There is a Charlie Brown Comic Strip…. where Lucy asks, "Why do you think we're put on earth,
Charlie Brown?" Charlie replies, "To make others happy." Lucy
says, "I don't think I'm making anyone very happy .... Of course, nobody's
making me very happy either." Then Lucy screams at the top of her lungs
... "SOMEBODY'S NOT DOING HIS JOB!"
We’re in the 3rd
week of our 4 week series titled; “Facing the Road Ahead” of which we are
reflecting biblically on Cross Lutheran’s transition process. We’re doing this
to help the congregation be engaged in understanding who and what Cross
Lutheran is and how she carries out her ministry… not only for today but also
into the future. While the road ahead might be uncertain, it is a road that we
must take if we are to engage our past so that it can inform our future. We are
also doing this to learn something about ourselves and about what God has
called us to be.
o
Over the
past couple of weeks we’ve learned to never give up.
o
If we
stay connected to Jesus, if we follow Jesus, then there is no reason to give
up.
o
Last
week we learned not to fear because the Holy Spirit empowers us to focus on the
abundance of God.
Today… our
reflection will focus on Finding Purpose at Cross Lutheran.
The way to over-come
the road of uncertainty is to discover or perhaps to re-discover your purpose. That
is…Why is it that you are here? What are you called to be here at Cross
Lutheran? Who are you called to be? Of course this is for most of us the
million dollar question.
The dictionary
definition is… “The reason for which something exists or for which it has been done or
made.” For me as an individual… “I
exist to be truthful, authentic, and a responsible citizen.” I
accomplish this thru the goals and passions I’ve been gifted with. The same is true for the church and
Cross Lutheran. Do you know what
Cross Lutherans purpose is... you have one! It may be written down or it may be
assumed, but nonetheless you do have one.
Please keep in mind…
this is not about the hopes and dreams you have… these are not a purpose. Hopes
and dreams are the excitement of our purpose. Hopes and dreams bring enthusiasm
to the purpose. Purpose is the over-arching reason we exist as a community of
faith. Hopes and dreams change… purpose does not.
Do you know that you
do have a Purpose? It’s in your constitution!
Statement of Purpose: “the Church is a people
created by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and called and sent to witness
God’s creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity in the world.”
It’s too long… but
there it is… It even goes on to spell out how you will carry out this purpose. Is
this your purpose? I want to caution you… think about this before you answer
because virtually every ELCA congregation has this same purpose statement because
it’s the model constitution of the “church”. Often purpose statements like the
one I read tend to be elongated with a lot of churchy words that carry little
meaning for us. But before we say yes to this… I believe Jesus gives us a
pretty clear understanding of what the churches purpose is and it’s really
quite simple.
Essentially, I
believe Jesus tells us our purpose is to
“Go to all nations, Make Disciples, Baptize, and Teach.” We know this
passage well, yet we tremble when we hear it or we conveniently forget it. Essentially… in shorter form it says
what your constitution says. But
even more simply… there are really only two imperatives our church purpose
needs… they are GO!!! And
MAKE!!! Let’s look at these.
GO!
Some of you just got
nervous. What does this mean? The Greek word used here literally means “To
Pursue”. Jesus by His authority tells us to Pursue ALL people. Jesus taught to
actively demonstrate Love, Mercy, and Grace. These are action words… Jesus didn’t say Go to a place, or to only
Christians, or to people like us. Jesus said to go to ALL people. So… the first
part of the churches purpose is to GO!!!
MAKE!
Some of you just got
really nervous… What does Jesus say??? “To
Make Disciples.” … to Baptize them, and teach them to do everything I told
you”.
I was sharing this with a congregation and a
person came up to me and said, “I can’t do this.” I asked why? And they told
me, “That word disciple scares me to death because it means that I must go
knock on doors.” I asked who told them that… they told me former pastors over
the years told them that knocking on doors evangelizing made them disciples. Is that something you’ve heard or been
taught?
Let me be clear… I
believe it’s pretty simple… discipleship or as I like to refer to it
“Followership” is about these 6 elements
or practices Prayer, Worship, Learning, Serving, Relationships, Generosity. Simply…
these practices are how the purpose gets lived out… “GO… MAKE” Simply I believe our purpose… the churches purpose…
that is never changing are these simple two words… GO>>>> MAKE….
This is God’s church
purpose for all churches… all faith communities.
The BIG question for
us is…. Is this God’s church or a social gathering of like-minded people?
“A story is told of a community of people who
lived on a stretch of dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occurred.
Eventually, some of the townspeople decided to put some time and effort and
money into a rescue operation. A small life-saving station was built and the
devoted members of the rescue team kept an ongoing watch over the sea, ready to
use their little boat to search for survivors in case of a shipwreck. As the
result of this volunteer operation, the town became famous because of the many lives
that were saved.
More and more people joined and became part of the team. Soon a new building was erected. It was much larger than the first little building and it was beautifully furnished and decorated. And as more and more amenities were added for the members' pleasure and comfort, the new building was slowly transformed into a kind of clubhouse. As a result, some of the members began to lose interest in the rescue operation.
But then a shipwreck occurred and many survivors were rescued and brought into the clubhouse for first aid. During the period of the operation which lasted for several days, the frenzied activity caused the attractive "clubhouse" to be considerably marred by such things as bloodstains on the lush carpeting. At the next meeting there was a split in the membership. Most members felt that the life-saving operation was a hindrance to the social life of the organization. Those who disagreed were told that they could build another little station further down the coast. And, as the years went by, history continued to repeat itself. Today, so the story goes, that seacoast has a number of exclusive clubhouses dotting the shore - but no one in the area seems to be concerned with rescue operations.
More and more people joined and became part of the team. Soon a new building was erected. It was much larger than the first little building and it was beautifully furnished and decorated. And as more and more amenities were added for the members' pleasure and comfort, the new building was slowly transformed into a kind of clubhouse. As a result, some of the members began to lose interest in the rescue operation.
But then a shipwreck occurred and many survivors were rescued and brought into the clubhouse for first aid. During the period of the operation which lasted for several days, the frenzied activity caused the attractive "clubhouse" to be considerably marred by such things as bloodstains on the lush carpeting. At the next meeting there was a split in the membership. Most members felt that the life-saving operation was a hindrance to the social life of the organization. Those who disagreed were told that they could build another little station further down the coast. And, as the years went by, history continued to repeat itself. Today, so the story goes, that seacoast has a number of exclusive clubhouses dotting the shore - but no one in the area seems to be concerned with rescue operations.
What is your
Purpose?
See You Out on the
Road
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