Thoughts from Pastor Mira

Last week I traveled with the Lewis Fellows program through Wesley Seminary with 19 other young clergy from around our nation to Fort Lauderdale and Miami FL.  Our topic this session was culture: how does the culture of our towns/areas impact our church? What is the culture within each church?  How should a pastor make transitions in and out?  What does change look like in some local settings?

We read some chapters before going and then arrived ready to discuss the culture of our local churches.  Some of the young clergy (all under 35 years of age) are solo pastors in rural settings, others associates in NYC, Texas, or other large church areas, and others on staff in a multiplicity of areas in congregations.  We visited five churches in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area.  It was a blast! I love going in to see different churches, meeting with their clergy to learn some of their joys and challenges, and also getting new ideas.  We met one young pastor who just moved into a church unexpectedly this past summer and his challenges to grasp the congregation and culture and make some forward progress (I could relate).  We met another pastor who told us his plans to retire from a large congregation with multiple clergy on staff and how he was preparing and thinking about that.  We met a pastor who is starting a new AME church start, without a facility and worshiping in a gym each week. 

All of this led me to think about the culture of our churches as we merge.  I have grown to know and appreciate the cultures of the churches that are unique (First very family feeling where everybody knows your name; Allison mission oriented and ready to move; Grace a mix of people all over the place with so much happening it seems a maze at times).  But I have also seen how we are more alike than different: we have similar worship styles and services, we all feel ownership in our current church, we have leadership passionate about the new church and willing to do anything needed to make it happen, we all say we want and need to be in the community but we have to figure out how to take those steps together.  Perhaps the greatest insight since working collaboratively with all three churches, staffs, and leadership is the fun we have meeting new people, working together on focus groups, laughing and working hard on Transition Team, and the desire to make this unification happen and successful.

We had people from Grace willing to help Miss Ellen from Allison move.  We have teachers for Allison and Grace as guest teachers for adult Sunday School at First.  We have people from First welcoming help at Thankful Thursday from Grace and Allison, sharing in that ministry together.  We have people from all our churches on all the focus groups stepping up to help with the big, and little, things that need done. 

Culture makes a difference. Culture makes me want to come, or leave a place. Culture makes me wish to get more involved, or leave quietly.  Awareness of who we are is critical, but awareness of how we share and shape our culture authentically and organically will be paramount as we birth this new church. 

A final story….After the worship on Dec 30 there were many comments made about our worship together.  People loved a “full church” (although there would have been room for more), singing together, and fellowship afterwards.  One person told me it was different than ever before during the greeting time. No one said “I’m Mary and from Allison.” They were just introducing themselves as “Mary, and here’s my family.”  It wasn’t about where we were from; it was about being one church worshiping together. The reflection of this person was touching.  Isn’t that what we want? Not from this church or that or none, but all part of God’s family worshiping here together today.

Carlisle UMC.  We are already creating the culture.  We are on the front edge of doing church differently through unification and visioning new ministries.  Let’s keep it going so someday young clergy come to visit us, to learn and see and are impressed with how we worship, serve, grow, and connect with God and each other.

Vision, Change, and Conflict - Pastor Susan

I hit the ground running in the new year with a week-long class entitled, “Vision, Change, and Conflict.” It’s a requirement for the MDiv program, but, given what we are going through, I thought it would quite appropriate. It was. I thought I would share a some of things I learned that week.

First, you can’t have one without the others. Vision, change, and conflict come as a package deal. Yes, you can have change and conflict in a church without vision, but without the vision the conflict is always negative and the changes are meaningless and do not lead to growth. A church with a vision is going to grow; growth does not happen without change; and change generally produces conflict.

That leads to the next point—conflict is not always bad. I don’t know about you, but that was a revelation for me. I grew up thinking interpersonal conflict meant something was wrong and that it was more important to preserve relationships than to allow conflicts to arise. However, while conflict is almost always uncomfortable, conflict is inevitable in a world filled with billions of human beings created by God as unique individuals. Conflict can produce growth in us as we learn about each other and ourselves. Conflict can produce growth in churches as we learn to accept and make room for one another and to celebrate our differences. We have seen plenty of conflict here in the last couple of years, haven’t we? And there may have been some aspects of that conflict that we might rather have avoided. But looking at the bigger picture, I can see how this process is building us into something exciting, sharpening and strengthening us for God’s work here in Carlisle. I think of a tree—without the “conflict” of the wind pushing against it, it will not develop strong roots or keep its fruit on its branches. But a tree that grows with the wind disturbing its branches grows deep roots and can withstand almost any storm.

Finally, churches without a vision, without conflict, are dead churches. It’s a sad thing to see, isn’t it? Thanks to the tireless work of the Co::Lab, and now the transition team, and to all of you, we have a vision and we are working to flesh that out and live into it. We have had some conflict, and will no doubt have more, but that conflict is helping us understand one another and everyone’s needs better and helping us change and grow. It is helping us refine and hone God’s vision for us as we each bring our unique perspectives to the table.

We seem to be doing the right things and making the right choices, according to the principles and examples discussed in class. More than that, we seem to be doing the right things because I can see God blessing us as we boldly follow the vision and make the changes we have to make. May God continue to bless us as we work together to follow His vision for our ministry in Carlisle and beyond.

Transition Team meeting overview 1/10/13

Carlisle United Methodist Church

Overview of Transition Team Meeting

January 10, 2013

On Thursday, January 10, 2013, the Transition Team met for the fourteenth time.  Plans were finalized for the election of each church’s three representatives to the Leadership Council.  This will be conducted at church conferences on February 3 at the following times/locations: 10:15 am at First; 12:15 pm at Allison; and 3:00 pm at Grace.  The deadline for applying is January 20.   The Transition Team voted to ALLOW relatives of current and future staff members of our three churches TO APPLY FOR THE LEADERSHIP COUNCIL FOR THE CARLISLE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. If relatives of staff are elected to Council they will be required to recuse themselves from conversations/decisions regarding issues that will involve said relative. The balloting process on February 3 will mirror what is used at Conference and will require 75% of the voting members to gain the position.  The newly elected Leadership Council will be introduced the following Sunday at a service starting at 3 pm at Grace to celebrate our new name and begin to learn more about our new church.

Members of Allison will be voting on January 20 to approve the sale of their building to Dickinson College for 1.7 million dollars over a period of 4.5 years with no interest.  Allison and Dickinson will mutually develop a list of fixtures that Allison may remove.  Dickinson wants the pews to remain and the kitchen.  Following the last service on June 30, adequate time will be provided to remove personal property and dismantle the organ which Dickinson was not interested in purchasing. 

Starting in March, the churches’ three monthly newsletters will look very similar when they will begin to use a similar format while still highlighting their own activities.  The first unified newsletter will appear in July.  Work is underway and, hopefully,  a new logo will be introduced at the February 10 service. 

The Transitional Facility Focus Group will be tackling the thorny issue of parking and transportation at its next meeting.  All of the known activities which occur Monday through Saturday have already been slotted into Grace’s existing spaces.

In the spring, SERVE will be planning some disaster relief projects.  They have embraced Pastor Mira’s statement, “People love it when a church shows up.”  And that, my friends, is what this is all about – our new church showing up, highly visible throughout Carlisle.  Our name says it – we are Carlisle.  All of our hopes, dreams, actions and work compel us to show up.  We are the CARLISLE United Methodist Church.

Transition Team

Pastoral Team                        Allison                         First                                        Grace

Jim VanZandt, Chair              Ron Axsom                 Tracy Horgan                           Colleen Kulp

Mira Hewlett                         Ann Cook                   Debra Washinger                    Kerm Leitner, Secretary

Susan Stewart                       Jeff Harpel                   Lois Weibley                           Randy Noaker

Dennis Keller, DS                 Joanne Reynolds                                                         Dianne Otto

Our next meeting is Thursday, February 14.

Transition Meditation 1/20

Pioneering:  Meditations for Transforming Our

Carlisle United Methodist Church

Number 16                                                           January 20, 2013

Satan’s Stormy Blasts

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.  Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 10: 7b-10.

I believed that when this title came up we’d have typical Farm Show weather, and everything would be white and wintry.  And who knows, it could happen yet.  However we’re basking in the January Thaw.

Imagine your worst winter.  I remember a time when there was snow on the ground from before Thanksgiving until Spring.  I remember the first day of Spring in 1948, when I was at Seventh Ward Elementary School in Lewistown.  We first grade “babies” were walking in loose two-by-two formation, under the eyes of the sixth grade safety patrol, through wet slushy snow that came over our galoshes.  There was a lot of talking in the ranks about the irony of snow on the first day of Spring.  (We probably didn’t know what irony was, but we surely had an example of it that day.)

A few winters later, when we lived in the country and had a well, Mom and Dad learned the hard way to keep the pump house heated overnight if we expected to have running water when we awoke.

Each season of the year has its beauties and its challenges.  Winter has its silent, white landscapes and its howling bone-chilling blizzards.  Spring is budding flowers and heavy floods.  Summer boasts majestic country and forest scenes, and powerful hurricanes.  And autumn can show fields and gardens full of good things to harvest, or scorching droughts.  It is our lot as God’s stewards of the Earth to enjoy the positives and deal with the negatives.

The seasons of our spiritual journey also have blessings and challenges.  In each one we can find renewal for our souls, but also the challenges of evil, disobedience, and doubt.  So we sing praises and give thanks for blessings and lift prayers of lament, prayers for strength, and prayers of repentance.

Mother Teresa said that when a soul seeks to live a holy life, it is bound to be surrounded and attacked by persecutions, struggles, and a need to sacrifice greatly if it truly seeks Christ.

Pastor Jim reminded us that even something as simple as baptism was once a life-threatening act in a world of pagan emperor worship and still carries that danger even today in some lands.  For us in Carlisle, we do not face those sorts of Satan’s stormy blasts. 

Nonetheless, although we are not usually subject to physical dangers for our faith, we face more subtle threats that can sap our spiritual strength, dull our spiritual edge, and even negate our gifts and talents by turning us inward and hunkering down as if we are trapped in a blizzard.

We are well aware that the journey of Christ’s chosen from the first Pentecost until this day in 2013 was not made on smooth pathways or without overwhelming pain and sacrifice by the faithful.

One of the things that sets us apart as Christians is how God has sustained his faithful ones every step of the way.  That’s our heritage, and it’s the legacy we leave.  We need to make it our occupation today, at this time.

The wonder of the Christian journey is not the lack of difficulties, nor the way difficulties may press in upon us.  It is the way God keeps us in seasons of plenty and scarcity, peace and conflict, joy and torment under his watchful care.

We have made great progress on our faith journey through the wilderness.  Ten months ago we agreed to become one United Methodist family in Carlisle. Two months ago we agreed upon a Plan of Union.  And now we have a name!  The Pastors and the Transformation Team have diligently listened to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in guiding us to this point.

We’re entering a dangerous time when we are vulnerable, because a lot of work over the next months will be dealing with things: fixtures, altar items, etc. – all the stuff we have lived with and that we have allowed to define us.  It’s a natural human process, like having it be Christmas for us only when we have some treasured memory, some item or ornament from our childhood which in fact replaces the real meaning of Christmas.  These things can easily be the graven images God spoke against in the Ten Commandments.

We’re going to need to say goodbye to a lot of ‘stuff,’ stuff that means something to us, and we assume means something to others.  Stuff that just won’t fit in one place, no matter which building holds it today.  Stuff that we must no longer let define us as worshippers.

Satan is gearing up to play us against each other, and has a chance to succeed if we are not careful.  Satan will continue to tempt us every step of our journey.   We must listen to what Paul told the Corinthians about what God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you…”

Common Prayer.  Deliver us, O God, from the stormy assaults of Evil against our work in Your name and the love of stuff.  Continue to show your perfect, all-sufficient power even in our human weakness.  Guard us in the weeks ahead as we draw closer to that great day when we worship You as one family in Carlisle. AMEN.

To think about:  What defines you? If all our ‘stuff’ disappears, who and whose are we?  Which is more important: where you were baptized or married, or that you were baptized or married?  What will it matter at the Last Day?

Transformation Team emphasis for the next two weeks:

The upcoming Charge Conferences and selection of the Leadership Council; the continued work of the Focus Groups, especially Funding Ministry, Grow, and Transitional Facilities; and planning for the next combined worship event.

Please address your feedback and comments to Charles L. Reynolds at papoo99@comcast.net^.  I’d really like to hear from you!