In Sunday’s sermon, Rev. Lisa reminded us that sometimes we might be out of balance in just what we count.
“In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories, and steps, be a rebel and count your blessings instead.”
Download and listen to the full sermon here.
Featured Image Credit: Abundance of Riches, public domain image, Pixabay.
“The book of Isaiah was written for people living in the worst of times. Life around them didn’t give a lot of reason to hope,” Rev. Lisa shared. “Yet, God speaks words of assurance that the future is in God’s hands. Through that, we do have reason to hope!”
Listen to or download the full sermon here.
Featured Image Credit: Photo from Flash Alexander via Public Domain Pictures, PD.
Dear Friends,
Our Congregational Conversation on 9/22 and a follow-up conversation at Council two weeks later has had me thinking more about what it means to be a “neighborhood church.”
To me that has two connotations.
Our thoughts first go to being connected with our neighbors within walking distance from the building.
Ideally our involvement would “not be for the neighborhood, but with the neighborhood” as Clare Price said on the 22nd.
We already have the Ice Cream Social, the Rummage Sale, food bags for STAP at Thanksgiving, and the Angel Tree at Christmas.
There are two negative thoughts, though, that make us hesitant to go further with this: a lack of people resources and how we define “success”.
We are few in number and the numbers we have are highly involved. We don’t know if we have the energy to take on more.
There is also this notion that our engagement with the neighborhood is a “success” only when our neighbors attend worship on Sunday mornings and become members.
Friends, increased membership is not the goal of outreach!
Showing love to our neighbors with no benefit to ourselves is the purpose. They may or may not want to worship with us. They may belong to other churches already.
So growing our membership to those we partner with shouldn’t be a consideration.
However, outreach and mission with the community is attractive to many progressive Christians. They want a way to live their faith in a hands-on way.
Inviting friends, BU and SUNY Broome students, and the greater community in general to help us do new projects in the neighborhood gives others a way to serve.
In doing so, they may like what they see happening here at FCC and want to join in other ways.
The second connotation of the neighborhood church is that the neighborhood is much larger than the blocks around our building. Our members come from all over the area, driving miles to get here.
What brings you into the center of the city?
What appeals to you here?
FCC is a theologically progressive congregation with a heart for social justice. Not many churches in this area can claim that.
We need to brainstorm ways the larger community can become aware of the nature of the ministry we do here.
One idea that has been expressed is expanding cultural events such as Jazz Vespers and the offerings of Face It! Theater group to bring people in the door. When they are here, how can we display information that tells them who we are, what we believe, how we serve?
Another possibility is to become more vocal advocates for the justice issues in our region.
A final comment, somewhat related to all of this:
Most churches believe that they must attract families with young children in order to grow.
That is a holdover from the days when most everyone already belonged to a church, so the way to get new members was to give birth to them.
We live in different times. There are so many people of all ages who have no church connection, yet are hungering for spiritual relationship.
A large portion of those are Baby Boomers who are starting retirement with time and resources on their hands, wanting to put them to use, and feeling a need for spiritual connections.
Here again is where the progressive nature of FCC is appealing to those who are “spiritual but not religious”.
I encourage us to expand our ideas of being a neighborhood church and our ways of connecting with our neighbors.
Grace and Peace.
Lisa
Learn about other upcoming or recent events and programs at FCC:
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Featured Image Credit: Love, from John Hain, courtesy Pixabay. PD.
Zach Dubord shared a sermon that aligned with some of the major issues and concerns of our time.
Here’s the start of the sermon, and you can listen to the full sermon just below, or download the full sermon (PDF) to read.
“Our Gospel today comes from Luke 19:1-10 which is on page 63 of your pew Bible. It is yet another story involving Jesus and a tax man.
He entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.”
So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
The Word of the Lord.
Let me tell you a true story. There was an influential man who rose to power during a time of great political division. He was the second of twelve children and grew up in a two-bedroom house with one bathroom He began working in the family business at 8 years old, and was the first person in his family to go to college.”
Find the PDF download below to read, or listen to the full sermon here.
Visit Zach’s Soundcloud for this sermon, or his recent “No Fun Allowed?” FCC sermon.
Prefer to read it? Download the PDF here.
Featured image credit: Zacchaeus by Niels Larsen Stevns. Jesus calls Zacchaeus down from his height in the tree. {{PD-US}} Wikimedia.
