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Our Home, Our Future

You are invited... to an open house in the next week.  The Capital Campaign planning committee has been meeting regularly since the winter and is ready to make an initial report to you, the congregation.  Actually, there will be two (2) opportunities to attend the open house.  The same material will be shared both times, so you need not attend both (unless you want to).  The open houses will be:

Sunday, April 28 from 12 – 1 p.m. in the Disciples Room

Monday, April 29 from 6 – 7 p.m. in the Connection Café

For the last several decades, Central has undertaken continuous triennial (3-year) capital campaigns in addition to the annual stewardship campaign.  The stewardship campaign, held every Fall, supports the operating budget of the church.  This budget follows the calendar year.  The capital campaigns begin in June every three years, so as not to conflict with the Fall stewardship drive.  Gifts to the capital campaign, also known as the “building fund,” support voted-upon projects that support that improvement of our building.  It is because of these capital campaigns that Central has been able to keep a building that is in tremendous shape, while making significant upgrades along the way.  There is not a single Disciples of Christ in the country, of which I am aware, that voluntarily undertakes such thoughtful and conscientious actions.  The entirety of the credit for this tradition goes to my pastoral predecessors, Bill Nichols and Charles Watkins, and to you, the members past and present who have supported it.

During the 2013-2016 campaign, themed “Blueprint for Growth,” we laid the foundation of the major renovation to the Friendship Center and West Entrance, as well as repair the roof over the Administration wing, the steps at the Tower entrance, and the sound and lighting in the sanctuary.  During the most recent (2016-2019) campaign, “Pathways to Possibilities,” we not only began paying back the debt we incurred for the 2016 renovation of the Friendship Center and West Entrance, we continued our upgrades of the sound and lighting in the sanctuary.

Oh.. and perhaps the best part of these capital campaigns is that 10% is always dedicated  to outreach.  Which means that since 2013, Central has donated over $100,000 to the Decatur area!   

The current capital campaign planning team is excited to share with you its proposed plan for 2019-2022.  Team members include Gregg Foltz (congregational president), Dale Ford (president of the Trustees), Paul Gorden, Sandy Garver, Theresa Fulk, Roberta Gorden, Doug Soebbing, and Jeannie Backes.  They, and I, will be presenting on both dates:

  • A goal for the campaign (in terms of overall dollar amount to be raised over 3 years)
  • A breakdown for how the funds will be spent, including
    • A portion for the reduction of the debt incurred in 2016;
    • A portion allocated for “new improvements;”
    • Along with 10% to outreach (of course!)
  • A theme for the campaign.

I know I speak on behalf of the entire team when I say that I hope you can all make it to one of the Open Houses next week.  Again, the dates are: 

Sunday, April 28 from 12 – 1 p.m. in the Disciples Room

Monday, April 29 from 6 – 7 p.m. in the Connection Café

Blessings… Michael

Posted by Michael Karunas with
Showing items filed under “Devotional”

Second Chances

Do you really believe everyone deserves a second chance?  That question was posed to me by a congregant in the Friendship Center following worship this past Sunday.  I had just preached on the Demoniac in Mark 5 who was given a second chance at life by Jesus when his demons were exorcised from him.  And I even used the phrase, “In the kingdom Jesus is building, everyone deserves a second chance.”  It seemed natural that someone might want to raise this question.  Especially this man, who had spent a career in law enforcement and admitted that he had “seen too many things” to think that everyone – literally everyone – deserves a second chance.

 
                                               

We chatted briefly, our conversation most amiable, and in just a few moments we acknowledged several things:

  • Preaching can be a difficult event for the both preacher (who can’t cover every possible question a listener might be thinking) and listener (who can’t really respond, as preaching is very much a one-way communication experience)
  • When we say “second chance” we should be clear about whether we truly mean a second chance or the repeated giving of chance after chance after chance.
  • There are truly heinous acts that fall under a different category (as outlying cases should do)

But I believe his question deserves a bit of a longer answer than a quick back-and-forth after worship can afford.

 

“Second chances” – whether we are talking about our earthly relationships with one another or our relationship with God – are about exactly that.  Relationships.  And in relationships there is always a role for accountability in addition to the grace and forgiveness of a “second chance.”  Giving too many chances without any kind of accountabitly in return can lead to enablement of undesired behavior.  Conversely, too much accountability without a chance to live anew is abuse and oppression.  For the relationship to be such that the individuals in it have the opportunity to live up to their potential, there must be a balance between grace (“second chances”) and accountability (a change in behavior).  Jesus said this very thing in John 13:34  I will give my love to you (grace), he said, and the expectation in return is that you love another (accountability).  In this respect, I would have to say, I don’t believe in giving a “second chance” without some kind of change in behavior in return.

 

Yet, this thought alone misses a larger point.  “Second chances” – whether extended by God or among people – are about faith.  The reason we grant grace to one another is because we believe the recipient of that grace is capable of producing something good for others; something that will improve relationships and community.  When we fail to grant grace – or when we are hesitant to give a “second chance” to someone – it is because we doubt their ability to do this.  So perhaps the better question is not “Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?” but rather “Does God believe everyone is capable of producing something good for others?”  To this I would respond “Yes.  I believe God does.”  This is why God grants grace to us – not just a “second” time – but again and again and again.  Such is God’s faith in us to produce good for others. 

Navigating the waters of “second chances” and accountability – in our families, in the workplace, and in every conceivable way in a wider society – will always be difficult.  Only when we seek to find the balance between the two will we truly thrive.  And only when we are motivated by God’s faith in us – and by God’s grace to us – can we hope to find it.        

Posted by Michael Karunas with

5_23 E-Votional

This Sunday our focus in worship will be Psalm 23.  Not only is this the favorite passage of our congregation (based on the surveys you submitted to me over the past few weeks); not only are the opening lines of this psalm the most easily quotable by Americans of all the passages in scripture; we tend to prefer hearing or reading Psalm 23 from the King James Version of the bible – “…yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…”

When James ascended to the throne in 1603 he was the sixth King James of Scotland but the first King James of a United Kingdom (England, Ireland and Scotland).  His attempt was to unify this kingdom and the religious strife taking place within it.  Over the previous 50 years, there were disputes among Catholics (those who were still sympathetic to the pope); Anglicans (those who favored an English church independent of the pope’s influence); and Puritans (radicals who wanted a complete and total break from anything that looked or sounded “catholic”).  There were also different versions of the bible being used by each group.  Catholic sympathizers favored the Latin Vulgate; Anglicans the “Bishop’s bible;” and Puritans the “Geneva bible” of John Calvin. 

One of the first things James did was commission over 45 scholars to prepare a new version of the bible that would help unify the kingdom and the religious understandings and practices therein.  What resulted was what we now call the King James Version, written over the years 1604-1611.

When the Puritans first settled in America in 1620, they brought with them their favored “Geneva bible.”  But by the 1700s, when the colonies were under the complete control of England, the bible primarily used was the King James Version.  No printing of bibles was done in the colonies, rather all bibles were shipped over from England, which by this time was exclusively printing the KJV.  In the 1770s, with trade disputes between England and the colonies reaching a high point, bibles were hard to come by with shipments from England being delayed or even stalled.  Colonists received permission to print bibles on our side of the Atlantic and the version permitted was, of course, the King James Version.  Over the next few decades, the KJV became known as the “bible of the revolution” by Americans and from that point on, it was the most popular version in America, with settlers taking it with them as they continued to travel further west.

I have always been intrigued that Psalm 23 is so popular at funerals.  Of the more than 170 I have officiated in my 20-year ministry career, only once have I not been asked to read Psalm 23.  But even more, I’m fascinated how, though we never read from the KJV in our regular Sunday services, when church members are planning funerals, they often request the KJV for the reading of Psalm 23.

I suppose there may be three reasons for this, though this is merely conjecture on my part.  First, as described above, the KJV is deeply intertwined with the development of our nation.  Second, the KJV is truly a work of poetic art, as it was designed from its inception to be something that was not merely communicating God’s word, but also pleasing to the ear.  Simply put, the KJV sounds different from the way we speak in our everyday communication.  It sounds other-worldly and mysterious, and therefore, perhaps subconsciously, we deem it somehow worthy of God.  Finally, from a personal standpoint, it may have been the bible our grandparents used.  As they taught us the faith, we associate this version with our deepest spiritual roots and thus have an emotional connection to these words which are awakened at significant times in our lives such as funerals.

This Sunday, I’ll be shifting back and forth from the KJV and newer translations, which are likely more accurate in terms of capturing the meaning of the original language of biblical Hebrew.  Regardless of how it is translated, however, the meaning of Psalm 23 is powerful and I hope you find that to be communicated in worship this Sunday.  Hope to see you there! 

Posted by Michael Karunas with

4_12 E-Votional

If anyone had reason to feel defeated it would have been Peter.  Here he was, on the first Easter, just days removed from denying Jesus three times after vowing that he’d rather die than desert and abandon Jesus.  Capable of great promise and potential on the one hand, and great disappointment on the other, he had given up everything to follow Jesus but ultimately watched Jesus die and be buried.  What was it all for?  Where was the meaning in all that he had experienced?

That’s why he returns to his home after learning that the tomb was empty but not finding Jesus.  Because what else do you do when your dreams are dashed and your confidence crushed?  You go home.  There’s nothing more worth looking forward to “out there” in the future.  You might as well go back to the only life you knew before.  If anyone had reason to feel defeated it would have been Peter.   

 And yet, God spoke hope into Peter’s sense of defeat.  God gave a clear sign of hope to Peter.  It was right there in front of him and the fact that he didn’t understand it at first didn’t make it any less real or true.  In fact, God goes out of the way to speak words of hope to us.  Did you know that the word “defeat” only shows up three (3) times in the New Testament (and one of those is positive use of the word: in Rev 12:8 when the archangel Michael defeats the dragon and casts him out heaven).  But… the word “hope” shows up 75 times!!!!

We will be exploring this in more detail this Sunday, as well as hearing more powerful testimonies from church members.

I hope to see you at 8:00, 9:00 or 10:30!!! 

 Blessings -- Michael 

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