Three Things I Learned

Three THINGS I LEARNED By Fred Wurtzel “. . .First pay attention to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.” Proverbs 1:29-33 The mission of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lansing, Michigan is to recognize all people as children of God. In serving Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will proclaim, teach, and witness to the loving grace of God. As you all know, last week we lost a friend. Roger Wilson now sits with all those who have gone ahead to Heaven. I am cautioned not to judge, but I will take a risk on this one: Roger is definitely in Heaven. These days in our media and around in most places, people may be heard talking or shouting or lecturing about what it means to be a patriot, a citizen or a neighbor. Mostly, I turn around and head the other way when I hear such dogma or puffery or blathering nonsense. When I heard Roger Wilson talk I listened. First, I listened because he had a most compelling voice. What a voice he had. It was a voice suitable for the stage or screen. Once Roger got my attention with his voice, he kept my attention by his words. He sometimes proclaimed the rules of the road to live by and these words were worth listening to. I found his values compelling and instructive. It was not these words that caused me to think or reconsider my thoughts or ideas; it was his stories. Anyone can recite a rule or tell another how they should live. Such things are often even worth listening to. I really think that a person’s stories really reach our hearts. Roger’s stories could fill many pages, possibly volumes. Among the many messages of wisdom that I received from Roger are the following: 1. Love God and proclaim and witness this love to the world. 2. Don’t feel ashamed of showing your emotions, especially when talking about the Lord. 3. Love the life god has given us and include everyone in this celebration, including friends, family and strangers. Really, these are all the same lesson about embracing God’s love and freely sharing it. Roger would engage strangers and bring them into his life through humor: even if they weren’t expecting it: especially if they weren’t expecting it. Roger enjoyed God ‘S gifts in the form of eggs, sausage and gravy. He loved to share these gifts with others and explain the ecstasy of these indulgences. Roger’s stories of his family life would make a wonderful sit-com. It would be one of those heart-warming and hilarious programs where funny things happen and the end of every episode would be filled with love. What I learned from Roger was how to be a God-loving person who loves life and is very comfortable witnessing through open, uninhibited and genuine unpretentiousness. Roger, I will miss you and I will smile often when I think of you. Beyond my awareness of these valuable ideas was the feeling of our collective experience as a congregation. The sounds, feelings and demonstrations of love that took place within the walls of our humble church last week drove home the reason we “congregate” as Christians. I never tire of relearning the importance of every person whom God has allowed me to meet and get to know. Our congregation is God’s family growing, sharing and living out His will on earth as in Heaven.

Shining Our Light In Groesbeck With Easter Eggs

Shining our Light In Groesbeck By Dawn Epstein Our coalition of Churches in Groesbeck, including Plymouth Congregational, Asbury Methodist and First Christian have teamed up to present National Night Out, Trunk or Treat, and Christmas Caroling. Our next collaborative neighborhood event will be an Easter Egg Hunt in Slater Park Saturday, March 28, 11 AM. The event will include crafts and other activities under the pavilion with the egg hunt throughout the park. Each church will provide the following items. Please consider how you may participate and support the event. We need volunteers the day of the event, food and supplies and your help in publicizing the Easter Egg Hunt.: Can you help with the following?: Candy to fill 350 eggs 2 crafts for about 100 kids each refreshments to include coffee, water (bottled or cups), donut holes, cups and napkins for about 50 people. Volunteers the day of the Easter Egg hunt (Saturday March 28 at 11:00) Flyers promoting the Easter Egg Hunt will be distributed to schools in the area and will be sent home with children. Another way you may help this event be a success and shine God’s light in the greater Groesbeck area is to join with your fellow members to promote the event. Please use Facebook, tweets, church websites, church newsletters, Groesbeck newsletters and word of mouth to spread the word. Your network is the very most effective way to get The Word out.. Thank you for your love and energy. Shining our Light In Groesbeck By Dawn Epstein Our coalition of Churches in Groesbeck, including Plymouth Congregational, Asbury Methodist and First Christian have teamed up to present National Night Out, Trunk or Treat, and Christmas Caroling. Our next collaborative neighborhood event will be an Easter Egg Hunt in Slater Park Saturday, March 28, 11 AM. The event will include crafts and other activities under the pavilion with the egg hunt throughout the park. Each church will provide the following items. Please consider how you may participate and support the event. We need volunteers the day of the event, food and supplies and your help in publicizing the Easter Egg Hunt.: Can you help with the following?: Candy to fill 350 eggs 2 crafts for about 100 kids each refreshments to include coffee, water (bottled or cups), donut holes, cups and napkins for about 50 people. Volunteers the day of the Easter Egg hunt (Saturday March 28 at 11:00) Flyers promoting the Easter Egg Hunt will be distributed to schools in the area and will be sent home with children. Another way you may help this event be a success and shine God’s light in the greater Groesbeck area is to join with your fellow members to promote the event. Please use Facebook, tweets, church websites, church newsletters, Groesbeck newsletters and word of mouth to spread the word. Your network is the very most effective way to get The Word out.. Thank you for your love and energy.

Taking Stock

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; -Luke 4:18 NKJV The mission of First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lansing, Michigan is to recognize all people as children of God. In serving Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will proclaim, teach, and witness to the loving grace of God. This past Sunday we had our annual congregational meeting. This meeting serves many purposes. Among those purposes is that of “taking stock.” We take time to hear from our various leaders those things, which were accomplished, and what we may expect in the upcoming year. There are written reports available and I encourage anyone who is interested in finding a way to serve the Lord through our Church to read these reports. Our members work hard and volunteer uncounted hours of their lives to help build a community of believers to “proclaim, teach, and witness” God’s call to us here at First Christian Church. Luke’s Gospel message above is scary and daunting. We have signed up for a mighty mission. The Good News is that we each are only expected to do our very best and give according to our gifts. God will not expect more from us than the ways He has already blessed us. One of our duties is to use God’s gifts boldly. The parable of the talents clearly tells us that God does not respect those who sit on the assets of His kingdom and not use those gifts to their maximum. I wish to call on us, as a body, to look around at 1001 Chester Road and take stock. Look at the floors, the furniture, the walls, the ceilings, the roof, the lawn and the natural things around our church. After you do that, forget everything you thought and then take a second and even a third look. Look around as if you are seeing things for the first time. As a member of our Church, do you feel we are using every square inch to proclaim, teach, and witness God’s Word to each other and our Community? If so, that is great: you are doing what God wants. If, however, you see even the smallest way to leverage God’s gifts to us to improve our means to proclaim, teach, and witness, then your duty is to work to help us to make better use of our wonderful inheritance. We are just the most recent people charged with this mission. Many people came before us and sacrificed so we can enjoy our beautiful facilities and membership. Take notes. Write a list. Talk to others. Let your board, Pastor and committees know your ideas. Better yet, join with others to proclaim, teach, and witness God’s word from our church. Whether it is the use of our education wing, our kitchen or the energy of our children we need to use these gifts to proclaim, teach, and witness here in Lansing and throughout the world. Here are some places where our leaders asked for help in the upcoming year: The Wednesday Boys who do a huge service to our church need people to volunteer to do tool things. You could be all thumbs or a master craftsperson. You may be young or old. You may be male or female. There is a place for you. If you like to eat doughnuts and talk tools you will be in glory. If you are about to be the next Jukebox Hero and not a Shooting Star, our Praise band needs you. Our Jazzy, rootsy, Rock band of eclectic musicians are about to break out. The world is waiting to discover our unique and talented musical ministry. Bring a guitar or most any other instrument and there will be a place for you: kicking out the Jams and hymns for the Lord. Our Caraway Street Ministry needs you closet theater folks and Broadway superstars. If you love the spotlight, like to ham it up, wish to hear the applause and enjoy the adulation of the audience you can join our puppet ministry to spread God’s word to our young people through the dramatic arts. If you consider yourself a computer nerd, or if you don’t know a pixel from a pickle, we need your help to build and maintain our social media presence. We now have a robust, if not underfed, website, which is flexible and able to spread our word to the world through bits and bytes. If you enjoy the excitement of being on the cutting edge of communications and raising our social media profile, we have a place for you. All we need is your willingness to learn and help. These items are just a small sample of the kinds of ways you may serve our Church. Every person can, and is welcome to, carve out a niche where God leads you. We want your thinking, your hands and your prayers. We need you to dig up your talents and put them to work. They serve no one, there, buried in the ground. Begin by looking around our building and grounds to see new ways to use our property to serve our community. We are waiting for your gifts of imagination, creativity, stick-to-itiveness and love to move us ever onward.