young people get enthusiastic about big events but are largely absent from worship, education and service at the host church. Lately we have noticed in this church that youth events like Mystery Tours and Lock-Ins and Bible Studies draw fewer and fewer teens. And, like most churches, we have watched as teens are confirmed and then disappear into the woods of high school. My favorite book on youth ministry is “The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul-Tending for Youth Ministry” by Kenda Creasy Dean and Ron Foster (1998). Here is how they explain the problem with many churches such as ours:
“The problem we have discovered after a hundred years of youth groups, is that the youth group is notoriously unreliable for fostering ongoing faith. The youth group model—sometimes referred to as the “one-eared Mickey Mouse” model of ministry—created an environment in which youth, isolated in an “ear” on top of Mickey’s head, had only marginal contact with the rest of the body of Christ. The congregation worshipped in the sanctuary; youth met in the basement. The congregation gathered on Sunday mornings; the youth gathered on Sunday nights. The congregation listened to sermons; youth heard ‘youth talks’. The congregation had Bible study; youth had devotions. The congregation had a budget; the youth had a bake sale.
Nothing that happened in the life of the congregation as a whole looked even vaguely familiar to youth ghettoized in youth groups and vice versa…When youth graduated from youth group—the only form of ministry they had ever experienced—they effectively graduated from the church as well. Those who returned to church as adults often found worship an alien experience, a distant second to the warmth and intimacy they remembered from the youth ministry of their teen years.” P.30
I see the author’s point: The youth ministry of the church should dovetail neatly with the overall ministry and movement of the congregation. How can we do that better at FUMC? Please be part of a discussion at our Facebook page which is Hope For Hudson. http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=135&uid=109123902448060
This summer I am looking forward to working with adults and teens on youth ministry that does what few churches have been able to do—inspires teens and adults together, forging a love for God and a sense of purpose and virtue that lasts a lifetime. I have a few ideas about how to do it and I expect that you do too. Please share your ideas!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Christian Education
One of the most controversial books in my library is one by Grace Llewellyn called “The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education”. Written by a former middle school teacher, the book lists the following problems with schools:
· Schools require passivity.
· Schools cram you too full too fast.
· School people care more about appearances than about learning.
· School isn’t challenging enough if you are academically inclined.
· Schools present learning backwards, emphasizing answers instead of questions.
· School asks you to get stressed-out attaining mediocrity in six or so subjects rather than be amazed at one or two you love.
I am not listing her argument here to make the case that your children or grandchildren should rethink returning to school next fall. Rather, I want our church to consider the extent to which our own efforts at education stumble on these same pitfalls. Notice the list does not indict teachers whose love for students and passion and knowledge about the subjects they teach are generally beyond question. The list attacks the overall system.
I am a product of Sunday School, I took classes in Christian Education in College, I worked in my grad school’s Religious Education Curriculum Library—evaluating every single piece of curriculum created by every denomination from 1990 to 1993, and I have seen both active Sunday School and the results of Sunday School in seven United Methodist churches. I’ve seen lots of theory and many different models. On the other hand I have heard from a lot of worn-out teachers, bored children and confused parents. And I am aware that Sunday School attendance has decreased in all churches by at least 70 percent since the 1970s. It continues to decrease here at FUMC too. Yes, there is now more competition for a student’s time and Church often falls below sports, but why is that so?
Every curriculum that I have seen in action has had a certain “cookie-cutter” quality. They have to, because they are written by committee for hundreds of churches to be used by thousands of teachers who, because their lives are complicated enough, need straightforward teaching helps. The curriculum is getting more and more high-tech and uses cooler and cooler ways to communicate the Gospel, but I can’t help wondering if the reason we lose school age children (and the reason churches have lost so many adult products of Sunday School) is because Sunday School has been:
· too passive (unlike soccer),
· too full--too fast (curriculum correctly identifies the variety of learning styles among children but then forces teachers to hit all six styles to address seven lesson points all within 45 minutes…too much!)
· answering questions students are not asking
Sunday, May 23rd at 9:30 I am planning to meet with Sunday School leaders and their children to talk about a new model for education called the “Rotation Model”. I would like for us to adopt this innovative, LIBERATING model next fall. If you care about this, I hope you will join the conversation. And that leads to my final point here.
There is no magic curriculum or educational formula that can turn the ship around. The difference takes place when we all take seriously the third bullet point problem in the Liberation list above: caring more about appearances than about learning. This is not an issue among our teachers who DO attend to the learning. It is an issue for all of us parents and fellow Christians who do not reinforce what has been shared, who are not aware of the direction the curriculum is going and cannot adequately explain to our young people why Sunday School is really important. Everyone knows why soccer is good—it is fun, physical and teaches teamwork. What about Sunday School?
This Sunday we celebrate Sunday School. This year it invited our children to live their belief in God by cultivating trust in God’s love and responsibility for God’s church and creation. Let us give thanks for these students and their teachers and then let’s work together to make a good thing better for next year!
Pastor Doug
· Schools require passivity.
· Schools cram you too full too fast.
· School people care more about appearances than about learning.
· School isn’t challenging enough if you are academically inclined.
· Schools present learning backwards, emphasizing answers instead of questions.
· School asks you to get stressed-out attaining mediocrity in six or so subjects rather than be amazed at one or two you love.
I am not listing her argument here to make the case that your children or grandchildren should rethink returning to school next fall. Rather, I want our church to consider the extent to which our own efforts at education stumble on these same pitfalls. Notice the list does not indict teachers whose love for students and passion and knowledge about the subjects they teach are generally beyond question. The list attacks the overall system.
I am a product of Sunday School, I took classes in Christian Education in College, I worked in my grad school’s Religious Education Curriculum Library—evaluating every single piece of curriculum created by every denomination from 1990 to 1993, and I have seen both active Sunday School and the results of Sunday School in seven United Methodist churches. I’ve seen lots of theory and many different models. On the other hand I have heard from a lot of worn-out teachers, bored children and confused parents. And I am aware that Sunday School attendance has decreased in all churches by at least 70 percent since the 1970s. It continues to decrease here at FUMC too. Yes, there is now more competition for a student’s time and Church often falls below sports, but why is that so?
Every curriculum that I have seen in action has had a certain “cookie-cutter” quality. They have to, because they are written by committee for hundreds of churches to be used by thousands of teachers who, because their lives are complicated enough, need straightforward teaching helps. The curriculum is getting more and more high-tech and uses cooler and cooler ways to communicate the Gospel, but I can’t help wondering if the reason we lose school age children (and the reason churches have lost so many adult products of Sunday School) is because Sunday School has been:
· too passive (unlike soccer),
· too full--too fast (curriculum correctly identifies the variety of learning styles among children but then forces teachers to hit all six styles to address seven lesson points all within 45 minutes…too much!)
· answering questions students are not asking
Sunday, May 23rd at 9:30 I am planning to meet with Sunday School leaders and their children to talk about a new model for education called the “Rotation Model”. I would like for us to adopt this innovative, LIBERATING model next fall. If you care about this, I hope you will join the conversation. And that leads to my final point here.
There is no magic curriculum or educational formula that can turn the ship around. The difference takes place when we all take seriously the third bullet point problem in the Liberation list above: caring more about appearances than about learning. This is not an issue among our teachers who DO attend to the learning. It is an issue for all of us parents and fellow Christians who do not reinforce what has been shared, who are not aware of the direction the curriculum is going and cannot adequately explain to our young people why Sunday School is really important. Everyone knows why soccer is good—it is fun, physical and teaches teamwork. What about Sunday School?
This Sunday we celebrate Sunday School. This year it invited our children to live their belief in God by cultivating trust in God’s love and responsibility for God’s church and creation. Let us give thanks for these students and their teachers and then let’s work together to make a good thing better for next year!
Pastor Doug
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Ministry Opportunities for May 2010
For people who have been feeling a bit uptight, have some FUN with FUMC:
Mother’s Day in Church
May 11th
Graduating Senior Kevin Anderson shares the morning message! Come and learn what Kevin has seen over the past years and where is making plans to go in the years ahead! He will make you proud!
We will celebrate our families by bringing simple flowers from our homes or neighborhoods (even greenery is welcome!). We will collect all of these signs of Spring in our yellow buckets and form a beautiful display in honor of our families. If you would like to share with all of us a minute or two story about your mother or child or even someone else’s parent or children, contact Pastor Doug before Sunday: 781-913-2799 or pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
We will also celebrate the baptism of Nick and Tamera Brickl’s son Aaron. Don’t miss the chance to sing Aaron a lullaby on Mother’s Day!
Church Clean-Up
Saturday May 22nd
Interested helpers e-mail Trustee Chairperson Jeff Czerwinski jeffcz@pga.com.
Clean cobwebs—dust tables—cover scratches in pews—trim hedges—clear-out closets. There is a one-hour task for every one of every age. We always have fun cleaning together!
Hudson Fest
June 5th
Interested helpers call or write to Ada, a.arenstrup17@verizon.net or 978-618-7350 OR the church office, Bonnie@hopeforhudson.com 978-562-2932
BOOTH downtown
5 people needed to set-up booth, handout free water and distribute free flower bulbs while we share information about our church. 8:30-10:30 Set-Up Crew. 10:30 to 1:30 Hand-Out Crew. 1:30 to 3 Take-Down crew.
YARD SALE church parking lot
Drop-Off and price goods Thursday after 7pm through Friday evening.
Remember, no clothing donations.
Sale Opens at 9AM. Help us set-up at 8AM and take down after 3PM
BBQ church parking lot
We need a few folks to make salads and three or four general helpers to clean tables and offer greetings to newcomers. And of course bring the family for some GREAT Barbecue with all the fixin’s!
Sunday School and Vacation Bible Camp Areas
We are preparing NOW for FUN new Educational Offerings:
Vacation Bible Camp
Sunday August 15 through Thursday, August 19th
EVENINGS!
Beginning with cook-out at 5:30 and ending with campfire at 8.
Interested helpers see our VBC Page, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526#!/group.php?gid=113204568701755, or contact Stacey Hartford shartford1874@yahoo.com .
If you are an Adult or High School Teen, we want to know if you…
· Enjoy recreation with kids?
· Enjoy watching videos and talking about it?
· Enjoy theater?
· Enjoy showing kids cool science experiments?
· Enjoy leading silly songs?
· Enjoy the creation of art?
Can you join a team one or two nights to help cook for 70 people?
Can you help us paint a classroom and create an indoor forest?
Can you lead a group of young teens hiking, biking and window-shopping in Hudson?
Can you invest two hours a day for one week with some precious children?
Summer Planning for Fall Learning
Interested helpers please call Pastor Doug 781-913-2799 or e-mail Pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
Our educational model next year will be new. It will look a lot more like Vacation Bible Camp and feel a lot less like school or “church”. Kids will really want to attend and adults leader will find it much easier and more rewarding assisting the kids in their learning.
We will be using what is called the “rotation” model. You can read a brief three page introduction to the model at this site: http://www.rotation.org/outlook.htm
In our church, we might offer the same “rotations” as we will at Vacation Bible Camp. One area may be dedicated to showing science experiments, another focuses on Art projects, another focuses on recreation, another helps kids experience the Bible story as a drama, another area invites kids to cook! The overall theme for the six week group of rotations might be the story of the Exodus from Egypt. So in the science rotation, the kids are making good and bad bricks and learning how Egyptions might have used Hebrew slave labor. The teacher offers that same lesson five times over five weeks. The teacher and lesson don’t change, but each week a new pack of kids does. The kids rotate from a previous lesson—maybe they cooked flat-bread the week before—and into the science rotation.
We will need teachers and lovers of children who enjoy cooking or science experiments or storytelling or recreation or showing DVDs and websites to help kids grow in faith and knowledge. We also need shepherds who will stay with the same kids week to week. Shepherds have no lesson to prepare, rather they make sure kids and their needs are remembered week-to-week. If you would like to be in on this awesome experiment for 2010, please find us on the Hope For Hudson Facebook Page here: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=109123902448060 Look for the SUNDAY Education Forum.
For people who have been feeling like they have more to offer in life, but are wary of getting over-involved. A range of options to do some good:
Buy an Adirondack Chair
Support the Adult Mission Team!
Requests for chairs should be e-mailed to Steve: steve.albino@oracle.com, or Jim james.m.niro@lmco.com.
Stephen Ministry/CARE Team
A New Stephen Ministry Training Series will be held Wednesday nights over the summer.
Interested members please write to Susan at s.niro@raytheon.com
Stephen Ministers are trained to form special weekly, caring relationships with people who are suffering and need a friend to talk with. Many in our church already know the value of the training (see the bulletin board in Lamson Hall to find out who they are!) and many others have privately, gladly accepted the help. We want to expand this opportunity to more Care-Givers and Care Receivers to respond to the longer-term needs of people in crisis.
Care Team Forming
Interested members please write to Barbra Kirk cwa1290@yahoo.com
One simple visit to the hospital can completely change a patient’s outlook! One simple meal delivered with love or one simple card or phone call can erase a week of misery and a month of loneliness. How can you help the Care Team respond to short-term needs of individuals in crisis?
Children Acolytes
Interested parents of grade school children may call Stacey 978-875-1238.
This Summer we will bring back the participation of children as candle-lighters. Once we have enough interested families we will offer an acolyte training at a convenient time.
For people been feeling disconnected from God or the church lately:
(5 minutes)
Share Your Opinion About Summer Worship Times
Visit our Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526
This year we would like to offer a service on Thursday nights in Lamson Hall at 6:30PM and a service Sunday mornings at 9:30AM. Both services will feature similar music, scripture and messages for adults and children. The Thursday service offers a bit more informality and the opportunity to be away on the weekend without missing live worship at FUMC Hudson. The service on Sunday is early enough to keep sanctuary participants cool and to offer a full day summer activities after 10:30.
In consultation with our food coordinator, Barbara Moore, in the summertime we would like to shift away from a table full snacks and cheeses and punch toward a simple option of coffee (or cold water or tea) and one breakfast-like baked-good like small muffin. We would charge an affordable fee for the snack. Parents will appreciate knowing that the kids will not be racing down to eat goodies without supervision and the small fee will pay for the paper goods and food that tend to cost annually around $800.
Have an opinion about these? Share it on the Worship Team page of Facebook or write to pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
(2 hours)
Offer Your Song this Summer
If you have a special song for worship which you would like someone to share or if YOU would like to offer it, please contact Deacon Erika: Erika@hopeforhudson.com
(5 months)
Serve on an IMPORTANT Short –Term Task Force
Please contact Pastor Doug by phone: 781-913-2799
What is working really well at FUMC Hudson?
How can we better reach those in our community who have a hard-as-rock indifference to the message of Jesus’ love?
How can we best address inequalities and injustice in our community that sap hope from our neighborhoods?
How can we restructure our church so that our ministry produces fruit which is not tangled by the weeds of excessive time-commitments, financial burdens or other outmoded assumptions.
Small groups will research the answers to these questions and present findings the larger church in August, September and October. Our goal is to propose new initiatives to our next annual meeting in the Fall of 2010.
The group will be composed by nomination from church leaders (3), nomination from pastor (3) and self-nomination (3) for a total of nine. Self nominations are welcome at this time.
(3 Years, one meeting a month)
FUMC Leadership
Contact Pastor Doug: pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com
The Trustees, Staff Parish Relations Committee, Finance and Stewardship committees are all looking for dedicated participants of FUMC Hudson.
People who have expertise in law, construction, real estate, business management might most enjoy membership on the trustees.
Mother’s Day in Church
May 11th
Graduating Senior Kevin Anderson shares the morning message! Come and learn what Kevin has seen over the past years and where is making plans to go in the years ahead! He will make you proud!
We will celebrate our families by bringing simple flowers from our homes or neighborhoods (even greenery is welcome!). We will collect all of these signs of Spring in our yellow buckets and form a beautiful display in honor of our families. If you would like to share with all of us a minute or two story about your mother or child or even someone else’s parent or children, contact Pastor Doug before Sunday: 781-913-2799 or pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
We will also celebrate the baptism of Nick and Tamera Brickl’s son Aaron. Don’t miss the chance to sing Aaron a lullaby on Mother’s Day!
Church Clean-Up
Saturday May 22nd
Interested helpers e-mail Trustee Chairperson Jeff Czerwinski jeffcz@pga.com.
Clean cobwebs—dust tables—cover scratches in pews—trim hedges—clear-out closets. There is a one-hour task for every one of every age. We always have fun cleaning together!
Hudson Fest
June 5th
Interested helpers call or write to Ada, a.arenstrup17@verizon.net or 978-618-7350 OR the church office, Bonnie@hopeforhudson.com 978-562-2932
BOOTH downtown
5 people needed to set-up booth, handout free water and distribute free flower bulbs while we share information about our church. 8:30-10:30 Set-Up Crew. 10:30 to 1:30 Hand-Out Crew. 1:30 to 3 Take-Down crew.
YARD SALE church parking lot
Drop-Off and price goods Thursday after 7pm through Friday evening.
Remember, no clothing donations.
Sale Opens at 9AM. Help us set-up at 8AM and take down after 3PM
BBQ church parking lot
We need a few folks to make salads and three or four general helpers to clean tables and offer greetings to newcomers. And of course bring the family for some GREAT Barbecue with all the fixin’s!
Sunday School and Vacation Bible Camp Areas
We are preparing NOW for FUN new Educational Offerings:
Vacation Bible Camp
Sunday August 15 through Thursday, August 19th
EVENINGS!
Beginning with cook-out at 5:30 and ending with campfire at 8.
Interested helpers see our VBC Page, http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526#!/group.php?gid=113204568701755, or contact Stacey Hartford shartford1874@yahoo.com .
If you are an Adult or High School Teen, we want to know if you…
· Enjoy recreation with kids?
· Enjoy watching videos and talking about it?
· Enjoy theater?
· Enjoy showing kids cool science experiments?
· Enjoy leading silly songs?
· Enjoy the creation of art?
Can you join a team one or two nights to help cook for 70 people?
Can you help us paint a classroom and create an indoor forest?
Can you lead a group of young teens hiking, biking and window-shopping in Hudson?
Can you invest two hours a day for one week with some precious children?
Summer Planning for Fall Learning
Interested helpers please call Pastor Doug 781-913-2799 or e-mail Pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
Our educational model next year will be new. It will look a lot more like Vacation Bible Camp and feel a lot less like school or “church”. Kids will really want to attend and adults leader will find it much easier and more rewarding assisting the kids in their learning.
We will be using what is called the “rotation” model. You can read a brief three page introduction to the model at this site: http://www.rotation.org/outlook.htm
In our church, we might offer the same “rotations” as we will at Vacation Bible Camp. One area may be dedicated to showing science experiments, another focuses on Art projects, another focuses on recreation, another helps kids experience the Bible story as a drama, another area invites kids to cook! The overall theme for the six week group of rotations might be the story of the Exodus from Egypt. So in the science rotation, the kids are making good and bad bricks and learning how Egyptions might have used Hebrew slave labor. The teacher offers that same lesson five times over five weeks. The teacher and lesson don’t change, but each week a new pack of kids does. The kids rotate from a previous lesson—maybe they cooked flat-bread the week before—and into the science rotation.
We will need teachers and lovers of children who enjoy cooking or science experiments or storytelling or recreation or showing DVDs and websites to help kids grow in faith and knowledge. We also need shepherds who will stay with the same kids week to week. Shepherds have no lesson to prepare, rather they make sure kids and their needs are remembered week-to-week. If you would like to be in on this awesome experiment for 2010, please find us on the Hope For Hudson Facebook Page here: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=109123902448060 Look for the SUNDAY Education Forum.
For people who have been feeling like they have more to offer in life, but are wary of getting over-involved. A range of options to do some good:
Buy an Adirondack Chair
Support the Adult Mission Team!
Requests for chairs should be e-mailed to Steve: steve.albino@oracle.com, or Jim james.m.niro@lmco.com.
Stephen Ministry/CARE Team
A New Stephen Ministry Training Series will be held Wednesday nights over the summer.
Interested members please write to Susan at s.niro@raytheon.com
Stephen Ministers are trained to form special weekly, caring relationships with people who are suffering and need a friend to talk with. Many in our church already know the value of the training (see the bulletin board in Lamson Hall to find out who they are!) and many others have privately, gladly accepted the help. We want to expand this opportunity to more Care-Givers and Care Receivers to respond to the longer-term needs of people in crisis.
Care Team Forming
Interested members please write to Barbra Kirk cwa1290@yahoo.com
One simple visit to the hospital can completely change a patient’s outlook! One simple meal delivered with love or one simple card or phone call can erase a week of misery and a month of loneliness. How can you help the Care Team respond to short-term needs of individuals in crisis?
Children Acolytes
Interested parents of grade school children may call Stacey 978-875-1238.
This Summer we will bring back the participation of children as candle-lighters. Once we have enough interested families we will offer an acolyte training at a convenient time.
For people been feeling disconnected from God or the church lately:
(5 minutes)
Share Your Opinion About Summer Worship Times
Visit our Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=119046771441526
This year we would like to offer a service on Thursday nights in Lamson Hall at 6:30PM and a service Sunday mornings at 9:30AM. Both services will feature similar music, scripture and messages for adults and children. The Thursday service offers a bit more informality and the opportunity to be away on the weekend without missing live worship at FUMC Hudson. The service on Sunday is early enough to keep sanctuary participants cool and to offer a full day summer activities after 10:30.
In consultation with our food coordinator, Barbara Moore, in the summertime we would like to shift away from a table full snacks and cheeses and punch toward a simple option of coffee (or cold water or tea) and one breakfast-like baked-good like small muffin. We would charge an affordable fee for the snack. Parents will appreciate knowing that the kids will not be racing down to eat goodies without supervision and the small fee will pay for the paper goods and food that tend to cost annually around $800.
Have an opinion about these? Share it on the Worship Team page of Facebook or write to pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com.
(2 hours)
Offer Your Song this Summer
If you have a special song for worship which you would like someone to share or if YOU would like to offer it, please contact Deacon Erika: Erika@hopeforhudson.com
(5 months)
Serve on an IMPORTANT Short –Term Task Force
Please contact Pastor Doug by phone: 781-913-2799
What is working really well at FUMC Hudson?
How can we better reach those in our community who have a hard-as-rock indifference to the message of Jesus’ love?
How can we best address inequalities and injustice in our community that sap hope from our neighborhoods?
How can we restructure our church so that our ministry produces fruit which is not tangled by the weeds of excessive time-commitments, financial burdens or other outmoded assumptions.
Small groups will research the answers to these questions and present findings the larger church in August, September and October. Our goal is to propose new initiatives to our next annual meeting in the Fall of 2010.
The group will be composed by nomination from church leaders (3), nomination from pastor (3) and self-nomination (3) for a total of nine. Self nominations are welcome at this time.
(3 Years, one meeting a month)
FUMC Leadership
Contact Pastor Doug: pastordoug@hopeforhudson.com
The Trustees, Staff Parish Relations Committee, Finance and Stewardship committees are all looking for dedicated participants of FUMC Hudson.
People who have expertise in law, construction, real estate, business management might most enjoy membership on the trustees.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
LENT 4
Call to Confession
We pause to consider how far we may have wandered from our home with God. Are we sometimes like a horse or mule whose temper must be curbed? Have we turned away from responsibility in order to seek shallow pleasures and selfish gratification? Or do we consider ourselves beyond reproach, looking down on those mired in the pigpens of life? Wherever we are, there is much to confess.
This call to confession relies on a reading of Luke 15:11-32, the story of the Prodigal Son. It will help you to read this story before Sunday. Few of us preachers ever actually preach about the Prodigal Son because it needs very little interpretation. Read it before Sunday and find yourselves in the story. Chances are good you will relate to either the younger or the older son.
Confession
O God we will not try to hide from you the wrong we have done or the good we have neglected. You know our transgressions. You have observed our pretensions. We have claimed too lightly the label “Christian,” for often we cut ourselves off from you and from the people we disdain. At times our rebellion leaves us hungry, alone, friendless. O God we are not worthy to be called your children. Grant us, we pray, your forgiveness and pardon and a renewed sense of who you intend us to be and to become. (Silent, personal confession)
This week talk show host Glenn Beck encouraged listeners to check their church’s website looking for the word “social justice”. To Beck, “social justice” is code for “Communism” and church members should “run” from churches which support “social justice”. I know this is just more incendiary stuff meant to attract attention. It is not an invitation to think critically and debate honestly the boundaries between personal liberty and the common good. It is just a Molotov cocktail tossed into an open window. Still, it does offer an opportunity to consider what it means to be a “Christian”. To what extent is our participation in this religion simply a pretension---a journey that we always talk about but never actually take? How likely are we to run from “social justice” not because Glenn Beck says we should but because it shames our satisfactions?
Assurance of Forgiveness
Be assured that God forgives the guilt of our sin. Happy are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sin is covered. Rejoice, for God has brought us back to life!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Third Sunday of Lent
Call to Confession
This Sunday, at 10:45 worship, we will be singing two short songs reflecting a southern, African-American Spiritual tradition. I chose these songs because I find them soulful and true-to-life. Though the words are quite simple—“You better min’ how you talk”—the theology is deep: we are accountable for how we live our lives, for what we say and how we say it. That is the lesson we will read in Luke 13:1-9.
You’d better min’ how you talk,
you’d better min’ what you talking’ about,
You got to give account in de Judgment, you’d better min’!
You’d better min’ how you shout,
you’d better min what you shoutin’ about,
You got to give account in de Judgment, you’d better min’.
Confession
Lord I’m bearin’ heavy burdens, trying to get home.
Lord, I’m climbin’ high mountains, trying to get home.
Lord, I’m standin’ hard trials, tryin’ to get home.
I chose this spiritual song as a confession after hearing news about K Latzka’s diagnosis of lung cancer. I felt a bitterness toward God for all of the cancer-stricken people I have known. The more angry I became, the more people I included in my diatribe against God. Then there was silence. Then I remembered a guy named “Job” from the Bible who said “I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul (Job 7:11)…for the arrows of the almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me” (Job 6:4). Mmm, I could hear the spiritual rising up inside me… “bearin’ heavy burdens…climbin’ high mountains…standin’ hard trials.” “Tryin’ to get home.” I am not sure how you are handling this news about K or other difficulties in your own life. Maybe you console yourself with “It is what it is” as you pack the additional burden onto an already heavy load. I turn to God in confession: “Lord, as a reasonably faithful man I suppose by now I should be able to put things like cancer into proper perspective…but I can’t. This stinks, to put it plainly.”
Assurance of Forgiveness
Will there be an assurance of God’s love? What form will it take? Will I understand why cancer exists? Will I hear what the man Job heard from God, something along the lines of “You can’t possibly fathom what is at work here…but I love you anyway!”? The very possibility of hearing a word of grace makes me crave worship-I can’t wait until Sunday to hear God’s assurances.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Pipe-Cleaner for the Soul
Call to Confession
God has drawn the church into covenant, calling us to be faithful people who walk in the ways of Christ. Yet how often do we explore what that means or examine our behavior against the example of Christ? A time of confession gives us the opportunity to reclaim and grow in our relationship with God.
A covenant is another name for a contract. Our worship service this Sunday will recall a covenant made between Abram and God (Genesis 15). Abram was promised a legacy in exchange for promising faithfulness to God. That is an ancient story and our distance from it is equally vast. The idea that we are all somehow heirs in God’s family and have specific rights and responsibilities seems remote. I have citizen’s rights as an American and thus I have responsibilities to the IRS; do I have similar rights and responsibilities to God?
Confession
God of all people, we confess that we claim you majesty and power for our exclusive benefit. We relish the good things of life and are reluctant to share with those who seem less deserving. We resist the prophets who point out our greed, even when we feel we are being generous. We resent persons in positions of authority over us who seem not to have our best interests at heart. We are angry about one whose evil deeds seem to go unpunished. O God, how can we receive your mercy when we are so reluctant to pass it on? Help us to center our lives in your love more than our own desires.
For weeks now I have driven past a “Vote for Scott Brown” sign that was written in sloppy black ink onto a white, 10-gallon, plastic container lid and bolted to a telephone pole. The sign was taken down not after Scott won the election but after Scott lost the good will that sent him to the Senate. Scott sided with the democrats. Now all that remains of the good will are two bolts with fragments of white plastic attached to a post. We are fickle and merciless. In yesterday’s Boston Herald a woman wrote condemning Tiger Woods insinuating that his hedonistic lifestyle was a direct result of his Buddhist practices and added “When he dies I pray God will have mercy on his pathetic soul”. Does she really pray for Tiger’s soul? Might she also pray for her own?
Assurance of Forgiveness
If we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven. Amen.
At the end of this week’s sermon I tell a story about a man who experienced a divine conversion while visiting the Holy Land. He described the experience as if something had taken a giant pipe-cleaner to his soul. Clean. May it be so for you this Lent.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
LENT ONE
I Have a Confession to Make
Each week in Lent we will share a corporate confession in both 8:15 and 10:45 worship. Before seeing these confessions in worship, I will write them in the “Front Porch” and post them on www.frontporchhudson.blogspot.com . The actual confession, written by Lavon Baylor, will appear in black. My responses will be in italicized purple (the color for the season of Lent).
Call to Confession
Come all who have inflicted or accepted oppression; we share in the world’s sin. Come all who make distinctions among people; we participate in the brokenness of God’s family. Come all who respond to false voices of the world; God is calling us away from our former limitations.
This Sunday we will hear the Bible story of Satan tempting Jesus. Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and forced, perhaps because he was fasting, to hear the empty promises offered him by Satan. Jesus had to learn to discern the truth. We are “called” to confession by the Holy Spirit because we too must learn to discern “false” voices from that which is true.
Confession
Holy God, we confess our desire to reshape your world to our own advantage. We are more concerned with what we eat than with who will get to eat today. Our own security is more important to us than the health and safety of all of your children. The first fruits of our labor grace the altars of our own desires instead of honoring you. We prefer that you keep your distance from us unless we need you. We like promises without commands, gifts without responsibilities. O God we confess that our ways don’t work. Turn us around for true worship and service, as forgiven and forgiving people.
This confession remembers Jesus’ encounter with Satan in the wilderness when Satan invited Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Jesus quoted Hebrew scripture to insist that we do not live by bread alone but rather by truth which comes from God. Perhaps this is a variation on the proverb “Give a man a fish and he will eat today; teach a man to fish and he will eat tomorrow”. This confession takes that a step further: I can ask God to satisfy my immediate hunger, but with that same breath, I in my great trust in God’s providence might as well ask for the end of all hunger, not just my own. Have I been too selfish to ask God for such a thing? And to work for it?
Assurance of Forgiveness
All who call on God will know salvation. Those who cling to God will be delivered. How great is the joy of people who are loved, forgiven and set free to become a new creation, through Christ Jesus. God’s gifts are for you. Receive them in trust, knowing that God’s presence and protection are yours to enjoy every day.
This Lent I have chosen to relate the Biblical stories of Lent to the daily opportunity to cook. Chef Matt Williams will join me on occasions as we explore the parallels between the art (and necessity) of cooking and the practice (and necessity) of spiritual devotion. If this sounds like we might be having entirely too much fun in worship and that perhaps Lent should be more morose, please re-read the assurance of forgiveness. The truth sets us free and that…feels…GOOD!
Each week in Lent we will share a corporate confession in both 8:15 and 10:45 worship. Before seeing these confessions in worship, I will write them in the “Front Porch” and post them on www.frontporchhudson.blogspot.com . The actual confession, written by Lavon Baylor, will appear in black. My responses will be in italicized purple (the color for the season of Lent).
Call to Confession
Come all who have inflicted or accepted oppression; we share in the world’s sin. Come all who make distinctions among people; we participate in the brokenness of God’s family. Come all who respond to false voices of the world; God is calling us away from our former limitations.
This Sunday we will hear the Bible story of Satan tempting Jesus. Jesus is driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness and forced, perhaps because he was fasting, to hear the empty promises offered him by Satan. Jesus had to learn to discern the truth. We are “called” to confession by the Holy Spirit because we too must learn to discern “false” voices from that which is true.
Confession
Holy God, we confess our desire to reshape your world to our own advantage. We are more concerned with what we eat than with who will get to eat today. Our own security is more important to us than the health and safety of all of your children. The first fruits of our labor grace the altars of our own desires instead of honoring you. We prefer that you keep your distance from us unless we need you. We like promises without commands, gifts without responsibilities. O God we confess that our ways don’t work. Turn us around for true worship and service, as forgiven and forgiving people.
This confession remembers Jesus’ encounter with Satan in the wilderness when Satan invited Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Jesus quoted Hebrew scripture to insist that we do not live by bread alone but rather by truth which comes from God. Perhaps this is a variation on the proverb “Give a man a fish and he will eat today; teach a man to fish and he will eat tomorrow”. This confession takes that a step further: I can ask God to satisfy my immediate hunger, but with that same breath, I in my great trust in God’s providence might as well ask for the end of all hunger, not just my own. Have I been too selfish to ask God for such a thing? And to work for it?
Assurance of Forgiveness
All who call on God will know salvation. Those who cling to God will be delivered. How great is the joy of people who are loved, forgiven and set free to become a new creation, through Christ Jesus. God’s gifts are for you. Receive them in trust, knowing that God’s presence and protection are yours to enjoy every day.
This Lent I have chosen to relate the Biblical stories of Lent to the daily opportunity to cook. Chef Matt Williams will join me on occasions as we explore the parallels between the art (and necessity) of cooking and the practice (and necessity) of spiritual devotion. If this sounds like we might be having entirely too much fun in worship and that perhaps Lent should be more morose, please re-read the assurance of forgiveness. The truth sets us free and that…feels…GOOD!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
# 5 (of 5) Re-Tasking Building Space
I don’t know of any other pastor who has a fireplace in his or her office! This space was designed in 1913 to be a Lady’s Parlor. The Men’s Lounge was downstairs where the present church office (and another fireplace) is located. These spaces were “re-tasked” as sensibilities changed.
It is time to do some more re-tasking.
I’ll list these in three categories which will be the focus for our church in 2010-2011:
Study.
We have a library that few people actually use. That room is actually more regularly used as a choir room (but with no place to store music), a community meeting room (although the library limits the size needed for these groups) and a Junior High classroom (with nothing on the walls or windows that reflects the age of the learners). What is the best use of that space given our current mission?
We are using a model of Sunday School that divides grades and requires classroom space that we really don’t have. Prior to my arrival in 2007 there was talk of building additions to accommodate that Sunday School model. But there are better models. A workshop rotation model uses space differently and has several other huge benefits: teachers get to work in an area where they feel truly gifted (like drama or music or Bible storytelling) and prepare one lesson taught five consecutive weeks (preventing burn-out!) while kids enjoy Sunday School for the same reasons they enjoy Vacation Bible Camp—great variety. This method can also save money on curriculum! What other models could we explore?
Our one adult class meets in Lamson Hall on Sundays. I would like for that group to use my office instead and free-up that space for large, fun children’s activities on Sunday. And actually, I am not sure my office should be an “office” at all. Could I do my computer work out of the present choir room and allow the office to become a “prayer room” where intimate meetings can take place?
Outreach
When the public enters our church it sure would be nice if there was an obvious reception area perhaps just inside Lamson Hall. Agape Café could use it to welcome guests, Open Door clinic could use it to for more private intake. Imagine how little it would take to provide welcoming space.
Lamson Hall is largely unused six days a week and yet it must be heated. In the winter time residents of the local family homeless shelter could bring their kids out of that home with little room for play and into an expansive play space in Lamson Hall. (In the summer our neighbors could enjoy the playground on our property…just imagine it!)
Worship
We finally cleared the air hockey table off of the downstairs stage and left the altar there instead. Have you noticed the difference in the way that room feels? I have. It is now much easier to imagine worship taking place on the stage…maybe Thursday night after Agape Café? Maybe it becomes a youth stage for their worship services. In fact imagine converting Lamson Hall into a café for teenagers where they could experience poetry slams, live music and, of course, contemporary worship that they would be happy to invite their friends to.
In the main sanctuary the choir cannot see from behind the gigantic wall that surrounds them. So during joys and concerns and children’s message they stand and peek over the wall like Kilroy. Is that full-sized wall necessary or might it be cut down by three feet? And while we are cutting, might we shave-off a few pews so that people who find their way into worship because of our accessible parking lot can likewise find a place for themselves at the center of the congregation rather than on the fringes—the only place wheel-chairs currently “fit”.
I know some of my ideas are radical and will not be adopted. I also know that many of you have similar ideas and have not felt comfortable speaking-up. Well, we have a lot to talk about this year!
It is time to do some more re-tasking.
I’ll list these in three categories which will be the focus for our church in 2010-2011:
Study.
We have a library that few people actually use. That room is actually more regularly used as a choir room (but with no place to store music), a community meeting room (although the library limits the size needed for these groups) and a Junior High classroom (with nothing on the walls or windows that reflects the age of the learners). What is the best use of that space given our current mission?
We are using a model of Sunday School that divides grades and requires classroom space that we really don’t have. Prior to my arrival in 2007 there was talk of building additions to accommodate that Sunday School model. But there are better models. A workshop rotation model uses space differently and has several other huge benefits: teachers get to work in an area where they feel truly gifted (like drama or music or Bible storytelling) and prepare one lesson taught five consecutive weeks (preventing burn-out!) while kids enjoy Sunday School for the same reasons they enjoy Vacation Bible Camp—great variety. This method can also save money on curriculum! What other models could we explore?
Our one adult class meets in Lamson Hall on Sundays. I would like for that group to use my office instead and free-up that space for large, fun children’s activities on Sunday. And actually, I am not sure my office should be an “office” at all. Could I do my computer work out of the present choir room and allow the office to become a “prayer room” where intimate meetings can take place?
Outreach
When the public enters our church it sure would be nice if there was an obvious reception area perhaps just inside Lamson Hall. Agape Café could use it to welcome guests, Open Door clinic could use it to for more private intake. Imagine how little it would take to provide welcoming space.
Lamson Hall is largely unused six days a week and yet it must be heated. In the winter time residents of the local family homeless shelter could bring their kids out of that home with little room for play and into an expansive play space in Lamson Hall. (In the summer our neighbors could enjoy the playground on our property…just imagine it!)
Worship
We finally cleared the air hockey table off of the downstairs stage and left the altar there instead. Have you noticed the difference in the way that room feels? I have. It is now much easier to imagine worship taking place on the stage…maybe Thursday night after Agape Café? Maybe it becomes a youth stage for their worship services. In fact imagine converting Lamson Hall into a café for teenagers where they could experience poetry slams, live music and, of course, contemporary worship that they would be happy to invite their friends to.
In the main sanctuary the choir cannot see from behind the gigantic wall that surrounds them. So during joys and concerns and children’s message they stand and peek over the wall like Kilroy. Is that full-sized wall necessary or might it be cut down by three feet? And while we are cutting, might we shave-off a few pews so that people who find their way into worship because of our accessible parking lot can likewise find a place for themselves at the center of the congregation rather than on the fringes—the only place wheel-chairs currently “fit”.
I know some of my ideas are radical and will not be adopted. I also know that many of you have similar ideas and have not felt comfortable speaking-up. Well, we have a lot to talk about this year!
Thursday, November 12, 2009
# 4 (of 5) Vision 2012 Goal: Mission Plan Based on Community Need
When our Vision 2012 Team met with a consultant last year we learned that our church did not have a lot of “resiliency”. You might say that the church seemed to have a kind of “flu” bug. The church had experienced division around capital improvements, disappointment at falling short of capital campaign goals and then a rough pastoral transition followed by a worrisome economy. All of these things attacked the immune system of the church, so at the time our Vision Team came together, it seemed to the consultant that our church did not have the strength to even imagine audacious new goals and missions. The focus was on keeping and improving what we already have. When you are sick you don’t want to go outside!
Our Vision Team also exhibited signs of our lack of resiliency. The group named some intriguing ministry ideas such as to begin a Daycare Center, to create a Hudson Bookstore and Café or even to relocate to a storefront out of which Open Door and Agape could operate, leaving worship to take place in member’s homes where better intimacy could be achieved. Intriguing. But when we discussed the importance of really studying the community or reading books to understand the usefulness of these ideas, few among us had the energy. We want to get out of the house, we really do, but we are still under-the-weather.
The Vision 2012 Team isn’t bringing recommendations to the Church Conference that we open a Bookstore or a DayCare center at FUMC Hudson, intriguing as those may sound to some. I think our church is turning a healthy corner and we will soon be able and willing to tackle more audacious ministries for Chirst’s sake, but we can’t move forward on ideas like this without serious engagement with the community and with helpful texts. Still, I am looking for a cadre of dreamers who feel healthy enough to roam the streets of Hudson and Stow and Berlin. Here are examples of what they may be asking:
This summer Dennis and I stopped people on the street at Hudson Fest and asked them to tell us their favorite pizza place and their favorite song right now. Nobody told us that hymns were their favorite songs. Adults in this town like country music and rock music from the eighties and early nineties. Kids like thrash metal, hip hop and country, for the most part. How can we use what we know to meet people where they are?
Later in the summer I set-up a lemonade booth outside the church and asked parents with small children to fill-out a quick survey. The survey asked what opportunity at 34 Felton Street they were most likely to take advantage of. The list contained about fifteen possibilities including some typical offerings like worship and book studies. The three most popular items: 1. A play space for their kids. 2. Gourmet cooking classes. 3. Weeklong-camp during school holidays. How can we use what we know to meet people where they are?
Before Block Party a handful of us walked the church neighborhood inviting folks to join us at 34 Felton. I met with one longtime neighbor of the church who said he had never been visited by anyone from this church before. He was a happy Roman Catholic and so we invited him to Agape Café rather than to worship. I visited one house with a car out front that sported two bumper stickers—a rainbow flag (suggesting to me that the owner of the car is gay) and “Back Off—I’m a Goddess”. A woman came to the door, took the flier and said “Okay I’ll take this but otherwise I’m all set…” The last house I visited brought me face-to-face with a man who said he had only one friend in Hudson, only one person he felt he could trust. Everybody else had stabbed him in the back. He tells me he goes to work and he goes home, that’s it. I suggest to him that there is a third place for him and at least one more friend. He did seem grateful for our thirty-minute visit. None of these three people ever attended Block Party or Agape Café, but I learned much more about how a Catholic, a “Goddess” and an angry, lonely man see our church and community. How can I use what I know to meet these people where they are?
At Church Conference I am looking for people who are not afraid to talk to people about who they are and what they really need. I’m looking for people who have a sense that God wants to do something audacious through our church in this community, people committed to follow the signs no matter where they lead. Are you ready to go outside yet?
Our Vision Team also exhibited signs of our lack of resiliency. The group named some intriguing ministry ideas such as to begin a Daycare Center, to create a Hudson Bookstore and Café or even to relocate to a storefront out of which Open Door and Agape could operate, leaving worship to take place in member’s homes where better intimacy could be achieved. Intriguing. But when we discussed the importance of really studying the community or reading books to understand the usefulness of these ideas, few among us had the energy. We want to get out of the house, we really do, but we are still under-the-weather.
The Vision 2012 Team isn’t bringing recommendations to the Church Conference that we open a Bookstore or a DayCare center at FUMC Hudson, intriguing as those may sound to some. I think our church is turning a healthy corner and we will soon be able and willing to tackle more audacious ministries for Chirst’s sake, but we can’t move forward on ideas like this without serious engagement with the community and with helpful texts. Still, I am looking for a cadre of dreamers who feel healthy enough to roam the streets of Hudson and Stow and Berlin. Here are examples of what they may be asking:
This summer Dennis and I stopped people on the street at Hudson Fest and asked them to tell us their favorite pizza place and their favorite song right now. Nobody told us that hymns were their favorite songs. Adults in this town like country music and rock music from the eighties and early nineties. Kids like thrash metal, hip hop and country, for the most part. How can we use what we know to meet people where they are?
Later in the summer I set-up a lemonade booth outside the church and asked parents with small children to fill-out a quick survey. The survey asked what opportunity at 34 Felton Street they were most likely to take advantage of. The list contained about fifteen possibilities including some typical offerings like worship and book studies. The three most popular items: 1. A play space for their kids. 2. Gourmet cooking classes. 3. Weeklong-camp during school holidays. How can we use what we know to meet people where they are?
Before Block Party a handful of us walked the church neighborhood inviting folks to join us at 34 Felton. I met with one longtime neighbor of the church who said he had never been visited by anyone from this church before. He was a happy Roman Catholic and so we invited him to Agape Café rather than to worship. I visited one house with a car out front that sported two bumper stickers—a rainbow flag (suggesting to me that the owner of the car is gay) and “Back Off—I’m a Goddess”. A woman came to the door, took the flier and said “Okay I’ll take this but otherwise I’m all set…” The last house I visited brought me face-to-face with a man who said he had only one friend in Hudson, only one person he felt he could trust. Everybody else had stabbed him in the back. He tells me he goes to work and he goes home, that’s it. I suggest to him that there is a third place for him and at least one more friend. He did seem grateful for our thirty-minute visit. None of these three people ever attended Block Party or Agape Café, but I learned much more about how a Catholic, a “Goddess” and an angry, lonely man see our church and community. How can I use what I know to meet these people where they are?
At Church Conference I am looking for people who are not afraid to talk to people about who they are and what they really need. I’m looking for people who have a sense that God wants to do something audacious through our church in this community, people committed to follow the signs no matter where they lead. Are you ready to go outside yet?
Friday, November 6, 2009
Vision 2012 Team Goal # 3 (of 5)
Spiritual Formation, Church Wide
The Church offers spiritual formation through worship, education and service. Over time these three practices can transform an individual and by doing so, they transform the world. The Vision Team celebrates the Spiritual Formation that is already taking place at FUMC and yet challenges the church to have greater expectations for church-wide, on-going involvement in these spiritual practices.
Our current approach to spiritual formation is something of a buffet. I think a better model for us is spiritual formation as a box from Angel Food. Let me explain the difference.
I love buffets. I get exactly what I want in exactly the portion I want. As I think about a typical Chinese restaurant buffet I imagine loading my plate with General Tso’s Chicken or Sesame Chicken or Orange Chicken—all basically deep-fried meat morsels coated with sugar-sweet glaze. I skimp on the vegetables so that I get more bang for my buck. It is mostly about loading-up on that glazed chicken. But I don’t usually eat that way at home. At home I am more careful to include good, unprocessed vegetables, higher quality protein without the fat and sugar and higher quality breads than the oil-encrusted flour that blankets the buffet morsel.
By comparing Church spiritual formation to a Chinese buffet I do not mean to suggest that our offerings are unhealthy. Rather I am faulting the cultural pattern of individualism that has crept into most of our program-sized churches in the United States. It seems normative for members to load-up on certain worship morsels while giving scant attention to the broccoli of education and even less acknowledgement that there is mission-work “fruit” at the buffet as well. Churches have lowered expectations to the point where education and mission seem completely optional for adults. I was talking with a Scout leader from another church who shared with me the ways that Scouting has changed in his area. On typical weeknight meetings the group is complete but when they plan weekend camping, fewer than half of the kids attend. He is mystified because outdoor adventure really is at the heart of the program—they are called “scouts” after all! Camping is where the rubber hits the road—where theory becomes practice. Families simply will not commit all of that valuable weekend time to a program like Scouts. They load up on the weekday meetings but miss out on the nutrients. So it is in churches too. Still I wonder if we can shake free of the buffet mentality.
Angel Food delivers a box of essential ingredients to families who place monthly orders. See www.angelfoodministries.com This month the $30 box includes: a bag of onions, dozen eggs, 2% shelf stable milk, Ribeye steaks, pork chops, quick prep chicken fried rice, a fully prepared lasagna, breaded fish patties, ground beef, broccoli, breaded chicken cutlets, breakfast cereal, hash browns and dessert. I can use everything in this box! I can save a lot of money too, which is the point of Angel Food Ministries, but that is not the point I am trying to make right now in comparing the box to spiritual formation. What I want to emphasize is the breadth and consistency of Angel Food. Spiritual Formation requires breadth and consistency.
A newcomer to FUMC might come expecting the buffet. That is the cultural expectation. Yet in addition to an uplifting worship, they are encouraged, from day one, to claim a full box of resources. The box includes an expectation to be in a small group study as well as the assumption that within weeks or months that newcomer will roll-up-sleeves with us in a setting like Agape Café or raking leaves for neighbors who need the help. On the other hand, long-timers who feel that they have “done their time” in service or study—people who often speak to me in terms of “retirement” from church obligations—these folks also receive the box. Their needs are different than those of newcomers. They may need more cereal and less dessert. But older adults most certainly need consistent spiritual formation in all three areas, worship, education and service. A father brings his daughter to Sunday school but then rather than simply expecting that he will drive over to Honey Dew for coffee, waiting for his daughter to finish Sunday School, the dad meets with other dads (or moms) for a Biblically-based parenting class. After their classes the two meet together in worship. After worship, the two take the “Bonnie’s List” of service options with them and talk in the car about how they can best serve one of the needs listed there. When they get home, mom (or dad) is still sitting at the kitchen table reading the paper when the two arrive home with an idea for service. At the end of the month the entire family attends worship together and celebrates the completion of a family goal.
Spiritual Formation exists to help people heal fragmented, divided lives. Our church serves people best when we offer wholistic spiritual care rather than fragmented options. When we meet at our full church conference on November 21st, let’s make a collective decision to raise our expectations for Spiritual Formation. Let’s offer (and receive) the whole box!
Monday, November 2, 2009
A Plan for Retirement of $180,000 Mortgage
I am not a finance expert nor do I have the experience many of you do with home mortgages. I am in the rare and some would say enviable position of having no mortgage because my family lives in a home provided to us by the church. We actually live in the home provided by my wife’s church. FUMC Hudson also has a home set-aside for the pastor. That home is currently rented, the proceeds funding primarily the $180,000 mortgage (used to purchase a new church boiler a few years ago), followed be taxes (the home is tax-exempt when it is occupied by clergy) and one quarter of the utilities for the house I do live in.
Because the pastor of this church is no financial expert, this church is fortunate to have a skilled finance team committed to responsible fiscal management. Leaders have taken the Financial Peace University course and each one lives the principles of the program:
1. Have $1,000 emergency reserve fund
2. Pay off all debt (except housing debt)
3. Keep 3 to 6 months expenses in savings
4. Invest 15% household income in Roth IRAS
5. Fund college for children
6. Pay off home early
7. Build wealth and give it away
(for more information contact jim@mcgowanfinancialcoaching.com)
In addition to working with a team of responsible managers, this congregation is fortunate to have a pastor who does not need to live in the church-owned house. Rent from that house raises $800 a month to pay-off the $180,000 mortgage. Yet the church cannot reasonably rely on that rent to fund the mortgage. The average pastoral tenure is four years in one place. Even if I were to stay in FUMC for seven or eight years (which I hope to do, God willing), it is not always easy to find and keep tenants.
We need a plan to pay-off the mortgage; a plan which requires us to work harder at fundraising and at cost savings. Financial Peace University teaches that 97% of Americans DO NOT seek to pay-off mortgages early. We do not think we have enough money to do so. Our unwillingness to make sacrifices in the present forces us into making longer-term sacrifices that we refuse to fully appreciate. In order to pay-off the mortgage (and to stay out of the habit of borrowing money from savings), we will need to make difficult spending choices. If the mission is worth it to us—if step seven sounds good to us—then we will need to be clear about our objectives and how we plan to achieve that fruitful future. This is as true in the church as it is in our homes.
So I hope you will continue praying for wisdom for your private finances and for our finance committee and other leaders who manage our collective resources. God will direct our way forward!
Saint Paul wrote to the Roman Christians:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)
Friday, October 23, 2009
Long Range Plan (1 of 5)
Each week leading-up to the All Church Conference on Saturday, November 21, 2009, I will address one of five long-term goals for First United Methodist Church of Hudson. These goals were developed by the Vision 2012 team after consultation with scripture and numerous FUMC members in the fall of 2008. Both short-term and long term goals were brought to a June 2009 Charge Conference Meeting as information only. The November meeting will seek action.
A Comprehensive Plan for the Physical Plant of FUMC
This week we are moving forward on major repairs to the roof over the sanctuary. We have known about these leaks for several years but the question we often ask when faced with such big issues is “Where do we begin?” and “Where can we stop?” Each time we hear how much it will cost to repair the entire roof and drainage systems around the roof (current estimate is $366,000) we are overwhelmed by the magnitude. We have decided to do what we must to stop the leaks, and that is good. But there is clearly more work to be done on our 97 year-old building. We need a comprehensive analysis of our old building and then we need a stage-by-stage plan that answers the questions “Where do we start?” and “Where can we stop?”
Before coming to FUMC I was a member of the Boston District Board of Buildings and Locations. I had unique access to many old church buildings as we worked together on renovations. One church planned to spend over $60,000 on sanctuary upgrades but they had not addressed several roof leaks which would cost over $100,000. And there was no viable plan in place for raising enough capital for either project! The trustees rationale was that the roof leaks were “minor” (there are no minor roof leaks) and that upgrading the sanctuary would bring more people to worship who would pay more money thus generating plenty of capital for the upgrade. That church needed a comprehensive plan telling them what to fix and when to fix it.
When I think of vision plans, I think of things that people get excited to hear: Modernizing kitchens! Building a gymnasium! Buying a van for youth! Buying hi-tech worship equipment for a young adult ministry! I don’t get excited about spending $8,000 on comprehensive analysis or creating a forty-page book with photos that shows when we’ll need to re-glaze the windows, re-stain the exterior woodwork, re-stucco the walls, re-floor Lamson Hall, upgrade our electrical system, upgrade our insulation, upgrade our fire prevention/smoke detection systems, etc. That is the reason many churches ignore comprehensive planning. If they have $8,000 to spend, they want to buy that new piano! But a plan would help them to see that they will need that $8,000 as a down-payment on a new boiler that they may soon need.
At our church Conference on November 21st I don’t expect folks to get excited about this first recommendation—that we pay for a thorough analysis, create a renovation schedule and commit to that schedule. But when the analysis reveals that we may have been a few years away from burning the building down because of one, tiny degraded outlet up in a classroom, I’ll bet that will excite folks!
Pastor Doug
Saturday, May 30, 2009
TOP PIZZA In Hudson
At Hudson Fest on May 30th we asked 52 people to name their "Favorite Place to Order Pizza". Seventeen pizza places were named but there was one clear favorite--Brothers Pizza on Cox Street. Here is the tally:
Brothers 11 votes
Lando's and Pizza Hut 5 votes
CJ's, Papa Gino's and Domino's 4 votes
Main Street 3 votes
Checkerboard, Juliana's, Bertucci's (Marlboro) 2 votes
Serrentos, Clockwork, Post Road, VFW, Bolton Roadhouse 1 vote each
Brothers 11 votes
Lando's and Pizza Hut 5 votes
CJ's, Papa Gino's and Domino's 4 votes
Main Street 3 votes
Checkerboard, Juliana's, Bertucci's (Marlboro) 2 votes
Serrentos, Clockwork, Post Road, VFW, Bolton Roadhouse 1 vote each
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
What Do You Believe?
The 2008-2009 Confirmands were invited to think about historic Christian creeds and then write their own. The following guidelines were offered to help the teens begin to think about the traditional categories of God, Jesus, Church, Bible, Heaven, etc. How would you respond?
1) Why would a person choose to be Religious?
“I don’t think there is a god. There is no proof. Science explains everything.”
Your RESPONSE?
“What difference does Jesus make? He’s just a dead guy like Abraham Lincoln.”
Your RESPONSE?
“Churches are boring and the people who go to them are losers.”
Your RESPONSE?
The Lord’s Prayer asks “Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”. What do you imagine the kingdom looks like in heaven? What do you imagine the kingdom looks like on earth?
How can you be part of God’s kingdom in heaven?
How can you be part of God’s kingdom on earth?
ONCE you have answered these questions, try linking all of the ideas together to form a statement of faith. It could be prose or poetry; song or story. Just make sure it expresses what you REALLY believe and not what simply sounds good.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Good Friday
Most of you have little idea how much pain I suffered on the cross.
The Roman nails were not like the nails you use when you build homes in East Machias—thank you for doing that, by the way. No, Roman nails for crucifixion were six inches long. The nail was pounded into my wrist hitting my median nerve. Terrible pain. The nails didn’t go through my hands as many of you have been taught, but through my wrists. And through my ankles. They turned my legs sideways, placed my feet between a block of wood and the cross, and hammered one nail through the wood. The terrible thing about this Roman torture was the way crucifixion forces one to press against the painful ankle nail in order to breath. Five hours of this. How does one endure such pain?
By the time I was 25 I already knew that my Father was within me—that I had special abilities. I could heal other people, for one thing, and I did everywhere I could. You might say I was a social worker. But then I became more and more aware of large-scale suffering and I felt a calling to move from being a social worker to being a “social activist,” you might say. That kind of change leads to pain. It wasn’t easy accepting that change and its consequences. I accepted the challenge and the risk during my time with Satan in the desert.
The Spirit pushed me into the desert. I was there for forty days and nights—the same amount of time Noah endured rain in his Ark, the same amount of time Moses was on the mountain. This was my trial. I faced Satan. Don’t accept the argument that there is no Satan just because they have seen no red man with horns, they are kidding themselves. Satan knew I was hungry and tempted me to turn rocks into bread. I wanted to make the pain go away. I really did. And I could have done that, I think. But then I remembered the Torah—the Holy Scriptures from Deuteronomy “Man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word of God”. I was able to look Satan in the eye…and tell him “No.” There is a power stronger than pain. I felt it that day. And I felt it on the day of my crucifixion.
We do not live by bread alone, but by God’s great power which sustains us in times of trouble.
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