Our Pastor From The Pastor

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Mary & Joseph: Models Of Change

At our recent All Church Retreat one of the scriptures we looked at in our conversation about “change” was the story of Mary and Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25ff). I have pondered these two young people and the many, complex, and interrelated adjustments, transformations, and even revolutions that occurred following that fateful announcement the angel Gabriel imparted upon them. From having a baby, to deciding to stay together regardless of the communal disdain that was surely upon them, to having to flee their homeland because of a homicidal ruler, to being informed that their child was, no less than the Son of God… change was everywhere they looked and went.

But, as powerful and important as the changes would be were for these two individuals, what came about that amazing night would rock the very foundations of an empire, nay, even the world. Transformation is like that. When an individual changes, families and communities change. When families and communities change, principalities and powers are forced to change.

There is a popular quote amongst Advance Conference folks, attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, that says, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” This maxim implies two things (at least): First, all change begins with the individual if it is to be effective and to be sustained. Second, when individuals change, the world changes.

God envisioned a creation that not only was divinely crafted, but one that knew and relied upon that sacred source intimately and passionately. That could only happen if God became one of us. This embodiment, this incarnation, would confront humanity with both its (our) glory and its (our) waywardness. Such a mirror being held up to us would naturally cause us to desire to change, in ourselves and others.

When I think of Emmanuel, or literally, “God-With-Us,” I can’t help but see myself in that mirror. In Christ I see all that God created me to be, all the goodness, and all the beauty, and all the truth, and I want to do more, to be all that God created me to be. Likewise, I see in the Babe of Bethlehem all that I do and am that misses the mark: the rebelliousness, the mistrust, the defeatism, and the hunger for more of what I don’t, can’t, and even shouldn’t have.

This Christmas, and as we continue in our Visioning Process, let us “be the change” we wish to see in our church, in our world, and in ourselves. Let the simple love of God-In-Christ hold a mirror up to ourselves and see what needs to be improved upon and what needs to be let go, for good.

I wish you and all those in your world, family, friends, colleagues, all the very best this Christmas holiday. May Joseph and Mary give you the strength to do what needs to be done, to make the changes necessary, so that God’s Love will be made real in you.

Proudly Your Pastor,
Allen

September 2010

Fall Education Series

Having been trained as a Christian Educator in both undergraduate and graduate schools, my heart has always been with teaching and the learning that goes with it. A fundamental facet of the life of a Christian is to be a lifelong learner. Otherwise, what were all the sermons, parables, and questions Jesus asked along the way really for? Likewise, the sign of a vibrant and fruitful congregation is a devotion to Intentional Faith Development on the part of the pastor, the lay leaders, and the entire community of members, participants, and friends.

This fall there will be no excuse for you to NOT be involved in some way in an intentional path of spiritual development and Christian education. As you can easily see on the front page of this Messenger, there is something for everyone at every age level – and even several somethings at some ages! I am going to try a few new techniques with my Inquirer’s Class this year. I want to make it as accessible to you, the congregation, and to the entire community as possible. In that attitude:

> The core of this spiritual journey will be Sunday mornings from 9:00 to 9:50 a.m. in the Parlor. This is where the primary content will be shared and mulled over.

> But, in addition to this I’m going to host a monthly Book Discussion Group at Latitude 41°n at 5712 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m. the LAST Monday of each month! Here community folks and church folks and passers-by can be involved in the conversation.

> Finally, I will start a Facebook page for each book we are studying so that persons can add their insights and ask their questions, whether or not they can get to either of the above groups (and even whether or not they are related to our church!). The Page is called "A New Kind Of Christianity" Book Discussion Page. Make it a “Favorite” of your page!

The first conversation will be around the book, "A New Kind Of Christianity: Ten Questions That Are Transforming The Faith,” by Brian McLaren. In this deeply insightful and provocative book, McLaren takes on the “traditional” way we’ve looked at scripture, Jesus, and the Christian faith and seeks to reclaim them from a position of historical and spiritual integrity. The questions are simple on the surface (“Who is Jesus and why is he important?” and “What is the gospel”) but his approach takes us far deeper than many popular preachers and authors would have us go. If we take this quest seriously, it may change our lives and allow us to finally claim the title “Christian” with complete confidence and humility!

Books are available for purchase from Pastor Allen
So, won’t you join me – us – on the journey! Regardless of where you plug in to the Christian Education Program of Franklin Circle Christian Church, there will be LOTS of questions (I hope so), maybe a few answers, but our relationship with God, and the Teacher/Savior he sent in Jesus, will be all the better for it.

May it be so!
Pastor Allen

Many of us know about the days and months set aside for celebrations of the ethnic heritage of those of us from Europe. Columbus Day in October is a national holiday, and it is used to celebrate Italian heritage. Of course, who doesn’t know about St. Patrick’s Day on March 17 when all of us have a little Irish in us?! In recent years, such celebrations have expanded. Black History Month, or African American History Month, in February, has become a popular time to celebrate the accomplishments of our African American sisters and brothers. Celebration of identity isn’t limited to ethnicity and race, however. We commemorate Veteran’s Day in November for men and women who have served our country in the military. Those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and affirming march in parades and celebrate at festivals in June for Pride Month.

As part of our commitment to being Anti-Racist, Open & Affirming, and Accessible to All, I thought that in this coming year we might be more intentional about celebrating more of our diversity in this congregation. I would like for us each month to lift up those special celebrations that remind us that in our uniqueness, we are all so much the same. Together we can learn a bit about how these holidays came to be. In our commitment to “Widening The Circle For All God’s Children,” we can find a day, a week, or a month to remember and honor all our identities and heritages.
In that spirit, I would like to lift up two lesser-known celebrations coming up: Hispanic Heritage Month and German Heritage Month. I not only hope, but urge you to share with me your heritage and the time of year in which it is celebrated. Together, in our mosaic of uniqueness, we will see the unity of God where all are one peoples!

God’s Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

Hispanic Heritage Month ~ September 15 – October 15
For more info, go to: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/hhm1.html

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18.
The term Hispanic, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, refers to Spanish-speaking people in the United States of any race. On the 2000 Census form, people of Spanish/Hispanic/Latino origin could identify themselves as Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino." More than 35 million people identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino on the 2000 Census

German Heritage Month ~ September 15 – October 15
For more info, go to: http://german.about.com/od/teaching/a/geramday.htm

In the month of October Americans commemorate the Germanic heritage element of American society. About one in four Americans claims to have German ancestors. There were Germans among the Jamestown settlers in 1607 and Germans (Prussians, Austrians, etc.) have continued to migrate to the New World until the present day--most notably during the two migratory waves of the late 1840s and from 1880 to 1889.
The first German-American Day, October 6, was proclaimed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 for the 300th anniversary of the arrival of 13 German families on board a sailing vessel named "Concord" (the "German Mayflower"). The Germans from Krefeld landed in Philadelphia on October 6, 1683 and founded Germantown, Pennsylvania (now part of Philadelphia). In 1987, after a campaign by German-American organizations, Congress made October 6 an official day of commemoration.

As I write this, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has grown larger than the area of Lake Erie, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. I pray to God that by the time you read this the leak will have been stopped and a full recovery begun. It seems that the charge given by God to humanity to “have dominion over the earth,” in the first few chapters of the book of Genesis have again been misinterpreted as “dominate” rather than “care for/have stewardship of.” Yet, in typing this I am aware that there are so many complex issues of human sin and error that have gone into this disaster that it feels futile in discussing it. But discuss it we must, for it has lessons to be learned by all of us.

There are big lessons to be learned from this, about how we citizens have given over enormous power to large corporations who often (not always) put profit over and above safety and in whom we become dependent as monopolies multiply and competition evaporates. We have, yet again, learned the importance of ensuring our government is (that is, “we, the people” are) carefully and constantly overseeing the safety and security of potentially dangerous activities, rather than simply allowing them to happen unsupervised until a problem arises.

But there are also small, more personal, lessons to be learned from the oil spill. We have been painfully reminded how we as individuals have become complacent with our use of gasoline and petroleum products, and have become distanced from the intricate and complex interconnected web of life that allows us to do anything and everything we do day in and day out. When we leave our car to idle in the driveway, we contribute to our dependence on oil and our community’s disdain for the environment. When we drive to the closest destinations down the street or around the corner, we increase our own perceptions that we cannot live without oil and thus will pay almost anything asked to make sure we have a constant and uninterrupted supply of it. When we buy products regardless of how much packaging or materials were used in providing it or how far it traveled to get to us, we increase the demand for petroleum products and insure companies will take more and more risks to meet the demand.

Our congregation, in recent years, has taken steps to support children and youth in our church and in the community at large. We’ve upgraded our nursery and invested in the Children Worship & Wonder materials. We hired a Youth Director and have integrated children and youth into more of the activities of our congregational life. We send as many children and youth to camp and conference as we possibly can.

Let me propose that taking the oil spill seriously, and committing ourselves to reducing our consumption of gasoline and other petroleum products is yet another faithful way of showing our support for children, youth, and families. After all, it is they who will ultimately have to bear the brunt of this disaster, and future ones as well. I promise you, children and youth of our church and community, to do my part, in both big and small ways, to insure you have a better world in which to live, and grow, and thrive! Won’t you join me?

God’s Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

Giving Thanks
I would like to begin this month’s article with some words of thanks. Michelle Brown has stepped down as our newsletter editor and with this issue one of our newest members, Cody Corrigan takes the helm. Michelle has devotedly compiled and produced our newsletter for almost four full years, and has been faithful month in and month out, even moving around her own family’s needs and schedule to make room for the Messenger. She was passionate about bringing color and more photographs from the life of the congregation to its pages, and to using a type font and size conducive to those with some sight impairment. Her good work is celebrated and we are grateful to her service.

My next word of thanks goes out to our Officers: Al Betts as chair of the Board, Bev Wurm as Vice-Chair, Claire Munley as Secretary, and Randy Buckingham as Treasurer. While it has not yet been decided who will and will not continue (that is for the Board to decide at its June 27 meeting) it is certain that not all of these folks will choose to continue into another term. It has been a joy and a delight to work with these visionary, creative, dedicated, and hard working folks. It is rare for a pastor to have a group of officers who are so finely in tune with one another and the pastor as this group has been, and I am forever grateful to have served with them.

Likewise, Bev Wurm will be resigning as Chair of the Mission Council. Under her leadership this innovative and creative “Research & Development” arm of our congregation has found its place in the life of our church. Bev has shepherded it from its inception to a respected part of our congregation, and this will stand as a testament to her vision and persistence.

Celebrations
And now to a word of celebration. The camp and conference program of the Christian Church in Ohio is legendary. I even knew about it when I was a teenager living in Southeastern New Mexico many years ago. It has motivated countless numbers of young people to lives of Christian faithfulness and service, even inspiring many to follow God’s Call into ministry, whether that be in the local church or in service overseas.

That is why the Christian Education Team and I have put such a premium on promoting Camp & Conference and why the Trustees of this church have committed themselves to underwriting half of all camp registration fees for all children, youth, and adults who wish to go from our congregation.

It is with extraordinary pride and joy that I share with you that, as of this writing, thirteen children and youth and sixteen adults will be going from Franklin Circle Christian Church to Camp and Conference this summer! This is no small feat, from the nurturing of individuals in Children Worship & Wonder, Chi Rho, CYF, and Adult Sunday School and Bible Study classes, to getting the necessary forms signed, to compiling all the forms and securing all the monies, to raising scholarship money for those who could not pay all of their portion, to the driving of folks to and from Camp Christian or Northwest Christian Church in Columbus.
And while the congregation has extended itself beyond monies raised (and your over-and-above gifts are still welcomed) the rewards gained from such a tremendous investment in All God’s Children who gather in this congregation will be inestimable! Good Work, FCCC! “Well done, good and faithful servants!”

God’s Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

May 2010 From The Pastor

We’ve been looking at the “Five Practices Of A Fruitful Congregation” in both my Sunday School Class at 9 a.m. on Sundays and in Worship at 10:30 a.m. Different Team Leaders have been looking in depth at each of the practices that most directly affect their work: Radical Hospitality for the Evangelism & Publicity Team and the Diaconate; Passionate Worship for the Worship Team, the New Worship Initiatives Team, and the music staff; Intentional Faith Development with the Christian Education Team and Elders; Risk-Taking Mission And Service with those folks involved in the community service projects our congregation offers; and Extravagant Generosity for the Treasurer and the Trustees.

But one thing that is most important that doesn’t have a theme week or a team or group to examine closely is the overarching goal: A Fruitful Congregation! What does it mean to have a fruitful congregation? In some sense, it might be a community of faith that echoes the Fruits of the Spirit which Paul talks about in Galatians 5: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That would be a great goal or “end-product” as they say (although we all know these sorts of qualities are always in-the-making!) But is that enough? It is sufficient to simply say a “fruitful” congregation exhibits such wonderful spiritual traits?

Well, no. That would simply be a start. The qualities that Robert Schnase in his program “Five Practices Of A Fruitful Congregation” aren’t simply hospitality, worship, faith development, mission and service, and generosity. These are the bare bones, bottom-line, basics of what a church should be doing. In the same way love, joy, peace, patience, etc. are also the starting point for church folks. Schnase intentionally has placed dynamic, and demanding adjectives in front of the qualities: radical, passionate, intentional, risk-taking, and extravagant. These are to remind us that we are always called to a higher calling in our discipleship with Jesus.

But we also don’t want to reduce what a “fruitful congregation” is to disembodied numbers: “we want X number of new people to join by such-and-such a date” or “we want to increase giving by Y% by the end of the year.” These may be worthy goals, but hardly inspiring and empowering to faithful Christians, much less the unchurched folks who we hope to invite to be a part of our community.

So, what is a fruitful congregation? For me, it is a community of faith where everyone is welcome and everyone has the chance to explore and share their gifts and graces. A fruitful congregation is so caught up in the joy of praising God and serving neighbor that it’s members and leaders never think about “survival,” but only where next the Holy Spirit may lead them! One can tell they are in a “fruitful congregation” because those who participate see the church walls as very permeable, and eagerly share the mission and word of God beyond the church facilities as easily as they do within them. And finally, in a “fruitful congregation” it is always difficult to pick out who are the clergy and staff members, because so many folks are doing the work of the church together.

I welcome this chance for Franklin Circle Christian Church to take time to look at what a Fruitful Congregation is; to celebrate where we are embodying that goal and to challenge ourselves to live into where we need to grow into fruitfulness.

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

April 2010

The Earth Is The Lord’s And The Fullness Thereof! ~ Psalm 24:1
Resurrection And Sustainability

One of the catchwords around Cleveland these days, and, indeed, around the globe, is “sustainability.” It’s an expression that is as rich in meaning and possibility as it is complex. Simply put, it means we should be attentive to the consequences of all that we do in order that all may live fully today, and tomorrow. It asks the question, “Can our world sustain what we do and how we live beyond our individual needs, wants, and desires?”

At first glance, this is often seen simply as environmentalism and conservation. Cute spokescartoons such as “Woodsy The Owl” and “Ranger Rick” and “Smokey The Bear” remind us to take care of the earth and be careful, so that those who come after us will have a forest in which to vacation or a park to visit on the weekends. But “sustainability” is really something much more profound and far more consequential than simply celebrating Earth Day. Sustainability is as much about sustaining human beings and human interactions as it is about picking up trash and buying fluorescent light bulbs (important as these are!). It’s about caring for one another and about human capital as much as it is about earth’s resources.

Mayor Frank Jackson held a Sustainability Summit last August and called us all as citizens of this city and this region to work more diligently towards being intentionally sustainable. Sustainabile Cleveland 2019 is the Mayor’s set of ideals and goals to stabilize our urban as well as natural environment, so that in all our interactions, be they regarding employment or family, health care or recreation, education, nutrition, energy consumption, or yes, even faith, we will be attentive and responsive to the consequences of our actions. In the language of Jesus, sustainability is to “love our neighbor as ourselves” and thus demonstrate in real actions our love for God.

Why would I write about this as the date of Easter approaches? Because I see a direct correlation between sustainability and resurrection. I believe that unless every human being on the planet understands the importance of living sustainable lives we will experience a crucifixion of sorts of epic proportions. The growing devastation of climate change is a scientific fact, and those of us in developed world are just beginning to see the harsh effects of growing water shortages, overpopulation, expanding arid regions, declining air quality, and a dead-end dependence upon oil and petroleum products.

We have an opportunity to claim resurrection, and in doing so, make our lives and the lives of our children and our community sustainable generation after generation. By taking seriously the dangers now, we can simplify our lives and live sustainable lives as individuals. Put another way, we can become the best stewards of the lives and resources God has given us, and in doing so we will witness the new life and the power of rebirth known to us in the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

I have steadfastly maintained that from the first days of creation this life has been a partnership with God. God will do God’s part, and God expects us to do our part. Christ’s salvation is no different. True, Jesus’ love and forgiveness is offered only upon our faith in it, but as the epistle writer, James, laments, “but faith without works is dead!” (2:20). God does not require good works (ie. a sustainable lifestyle) for salvation, but we know in our hearts that living into our faith demands – if only out of the power of our gratitude to the One who created it all – our diligence and care in maintaining the gifts God has given.

I pray for you all an Easter Resurrection experience that will give you the new life you need to survive, and to thrive, even in face of the hardships of this past year. I also encourage you to seek this resurrection, as Mary sought Jesus at the tomb, and may you discover that the task – no, the JOY – of sustainability will be your Resurrection angel!

God’s Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

Resurrection & Sustainability Follow Up

As a way of following up on my article from last month on the connections between Resurrection and Sustainability, I wanted to quote something from the website for the Green City On A Blue Lake Institute, found at:http://www.gcbl.org/about/sustainability . Thanks, Pastor Allen

“The classic definition of sustainability used by the United Nations and many others is ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’ Paul Hawken, author of The Ecology of Commerce, suggests a slightly different definition: ‘Leave the world better than you found it, take no more than you need, try not to harm life or the environment, make amends if you do.’ Thus, sustainability is really one of those simple things we all should have learned in kindergarten.

Sustainability has a number of attributes:
• Long time horizon -- Focus on permanence, quality, durability, stewardship for future generations.
• Multiple benefits -- Integrate considerations of environment (natural capital), equity (social capital), and economy (financial capital) and pay attention to the triple bottom line (People, Profits, and Planet).
• Multiple scales -- Understand how the individual, neighborhood, city, region, or planet are all interconnected.
• Openness -- Innovation is needed, so experiment and take risks.
• Attitude -- Be humble, hopeful, joyful in the pursuit of a better world.

Sustainability also is a commitment, a basic organizing principle, and a context for making better decisions. It's a process of continual improvement rather than an end state.

An example of thinking in terms of sustainability might be a program to invest in renewable energy technology—a program that could bring environmental benefits (reductions in air pollution and global warming), economic benefits (jobs and income to Northeast Ohio from building equipment such as wind turbine components), and social benefits (employment opportunities to cities, greater national security from reduced dependence on oil from the Middle East).

Ultimately, sustainability will require the fundamental redesign of our civilization. We can either treat this imperative as a burden or an opportunity to innovate and create a better society. In Northeast Ohio, we need to be a part of this global conversation about the future.”

Education Is Bigger Than We Act

I just finished reading an interview with President Obama in the latest issue of Essence magazine (March 2010). Essence is devoting a year of reporting to the issue of education, and how to increase the skills and wisdom and education level of all of our children, but especially how to decrease the gap that still exists, in an unnervingly substantial way, between the test scores of children of different races. The question for us all is, “How do we help our children have the best possible future?”

The President spoke of the need for both our communities and individual families to take responsibility for improving the quality of education for our children in order to adequately address the breadth of issues at hand. I concur. It takes the intentional time, effort, and willpower of every one of us, parents or not, to make such important and needed changes in a society. The question for us as a congregation is, “How can Franklin Circle Christian Church be a leader in enriching the educational experiences of our children?” We have already put a lot of emphasis and funding on children and youth in recent years, this would be a natural inquiry to make.

As I often say, the best way to improve upon something is to do what you are called to even better. Our Christian Education program for infants, children, and teens should be the finest our congregation can provide. Our Youth Enrichment Program should offer the best activities and skills to enhance the education experience the children of our community receive from their homes and their skills. Plus, all of our programs should be teeming with children and youth.

But these goals raise the question, “Do you, as a participant in this congregation, know what FCCC has to offer in these areas?” If not, you should find out! Ask Patty Groetsch, chair of the Christian Education Team, Colleen Munley, Youth Director, Michelle Brown, Children’s Worship & Wonder teacher, and Michelle and Allan Brown, Program Director and Assistant Director for YEP! what we offer and how you can be involved to help support and improve our education programs.

We should also become well-informed citizens regarding the schools in our neighborhood. Can you name the schools that are in the 44113 and 44102 zip codes? Our closest schools are Kentucky Elementary and Garret Morgan, but both of them are in a new chapter of their history. Kentucky, no longer a separate Elementary School, has been serving as a “swing school” site for Paul Lawrence Dunbar and, now, for Buhrer, as those buildings have been remodeled. Garret Morgan, which has been receiving excellent reviews, is now a high school as it continues its focus on science.

Finally, we need to be a congregation committed to learning and excellence in education. We need to honor the pursuit of wisdom, knowledge, and education every chance we get. We need to create an environment where all of us encourage our children and youth to excel. Perhaps we should be hosting college and trade school fairs and offering scholarship assistance, both in help in filling out forms and interviewing, as well as actual funds.

Let us all take the challenge to do something about the future of our children, and thus about the health of our community, by improving and supporting the education our children receive. It is a faithful and tangible response to Jesus’ call to “Let the little children come to me.”

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

February 2010 ~ From The Pastor

It’s All About Teamwork!

Any successful organization will need a strong sense of teamwork to be successful, and churches are no different. I have been impressed over the 8+ years that I have been your pastor to witness a strong and growing sense of camaraderie, cooperation, and collaboration within the congregation as a whole, and especially within the leadership. Our church couldn’t be celebrating its 168th Anniversary this month if there weren’t a strong tradition and practice of teamwork!

Having said this, I am also well aware that nothing confirms a suspicion like a test or challenge, and the recent illness of Carole Sauer, our Church and Financial Secretary is certainly just such a test. Carole, who would celebrate her 32nd Anniversary with us this month, is still recovering from the brain aneurism that hospitalized her on December 15. By all accounts it will be a long recuperation. This challenge has proven what I had been seeing over the years: Franklin Circle Christian Church is a team, committed to supporting one another.

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ,” the Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. In this letter Paul happens to be reminding a community that was not showing the spirit of cooperation, but his words speak to healthy communities as well. From the chair of the Board, Al Betts, and the Treasurer, Randy Buckingham, to the volunteers in the office, Michelle Brown and Cheryl Yurcak, to all the officers, leaders, members, and even visitors who have stepped up to support the entire Body when one of our members is in need, this church shows the unity of the Body of Christ.

As your pastor I am aware that I am the “face” of the church, sometimes awkwardly so. Awkwardly because I know very well that it takes more than a “face” to make a body run, and it takes a lot more than a pastor to make a church run. This congregation recognizes that every part of the body is needed, even if that means doing the hard work it takes to get things done or putting up with a little bit of inconvenience during a difficult time. We should all be grateful that together, we are clearly the Body of Christ, even if that means our efforts or our patience isn’t seen by many or acknowledged right away.

And, of course, I am aware that we cannot rest on our laurels. While folks are stepping up quite wonderfully to the challenges of this moment, we’ve also seen a lot of places where we could be doing better. Your officers, your pastor, your Board, and your staff are eager to improve how we do things so that the Mission of Christ can more fully and faithfully be realized through our church and more and more people can come to experience and know the grace of God and the love of Christ in their lives. Your prayers and your input are eagerly sought.

God’s Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

I’ve been thinking about the magi that visited the child Jesus and his parents at their HOUSE in Bethlehem (if you don’t get that bolded reference, ask someone from Mid-Week Bible Study!). These travelers are underappreciated. One of the things for which we don’t give them enough credit was their ability to shift gears quickly, and even change their ways of thinking pretty suddenly. (Matt. 2:1-12)

I’m guessing, from their reading of the stars and ancient prophecies, that these astrologers were expecting the birth of royalty, and that is why they went to the palace of Herod first. Surely this “messiah” would have the powers of the world at his disposal in order to change the course of human history! They certainly carried with them kingly gifts. But discovering that not only did Herod not know about the events that had been foretold, but was also extremely suspicious and threatened by them, they probably began then to think differently about this “monarch.”

By the time they arrived to see a young child in the home of a poor family in a backwater town, their new perceptions were either finalized or confirmed. Going home “by another way” was yet another indication that the magi were flexible and willing to change.

On several occasions over the last eight years I’ve written about my personal motto, “Every day is a new chance for resurrection!” You may be tired of it, but I’m going to write about it again. However, I’ve thought of a new angle, and the magi are responsible for it!

Yes, every day (every moment of every day?) God presents us with an opportunity to start afresh, begin anew, get a second, or third, or seventy-seventh chance. That’s the miracle of grace we proclaim in our faith. But what I don’t emphasize often enough is that with the extension of new chances and opportunities comes some responsibilities. One of the things that God yearns for us, hopes from us, dare I say expects of us is to change. Just like those wise guys of old, we’re given a star to follow… but that doesn’t mean we can tread the old paths we’ve worn so well in our lives if we want to reach the place to which that star beckons!

I believe there are going to be some major changes in the coming year in our church. I say this because it is clear that a new vision, a new star if you will, has been given to us and we have begun to follow it. Most of us… all of us… will probably be giving up our set understandings of what “church” was, is, or should be. Instead, through the magic (spirit?) of grace, God will guide us to a new vision, even more wonderful, of what the Church will be, if we but let it and be led by God.

This kind of thinking does not come naturally, nor easily, to most of us. Thus, we will need a great deal of patience with one another, and ourselves. But we must breathe deep, as surely those travelers did, and set out on another, uncharted path that we had not planned out and for which we may feel ill-prepared. But traveling together, as a community that cares for and welcomes all who sincerely seek the Christ Child, we will be okay. And when we come to the place where the star/vision has led us… we will be in utter awe at what wonders God has wrought!

Rediscover Christmas
It is perfectly natural for us humans to lose touch with those things that are most near and dear to us. Time, distance, and the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” cause us all to let slip the people, places, things, and rituals that make our life the rich joy we instinctively know it to be. “Out of sight, out of mind” they say.

Take Christmas, for instance. It’s appearance every year is as sure as the sun’s repeat performance each morning, and yet I feel each year as unprepared and undeserving of its colorful celebrations and joyous rituals as if it happened only once in a lifetime.

So about this time each fall I dig deep into my soul, open up my bag of tricks/prompts/inspirations, and seek to rekindle the flame of the holy days, the holidays. Advent bears down on me like the Polar Express! Sometimes it’s easier than other times, but every time it must be intentional. It feels like a task on a huge year-long “To Do” list. “This Fall: PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!” (Hardly the state of mind you would expect from a pastor, right?)

But you do know what I mean, don’t you? The Spirit of Christmas doesn’t always come naturally to us, does it? There’s the regular holiday busy-ness. However, it is especially hard if we have been in the midst of crisis, stress, or tragedy in the previous twelve months. Some of us have been laid off from work… Some of us have had extreme health crises… Some of us have had to move or downsize life and home considerably because of our situations… Some of us have had deaths in our family or close friends… Some of us have struggled with being ostracized or harassed because of who we are… It’s hard to sing the “Fa-La-La’s” or laugh the “Ho-Ho-Ho’s” when life has dealt you significant blows.

So do we give up on Christmas? Has it lost its staying power? Do the rituals and celebrations that are so familiar to us during this time simply add to the misery and frustrations?

Well, no… We know from experience that even though it may take effort, rediscovering Christmas is worth it in the end. That’s one of the reasons I’m in a community of faith like Franklin Circle Christian Church, because together we can help one another find our faith when it has become broken or damaged, and we surely can help each other rediscover Christmas and the holiday spirit!

Christmas, like any sacred ritual, is a holy object that must be sought out, cared for, tended, and passed on by communities like ours. And we do this precisely because it doesn’t come naturally and must be worked at by many of us. During the coming weeks I will take a magnifying glass to our celebration of Advent and Christmas, and look to see what we might discover to help us rekindle our spirits, not just for the holidays, but year round.

I hope you will join us! We will share in the familiar traditions of Christmas: lighting the Advent Wreath, sharing in concerts, going Christmas Caroling, and a beautiful 7 p.m. Christmas Eve Candlelight Communion Service with all the lessons and carols that we’ve come to know and love.

But we’ll also offer some new opportunities, because there are entire new generations of people who did not grow up in the church, and for whom the rituals we offer will become their tried and true rituals. There will be a new set of hands and hearts decorating the sanctuary for the first time in years. We’ll have a children’s concert in addition to the other’s we’ve had in the past. And we’ll have an early Christmas Eve service, at 5:00 p.m., to give more opportunity for our neighbors and members to participate in one of the holiest of evenings we could ever know.

So, the time has come! Let us together Rediscover Christmas, and thus renew ourselves and, indeed, all of creation!

God’s Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

November 2009 From The Pastor
From The Pastor

“Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” (1 Cor. 4:15)

Nestled in the exquisite scripture that many of us know well, “… but we have this treasure in clay jars…” is this simple statement of thanksgiving. Paul, writing to one of the churches that he has founded but with which he has struggled a great deal, offers a word of encouragement to the congregation’s leaders. In this chapter, Paul is confronting head on some of the toughest issues church leaders face: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” The Apostle realizes that being a leader will sometimes result in opposition, finger pointing, and even failure. But, if offered as a means to show that “this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us,” it will not be for naught.

But the scripture with which I began takes this leadership advice a little bit further than mere reassurance. It reminds us that this grace, the power of God which brings life from death, healing from brokenness, comfort from despair, is not only available to us, the saints-at-work-today, but is meant for “more and more people.” Always… always, the work we do is so that more and more people may give glory to God and thanksgiving may be increased!

Sometimes even seasoned church leaders wonder why they (we!) stay in this work, since it seems ideas take so long to become realities, conflicts erupt when deeply committed people see the path ahead differently, and it feels like the good words we say and the good deeds we do evaporate into thin air. But Paul gently reminds us, it’s not about us. It’s about “more and more people.” It is about those beyond our walls, in our communities, who long to know the grace of God and have a place and a language to give thanks for it. It’s even about folks who are longing for a community in which they can not only find grace, healing, and truth… but in which they can struggle with the very same issues we may be bemoaning! Yes, people long for true community where the leaders are so passionate about being God’s Beloved Community that they are willing to discuss/argue, propose/struggle, discern/question, and try/fail/try again!

So, in this season of giving thanks for all God’s gifts, let us recommit ourselves to nurturing this community known as Franklin Circle Christian Church to be a place where grace WILL extend to more and more people, so that ALL of us may increase our thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

Amen.
Your Pastor,
Allen

From The Pastor

Consecration Sunday Is Coming
Congregations that approach financial stewardship from a biblical perspective do not view the money Christians give to their church merely as a way to pay its bills. Rather, such congregations see financial contributions as a way to help people grow spiritually in their relationship with God by supporting their church’s mission and ministry with a percentage of their incomes.
Our congregation’s officers have selected the New Consecration Sunday Stewardship Program, with the advice and guidance of one of our own, the Rev. Jim Schimmel, as a way to teach the biblical and spiritual principles of generous giving in our stewardship education emphasis this year.
New Consecration Sunday is based on the biblical philosophy of the need of the giver to give for his or her own spiritual development, rather than on the need of the church to receive. Instead of treating people like members of a social club who should pay dues, we will treat people like followers of Jesus Christ who want to give unselfishly as an act of discipleship. New Consecration Sunday encourages people toward proportionate and systematic giving in response to the question, “What percentage of my income is God calling me to give?”
During morning worship on Consecration Sunday, October 25, we are asking our members and visitors to make their financial commitments to our church’s outreach, nurture, worship, justice, and educational ministries in this community and around the world. Every visitor and member who completes an Estimate of Giving Card does so voluntarily by attending morning worship on Consecration Sunday. We urge people to attend who feel strongly opposed to completing a card. The procedure is done in such a way that no one feels personal embarrassment if he or she chooses not to fill out a card.
We will do no home solicitation to ask people to complete cards. During morning worship our guest leader, Jim Schimmel, will conduct a brief period of instruction and inspiration, climaxed by members making their commitments as a confidential act of worship. It will be followed by a joyous celebration luncheon, catered and at no cost to those attending worship.
We will encourage participation in Consecration Sunday events through the Consecration Sunday team (officers and financial secretary) and Church Board members. Since we will make no follow-up visits to ask people to complete their cards, we will make every effort to inform, inspire, and commit everyone to attend Consecration Sunday worship.
Thanks in advance for your enthusiastic participation in Consecration Sunday events.

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

Looking Back And Leaning Forward

It has been a delight to see so many new faces in worship on Sundays, and so many familiar faces continuing with us! I am even more pleased to see new folks moving into leadership in the congregation, finding places where their gifts and graces for ministry can best fulfill God’s mission as it is working its way out in our church. A true sign of a healthy congregation is the integration of new leadership in a smooth and supportive manner.

I thought I would take this opportunity to share with the congregation some of the themes I will be looking at in the different areas of my pastorate this fall. As you read in the last issue of The Messenger, I am looking at the concept of “Widening The Circle By Equipping The Saints.” In that context I’ve been offering a sermon series on the theme “Alike At Work And Prayer: The Beauty, Dignity, And Sacredness Of Our Work.” This recognizes a key part of equipping people for ministry is honoring the work they (you) do beyond church walls and empower you to see your employment, volunteer time, school work, and work around the house are extensions of the ministry of Christ through the church.

Sometimes equipping folks for ministry is remembering and learning from our past. In September I will begin a sermon series looking at the distinguishing marks of The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of Alexander Campbell’s writing of his “Declaration & Address.” This pioneering treatise on Christian unity still stands as the “mission statement” of our denomination. We will culminate this commemorative series with a celebration on Sunday, October 4 called “The Great Communion.” That also happens to be World Communion Sunday!

This celebration of our church’s history will be nicely paired with the reports coming back from the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Sunday School (see related article).

At the same time the Officers and myself will be working on literally equipping the leadership of the church with the spiritual and organizational tools they need to do this work in a shared, congregationally-focused, community of faith. We are working on a Spiritual Life Retreat for the Board, and trying to organize our Board Meetings to be the most effective and faithful use of our time.

So, as we grow in Christ… and grow in numbers… let us always be about the task of “Widening The Circle By Equipping The Saints.” May it be so!

Pastor Allen

From The Pastor ~ August 2009
Widening The Circle By Equipping The Saints

It is a well-worn passage from the Apostle Paul, but worth repeating:
“The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” ~ Ephesians 4:11-13

This passage is often used as leaders are installed into their respective positions on church boards, as well as with leadership retreats and as assembly themes. It is a powerful image, one that reminds us that the job of leaders is to both equip/disciple other up-and-coming leaders in the church with the tools, skills, knowledge, and graces they need to fulfill their ministries AS WELL AS to see these same leaders as saints already!

Too often, I think, those of us who are staff or who are “die-hard” leaders in the church get lulled into thinking that, since we are the ones who are present and working most of the time, that the church is really all about us. Now, we’d never say it that way, but at the end of a long day of worship, classes, meetings, and newsletter-article-writing… we secretly pat ourselves on the back and proclaim, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

And, in large part, it is true. Much ministry and lots of good things happen because of faithful staff and leaders in the church. But our job is never to be the church, but, rather, to equip others to be the church. Even Jesus said that he did not come to be served, but to serve. The gifts we were given for leadership should never begin and end with us, but be offered for the larger purpose of equipping others, the saints, for the work of ministry.

How do we do that? Well, first and foremost it is a change of perspective. Leaders, as Paul would urge us, see their ministry as call and servanthood, rather than profession or work. Second, such leaders are always looking for ways to make the lives of those who are learning to be leaders easier, more effective, and more fulfilling. I’ve oftentimes said the best pastors in the world should be working themselves out of a job. That is, I am at my best when I empower, inspire, train, disciple, and equip others to do the work of the church as good as, if not better than, I myself can do. Elders, diaconate, trustees, team chairpersons, and other staff members are to do the same.

Finally, we must offer leadership training as often and as adequately as we possibly can. We will gather for our annual fall Leadership Retreat on Saturday, August 29 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in the parlor for just such equipping. You are invited, whether you have an official leadership role in the life of the church or not. All baptized Christians are on the road to discipleship, are leaders-in=training, and are the saints that need and deserve to be equipped. Won’t you join us?

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

Well, summer is officially upon us, and the economy is giving us mixed messages for the season that is supposed to be filled with vacations and relaxation. Instead, many of us are either out pounding the pavement looking for employment, or working overtime in order to desperately try to keep the jobs we already have! Nonetheless, God's word, “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy,” comes to us as a call away from that which draws us out of and away from our best selves and forces us to worship that which is not God, whether it is work or anything else. The question for us is, “How can we set aside times, places, and ways of being which gives reverence to the divine in life, the sacred, and the holy.”

A large part of this is the call to honor work, yes, but never to be lulled into identifying ourselves with our work. Employment is a tool to help us live life, but it is not life itself. If we remind ourselves and one another of this regularly, then whether we are unemployed, underemployed, or employed, we will more likely keep things in healthy perspective.

More than anything, we should pray for those among us and around us who are struggling. Many folks who we know well are out of work or fearing their jobs will be cut. Let us pray for them. Others are in the job search process, trying to retool and reeducated themselves for a new economy. Let us pray for them. Others of us are retired or on disability, seeing pensions decline and benefits tighten, and with many others are trying to do more with less. Let us pray for them.

But in addition to the power of prayer, let us do what we can to support one another. I would like, as your pastor, to know what you need to help you through these difficult times. Do you need a support group to explore your emotions and/or theological responses to unemployment? Does the church need to sponsor a job-fair or employment training of some sort? Please, tell me what your church can do to help you through this difficult time.

I trust that in our honest, caring, and clear response to this economic crisis, our church will provide an added measure of Sabbath Rest for those in the eye of this economic storm, indeed, for all of us.

In this issue of the Messenger are details about several upcoming events and possibilities offered by Franklin Circle Christian Church over the summer. I hope you’ll joiin us for some or all of them and find the joy of service, worship, fellowship, and . If you have questions about any of them, please let me know right away.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

He’s Leaving Again?
Pastor Allen Heads Off April 13 For Part 2 Of His Study & Renewal Leave

Yes, it’s true. Recognizing the graciousness of this congregation and the good, hard work of the leadership of Franklin Circle Christian Church (especially the Elders), I will be completing my Study & Renewal Leave this April and May.

You may or may not remember that over a year ago the Elders and I decided that the three-month Sabbatical that is part of my covenant with you as Pastor needed to be adapted a bit for the comfort and well-being of this congregation. Especially in those professions where constant study and deep reflection are required for the daily tasks, like professors and pastors, a period of intensive and focused study, rest, and renewal, away from the constant and inevitable distractions of work, is necessary.

So, our agreement was for me to take two six-week “Study and Renewal Leaves.” One was taken last spring, and it was our plan for me to take the second one in October and November of last year. That didn’t work out. So, the day after Easter until the day after Memorial Day I will be on the second half of my Sabbatical.

“Sabbatical” comes from the Latin sabbaticus derived from the Greek and Hebrew words meaning “Sabbath.” The concept of a sabbatical has a source in several places in the Bible (Leviticus 25, for example), where there is a commandment to desist from working the fields in the seventh year. In the strict sense a sabbatical lasts a year, but in recent times it has come to mean any extended absence in the career of an individual. Thus, in the best of all possible worlds, all of us would have a sabbatical.

Until that day comes, I humbly offer you my thanks for allowing me to have this time of replenishment. Last year’s time was pure joy, as I explored cities – my spiritual home – and visited beloved friends. I will continue that same path as I go to New York City with my partner, Craig, where we lived for over ten years. In addition to visiting friends, I will be attending a most exciting conference.

“Worship On The Edge: Breaking Into The Multiracial Future” is one of the dynamic programs offered by Middle Church of New York City, under the leadership of the Rev. Jacqui Lewis. My entire sabbatical, and this conference is central to this, revolves around the fundamental belief that all churches, but Franklin Circle Christian Church and other urban churches in particular, are being called by God to embrace the dynamic, faithful, and challenging call to worship as truly inclusive multi-cultural, multi-racial, creative, and culturally-responsive communities. To find out more, go on the web to www.MiddleChurch.org .

During the remainder of my time I will be doing those things that give me great joy, and in doing so will offer this congregation the gift of a revived and re-created pastor. I will be taking more photographs of the cities I visit, and organizing them for distribution to churches and pastors for their use in worship. I will be reading more of the books I long to explore, and write some of the liturgies and hymn texts that have been on my heart and mind. And, if God is willing, I’ll bring the interior painting project of our house just a bit closer to completion!

So, I look forward to returning to you in celebration on Pentecost Sunday, May 31. May God Bless us all with renewal and resurrection this Easter Season.

Your Pastor,
Allen

I remember at one of the first community hours after church at the previous parish I served I was talking with several fellows there. One gentleman noted that he and I had the same first name, and even spelled it the same, and that there was even another man in the church with the same name. We joked about getting all the “Allens” together.

Then, another gentleman noted that the three of us standing there were all over 6 foot tall. He immediately proclaimed that we were founding members of that church’s “tall guys’ club!” We laughed while a couple of other folks who were standing around us, who were neither named “Allen” nor 6’ or taller, scowled. “The Tall Guys Club” became over the years a humorous way to note when we noticed people trying to make differentiations between those who were the “in”crowd and those who were “out.”

We Americans are like that. Because of our fierce sense of independence and our history, we don’t like the image of there being divisions and groups. We like the vision of being all-inclusive, a place where there are no distinctions between people. That’s why so many of us are so fond of saying we are “color-blind.” I’ve already begun hearing some folks grumble in the same way upon hearing that there is going to be a “People Of Color Caucus” here at Franklin Circle Christian Church later in March, sponsored by our Anti-Racism Team.

The problem is, of course, that this idea of unity is our corporate image, but not necessarily our reality. In fact, ask anyone who is a minority in our country whether or not we are a completely unified nation and that there are no problems and you’ll most likely get a different image. That is, if you ask them in an environment that is truly safe for them to answer honestly and without any repercussions.

You see, having a certain name or being tall or short is something we can joke about, but having your ancestors enslaved and forcibly brought to this country to work in horrendous conditions without pay is a very different thing. To have family members tell you stories of not being able to eat at the same tables as white folks, or who couldn’t advance in their jobs at the same pace as others simply because of their skin color or their accent is profoundly serious and the legacy lives on more painfully than I can imagine.

It is pretty easy for those of us who are in the majority to proclaim, “there are no problems here!” What if we’ve never allowed a safe and inviting space for persons who do see problems to share them with one another? Also, by making “problems” something huge and menacing, we force folks to accept smaller issues/concerns as natural and even invisible rather than dealing with them outright. A healthy community acknowledges the problems – small ones, mid-size ones, and big ones – as challenges to be met and opportunities to grow rather than threats and dangers and to sweep them under the rug in order to give the image of “all is well.”
Can we truly say “there are no problems in our church” if we’ve always been overwhelmingly in the majority at every worship service, board meeting, fellowship group, and team meeting? Can we not have the patience and the grace to at least allow our sisters and brothers to gather together, in Christ’s name, to share and to support one another?

Part of being an Anti-Racist/Pro-Reconciling Church is to allow safe space for persons who have not been in the majority to connect with one another, share honestly about how they feel, in order for them to be able to share with the whole church what we might do to become a better church, more faithful to Christ’s call to welcome all persons without regard to human distinctions.

I rejoiced a year ago when Jay Cheiky came to me and asked for there to be a group for lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and gay folks to come together to share and to support one another. No one has complained about this group “dividing” the church. It hasn’t, of course, and neither will a caucus for People of Color. But, in the same way the “Allens Group” and the “Tall Guys Club” made folks a little uneasy, so this caucus might, but only if we allow it to.

I invite you to trust me, as your pastor of almost eight years, to be able to insure that the Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation process will be done just right in order to make Franklin Circle Christian Church more faithful to the Gospel of Christ. That is my hope and my aim, with God’s help.

Faithfully Your Pastor,
Allen

Happy 125th!

It is critical for all congregations, but especially those that are of an historic nature, to keep in balance the care for their buildings and facilities and the programs within them that serve people. I come from the theological perspective that both place and people are important, and one should not be focused on to the exclusion of the other without realizing there will be serious practical and spiritual ramifications. If place were not important, then why would our scriptures not be filled with poignant references to places being holy and memorable? As one of many examples, when a ram is provided on the mount for Abraham’s offering, he names the place “The Lord Will Provide.” Likewise, Jesus admits, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Having said that, there does come a time in an historic church’s life when the celebration of a building should take center stage. This past year, 2008-2009, the building which houses our sanctuary, parlor, meeting and classroom space turned 125 years old! We should celebrate that fact with joy, gratitude, and hope.

Designed by renowned Cleveland architects Cudell & Richardson, the structure was built between 1874 and 1883 and was finally dedicated on May 13, 1883. Quoting from a brochure about the stained glass windows, the building was finished,

“after ten years of accumulating one unit at a time; lot purchase, excavating, basement, furnishings, and then the upper auditorium, furnishings and decorations. Total cost was $60,000 fully paid by that day. The building

throughout was finished in black walnut. The organ was the best of that time. Gas fixtures were designed to represent candles without globes. A large chandelier of thirty-six lights was suspended over the center aisle.”

It is my hope that throughout the coming months that our Board of Trustees and our congregation can find ways to celebrate both the building which has stood the test of time on this location for 125 years and counting, as well as the amazing diversity of programs which have been offered in and through this building. But most importantly, let us celebrate the people whose lives have been touched by Franklin Circle Christian Church, who have been, in the words of our Mission Statement, “empowered [as] disciples to serve and glorify God.”

Now that’s worth celebrating!

God’s Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

     I have been trying to keep myself up to date on the current economic crisis overwhelming our city, state, nation, and world. This is difficult. New dimensions unfold every day, and each one seems to affect members of our congregation in new and ever-more unsettling ways. What I want each and every one of you to know is that as your pastor I am aware of the deep anxiety and heart-wrenching pain many of you are going through and am constantly holding you – all of us – in prayer.
     One of the greatest dilemmas that I face is reading, hearing, and learning about what did or may have gone wrong to create such a spiral of economic and emotional despair, while also reading, hearing, and learning about ideas on how to proceed into a new future. I know I must engage in a mixture of both, for we must learn from the past in order to not return to it and yet we must not get so caught up in blaming and finger pointing that we miss the opportunities present.
     In part, this is why I have called for something familiar to many church-goers, but not so familiar to Franklin Circle Christian Church: A revival. It certainly is not an attempt to gloss over the difficult state of our lives. It is an effort to inspire us to continue to be a church that seeks to “Widen The Circle For All God’s Children,” even if we feel discouraged and our actions appear to be insignificant in the shadows of world events.
     The inspiration for the timing of this Revival says it all: it is in mid-January to honor the faith and biblical witness that inspired the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to confront the social ills of his time, from racism and poverty to the war in Vietnam, with confidence and faith. Dr. King once said, “Every [person] must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.” By coming together with brothers and sisters from some of our primarily African American Disciples churches, as well as from our diverse neighborhood, we can claim the “light of creative altruism” and cleanse ourselves from the “darkness of destructive selfishness.”
     Can we alone solve the greatest economic crisis of our time? Probably not. But we can take a stand on behalf of hope and the values from our faith that nurture hope: community, reconciliation, thankful praise, and joy. May God revive us for the tasks ahead.

Your pastor,
Allen

P.S. Please note that I try to keep our website up-to-date with issues that effect cities, ours in particular. Go to http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/CityOfGod.htm to see what's up.

     Ah, the season of Christmas! Isn’t it true that no other season enlivens our senses like the days coming up to, and during, Christmas? My dear friend, the Rev. Mary Kay Totty, a minister in the Baltimore/Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, has shared with me an Advent sermon series she developed around the five senses: smell, sight, taste, sound, and touch. I’ve asked her if I could share the themes she imagined with you, the good folks of Franklin Circle Christian Church. She agreed!
     Taking her cue from Christ’s call for us to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, Rev. Totty sets forth five themes, which we will begin exploring November 30, the first Sunday of Advent: “The Scent Of Hope,” “See The Light,” “Taste The Goodness,” “Hear The Message,” and on Christmas Eve “Touch The Heart.”
     I invite you, your entire being, to come to church during Advent, and especially on Wednesday, December 24 at our 7:30 p.m. Christmas Eve Service, to understand this ancient but ever new story of God’s full embodiment in our world. And may our senses be engaged so that our hearts might be renewed and all of us be transformed!

Have a blessed Advent journey!
Pastor Allen

Franklin Circle Christian Church Officially Becomes “Open & Affirming”

On Sunday, October 12, 2008 our historic, diverse, and dynamic urban congregation, Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), voted without dissent to become an Open & Affirming, Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciling, and Accessible to All Congregation. The new mission statement, a revision of the one which had served us well since 2000, now includes the clear and unapologetic inclusion of all persons in the life of the church, regardless of gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstance, or difference in ability, thus articulating and celebrating our motto, “Widening The Circle For All God’s Children.”

Feeling as if the church had been living out the call of Christ to serve “the least of these” for many years, the Elders of the congregation began a conversation in January of this year about putting into words the deeds they were already living. After much prayerful consideration and research into other congregations in many different denominations which have also affirmed the worth, dignity, and full participation of God’s diverse people, the Elders adapted the existing Mission Statement and sent it to the Board for consideration. On September 21, 2008, with minor changes, the Board approved the Mission Statement and forwarded it to the congregation, which voted On October 12 to approve it, without dissent.

The new Mission Statement reads:
Our Mission is to empower disciples to serve and glorify God.

We care for the spiritual needs of a culturally diverse community, encourage creativity, and awaken people to the joys of life with Jesus Christ.

We are open to and affirming of all people regardless of gender, race, age, culture, ethnic background, sexual orientation, economic circumstance, or difference in ability as we continue to embody our vision of God’s peace and justice.

Franklin Circle Christian Church becomes the eighty-first congregation or organization in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) to become Open & Affirming, and the first congregation in Ohio in the Disciples of Christ to do so. There are over 3,100 congregations of various denominations throughout North America that have taken a faithful and public stance on welcoming all persons, including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons into the life and leadership of the congregation.

The church also is one of 2,292 congregations in the United States to have signed onto the Accessible Congregation Campaign of the Religion & Disability program of the National Organization On Disability.

Since 2007 the congregation has officially been committed to engaging in Anti-Racism/Pro-Reconciliation training through the Ohio Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), although the entire denomination has been deeply committed for decades to eradication of racism, the transformation of individuals and communities, and the fostering of dialogue among people of all races, ethnicities, and cultures.

In all these commitments, our congregation is well aware that voting on such a statement is neither a completion of a process nor an excuse to become comfortable. In fact, naming them sets a challenge for us to live out more fully and deeply the call we feel from Christ to be and spread the Good News of God’s love to “the ends of the earth.”

I celebrate this decision with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind. It will serve us well as we embody what it means to be the Body of Christ for this day and in this place.

Your Pastor,
Allen

For a more complete story, including links to the organizations mentioned, please go to our website: http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/WhoWeAre.htm

From The Pastor, October 2008 Messenger

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

In the parable Jesus tells in Luke 19 he makes the point that those who are faithful in small things can be trusted with responsibility for larger tasks. Oftentimes we pastors and church staff members make it a habit of publicly thanking those in our churches who have done grand things and fail to note those who, oftentimes week in and week out, do the small tasks that help make the church run efficiently and faithfully. Of course, we clergy and staff try to let ourselves off the hook by saying, truthfully, that these folks are the last to want to be recognized and the first to be embarrassed when lifted up. Nevertheless, the right thing to do is to always give thanks for all the gifts given without compensation to this church, acts that go unseen by the majority.

Here is an incomplete, but hopefully helpful, accounting of the faithful servants of Franklin Circle Christian Church: Michelle Brown edits and produces our monthly newsletter, the Messenger, oftentimes with help from her husband, Allan Brown. Norma Stearns comes in almost every week to help fold and stuff the bulletins and prepare the hymnals prior to Sunday worship. Ralph Eyring is our “purchasing agent,” buying paper goods, cleaning supplies, and community hour provisions when we run low. Claude Pitman is at the church almost every day of the week working on improvements to the building, and frequently he’ll have the help of Al Betts, Allan Brown, and Michael Reed. Many of us write notes, but every week Eleanor Eyring writes a kind note of welcome to the visitors from the prior Sunday. Jane Cheiky unofficially keeps track of the community hour/potluck dinner supplies, and maintains the list for our weekly Community Hour. Janelle Eccleston takes our collected food items to the Near West Food Centre when our basket is full. Joe Stanley can frequently be found cleaning in and around the sanctuary. Colleen Munely, Cari Monhart, Tori Scheef, and Sharon Thomas spend hours of time in our clothing room organizing and making it presentable to our guests. Many of you provide transportation to and from events at the church, and regularly Norma Stearns, Jane Cheiky, Allan & Michelle Brown, Nim Bryant, and Gary and Martha Boska have done so.

If there are others who I have missed, please let me know! And, of course, all this is on top of the hours and hours many of you put into our Teams, Committees, Boards, and other official responsibilities that make this community vibrant and relevant.

“Well done!” we say to all of these faithful folks! Thank you for your gifts of time, energy, money, and wisdom given to God through this congregation. You are appreciated.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

Some Important Things To Note:
The Elders, after discussions with Pastor Allen and the Officers, have decided to postpone the second segment of his Study & Renewal Leave from October until late spring next year. Pastor Allen gratefully received this decision, as it fits his family’s schedule better.

Also, the Board at its meeting on September 21 will have received and discussed the Open & Affirming Statement that the Board of Elders voted to send to the Board to be melded into our existing Mission Statement. Since this newsletter will have gone to press prior to that discussion/vote, it could not be presented to the congregation. Go to our website, www.FranklinCircleChurch.org, for up-to-date information. Also, watch for your November newsletter for more specific information.

Reconciliation Is A Way Of Life, Not Just An Offering

Every year our church participates in six special day offerings, four around holidays and two related to the broader mission of our denomination. One of the latter ones is coming up this month: the “Reconciliation Offering,” to be received September 28 and October 5 in addition to our regular offerings.

The Reconciliation Offering is a critical one, not just for the global Church, but for our church in particular, for Franklin Circle Christian Church. Our congregation is diverse in many ways, especially in our varieties of race, ethnicity, culture, and native language. A church committed to welcoming and empowering people of all races simply has to acknowledge the terrible legacy of racism, which continues to distort our lives today. As confirmed by current news headlines, we cannot simply be non-racist, we must be anti-racist if we honestly wish to make a difference in the lives of those in our congregation, the Near West Side, Cleveland, and the world.

This offering goes to support the faithful work people are doing across North America to transform individuals and dismantle racism in society and the church and to build reconciliation amongst all peoples. As this congregation understands God’s call to deeper and more intentional diversity, we need the support of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), generally and regionally, to guide us wisely in this ministry. If we truly want to be the Church God dreams for us to be, then we must continue the work of being anti-racist and pro-reconciliation.
How do I know this is God’s work? The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 5:17-20a:

“So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new! Al this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation… So we are ambassadors for Christ.”

I invite you to give as generously as you can to this offering. But even more importantly, I ask that you involve yourself openly and intentionally as our church continues in the ministry of becoming even more anti-racist and pro-reconciliation. It will not be easy, for this involves confession, repentance, honest dialogue, and a vision of the People of God as we’ve never seen before: from God’s perspective. We can do it, because God has called us to this work and because God will equip us for it.

Let us be Ambassadors For Christ by being anti-racist and pro-reconciling as a way of life. Amen.

Your Pastor,
Allen

Reflections On My Sabbatical

The first segment of my sabbatical, my 6-week Study & Renewal Leave, was a marvelous experience and I am deeply grateful to this congregation for allowing me the privilege of having it. It has been interesting to note that just as I completed this time away, two of my colleagues, the Rev. Kurt Weiser of Liberation United Church of Christ in Lakewood, and the Rev. Doug Horner, pastor of St. Paul's United Church of Christ just down Franklin Blvd from us, are on three month sabbaticals themselves. I invite you to visit with church members from either of these congregations to learn about the possibilities for growth and renewal that can come from a pastor's sabbatical.

As I assumed, I didn't learn stunningly new and earth-shakingly profound things on my study leave, but, rather, rediscovered important truths that had become buried under the heap of daily tasks and weekly frustrations. I'd like to share with you just three of these truths that have been dusted off and shined up for me.

*) I'm in love with Jesus. I have been delightfully reminded why I call myself a Christian: because I follow the Jesus of the Gospels, the radical, truth-telling, leper-loving, parable-spouting, Pharisee-confronting, children-believing Jesus. I get so frustrated with the misuse of Jesus' name by the radical religious right that I tend to throw the holy baby out with the bathwater! I'm not a fundamentalist, nor am I conservative, but I am evangelical in the sense that I believe in Jesus' incarnation, teaching, life, death, and resurrection and this belief convinces me to follow in the way of Christ.

*) It's all about discipleship. In each of the congregations I visited I saw and experienced clear and compelling paths to discipleship, and I saw the pastors of these churches as strong, challenging, and confident ÒdisciplersÓ of their leaders. For me, it was especially important to see ministers using their authority or their power in healthy ways. There are so many misuses of power, especially by clergy in our world, and the recasting of that power in terms of discipleship was compelling, and convicting.

*) Service & spirituality are inextricably connected. The beautiful inward/outward theology of the Church of the Saviour in Washington, DC completely embodies Jesus' natural flow between deep spirituality and profound service, between prayer and action, between the personal and the public. Franklin Circle Christian Church has much to learn in the beauty and the healing this balance brings.

None of this obscures or replaces my insights and passions from last summer's City of God conference. As a matter of fact, I see them as a fulfillment, or at least next steps, on my journey from last summer. (For a refresher, go to our website: http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/Sermon070826.htm)

If you would like to know more about the specifics of my Study & Renewal Leave, check out the stories and photos at: http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/OurPastorStudyRenewalLeave.htm. I am also willing to offer my June 29th presentation again upon request. Again, thank your for the gift of this time away. I trust you'll see and feel a difference because of it!

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

     “Sabbath” is the concept of a day of rest, where no work is done, but only worship and activities that renew, restore, and refresh individuals and communities. In Christian communities, we have claimed Sunday as our Sabbath day. In the Jewish tradition (and a few Christian) Saturday is the Sabbath. For our Muslim brothers and sisters, it is Friday.
     In reading Walter Brueggeman's book, Challenge To Difference, I have been reminded how central the mandate to observe the Sabbath was to our forbearers. Not only was the very creation itself anchored in a “day,” or period of rest and renewal, but Sabbath was central to the ten commandments (Ex. 20/Deut. 5) and many of the ethical laws engrained into our faith in the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible).
     However, Brueggeman doesn't simply list the directives concerning the day of rest, nor does he browbeat us with shame for how horrible we modern folks are in observing (or not, as the case may be) Sabbath. Rather, he shows very clearly how setting aside a time, a place, and, most importantly, a place in our souls for reliance upon God and God alone is deeply embedded throughout the Bible and of our Judeo-Christian faith.
     From Genesis to the Psalms, from to Isaiah to Jesus and the early church, setting aside a distinct portion of life where God alone rules, is taken for granted as people of faith. If we truly abide by this mandate, it becomes countercultural - and not just for us 21st-century faithful. Even in the days of the exodus - especially in the days of the exodus from Egypt - claiming a day off work, from “making bricks,” flew in the face of Pharoah's demanding ways. Whether it is a desperate Egyptian king or a consuming corporate culture that is insisting we make more “bricks” with less “straw,” we feel pulled to overwork and “underrest” more and more and more.
     I know well that because of circumstances few of us are afforded the generous time off that you are allowing me this spring and next fall. I am aware, perhaps, too painfully aware, of the privilege I am afforded by this gracious offer. What I am more and more convinced of, however, is that every one of us has available, on some small or large level, the opportunity to tell Pharoah, “No!” We will not work ourselves to death in order to feed an insatiable hunger of a system that does not ultimately serve God nor the wellbeing of ourselves and our communities.
     Let us all find moments of countercultural resistance in the coming weeks. As I am renewed, I shall pray for you to be renewed, also. And let us all find a way to claim, “enough,” and be at Sabbath peace.

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

Upcoming Guest Preachers
We welcome the following preachers to our worship in the coming weeks:
Sunday, May 4 - Al Betts, member of Franklin Circle Christian Church, Elder, and Chair of the Board
Sunday, May 11 - Michelle Brown, member of Franklin Circle Christian Church, Elder, YEP! Program Director, and licensed lay ministry candidate.
Sunday, May 18 - Rev. Dr. William Edwards, Regional Minister of the Christian Church in Ohio
Sunday, May 25 - Rev. James Schimmel, retired Disciples of Christ pastor and frequent worshiper at Franklin Circle Christian Church.
Sunday, June 1 - Rev. Al Kean, Regional Elder and retired Disciples of Christ pastor.
Sunday, June 8 - Rev. Carrie Culleen, member of Franklin Circle Christian Church, Worship Team Chair, and chaplain with Benjamin Rose Institute.

Strong Lay Leaders

As we prepare for the first of my two Study & Renewal Leaves this year, I thought it might be good to offer a word about how the congregation will be led during my time away. It is also a chance to remind us as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) that we have a strong emphasis on lay ministry in our belief in “the priesthood of all believers.” There will be no better chance to live up to our highest ideals than during such a time as this.

Our tradition has two biblical offices for lay ministry: Elder and Deacon. We have added a third out of necessity for contemporary needs: Trustee. Together, these three make up the Board of our congregation. Elders are the Spiritual Leaders of the congregation. Deacons take the lead in Servant Ministry. The Trustees are charged with wise stewardship of the investments, both facilities and finances, of the church.

During my time away, all of the month of May and the first two weeks of June, the Elders will be especially important for the full functioning of the congregation. The chair of the Board of Elders, Sharon Thomas, will seek to insure consistency in worship throughout the time. Each Sunday, in addition to the regularly scheduled worship leaders, we will have a guest preacher and a “Host Elder.” The Host Elder will sit up front on the platform and share in many of the worship tasks that I might otherwise do: offertory, pastoral prayer, etc. We have lined up a marvelous set of guest preachers to bring the Word to life in different and exciting ways.

As far as the day-to-day oversight, the Chair of the Board, Al Betts, will be central. Working with our staff and Team and Committee Chairs, he will make sure things are running smoothly. In the case of a significant pastoral emergency, there will be several nearby Disciples pastors “on-call” to respond to these needs. You will simply call our Church Secretary, Carole Sauer, during office hours and Elder Sharon Thomas at other times.

The current Board of Elders includes: Sharon Thomas (chair), Al Betts, Jean Borrelli, Mary Brogan, Michelle Brown, Randy Buckingham, Jane Cheiky, Ralph Eyring, Patty Groetsch, Claire Munley, and Leila Streidl. Patty Adams, Ted Brogan, and Claude Pitman are Honorary Elders with full privileges as any other Elder. The Pastor is considered an “Elder among Elders” in our tradition.

One of the key texts for Eldership is from 1 Peter 5:1-4:
"So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ _as well as a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed. Tend the flock of God that is in your charge, not by constraint but willingly; not for shameful gain but eagerly; not as domineering over those in your charge but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd is manifested, you will obtain the unfading crown of glory.”

Our Board of Elders do, indeed, see themselves as shepherds of this flock we know as “Franklin Circle Christian Church. They will do well in leading our congregation through this brief, but important, time in our life together. Pray for them, and rely upon them as you would me, and Christ's hopes for the Church will come closer to being fulfilled.

Grace & Peace,
Your Pastor,
Allen

From The Pastor
Pastor's Study & Renewal Leave Plans ~ 2008

Over the past few months, in conversation with the officers and Elders of our congregation, I have discerned some confusion and uncertainty about the sabbatical leave that was part of my original call to this congregation. I have come to understand that few in our congregation or community know a person who has gone “on sabbatical,” much less been on a sabbatical themselves. This lack of experience might lead to some unconscious resentment or distance between me as your pastor and you, the congregation. Never would I want that to happen!

But at the same time I have felt a flood of care and concern for me, that I might have some time away from the day-to-day tasks of ministry in order to be renewed and re-energized. I am deeply appreciative for this show of support and thoughtfulness.

So, the Elders and I have rethought what is most needed. Instead of one three-month absence I will take two shorter Study & Renewal Leaves this year. One leave will be as planned in the spring (all of May and early June). The other one will be scheduled in the fall, probably all of October and the first part of November. I believe these will allow me the time necessary to unwind and be renewed for life and for my future ministry.

These Study & Renewal Leaves will first and foremost give me time to visit dear friends in other cities. For personal growth, I also plan on finding some time to play my guitar, take photographs around the cities I visit, and read some of those books which have stacked up around my office.

But also in each of two 6-week segments I will visit two cities each, visiting worship services at dynamic and diverse urban churches that are much like Franklin Circle Christian Church. By worshipping in such congregations, I hope to be renewed first and foremost simply as a worshipper, allowing the power of praise and the wisdom of the communities to “fill my cup.” Of course, if I learn a little bit about how other urban congregations offer spirited worship with God's diverse peoples, then I won't complain, either!

In the first part of my Study and Renewal Leave, in May and early June, I will be visiting Minneapolis, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. In Minneapolis I hope to visit the Church of All Nations Presbyterian Church, and The Sanctuary Covenant Church (ECC) as well as attend the Festival of Homiletics (“homiletics” means “preaching!”)

In Washington, DC I hope to spend significant time at the Seekers Church/Church of the Savior as well as attend once again the City Of God for the American Cities conference at the National Cathedral College.

The second part of my Study and Renewal Leave we are intentionally leaving a bit open, to allow the Spirit to guide us after the first segment. It will most likely take place next October and first two weeks of November and I would visit San Francisco, CA and New York, NY. In San Francisco I would soak up the powerful worship of Glide Memorial United Methodist Church and in New York I would explore the up-and-coming diverse worship of Middle Church (Reformed Church of America).

So, there you have it! Your prayers and feedback are always welcome and needed! My hope is that through this Study & Renewal Leave our entire congregation will benefit as we move forward “Widening The Circle For All God's Children!”

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

Didn't We Just Sing “The First Noel?”

We'll be singing “Were You There” all too soon! While I cannot verify it technically, I do believe this is the quickest turnaround between Christmas and Lent that I've ever experienced! Epiphany, the season of looking for “manifestations” of God around us, will be fleeting. As with all challenges, I hope we can make this “tight squeeze” a spiritually enriching opportunity!

So, we shouldn't waste much time getting ready. A fairly decent description of Lent is given in the online free encyclopedia Wikipedia:
In most Christian denominations, Lent is the forty-day period (or season) lasting from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. The forty days represents the time Jesus spent in the desert, where, according to the Bible, he endured the temptation of Satan. The six Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a "mini-Easter" celebration of the Jesus' victory over sin and death. In those churches which follow the Byzantine tradition (e.g. Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics), the forty days of Lent are calculated differently; Sundays are included, but the days of Holy Week are not. Lent is a time of preparation for Holy Week, which recalls the events linked to the Passion of Christ and culminates in Easter, the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The forty-day period is symbolic of the 40 days spent by Jesus in the desert. The number forty has many other Biblical significances: the forty days Moses spent on Mount Sinai with God; the forty days and nights Elijah spent walking to Mount Horeb; God makes it rain for forty days and forty nights in the story of Noah; the Hebrew people wandered forty years traveling to the Promised Land; Jonah in his prophecy of judgment gave the city of Nineveh forty days grace in which to repent. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent)

** This year we will have the opportunity to begin Lent in two wonderful ways. On Wednesday, February 6 at 12 noon our church will be offering a simple Ash Wednesday service, with organ, scripture, and ashes being offered. Then, later that evening at 7 p.m. at Lakewood Christian Church 17513 Detroit Ave., we will gather with several other Disciples of Christ congregations to share in an Ash Wednesday service. We hope everyone will join us for this very special opportunity. **

So, don't delay in seeking out God's manifestations in your life, for Epiphany shall be soon over. Lent and its disciplines will be here soon!

God's Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

“What do you think God's vision is for Franklin Circle Christian Church?”

I posed this question as part of my sermon on November 11, and many of you responded with enthusiasm. I still hope to hear from more of you, but I thought you might like to know just a few of the responses we received.

Several replies dealt specifically with our motto, “Widening The Circle For All God's Children.” This included: “God's Vision is to have everyone live together in love and equality,” “open arms to all, no matter who or what they are,” “What is so hard to understand, God in any language in any land in any shape, size, color, race! We come up with the same Holy God,” “Taking the diversity all around us and meshing it into one,” and “I see this church being an open door.”

But some wanted to get even more specific about our diversity: “Set an example of Affirming & Open,” “We should be officially and Open & Affirming community of faith,” “be handicap accessible,” and “Reach out to the poor, the homeless by just being there first, and let the know we love them as God does.”

There were several affirmations of our focus on youth, both within the congregation and in the community around us, as well as our current effort to secure a youth minister: “To try to get children and teens more involved,” “To get more youth in the church and get them more involved in church, We need to relate more to the youth of the neighborhood. I would love to see more people give their gifts to the program to reach the youth.” “Your vision for a Youth Pastor is so right on! A full time minister able to focus on the youth - go out in the neighborhood and pull these kids in is the key,” “The After School program needs more “umph,'” and then one response urged us to expand to the next age level: “Establish a base for young adults.”

Several folks encouraged us to be even more involved out in the neighborhood and in community issues: “To bring more people into our church to receive God's grace through more and better programs,” “To be a beacon of hope in this neighborhood, to reach out to those in the neighborhood who are lost, lonely, sad, depressed. We can best do this by having an outreach ministry that goes out into the neighborhood to reach these people,” “To serve and help people in the neighborhood,” and “Go out in the neighborhood and try to teach the way of God, teaching and helping all those who need help. Try to stop all of the violence.”

There were several affirmations of me, as pastor, and of particular programs and activities the church is already doing. There were also a few suggestions for specific new programs to start. But then there were a few challenges as to how we do things, “If you are going to 'talk the talk' then be prepared to 'walk the walk,'” “We need to serve the community less and teach the community to serve God,” “Why is our nation rebelling against God? He is the Ruler of Heaven and Earth, over water and all the animals walking His earth. Look around you. We have one God, one Holy Spirit,” and “I think we need to hold up all of our activities to a standard: Does each of our activities allow us to share and/or bring all of “us” to Christ?... and not simply “minister” to others. Prayers, hymns, invitations to Christ should always be a part of these activities.”

This kind of feedback is critical to help the Board and me know if our efforts are on track. If you haven't picked up a yellow index card at church and responded to the question, “What is God's Vision for Franklin Circle Christian Church?” then do so today. You can also go to our website www.FranklinCircleChurch.org and fill out a “card” there, as well as read all of the responses we have so far. May God's vision, your vision as the church, and my vision as your pastor, come together in new and every more powerful ways in 2008.

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

"What Shall We Name Him?"

This year's Advent devotional book provided for us by the Worship Team, “What Shall We Name Him?,” will help us explore the different names we have to describe Jesus, from Messiah to Prince of Peace to Good Shepherd, as well as so many others. This should be a wonderful community learning process in which I pray each of you will faithfully participate. I will explore these names and titles further in my sermons each Sunday in Advent as well as on Christmas Eve.

Names are important, and our use of language for the divine is critical. As many of you are probably well aware, I seek to use the most inclusive language for God, Jesus, and God's people in what I say in public prayers and in worship. I do so while carefully honoring the use of different kinds of language other people use. It is my understanding that the One who created the universe, who forms constellations and cells alike, and breathes life into each and every moment is ultimately beyond the limitations of my perspective, not to mention my verbal communication.

It is a paradox that comes to light in our faith talk that in the incarnation, or “in-body-ment,” of God in Jesus that we are to comprehend the sacred not just in the vague and other-worldly but in the flesh-and-blood here and now. At the same time that we receive God in the crying and cooing infant Jesus, we are to be very wary about getting caught up in the specifics of the person. In other words, God is always transcendent AND immanent, always more than we can imagine and precisely what we can envision.

As we look at the biblical names for Jesus, I encourage you to dig a little deeper. What names mean something special to you? How are they helpful and how are they limited? What names don't “do much” for you? Don't discount them, but explore them more fully, for they have meant something to others throughout the ages. What names or titles are absent from our devotional booklet? What ones would you add, and why?

As we move closer and closer to the evening where we remember and reenact The Word Made Flesh, let us use our words prayerfully and wisely. May we find just the right words to express our “Hosanna's In The Highest” but never too many words to exclude the mystery that is always just beyond our imagination.

Please join us each Sunday at 9:30 a.m. for Adult Sunday School and 10:30 a.m. for worship. A very special invitation is extended to you, your family and your friends, to join us for our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service on Monday, December 24 at 7 p.m.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

** Don't forget to check out the archive of my sermons on our website. Go to www.FranklinCircleChurch.org and click on the “Sermons” button on the lower left side.

Seasons Of God's Love

I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. ~ Leviticus 26:4

Happy are those whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and on God's law they meditate day and night. _They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. ~ Psalm 1:1-3

I've always been hesitant to use the imagery of “seasons” for God, and I'm not sure why. I think, in part, it is because seasons come and go, and sometimes it feels as if each year is exactly the same as the last, as well as all those years that came before the last. I refuse to think of God as “stagnant” or “the same ol' same ol'.” Similarly, somewhere in my educational history I think I connected the seasons with pantheistic religions that worship created things, such as the trees.

Perhaps it is as I mature that I become more and more in tune with the sacred cycles of the seasons. Certainly the movement of the seasons - winter to spring to summer to fall to winter, again - can remind us of the Christian truths of life, death, and new life. But they also remind us, as the years roll along, that we must be good stewards of all that we have. Those closer to the changes of earth, air, and water throughout the year, such as farmers and gardeners, know that how one treats the earth in one season may - no, WILL - affect us and/or our children in another.

And this imagery, of the seasons of stewardship, has strong biblical roots. The Apostle Paul wrote:
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ~ 1 Corinthians 3:5-7

It also reminds me of a beautiful quote attributed to Archbishop Oscar Romero:
We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and do it very well. It may be incomplete, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

As the seasons change from fall to winter, you are being asked to plant seeds of support for the future of this church by pledging to sustain the mission and ministry of this congregation in 2008. Through the regular and substantial support our annual budget receives from investments our Trustees oversee, we rely upon the “seeds” that faithful church members planted many years ago. Many devoted church leaders have nurtured these “seedlings” over the years. We see fruit every day in the lives touched and changed through the ministries of Franklin Circle Christian Church.

But these gifts can't, and shouldn't, be the sum total of our congregation's financial support. We need to plan new “seeds” today, to ensure fresh “fruit” for tomorrow. We may never actually see this fruit ripen and nourish the world, but we trust in God that every gift given, in faithfulness and hope, will serve God's people someday.

Many of you have increased your pledge this last year in order to help bring on staff an Associate Pastor for Youth. Talk about trusting God in all seasons! Your additional support over the next few years as we get this new pastor established and fully functioning will be seeds well sown!

When you receive your Stewardship Commitment letter and pledge card for the 2008 Operating Budget, I ask you to look out your window and see evidence of the seasons of nature changing, and give thanks. Then think about where you have seen God at work at our church, especially in our children and youth, and see evidence of the Seasons of God's Love changing and growing. Prayerfully fill out your pledge card, and either bring it or mail it to the church, and we will dedicate them in worship in November.

Thank you, so very much, for believing in the work of God in this church throughout all the seasons of life.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

Remembering In Prayer

“I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.” - Ephesians 1:16

As many of you may know since my experience at the City Of God conference in Washington, DC this past June I have renewed my commitment to daily prayer, and have begun each day since then in prayer. At the Board Leadership Retreat on August 25 I also shared that starting September 1st I would pray each day for a different leader in our congregation. When I have prayed for every Deacon, Deaconess, Trustee, Elder, Team Chair, and Fellowship President, I will turn to the congregation in general.

I hesitate to tell you this, taking seriously Jesus' words in Matthew 6:6 about praying in secret. But I do so keenly aware that leadership is sometimes a lonely and difficult calling. Perhaps knowing that your pastor is praying for you specifically might help you in your ministry. I also see it as one more extension of “being present” with you, a goal I shared with you in my August 25 sermon.* A large part of being present with and for someone is to hold them in your heart in prayer.

Now, being a person dedicated to action, I also immediately get concerned that so much prayer might lead to an overly self-absorbed mindset. Not at all! In fact, prayer is a necessary prerequisite to action as people of faith. To act prior to prayer is to risk acting on our own behalf, or otherwise foolishly. Prayer which is honest, open, and heart-felt grounds us in a reality other than our own, and leads us towards a divine perspective. And that is the best foundation for action!

My invitation to you, this amazing vibrant, diverse, urban congregation, is to commit yourselves again to prayer. Not just an occasional prayer, but prayer that is disciplined (meaning regular), unhurried, and outwardly focused. You might even want to get the list of Board Members and pray for the leaders of our congregation. What a mighty energy such a communal commitment to prayer would harness for the good of this church, The Church, and the world! May it be so.

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

*I would delight for you to my read this sermon, “Our Job: Here & Now” Isaiah 58:9b-14. You can do so either on the internet at www.franklincirclechurch.org/Sermon%20070826.htm or by calling the church office and asking for a printed copy to be mailed to you.

“Presente!”

In Central and South America there has come a sad but powerful tradition of recognizing the absence of persons who were victims of violence, principally during the 1970's and 1980's. Those gathered to remember, especially the women who were mothers and wives of the missing, would respond as each name was read aloud, “Presente!” or “Present!” It is a reminder of how the spirit of the deceased remains with us, in silent witness to the injustices perpetrated.

Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero [see photo to the left], who was murdered while officiating at mass in March of 1984 in El Salvador, is often remembered in such rituals. He was well known for being a people's pastor, one who walked with his parishioners through their harshest trials and tribulations. Both Pastor Romero and the compelling rite memorializing him are a tribute to the power of being present with others. Woody Allen once said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” While I'm not one to typically champion his philosophy, I do think Allen's got something here. Being present is a large part of the success of life.

Someone I would rather quote is Gordon Cosby [see photo to the right], founder of Church of the Savior in Washington, DC, who I met this past June. He talked to us “City Of God” seminar folks about a deeper level of existence, deeper than knowing or doing. This is the level of being. Being with people means you are more likely to discover their essence, that which makes them - and us - who we are. He challenged the church to start with simply being with the people we serve, and not spend so much time doing, doing, doing or even thinking about what we should do. After all, we believe that simply being with Jesus is what forms the essence of our being as Christians!

To be present with people is to honor God's Holy Spirit at work in them. To make this clear in my own mind, I began thinking about where our church is “doing” ministry and where we are “thinking about” ministry. I realized that some of the most “hands on” ministries Franklin Circle Christian Church does are also some of the most isolated and disembodied programs! Our Thursday Meal Program, our After School Program, and our Youth Group are critical places where Jesus calls us to minister to those in need, and yet they involve the fewest number of people in the congregation. I also realized that one of the most vital places where ministry should be happening - with young adults - was the very place we had absolutely no presence at all.

It was then that I promised myself that I would challenge you, the congregation, and me, as the pastor, to be more present with these people and programs. No, I'm not calling us to “do” more or even to “think about” them more right now. The studying and the action can and probably will come later. What is more important is to be with those in need, and see their essence, and show them Jesus' essence.

Thus, I am visiting the Thursday Meal Program over at St. Patrick's Church as often as I can, and will be even more present when it moves back to our facilities. Will you join me in being present with our neighbors? I will be working with the After School Program and getting to know our teens and their families. Won't you join me in being present with our neighborhood children and youth? I believe our goal of hiring a new full-time and theologically-trained minister is an investment in being present with our youth, both in the church and beyond our walls. But the new minister can't do it alone. He or she will need you to be present, also. Will you commit to being present with our church youth?

Finally, you will notice on the calendar something new on Tuesday evenings. From 5 to 6:30 p.m. I am going to be present at Gypsy Bean Coffee Shop, on the corner of 65th Street and Detroit Ave. for “Café Conversations.” I will invite anyone and everyone, but especially the young adults who've visited our church - and those who haven't - to visit with me over a cup of coffee or tea. We'll talk about what's on their minds, what's important to them, what's in the news, and maybe we'll even talk a little spirituality and theology! I've worked with the owner, Nikki Gillota, and she's agreed to let me hang out at a table for a while… or, if we get big enough, use their back meeting room!

“Presente!” I think every time we seek to be fully present with one another, and especially those in need, those wandering on their way, those who feel adrift, we are bringing the essence of Jesus back to life. I hope you will join me, because, of course, it cannot be just the pastor. Let the church be “Present!” and Christ's Body will be, also.

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

From The Pastor

In Romans 12 the Apostle Paul offers an appeal that is often used in our worship services as a litany for leaders as they are installed. In it, Paul urges us to not be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.” What a beautiful and awesome concept: to resist shaping ourselves to the will of the world, but seek a divine renewal that will lead inevitably to transformation (which is a fancy word for “change”).

How do we do this? How do we let go of the temptations and forces of “the way things are” to allow us to become what God dreams for us to be? Well, Paul gives us a very specific and realistic means of fulfilling this reality: accept that not every one has to do and be the same kind of leader, or the same kind of Christian, for that matter. He says it exquisitely: “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us” If we are going to be healthy Christians, and if this endeavor called “church” is to every really succeed, we can't expect everyone to do the same things, fulfill the same roles, or even enjoy the same aspects of church.

By now I hope you have heard of the drive to get financial commitments, over and above our regular pledges, from members and friends of the congregation to help support the new Associate Minister/Youth Director position we are hoping to fill this fall. The cost of filling this position will be about $30,000 annually, and the congregation is being asked to commit to raise its level of giving to cover about a third of the costs, about $10,000. This is roughly equal to the amount our congregation's tithes and offerings support the annual operating budget. The Trustees have committed to using funds from our invested monies to cover the rest.

Central to this new venture is the realization that our congregation needs someone whose gifts differ from the grace given the rest of us: one who is called to be a full-time minister to our youth. We are also committed to finding someone who can fulfill all the spiritual duties of a pastor as well in order to provide this congregation with ample spiritual support when I am ill or away. I humbly recognize that neither my gifts or calling for ministry, nor those of our very able youth sponsors, Patty Groetsch and Jean Borrelli, are adequate to the needs of our vibrant, growing, youth-full church.

If we honestly acknowledge our own unique gifts and callings, and we honor what we can do and what we cannot do, then it will mean seeking out those who have the gifts that are needed so that Franklin Circle Christian Church can realize the mission to which God is calling us in this day and this place. Will we be changed? I hope so!

If you have not already, please contact Carole Sauer, our Financial Secretary, in the church office to let her know how much you can raise your pledge to help cover the cost of our new Associate Pastor/Youth Director. Every gift, no matter how large or small, is deeply appreciated.

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

July 2007
Deepening Our Roots To Extend Our Branches

It is an ancient metaphor, and its truth speaks to us afresh today. In order for our reach, our grasp to be extended out into the world, we must grow deeper and more sustaining roots. I think we know this truth instinctively, but the busy-ness of our lives often masks its power and necessity. I am no different. Even your pastor needs to be reminded occasionally of how important nurturing roots is to sustaining growth.

I experienced something profoundly disturbing and yet amazingly refreshing at the seminar which I attended this past week, “The City Of God For American Cities: Reinventing The Urban Church” led by Douglas and Carolyn Bailey. Through pilgrimages to sites around Washington, D.C. and visits with world-renown theologians, such as James Forbes, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Gordon Crosby, the 27 pastors and lay leaders gathered were reminded in pointed and prayerful ways: don't forget to nurture the roots! Amazing, audacious, incredible things can happen - if one's roots are deep and if a community's roots are healthy.

This can be brought about in many ways according to the needs and the grace of the individual or community. We were reminded of the critical importance of honoring and actually observing Sabbath rest, of open and honest prayer, of sharing deeply and candidly with beloved family, friends, and colleagues, and of sticking close to the “essence” of God.

As our congregation continues to reach out to others in new and renewed ways, let us be reminded that nothing can be done without God's abiding presence in our lives. As we share good news with the youth and young adults of our neighborhood, let them see well-grounded and prayerful people of faith inviting them to discipleship. As we advocate for the poor and those on the margins of life, let us do so from a position of confidence, centered on the call of God and Jesus' own example.

And let us hear the apostle Paul's prayer for the church at Ephesus as if it were for us, also: “I pray that, according to the riches of God's glory… you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through God's spirit, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” (Eph. 3:17) May it be so!

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

June 2007

Important Decisions

Dear FCCC Members & Friends,

I write to inform you that at the congregational meeting on Sunday, May 6 the new slate of candidates for Elders, Diaconate, and Trustees were elected. They will begin their terms of service on July 1, 2007. I hope you will join me in welcoming our newly called and elected leadership.

Also, the congregation voted overwhelmingly to create the position of Associate Pastor/Youth Director. This person will be fully trained and ordained as a pastor in order to better guide our youth and build our youth program in powerful and faithful new ways. The entire church will reap the benefits from such a pastor. This pastor will also be capable of filling in on those occasions when I am on vacation, on sabbatical, or ill.

The job description that has been approved by the Board and Congregation is available from the church office and is posted on our website at http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/Our%20Staff.htm#Staff%20News .

I am very pleased that our congregation has chosen to staff our church in such a way as to support our youth as well as with a view for the future growth we are faithfully expecting, (and are already beginning to experience). Certainly my own pastoral experience has proven that an investment in the youth of our community and our congregation is a wise and fruitful decision for the entire congregation.

Wisely, the Board, with the encouragement of the Trustees, has agreed that the hiring of an Associate Pastor/Youth Director will depend upon receiving commitments from the congregation, and our friends and family near and far, to support this new position at least by the same percentage the congregation supports the annual operating budget, which is approximately 30%. Over the summer the youth of our church have graciously agreed to lead us in a campaign to raise our pledges to cover the $10,000 (30% of a $30,000 salary + benefits). We will begin interviewing only after the congregation's commitment is assured.

I would invite you to read my sermon from Sunday, April 29 which explores the importance of a healthy balance of lay leadership and clergy leadership in our congregation. You can read it at: http://www.franklincirclechurch.org/sermon%20070429.htm and copies are available at the church.

I understand that many exciting things are happening at FCCC, and some of it may be confusing. Please, if you have any concerns, questions or simply need help to get your mind wrapped around all that is going on, please do not hesitate to call me at 216-781-8232 or e-mail me at PastorAllen@FranklinCircleChurch.org. I will gladly set up a time to visit with you about the progress our congregation is making to "Widen The Circle For All God's Children." You are also invited to the Board meeting on Sunday, June 10 where we will work through more of the details of our process.

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

May 2007

The Big Picture

It’s one of the hardest things for church folks to do, both laity and clergy alike. It is difficult to step back and see the “big picture” of how things work for the whole church, how this or that idea or program fits into the context of the past, the present, and the hoped for future, and who might benefit from decisions within a congregation and beyond it in the community.

Most leaders, and certainly much of the rest of the congregation, have limited time, energy, and ability to keep in mind all the various aspects of the church on an ongoing basis. We want to use our gifts and graces wisely, with the time and energy we have, and so we focus on one or two facets of the church to support, participate in, and keep up with. This is understandable and responsible.

But as your pastor, I am charged with keeping the “big picture” constantly before the leadership. My “5 Point Plan” offered almost a year ago was my humble attempt to get us to step back and make some careful and faithful choices to improve the “big picture” of Franklin Circle Christian Church. Since that time we have added a sixth critical focus, that of Youth Ministry.

Well, the time has come for us to decide. Over the next several months proposals will be offered to the Board regarding these priorities. At the April 29 Board Meeting a proposal to hire a new pastor, with primary responsibilities in Youth Ministry, will be set forth. This is a huge step, and a lot of the congregation is invested in the decision.

The challenge will be for each and every leader of the congregation to look at these decisions from several perspectives. Each one of us will bring our particular beliefs, experiences, passions, and needs to these proposals, and this is beautiful and helpful. But if we are to be true to God, who is calling us to be good stewards of the whole church, we must also challenge ourselves to step back and see our decisions as part of “the big picture.” We must ask, “Even if this or that proposal doesn’t meet my particular hopes or interests, is it in the best interest of the entire congregation and the community around us?”

I ask the whole community, near and far, of Franklin Circle Christian Church to be in prayer over the next six months as significant proposals are offered which are projected to retool and rejuvenate this congregation for ministry in this dynamic neighborhood for the future. Healthy, constant, and faithful communication will be critical over the next few months. And, if we are all able to see the church as a whole, with all its wonderful possibilities as well as all its familiar shortcomings, offering everything we do prayerfully to God, I trust we will make the right decisions.

Faithfully Your Pastor,
Allen

Strings Too Short

In her book Calmly Plotting The Resurrection, Donna Schaper tells of Donald E. Hall, the poet laureate of New Hampshire, who happened upon a box in his grandfather’s attic one day. The box was marked “strings too short to save.” He was caught completely off-guard by this seemingly eccentric contradiction, useless bits and pieces but valued anyway, and was able to write a beautiful poem out of its humor.

I have my own connection with this phrase, as the wife of the Senior Pastor with whom I served in New York City was delightfully notorious for saving all manner of things to be used later, for crafts, science projects, displays at church, or who knows what. Whenever I would watch Jensene Payne gather up things to be carefully sorted and saved, things which I would have automatically thrown into the garbage, and she would see me looking, we would both laugh together and say, “This’ll go right next to the box of strings too short to save!”

But reading Schaper’s meditation, I realized what a profound Easter message this humorous little quip is. Isn’t the story of the cross and the empty tomb all about God’s gathering up all of us, too-short and too-tall, misfits and plain-Jane’s and royalty alike, and saving us. Isn’t the Easter story all about folks who, by most estimates, should be tossed out on the garbage bin of history being carefully cared for by God, who sees value and worth more deeply than we humans ever will?

I pray our motto, “Widening The Circle For All God’s Children” isn’t just a cute catchphrase that is great for stationary but forgotten otherwise. For me, it perfectly captures the Resurrection’s most profound meaning and the poet’s deepest delight. We are gathered here on this historic circle not by our own merit or will, but through God’s grace and desire to draw together “the least of these,” the strings “too short to save,” and to save us all in the name of love. Our job is simple: having thus been received, to keep a place open in this remarkable circle of love so that the next misfit can fit right in.

Your Pastor,
Allen

From The Pastor…

Lent is a good time for “taking stock” of things, and so I thought I would use this opportunity to update you on several projects in our congregation’s life:

1. Youth Ministry Position – At the last several Board Meetings we have been discussing the wonderful growth in our youth program and the need for a staff person to oversee this vital part of our congregation’s ministry. A small group has been formed and is preparing a job description to go to the next Board Meeting in April. A search committee will be formed following that and hopefully we will have someone on board by the end of the summer.

2. New Worship Opportunities Team – This team continues to meet and to visit other churches with special worship services and to study what “transforming worship” means. We hope to “play” with a couple of different types of our own alternative services in the coming months. This team probably will not have a proposal ready until the fall.

3. Evangelism & Publicity Team – You may have already seen some of the results of this team’s work. We are being listed in the Plain Dealer’s Saturday worship listing, and there was a display ad for the Anniversary Celebration in the February 3 Plain Dealer. Watch for new t-shirts in the spring!

4. Pastor’s Class – for the first time in my ministry here we have enough youth to have a full-fledged Pastor’s Class! Eight young people over the weekend of February 23-24 will explore what discipleship and church membership mean, looking especially at the beliefs and structure of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Holy Communion, Baptism, and the Good Confession. Those who choose to proceed will be baptized on Palm Sunday, April 1.

5. Church Pictorial Directory – We hit a snag with some technological problems in creating our own directory, but we are working this out. Expect another round of photographs soon and a directory following.

I invite you to pray for these, and other exciting developments in the life of our church as illustrated in this newsletter. Likewise, take some time in the coming days to look at your own life, taking stock of what is working well and what isn’t, and use this reflective season to recommit yourself to that which brings you joy, grace, peace, and love and clear away those things that distract and defeat you. May God be with us all in these ventures.

God’s Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

The Next Six Years!

Some members of the congregation were very observant! They noticed that as part of the 2007 budget explanation, offered by our Treasurer, Randy Buckingham, the guest preaching honorarium was larger than usual because of the possibility of your pastor going on sabbatical leave this year. Unfortunately, the concept of a sabbatical is unfamiliar enough to confuse some folks, who thought it meant that I was leaving Franklin Circle Christian Church. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, knowing that I am discussing a sabbatical with the Board of Elders should reassure you that I intend to continue serving as your pastor!

Well, let me offer a few brief words about this discussion to help all of us understand what will be happening over the next couple of years. It is typical for churches to offer their pastor, after anywhere from five to seven years of service, a time of sabbatical, or renewal leave. I am approaching my sixth anniversary with the congregation in April and therefore began the conversation with the Elders, who will oversee my sabbatical. At our last meeting it became clear that 2007 will be dedicated to planning this time away for both me and for the congregation, but that I will not actually be on sabbatical until 2008.

The time away is usually three months and includes study, spiritual retreat, and rest. It is not vacation time, but intentional time for both the pastor (me) and the congregation (you) to review the direction in which we are currently headed, listen to God as to the direction we should be heading, hone skills we already have and gain new ones needed for the journey ahead, pray for each other, and perhaps even learn new and healthier ways of relating to one another.

I also see it as a time to focus on an aspect of my ministry that intersects with the mission God has for Franklin Circle Christian Church, to delve into that facet more deeply and gain wisdom about the best practices available from some of the premier congregations and leaders in that particular area. This gives me great energy and excitement, imagining a new chapter in my ministry here at Franklin Circle Christian Church.

If you would like to know more about clergy sabbaticals, please go on the web to: http://www.homelandministries.org/Ministers/MinistryGuidelines/sabbatical.htm . If you would instead like to have this resource in print format, please call the church office and we will mail you a copy.

I am pleased to be your pastor, and am looking forward to growing with you into God’s marvelous future!
God’s Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

I think I shall begin 2007 on a very simple note by sharing with you a stanza from one of my very favorite poems by one of my very favorite poets. This poem, part of a much longer and intricate series of poems, speaks of the interconnectedness of life, especially of the movement of the seasons of year. I offer it to you as a prayer that as our congregation journeys on, and though what we experience may seem all-too familiar, we can enjoy life in new and ever more profound ways if we but humbly rely upon one another and carefully look for the beauty along the way.
Have a blessed New Year!

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one.

LITTLE GIDDING
(No. 4 of 'Four Quartets')
T.S. Eliot

The Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas/New Years holiday season is filled with such mixed emotions for many of us. We are so grateful to God for the gifts we have received this past year, but cannot forget those who struggle to make ends meet. We look forward to the world around us dressing in “holiday style,” but the pressure to get our own list of things done begins pressing in. We recognize the powerful moment in creation’s history when the babe of Bethlehem was born, but we can’t help remembering those near and dear to us who have died. We make our resolutions for a healthy, happy, and holy New Year trying to ignore the unfinished list we began last year with such enthusiasm.

But this paradox is exactly why we should be celebrating the holiday! We are all human, and our days on this earth will always be numbered, yet the holiday arrives anew, fresh and exciting. Our prayers of thanksgiving will include commitments to share with those in need and change the systems of injustice. Perhaps the smile that comes from seeing twinkling lights along the street or evergreens with bright bows in doorways might just provide a new lilt for our step as we get our tasks done. The Christ Child came so that those who have died might know resurrection’s joy and those of us who are still alive might have hope. And resolutions remind us that every day – even January 1st – is a new chance for resurrection!

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Allen

Signs Of The Spirit In November

Well, so much has been happening around Franklin Circle Christian Church that it is hard to know where to begin and what to say. Let me begin by saying I believe the Holy Spirit is at work in our congregation in new and exciting ways. What causes me to believe this? Here are a few hints:

> Our youth program has grown tremendously in the past few months. Under the guidance of Patty Groetsch and Jean Borrelli, and the leadership of Joe Bobak and Ronda Wenzel, the youth are creating a vibrant program. Many ideas are in the works, and we are doing a great deal of research in order to bring to the Trustees and the Board some proposals to insure that our youth program will continue to thrive.

> We had a large turnout for the first meeting of the New Worship Initiatives Team where we “brainstormed” ideas for a possible new worship service. Clearly there is energy around the idea of providing other worship opportunities, especially for those in our neighborhood who do not find our wonderful traditional service the best way for them to experience God’s presence and offer God praise. The next meeting of the Team (and new folks are always invited) will be Sunday, November 12 following the Community Hour. Each month we will also be visiting other churches with second services – and taking notes!

> The Mission Council has new energy and a vision for how programming in our congregation can continue to be revitalized and can renew the entire congregation. A proposal will be coming to the Board, and then the congregation, to extend the temporary By Law changes we made a year ago for at least 6 more months. The officers will suggest this in order to more fully evaluate the changes and make proposals to the Board that have been carefully and prayerfully considered.

> Finally, I feel that our Elders, Diaconate, and Trustees are understanding more fully the central role they play in the transformation of this congregation from a 20th Century Congregation to a 21st Century Mission Station. With deep faithfulness, and renewed purpose, they are seeking to follow God’s leading.

That’s a snapshot of where the energy is coming from at this moment in our history. I hope you agree, great things are happening at FCCC!

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

October 2006

What is important and what isn't important? Such questions arise for leaders of any organization, and the church is no different. It has been coming up a lot lately, in part as people look to my leadership to see the direction the church is headed and (more preferably) as members of the church look to one another to discover passions, gifts, interests, needs, and energies to set the direction of Franklin Circle Christian Church.
What should be our priorities? Oh how I wish I could take the words of the writer of the letter to the Colossians literally:

It sounds both appealing and saintly, but exactly what does it mean to "set your mind on things above?" As I first read these words, it seemed a bit out-of-touch and spiritually naive to say, "set your mind on things above." As a leader in this church, I want to ask the gritty, hands-on questions about priorities and directions, such as "What priorities will put this church in the right position to thrive into the 21st century?" and "How much of our accumulated resources are we willing to spend to undergird our mission-word with our mission-deeds?

But upon reflection, I wonder if the writer of Colossians isn't helping us to see that we need to begin with prayer and with an "out-of-body" perspective, if you will. What I mean by that is that as followers of Christ we shouldn't begin with the practical questions of who and how much and when and where because these tend to make us focused only on our needs, our perspectives, and be confined by our prejudices, our fears, and our limitations.

Perhaps to think on "things above" is to invite us to first be spiritual beings, seeking a larger perspective and a broader wisdom when setting priorities and directions. When we begin with deep and profound prayer, we are inevitably led to the prayer of Christ in the Garden, "not my will, but thine." This may (most certainly will) cause us to decide upon terribly unpopular directions or even priorities that are not our own, but, rather, are the needs of the community as a whole.

The biblical writer was addressing, in part, the complicated volumes of religious rules and regulations that made being a faithful person in 1st century Palestine a burden. Much like the founders of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) struggled with the convoluted rules of the church of the early 1800's, they knew instinctively that too much earthly stuff is bound to get in the way of the God-stuff. It is a bit risky, walking by faith and not by the sight of the obvious, the tried-and-true, the measurable ... but it's definitely more rewarding. Having the "mind of Christ" helps us to set our course as followers of Christ, and not simply follow the hungers of our earthly bodies and minds.

I'm not sure exactly where we are headed as a congregation right now, but I do trust that we are a faithful group of prayerful folks who will look up from our own agendas in order to watch for the guiding star which will lead us on the Way. May Franklin Circle Christian Church find Christ is our life and be then, and only then, "revealed with him in glory!"

God's Grace Is Abundant!
Pastor Allen

Throughout the month of September our congregation will be taken on a little ride, with the youth of our church in the driver’s seat. This will be good for us. Hopefully sitting in the passenger seat will help us understand the needs and wants of our young people better so that we can hear how God is calling us to serve them more fully.

Each Sunday youth will be serving in leadership capacities in worship. On Sunday, September 10, which is Rally Day, the youth will have a more extensive leadership role. On the last Sunday of the month they have invited the entire church to join them for a light lunch after worship. This will nourish us as we head to a board meeting at which the youth will be presenting several proposals for our consideration.

It is important for us to really hear the call of the young people… those who have found their way into our church as well as those in the neighborhood that are longing for guidance, safe space, and a place to explore God’s love for them.

What can you do as a church member to help our youth? There are several things. First, you can get to know them and learn their names. Nothing shows you care more than really knowing who someone is, and rejoicing each time you see them. Second, ask them what they want and need from the church. Don’t assume you know – ask. Pray for all youth, those adults leading them, and for our After School Program, Youth Sunday School Class, and new programs as they arise that put a face on God to youth.

And third, be prepared for our congregation to take some faithful risks to truly reach out to our youth. We no longer live in the day when they will simply come to the church because that’s the “thing to do.” We’ve got to actively seek to reach them, listen to them, respond to them. Their salvation – and ours – depends upon it.

God’s Grace Is Abundant,
Pastor Allen

"Leadership" as a concept is batted about a lot these days by authors and experts. Many of these leadership gurus are making a good deal of money and many of them are sharing significant ideas that are improving the effectiveness of businesses and non-profit organizations alike. The jury is still out on whether or not the ones making the big bucks and the ones promoting good ideas are the same.

I've been watching the lectionary over the summer and have noticed the Epistle selections have been from the writings of Paul, many of which are all about leadership in the early church. Paul doesn't sugarcoat the situation. He knows firsthand that leadership isn't for the weak of heart, even in the church which extols such seemingly easy-going character traits as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Even Paul, who stands as the premier model for all disciples in witnessing to the world about the message and meaning of Jesus Christ, had his obstacles.

What I keep reminding myself is that leadership isn't about any one person or one group in the church. Yes, there are leaders that are necessary for our church to fulfill its calling, from Al Betts, our new Board Chair, to Joe Bobak who leads our Acolytes. But if we spend all our time focusing on the particular qualities of persons who are leaders, we may very well miss the "prize of the high calling to which we are called." It's a "catch 22," and Paul knew it. We need to call people who are qualified and spirit-led, and we need to call our leaders to their very best selves in their service, but ultimately we must stay focused on the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ.

How did Paul do it? He recognized that no matter how difficult the road, how painful the criticisms, how far away the goal seemed, ultimately it was not about him, but about the grace and love of God for the world. In 2 Corinthians 12 he reminded us poignantly of this fact when he wrote, "[God reminds me,] 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.' So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong." He knew that God called him to offer his very best to the church, Christ's body on earth, but that the Mission was there before Paul ever came along and the Mission would continue long after Paul had died.

On Saturday, August 26 at 9 a.m. all leaders in our congregation are invited to attend our annual "Leadership Workshop" where we will seek to equip our Diaconate, Elders, Trustees, and other leaders for the task of ministry in the coming year at Franklin Circle Christian Church. We won't be able to do in one morning everything that is needed to prepare ourselves, but we will do a few significant things to get us facing in the right direction. My hope is that if we do anything, we will help one another recognize that true leadership is not about us, but about God, and that we will that morning offer ourselves again to God, with both our weaknesses and strengths, to the glory of God.

May it be so.
Your Pastor, Allen

In the last week I have come to recognize, and you probably have also, that with the death of Bob Mock our congregation has lost, for the first time since I was called to be your pastor, a true and undeniable pillar of the church. Bob's beloved wife, Eleanor, had died almost two years before I became pastor, and while the ripples from that loss were still being felt throughout the community, I had not had the privilege of knowing her nor the great sadness in experiencing the loss directly.

But now, as if with a wisp of the wind, Bob is gone. A gentle, fun-loving, and strong man is no longer with us. So many people knew Bob, whether by name or not, as the ever present smiling face that welcomed them, along with Ted Brogan, to worship each Sunday morning. Passing out bulletins, taking attendance, and managing unforeseen circumstances, Bob and Ted acted as ever-dutiful" stage managers" for the weekly drama of worship that we would offer to our God in thanksgiving and joy. At the funeral Ted reminded us that he, Bob, and Ralph Eyring had been chosen and trained by the best of the ushers, Col. Walter Mills, and Bob faithfully executed that responsibility for almost 60 years.

As I write this, I am also preparing for the dedication of Kelly Jo Brown, the beautiful newborn of Allan and Michelle Brown. I was privileged to visit Kelly Jo just minutes after her birth on May 26. She is happy, healthy, and in addition to having devoted, loving parents and family members, is already an integral part of the Franklin Circle Christian Church family.

Is it too simplistic, too syrupy to point out what my heart seems to know instinctively, that the great mystery of life as God has created it involves in some way, shape, or form a marvelous cycle of birth, life, death, and birth again? I pray it does not dishonor Bob nor burden Kelly Jo to make the connections that seem so natural, that somehow there is great meaning to one life passing and another just beginning. What I mean to say is that I find great comfort in the face of the pain of losing one so dear as Bob by welcoming one so dear as Kelly Jo.

I cannot take away the sadness that is running deep through this congregation since word went out of the unexpected death of Bob Mock. I suppose I wouldn't remove it if I could, because the tears shall serve to emblazon Bob's memory once-and-for-all on our hearts. But what I will do is allow it to settle quickly, because Kelly Jo needs us to be her church for her now, not just later. May the time, energy, and love we offer her, and all the children and youth of our church, in the same way impress upon our memories Robert Lee Mock for all time.

May each of us find the Holy Spirit mightily and lovingly at work in the cycles of our lives and loves.
Your Pastor,
Allen

Note: There will be no Widening The Circle Forums in July and August in order to plan and publicize the topics for the fall, beginning with the Thursday, September 28, 7 p.m. Forum featuring the PBS documentary "Flag Wars" and discussing gentrification and neighborhood economic diversity.

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June, 2006

Transformation Is God’s Work

On Pentecost Sunday, June 4, we are going to celebrate both the birth of the church and its renewal at the same time. Pentecost, the holiday in which Christians celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the followers of Christ as recorded in scripture in Acts 2, marks the beginnings of the church as we know it. Five years ago, on Pentecost Sunday, June 3, 2001, we came together to mark the inauguration of Franklin Circle Christian Church’s “Redevelopment Congregation” program. This Anniversary Celebration will incorporate both.

It’s always important to celebrate birthdays, and as those of you who know me know that I love to celebrate Pentecost. And while the three-year Redevelopment Program is officially over, the transformation of our congregation must be an on-going process just as it is for any community of faith that wishes to remain vibrant, relevant, and faithful. So the first Sunday in June, 2006, will be a time for us to remind ourselves of the mission God gave the church as the winds of the Spirit blew across people gathered from near and far AS WELL AS the mission God gives our congregation here in this place and in this day.

There are several areas that I see will take priority for the next few years if we are going to thrive and flourish as a mission center for God on the Near West Side of Cleveland. In no particular order, they are:
1.) We need to evaluate and settle on a format for our programmatic work now being done by the Mission Council, as well as the other temporary changes made last fall. This should be part of an overall, and long-overdue, look at our Constitution and By-Laws.

2.) We need to be more intentional about nurturing our leadership, spiritually and with specific training, as well as consistently developing new leaders for the future.

3.) We need a comprehensive long-term mission plan that helps us decide how to wisely and faithfully invest our time, energy, and money in ways that are unique to our congregation and specific to our setting and time.

4.) We need to create and invest in a coordinated and creative plan for evangelism, telling the Good News of what God is doing in, with, and through our congregation.

5.) We need to consider additional opportunities for worship that allows others who may not find our traditional service the most fulfilling way to praise God.

Ultimately, however, we must remind ourselves again and again, that this work, as critical as it is and as much as it calls us to prayer and action, is God’s work. Nothing will succeed if we think that any one of us is either indispensable or disposable. We may plant the seed, water it, nourish it, protect it, reap its fruit… but God, and God alone, gives the growth.

Gratefully Your Pastor,
Allen

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April 2006

I believe this with all my heart, soul, and strength. I am finding that I am reminding myself of this truth more frequently than ever before these days as the wars in which our country is engaged continue longer than any of us had ever imagined, and as the divide between neighbors of means and neighbors in poverty grows deeper and wider with each new government policy decision and community battle.

It is the profound and paradoxical truth of our faith, where Good Friday is inextricably bound to Easter Sunday, that no matter how long sorrow and fear may last, hope comes. Life always trumps death. Resurrection is God's ever new “final word.”

During this time of social and political trauma, where government secrecy and intrusion abound, political ethics are called into question by our highest elected officials, and civil communal dialogue is at an all-time premium, we need to reflect seriously on the way of Jesus and take to heart, live, and proclaim his methods as guides for our time.

Jesus, who “did not regard equality with God a thing to be exploited,” refused to assume power over others was a goal to be obtained. Jesus, who “emptied himself,” refused to believe that the purpose of life was to get and take and consume everything a person could, but to give and let go and find a clearing for true spiritual riches. Jesus, who “taking the form of a slave… humbled himself,” recognized that the ultimate personal realization meant being a seeker, becoming vulnerable, and serving others. Jesus, who “became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross,” bore witness to the truth that life is not some static element to be held onto at all cost, but that death can be a beautiful gift, if given in humility, honesty, and love.

I encourage each of us to not let the situations of our world drain our lifeblood and cause us to retreat into an isolated shell. I confess the temptation to do so is enormous for me. Instead, let us turn again to Jesus, always crucified and always resurrected, to lead us into new life. Let us do what needs to be done to take care of ourselves, but let us not tarry there too long. The exciting, transforming, renewing work of bringing new life to our world… and ourselves… needs to be done. Yes, the Holy Week/Easter story is as counterculture as it can be, but that should only energize us for our tasks, for it is also ultimate truth. Believe the Good News: Every day is a new possibility for resurrection!

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February 2006

Originating in the fourth century of the church, the season of Lent spans 40 weekdays beginning on Ash Wednesday and climaxing during Holy Week with Holy Thursday (Maundy Thursday), Good Friday, and concluding Saturday before Easter. Originally, Lent was the time of preparation for those who were to be baptized, a time of concentrated study and prayer before their baptism at the Easter Vigil.
Today, Lent is marked by a time of prayer and preparation to celebrate Easter. Since Sundays celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the six Sundays that occur during Lent are not counted as part of the 40 days of Lent. The number 40 is connected with many biblical events, but especially with the forty days Jesus spent in the wilderness preparing for his ministry.

Lent has traditionally been marked by penitential prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Some churches today still observe a rigid schedule of fasting on certain days during Lent, especially the giving up of meat, alcohol, sweets, and other types of food. Other traditions do not place as great an emphasis on fasting, but focus on charitable deeds, especially helping those in physical need with food and clothing, or simply the giving of money to charities. Most Christian churches that observe Lent at all focus on it as a time of prayer, especially penance, repenting for failures and sin as a way to focus on the need for God’s grace. It is really a preparation to celebrate God’s marvelous redemption at Easter, and the resurrected life that we live, and hope for, as Christians.
Ash Wednesday, the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday, is the first day of the Season of Lent. This year it falls on March 1. Its name comes from the ancient practice of placing ashes on worshippers’ foreheads as a sign of humility before God, a symbol of mourning and sorrow at the death that sin brings into the world. It not only prefigures the mourning at the death of Jesus.

(I am indebted to Dennis Bratcher of the Christian Resource Institute for information for this article.)

Finding Words To Talk About Race

Maria Luisa Tucker, whose mother is an Ecuadorian immigrant and whose father is from a Southern white ranching family has written a marvelous article entitled "Finding Words To Talk About Race." In a clear, simple, and unapologetic way she observes, "In a post-civil rights world, my generation grew up obeying a polite colorblindness, a denial of difference. For decades, we quietly ignored race, which meant we ignored discrimination, and we shrank from talking about racial or ethnic tensions. Today, primarily because of Hurricane Katrina, Americans have finally acknowledged that, actually, we do have to talk about race. We're just having trouble finding the right words."

She speaks of a deep and profound truth when she suggests that, "What's needed are a million personal conversations between ordinary Americans. The complexities and nuances of color and culture, the disparities of wealth and education are best understood by learning the stories of each others' lives. Ordinary people are the true experts in cross-racial, cross-ethnic dialogue, if only we would start talking."

Providing a place for at least a few of these conversations is exactly what I am hoping for as I facilitate the monthly "Widening The Circle Forums." The first forum in January has not happened by the time I needed to write this article for the Messenger, but I do want the congregation to know the intense importance I am placing on the conversations. The next one will take place on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m. All are invited, and leaders of the congregation are especially urged to attend.

Part of the difficulty in discussing such heart-felt and oftentimes volatile topics as race, gender, class, and sexuality is that we simply have to use labels to do so. Like most people, labels grate against my
nerves for they never do justice to who a human being is. Labels quickly lead to stereotypes, which is the fundamental element of prejudice. I've told many of you that I believe in a perfect world there would be absolutely no need for labels. However, we do not live in a perfect world. So, I do acknowledge the necessary usefulness of labels, but only as long as we all understand labels never tell the whole story about any single individual nor group of people. Neither should we get the label mixed up with person. When this happens, we begin the terrible downward spiral talking about "those people" or, more simply, "them."

So, we must use labels cautiously and sparingly, for to avoid doing so completely leaves us with no language to talk about very real problems that exist in our very real world. If you don't think there's a
problem, then you aren't reading the newspaper, watching television, listening to the radio, or aren't in honest conversation with someone who is quite different from you. Maria Luisa's stories, both from her
childhood and from as recently as a couple of years ago, remind us all that "The world is full of people who unthinkingly buy into racism and prejudice. " But as people of good faith, we cannot let such
perspectives rule the day. Even though it is difficult, and certainly uncomfortable to talk about "our prejudices, our color, our deeply felt experiences," because to do so "means exposing ourselves and our families." Maria Luisa, and I, conclude regarding the conversation about racism, "Given the choice, we'd rather not talk about it. But given the state of things, we should try."

Let's talk. Come on February 26.

Your Pastor,
Allen

P.S. I have copies of the entire article, or you can read it online
at: http://www.alternet.org/story/30755/