CENTER & BALANCE

Several years ago, I began studying a Japanese Martial Art at Toledo Campus Ministry known as Wa Ai Ju, It’s a blend of Aikido & Jujitsu. Each of the words stands for a fundamental principle of it. Wa - stands for accord/balance of body & sprit, Ai - Spontaneous action or Creativity, Ju - Gentleness. Ok, it’s a martial art, so it’s more like proportional response or using an attackers energy against them.

The fundamental movement of Wa Ai Ju is called Happo Undo, it literally means the Eight Direction Exercise. It is a way to practice our strikes (punches) and kicks, turning in 8 directions around a circle. Early on in my study, I had a real frustration problem, I couldn’t keep in perfect balance as I did it, I would get very frustrated and it showed. Finally, my instructor let me in on the Secret, you can’t do happo undo remaining in center, it off balances you doing it (well it does for her even, number two in the world in the art). It’s not about keeping perfect balance or center, it’s about how fast you can recover it by using your center/core.

But isn’t that life, we all get knocked off balance, constantly, for me this week: a car tire blew out one day, we discovered a bill didn’t get paid on time, the kids were cranky, we had a family wedding to go to that was a five hour round trip on Saturday night, with Cheri needing to preach, etc. As my mother says, “if you don’t have problems to deal with, you’re not alive”.

I kind of felt like Carl Fredricksen, the hero from UP!, which we showed part of in worship. In that movie, Carl finds the love of his life, Ellie, early in life. Ellie and he grow up dreaming of a South American Adventure at Paradise Falls. Becca and Jamie love when she describes South America as “like America, only South”. Carl and Ellie take jobs at the Zoo, in, of course, the South America section, hoping to make their dream a reality. But then, life intervenes. One thing, after another, after another, keeps them from going on the adventure, until it is too late for Ellie.

I can understand the franticness of life getting in the way. The week above is not an atypical week for us. Things in our house get crazy, especially in the morning. Trying to get two kids out the door to school every morning gets a mite crazy. If you want to read more about that, look at my prior blog on My Life the Sitcom. It gets even crazy if Cheri has to run out the door with us.

But most mornings, she and I get a chance to wind down and find our centers before leaving. For me, it comes from walking our dog and getting some other exercise. Cheri get’s her coffee, sits and prays. It’s from that daily exercise that Cheri gets her center to do this. However, I have to let you in on a little secret. This does not come easily to me or even her. That’s right, even Pastor’s struggle with prayer lives. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, as not only do people have struggles with keeping a balance, most churches do to. They struggle with keeping a balance as a group; some struggle as they spend too much time taking care of their own, others burn out trying to do so much justice they forget to take care of their own.

But the journey of being a Christian or a Christian Community is not a sprint, I don’t even think it is a marathon. I tend to think of it as the Iron Man Triathalon (if you don’t know, a group of maniacs go to Hawaii, swim, 2.4 miles in the ocean, get out of the water and ride 112 miles on bicycles, get off the bikes and run a marathon as desert. This is not over the course of days or weeks, but on the same day). It never seems to end. And that’s what life is like, one challenge after another.

Fortunately, Jesus himself taught us how to train our cores for this. In our scripture this week, Luke 6: 6-12, Jesus gets to confront the scribes and the Pharisees and if anyone knew how to off balance Jesus, it was those folks. In this particular story, they try to trip Jesus up, with a violation of the law so severe it could get him killed. Having dealt with them, what does he do, he does worry, doesn’t obsess, he goes off and prays. He re-establishes his center, his connection with God.

It’s the core of prayer and center on purpose that let Jesus do what he needed to do to save us. It’s from that core that has let Cheri do what she needed to do, and not get pulled away from the important things. This balance is how she’s survived the trials of church planting and stayed on the mission that brought us to today. Now as a faith community, we are adopting balance as a core value. Balance in two senses of the word, balance between prayer/study & doing something to make the world better. Also a balance between body & soul.

But this balance individually and collectively does not come easily. It takes daily training. Want to start your training? Take a few minutes each day this week and calm yourself and talk to God. In the coming weeks and months, we will be offering you more chances to exercise your balance - doing and praying, and caring for your spirit and your body. Come and join us.

CHANGE THE WORLD, STARTING TODAY

This week was definitely one where the world showed just how “messed up” it is. So far the authorities believe that eleven young women, and possibly more, were murdered in a home in Cleveland.. A man who had lost his job is accused of shooting ½ a dozen former co-workers in Orlando. Suicide bombers killed dozens in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Then three dozen people were shot at Ft. Hood, allegedly by a comrade in arms, driven to this supposedly by the thought of killing those of the same faith, and people taunting him about that faith.

It was pretty easy, after a week like that for me to do as Cheri asked in worship and say to my neighbor “The world is messed up”. Thankfully, that was followed by “let’s change the world”. That’s what this week’s worship celebration was about, changing the world. Not an easy thing to do, as you can see, the world needs a lot of changing. Fortunately, Jesus left us a step by step set of instructions,

The Gospel of Matthew is one of my favorites. Not a surprise that a lawyer loves the book written to convince those into the laws of the time, that Jesus was the one they had been waiting for. Chapter 25 has a story of God sorting those worthy to go into Heaven and those not. A scary thought for those of us who are into God’s grace, the thought of our forgiving creator God, sorting us into the worthy and unworthy piles. However, taken as step by step instructions for how to change the world, it’s perfect.

In the modern, Message translation : these folks are worthy because they did any of the following to someone overlooked or ignored by society:

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a home,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.

The ills of our world seem so overwhelming: hunger, lack of clean drinking water, homelessness, poverty, illness, violence, crime and a lack of hope. Then again, I’m sure living in a city of dying, poor people was daunting to Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu. She began her career trying to serve God, not sure what to do.

What she found, was that her destiny was to serve those at the bottom rung of the world, those dying in the gutters of her city one of the most hellish places on the planet. She began simply trying to give one person a place to die in peace and with some measure of comfort. Her advice for changing the world, take baby steps on the path above. Pretty good advice, but even better when you realize it comes from a Nobel Peace Prize winner who you know as Mother Theresa.

So we’ll start with baby steps and beyond, but again, that’s what you have to start with. In 1982, Karen Olsen was a marketing executive in New Jersey. Everyday she passed a homeless woman, Millie, on the street. Finally, she stopped and bought Millie a sandwich. By 1986, Karen helped found what was then called Interfaith Hospitality Network (IHN). By 1989, IHN went national, using the unused rooms in churches and synagogues to provide housing for homeless families. Last year, IHN, which is now called Family Promise, helped 45,000 otherwise homeless families.

Two years ago, Cheri got an answer that made the world look a little messed up as well. The Methodist Church wants to plant ten new churches in the Toledo Area. They have invested over a decade plus and thousands of dollars training Cheri to be a church planter. And to say people in power nudged her to plant a church, is a mild rewrite of the facts. So, Cheri, after a year or more of study, prayer and planning, proposed The Village. The answer from the powers that be was a resounding “NO”.

Now, that could have been that. Cheri could have just taken the next, safe appointment and helped another church do what it was doing. But she did not. We, her team, could have just taken this rejection and given up, but I am proud to say we did not. Our reaction, “well, we’re going to “be the church”, and eventually we will be called a church”. And that’s what we did.

Two years ago, a Christmas time, a group of us gathered, as the Village and one of our first acts was not a study, not worship, not even a social outing. No, we provided a Christmas time meal and a night’s worth of fun and entertainment to a group of homeless families thanks to Family Promise.

From there, we are following the plan:

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink – we’ve given hundreds of water bottles out on a dozen or so occasions to our community and we’re just getting started.
I was hungry and you fed me – we’ve fed dozens of families and hundreds of people through Food For Thought, Family Promise, and The Saint Mark’s Community Meal.
I was homeless and you gave me a home – working with Habitat and Family Promise, we’re working to give dozens of people homes.
I was shivering and you gave me clothes – we’ve worked with Hannah’s Socks and St. Paul’s Community Center, and will continue to do so, to gather clothes for those who need them.
I was sick and you stopped to visit – the Village is working hard to expand healthcare in America as part of Interfaith Worker Justice/Jobs with Justice.
I was in prison, and you came to me – well, we need to work on this one, but Cheri does provide pastoral care to a young man serving twenty to life.


But we’re just getting warmed up here. The Village has only been worshiping together on a weekly basis for a few weeks. We’ve got lots more work to do as the Village is about following Jesus and thereby changing the world. What are you going to do to take your baby step this week? If you need some suggestions, come to our events page, or better yet come in person next Sunday and check out the get connected board.

GETTING REAL WITH OURSELVES & GOD

We had a little Halloween fun this week at the start of Cheri’s message. Cheri suggested we tell our neighbor who we would want to dress as for Halloween. I had hoped that my dear wife would want to go as a Star Wars character or something geeky, but no such luck. I did get a good laugh though as she tried to explain what a Flapper was to our band leader.

We then got to watch a great clip from one of my favorite movies, and boy am I getting real on admitting this one, “Must Love Dogs”. Yes, I’m a guy who likes a romantic comedy here and there. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about getting back into the dating scene after having been out of it for a time. Diane Lane (Sarah) is a forty year old school teacher getting back into the game, after a horrible break up, and things are not going well. Sarah goes on a newspaper personals ad date only to find out it is her Dad, lying through his teeth not only about his age but also about not being in a relationship. She even gets talked in putting an ad online by her sister. Then she drives Dad’s one girlfriend (of many) Dolly, home.

As they get to know each other, Dolly shows off her internet profiles. Dolly says “I love this internet, part fantasy, part community, and you get to pay your bills naked” (Yes, we did let the play in worship). Dolly explains to Sarah how she has to get onto more than one site. “You’ve got to get more bets on the table”, Dolly explains, as she shows Sarah her various profiles, some claiming to enjoy antiques, others skydiving and motorcycle riding. Dolly explains that you get to try on some many personalities, be anyone you want to be.

The internet certainly has added a layer of masks we can wear, so says the peaceful guy with a Mafia Wars profile (hey maybe that’s why Cheri said she wanted to be a “Flapper” for Halloween), among other personas and characters online and in video games. And nothing lets you have alternative personas and masks like dating, especially in the internet age. Cheri and I both know that one. Back when we were single, we got to go on lots of blind dates.

I tried blind dates set up by friends, so did she. I tried a newspaper ad or two, some more creative than others “Job not a joke, I’m not quite broke, but my love life’s DOA” (yes, that theme song), was my ad on arriving in Toledo dateless and desperate about 14 or so years ago. But then Memorial Day weekend on 1996, after a date from, well this is a church blog so we’ll stop there, I got talked into putting an Ad on a part of America On Line (yes, the internet existed back in Age of Dinosaurs and before Facebook) called Netgirl. I went so far as to create another screen name so that if I got a stalker out of the deal, well, I’d be ok. Amazingly, I found a woman online who I wanted to meet. After a series of careful moves to ensure we were not about to date an ax murder or similar type, we met. A year and a week later, I married Cheri, the woman who responded to the Ad “Nice Guys Finnish Last, Prove Me Wrong”.

Our Scripture this week was about intimacy, being able to be yourself in the presence of another. Chapter 4 of John’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus and his followers stopping in a town in Symaria. Now, today we think about Samaritans as good folks, The Good Samaritan is held up as an example of a good person in all aspects of culture today, there are even Good Samaritan laws to protect do-gooders. However, back then, Jews looked at Samaritans as the lowest of the low and the feelings were pretty mutual. So, this would be kind of like Jesus and friends passing through Taliban controlled territory in Afghanistan and stopping for a drink.

At the community well, it’s mid day and Jesus meets a local woman. Now, at the time, that would be the last time in the world someone would go to the well. Think middle of the night now. You didn’t go to the well at midday, it was hot, it was dusty, you only went then if you were trying to avoid people. Well, she was. She was not exactly thought of well in the community. And, lo and behold Jesus gets real with her. He talks to her about her five husbands and the man she is living with now. He talks to her about the real him, going so far as to reveal his true nature to her. He and she both put their masks aside and share a deep conversation with each other. And for a moment, real community happens.

Isn’t that we are all looking for now? In person or online, don’t we want a community of people with whom we can relax and be our real selves with. It’s scary to think about letting down our guards, sharing our thoughts, our fears, our dreams. But deep down, it’s what we want. A family, a group of friends, a church where we can be ourselves. It’s what the sociologists tell us is missing in our digital culture and it’s why many of us have left churches and won’t go to others. That feeling that church is NOT a place where we can get real. We have to put on a show, “I’m great” when our heart is broken up, etc. But we long for it.

At the Village, one of our core values is Authenticity, or being real. We always want you to be who you are here. And we are trying to foster connection groups where you can do just that. Not mega church worship celebrations where you slip in, get entertained, and slip out. Real community where you can be you. Where you can share your fears, your hurts and your joys. Where you can unload the baggage we all have.

In worship today, we had a chance to go to a mirror, and start with, quietly or on paper, letting go of what we feel we need to let go of. So try that now, when you log off. Go to a mirror, by yourself and let go of that baggage about whatever the bad things you feel you’ve done or not done. Confession, to us, is not something we feel you need to do to a “priest or pastor”. God knows what we’ve done, but it helps us to let it out. But, when you’ve done that, take things a step further. You see God knows all of the bad we’ve done, but God still loves us, yes, even you, whomever’s voice of doubt just shot up. God loves you and God has a better message than you’re letting through. Go listen for that other voice. You’ll know you’ve got it when you start hearing a message like this “I love you and you’re worthy, special, important to me”. That’s the voice of the God who created you as you, faults, flaws and all. Start hearing that voice a little first, then find out how you can use the gifts and talents you see later, to help others along this path with you.

At the Village, we want you to be you. So, come get real with yourself and others first, and then Connect with the world. There are a whole lot people out there who can only hear that first voice, the one we create with all the negatives. They need to hear that other voice, and that’s one of the ways we can change the world, starting here at the little corner of Monroe & Central in Toledo. Are you ready to put aside your masks, get real and hear that voice? Do you need some help finding it? Either way, we here, every Sunday and beyond. Come join us.

EVERYONE MATTERS TO GOD

In our worship celebration this week, we read a classic from the Gospel of Luke.
It’s the Good Shepherd Story. Rather than try to re-tell it myself, I’m going to just give you it out of my favorite Bible translation - The Message (a retelling of the Bible in more modern language, no begats here):

Luke 15
1-3By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

I don’t know about you, but I have had plenty of times in life where I would have thought of myself as having a “doubtful reputation”. Believe me, I am the worst critic of Kurt Young on the planet. If there is something I’ve done wrong, I’ve noticed it. Anything I’ve failed to do, humanly possible or not, I’m on it.
Leave it to Cheri to come up with a few ways to get me off of the I’m not worthy recording in my head. First, the more serious, she had us all repeat a simple, but effective phrase to start her message, “God really loves you, so I’m going to try too”. Then she went to the wacky. She had us all stare at the video screens to see if we could recognize the new United States Senator and former comedian. The screen sprung to life with “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough and gosh darn it, people like”.
In case you were not a fan of Saturday Night Live, that’s Stuart Smalley, a self-help guru spoof created by Al Franken, the now junior Senator from Minnesota. As Cheri pointed out, and I agree, we live in a pretty amazing world where Al Franken is a senator and Cheri is the Pastor of a Methodist Church with a beer cooler in it. Yes, if you have not joined us yet, the Village has a beer cooler running, unfortunately filled with milk & creamer. It does make a great way to the break the ice on inviting people to visit.
Recently, We’ve seen a lot of the world valuing good people whose lives were cut short. Jasper Howard is a prime example of that. Jasper was a young man who worked hard to leave the seemingly unsafe streets of Miami’s Little Haiti behind to go to school and play football in suburban Hartford, Connecticut at the University of Connecticut. Seemingly a safe place to be. But on October 17th a day that started with Jasper having 11 tackles in homecoming win, ended with Jasper stabbed to death at the Homecoming Dance. Such a wonderful young man was a common theme in the words of who lost him. Fitting tributes have followed in the media and even from his team’s opponents this week. Jasper was someone who mattered to the world.
It reminded Cheri and I of a recent loss, near us, not treated with nearly as much coverage. Victor Johnson was 34 years old and lived a few blocks away from us. He was walking down his street when a gunman or gunmen shot him. Hearing the shots (sadly not that uncommon near our home) and not having Victor return home, his family and friends feared the worst and called 911. The Toledo Police came, but were unable to find a body where they were told the shooting and went back on patrol. Hours later, the family found the body. Victor Johnson was someone who mattered to God, just like Jasper. Just not as much to the world. Our scripture this week was about a simple message, EVERYONE MATTERS TO GOD. No exceptions
Cheri told us about a time where this was driven home to her. Cheri’s family is from Texas, the family home is DeLeon, Texas, which believe me scared the daylights out of this big city Yankee. She grew up in Abilene, Texas, which she described in the heart of redneck country. But she found herself in Atlanta, hired to be the youth pastor for an inner city youth group. Somehow, the naive West Texas white girl connected to the young, African-American men. Leading a communion Sunday, where Tony asked Cheri to join her as his family saying “is there room for me here?”
Jesus message in this week’s scripture is “There is always room.” In fact, if you’re not here – I’ll come looking for you. God isn’t worried about the 99 “worthy” folks out there, but the 1 of us that is not worthy, at least in our eyes. In God’s eyes, we all matter, this is non-negotiable, no exceptions, no questions.
Of course, there is a problem with mattering. You have to find it out for yourself. It’s not easy. Even for me, who has been told I was God’s beloved child since birth. Sometimes that voice is hard to hear, but you need to hear that. You are God’s child and you matter. But when you, when you do you’re going to hear a new voice. Others matter too and need to hear that.

So, whether the voice you need to hear is You Matter to God, or Make Others Know They Matter to God, we’re here every week waiting for you. Come visit the Village, our worship celebrations are Sunday at 10:30. See you there.

Waiting On The World To Change

I’ve got a real problem. I have a Superman Complex. There are times I believe that if I try hard enough, I can fix anything. Of course, I can’t fix everything, it only took a few therapy sessions to get there. But I can take off the cape, I don’t have to change the world alone.

In our scripture for the worship celebration this week, John 5: 1-9, we read about a man who spent most of his life, 38 years, at the Bethesda Pool. He was unable to walk and the pool at Bethesda was supposed to have healing properties. The problem is that you have to get someone to put you at the right time, after it had been properly stirred up. Jesus walked up to the man and said “do you want to be healed?”. Seemingly a silly question, but the man had spent his life waiting on this, without making it happen. When the man said yes to this, Jesus said simply pick up your mat & walk, and so he did. Sometimes, it’s just that simple, choosing to make it happen.

Part of our progress towards turning the old Colony Restaurant, Pancho’s Mexican Restaurant, the Doctor’s Inn, etc into the Village has been thanks to our sister UMC & UCC churches. Last week I spoke about a UMC, so this week let me tell you about a UCC church, North Congregational Church in Columbus. We had a great group from North Congregation join us thanks to the work of Lesle Eppler at a UCC Conference. She met Skylar, a member of North Congregational.

Skylar is a member of one of the teams at North Congregational. He and his team met with me, heard further about this crazy adventure of ours, and decided to come north a couple of hours drive and help us. As I met with this group, I met Skylar’s wife Angie. Angie was very enthusiastic about the project and ready to help. But Angie had a concern. She did not want to slow down Skylar and the other handy members of the team.

Angie is not that terminally unhandy like I am. No, she’s in a wheelchair. But Angie did not have to worry about slowing anyone down. She worked for hours painting our children’s room. In addition, she and another member of the team, Marilyn, solved a problem we had been agonizing about, how to turn an inaccessible bathroom, into an accessible one. The group wanted to help change the world by helping get the Village off the ground. Angie didn’t wait 38 years for healing, she just rolled into it.

Cheri faced a similar decision in her career. When Cheri was growing up, she couldn’t decide if she really wanted to be a minister. She never doubted she wanted to serve God, it was not that. It was fights about what color the choir robes should be, arranging chicken bar b cues, and whether to use inclusive language or not. But she went to seminary anyway, and then had the experience that convinced her she could.

During seminary, she got a job at Trinity United Methodist in Atlanta, Georgia. Trinity is a mission center for all of Atlanta. It is a place where the poor and homeless get some of the help they vitally need. It is also a place where all are included, one of the first fully inclusive United Methodist churches in the south. There is where she fell in love with urban ministry and welcoming all.

Cheri decided if Trinity could be a United Methodist Church, She could be a Methodist pastor. She could have waited for the Methodist Church to heal itself of it’s various wounds on not including all, but that would still be happening. Instead, she decided to help heal the Methodist church from inside.

Many of us who are progressives have had our share of concerns about organized religion. I know that I have had struggles with the denomination that I grew up in. To not fully include women, even those clearly called to ministry, to demand celibacy of clergy, to tell couples not to use available technology to control the size of their family, or to tell couples they should be open to having children but can’t use the technology available to help, was just the start of my problems.

Jim Wallis is an activist and writer who help found Sojourners, an organization that works for the poor and outcasts of our society. Jim has seen the “Religious Right” dominate the political discussion for a long time, while the “Religious Left” remain ignored. But Jim has given us all an interesting call. He has suggested that the alternative to bad religion isn’t no religion, it’s good religion. He has called on us all to reclaim the faith that led to some of the great social justice movements of our nation’s history; the Abolition of Slavery, Voting Rights for Women, and the Civil Rights of Movement; and start changing the world with it again.

In his book, “God’s Politics”, Jim tells the story of Lisa, a community organizer he worked with at Sojourners. Lisa died relatively young, but she made a huge difference. She spoke once about the struggles of her generation to make a difference. Her peers bemoaned the lack of the great leaders of generations past. They want to know when the Martin Luther King, Jr’s; John F. Kennedy’s; the Robert Kennedy’s, etc. are. Lisa’s eloquent response was simply, “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.

So, if we are the ones we’ve been waiting for, how are we working to change the world? It doesn’t have to be huge. One of my favorite poems “Success”, talks about how we can change the world, by the simple things we’ve done and said. Now, imagine what you need to let go of to start making that change. Today in worship, we poured a cup of water, prayed about what we needed to let go, then poured into a larger container, releasing those things. That water is helping grow the beautiful flowers outside the Village as I type.

If you’re ready to start letting go of what is holding you back and find others who will join you in making the world a better place, come to the Village. Our worship celebrations are Sundays at 10:30. We’ll help you find that first step to pick up your mat and starting walking down the path to changing the world, from the corner of Central & Monroe.

NOT LOSING HOPE

Do you ever have those days? The days when hope is the last thing that is on your mind; when all seems lost. Usually it is on a Monday for me in the Football season, but we’re not talking about the pains and joys of being a football fan of a team known for losing now, we’re talking about the really important things in life. Believe me, the man known as Eeyore to his wife, knows those days.

Let me share one of them with you. A few weeks ago as we were rehabbing the space that will become the Village’s home. One of our work crews could not come. There were illnesses, chaos of life, etc. As it was, the project was a daunting one to begin with. Then we had contract/lease snafu’s and lost a weekend, a holiday weekend when we had lots of volunteers lined up and lots of energy. Enter tons of a little problems, nothing we should not expect rehabbing an old building that sat vacant for five years. Another group came up with a fraction of their volunteers (mind you they made huge contributions with a small group). Then nobody shows. No work group and very few folks from the Village either. And the work went horribly that day. A few dozen light bulbs changed is all I had to show for my aching, throbbing body & day.

I going to tell you, hopeless was where I was. I came home from that day, curled up in a ball and cried. But as Cheri made us repeat several times in worship this week “Some days, I feel hopeless, but Jesus never loses hope.” That really is what we are trying to do with the Village, spread this message. That’s what are logo shows, hope growing in the city. And we are all about that, hope from hopelessness. I mean, come on, who else but a bunch of people who are crazy about hope would start a church during the “Great Recession”.
Thankfully we have some great models of hope. We have a president who started out as a community organizer in Chicago. He knows something about hope. This week he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. Prematurely many say, but in the words of the committee, "[o]nly very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future”. By the way, in case you’ve not heard this, it is not unusual for the Nobel Committee to award the peace prize to those whose work is just beginning or incomplete as a way to encourage what they believe to be worthy efforts, but we’ll leave defending their decision to them.

Also, while I am glad to have helped gotten President Obama elected, we are going to focus on a little bit different leader here. Another leader who people choose to follow. Another leader that caused people to have hope. Let’s see him in action from our scripture this week, from the Message Translation: Mark 1:16-20 (from The Message) 16-18Passing along the beach of Lake Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew net-fishing. Fishing was their regular work. Jesus said to them, "Come with me. I'll make a new kind of fisherman out of you. I'll show you how to catch men and women instead of perch and bass." They didn't ask questions. They dropped their nets and followed. 19-20A dozen yards or so down the beach, he saw the brothers James and John, Zebedee's sons. They were in the boat, mending their fishnets. Right off, he made the same offer. Immediately, they left their father Zebedee, the boat, and the hired hands, and followed.

So the question is why did these men literally drop everything and follow Jesus? Did they have a need. Well that’s part of it. Being a fisherman is not an easy life now, and it was even harder back then. Did they sense a leader who could give them hope and whom they could trust. Probably true. Did they just have incredible faith? Or did they choose to say yes, knowing they could change the world?

With The Village our Vision is simple: “Follow Jesus and Change the World”. It’s on our sign out front of the building. It’s on our advertising. And, most importantly, it’s in our hearts. We ARE going to change the world. It’s going to start with this one corner, Monroe & Central. We’re going to bring back a historic building. But it’s not going to end there. Our church is not a building. Church is not supposed to be a building. It is a verb. It is going out into the world and changing it.

And right now is a time where hope is needed: two very difficult wars are being fought by our country’s military at a time they need a rest; Our economy may be turning the corner, but it’s not there yet and we live in one of the bottom ten poorest towns; we have so many angry, hopeless people here, we are seeing gunfights like the Shootout at the OK Coral in our local bars.

Do you know someone who needs hope? Is that you? A friend? A co-worker? A neighbor? A relative? We all need signs of hope. We can be that sign of hope. We can be that hope by changing a building, by feeding the hungry, but raising some money, or just giving some inspiration. Come join us a get a little hope, then reach out to others invite those other people in need of hope. Come become a fisher of people.

We don’t have to give in to despair and hopelessness. It’s not what God wants for us and it’s not what followers of Jesus are all about. So, are you ready? Are you ready for this great adventure? Join us on Sundays at 10:30, starting October 25th, and become part of putting Hope back into the world.

And those building issues? Well, thanks to 13 new friends from Ginghamsburg UMC in Tipp City, Ohio, we’ve got a chance to make this great adventure happen. And that silly football team. Well, even they’re winning. Come see hope come alive in all kinds of ways, especially the important ones.

Where The Rubber Hits the Road or WHAT YOU DOING SATURDAY?

My apologies for not updating sooner loyal readers. We are hitting crunch time here with the Village. Our launch months of October & November has hit and things are getting really exciting. Dozens of hours of volunteer work were done, by Villager and non-Villagers (I'm not falling for the Village People tag some of you want) alike today alone. We had tile & carpet installers, electricians, handy men & women, etc all over Cheri's office, the kids room and the main room, we are now calling the Village Commons. The Launch Team and the Worship Team met today and the band had practice to warm up for Sunday, our first just for us preview service, yesterday.

Things are shaping up great for our new faith community's home, which if you aren't in our Facebook or email group, is going to be at the Old Colony Restaurant, later known as the Doctor's Inn. This was Toledo's original shopping mall at the turn of the Century. We are all getting very excited for the start of our next phase, weekly worship together. Our worship center is going to be like nothing else out there in Toledo. Imagine the experience of sitting at comfortable table or booth, listening to incredible music, drinking great coffee or tea, watching great video presentations, do art and discussions, and hearing an incredible message of God’s love and call on us all to change the world. I’m very excited for this to get started. This is the church I have dreamed of attending for years.

But that also means we are that key point, where the rubber hits the road, crunch time, insert your own appropriate cliche' here. This Sunday we have our first “preview” service at our new home. This is not something we are publicizing. You can bring friends, but this is not the one for the public. It’s going to be rough. Running sound in a new space, etc is a rough process. The walls WILL NOT be painted, there will be rough spots in the bathrooms, exterior of the building, etc. Call this a dress down rehearsal, cause we don’t want you to dress up.

To get ready though, we need a big push. One of our sister churches, which was supposed to send a work crew up, has had a crisis or two and can not come this weekend. So we have just lost dozens of volunteer hours to clean tables and booths, sweep floors and apply other touches to make sure we are ready to roll.

So, if you have even vaguely considered volunteering to help. Now’s your time. We will be there Saturday morning at 9 AM and hope to have volunteers going from 9 AM to 5PM or more. Grab your work clothes, any tools for things you like to do like paint or clean, and come to the Village. We’ll put you to work helping to create not just a new church home, but hopefully a model for a faith community for the 21st Century and a movement to create welcoming, progressive, world changing churches around the area and beyond. I hope to see you there. I’ll be the guy in the old, black Bengals hat. If you know you can come, please call Cheri at 419-297-8031 so we can make sure we’ve got work waiting for you.