God has a vision. God
has a vision for you, for me, for the church, for the world. God knows
exactly how your life should go so that all of your potential can be
realized. God knows exactly how South Roanoke Church should uniquely
position herself in this community to fulfill the mission to which God has
called us. God knows exactly what the world ought to do in order for life
to be full and restored to the peace, love, and justice in which it was
originally made. God has a vision. God can see it. Wouldn’t it be nice
if we could just see it, too? Don’t you want to see it, too?
That’s the problem, you
know. God can see it but our vision is so dim. Even when we do see
clearly our efforts to fulfill that vision fall so short. God knows that;
so do we.
That’s why about this
time every year we have to light a candle—a candle on this wreath. We
need to light a candle so we can see again the vision that God has for our
lives. God has always wanted us to recover our sight. Time and time
again in human history God reached out, intervened, sent prophets and
emissaries to help restore our vision of God’s will for us. Over 2000
years ago now God announced a child would be born to the world—a child who
sees the vision clearly; a child who would grow up to live life according
to the vision; one who would save finally humanity from its blindness.
Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, God Incarnate did exactly that. And about this time every year we
light a candle to help us see again God’s vision for us, for our church,
and for the world through Him. What is it that we can see in the light of
this candle about South Roanoke Church? That is what I am led to share
with you this morning.
“What is God’s vision
for your church?” That was the question that was asked in the August 2003
issue of the Virginia United Methodist Advocate. Every church has
the same mission but God has a specific dream for how that mission is
lived out in a particular local church in a particular community. The
mission is the same but the vision varies.
Let me be more
specific. The mission of every local congregation of the United Methodist
Church is defined in our Book of Discipline:
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus
Christ. Local
churches provide the most significant arena through which
disciple-
making occurs.
It’s as simple as that. The mission of the
church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. When we come together for
worship,
when we celebrate the sacraments,
when we study the Bible in Sunday School,
when we praise God in music and song,
when children and youth gather for fellowship, recreation,
and
spiritual growth,
when we share a meal together,
when we take good care of our facility, plan programs, and
prepare the church budget,
when we reach out to
the less fortunate in our community,
nation, and world,
we do not do any of these things just for their intrinsic value alone. We
do these things in order to equip ourselves and create a community to help
others come to know Jesus Christ as Lord. Worship, the sacraments, Sunday
School, music and song, gatherings of children and youth, fellowship
meals, facilities, program and budget, and outreach to others are the ways
in which the community of faith prepares spiritually to be what the
Discipline says the local church is:
a strategic base from which Christians move out to the
structures of
society.
The
church of Jesus Christ
(the Discipline goes on to say) exists in and
for the world.
This is what the church is. This is what the
church does. If the church is not about that,
if the church does not consider itself in existence for the
world where
its members are called out to shape and influence the
structures of
society in the ways of the Gospel,
if the congregation does not consider its primary mission
to make disciples
of Jesus Christ,
then its worship is empty, its sacraments lose their true power, its
Sunday School is a social club, its music is robbed of its true meaning,
its children and youth simply have a good time together, its building,
programs, and budget simply preserve a monument to good intentions.
Mission is important. Mission is
vital. I say again
The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus
Christ.
Every United Methodist Church has this one mission.
But God gives every United Methodist
Church a unique vision as to how to live out that mission. That’s what
the article in the Virginia Advocate is illustrating as it
describes the vision of several congregations in our conference:
Ebenezer Church in Stafford. In 1995 it was a congregation of
400
members. Today more than 1,100 call Ebenezer their church home.
Rev.
Mark Miller explains
A good missionary takes time to study the culture where he
or she will
be in ministry. By learning what people value, how they
think, the
language they use, the images and metaphors that speak to
their
hearts, a missionary can design ministries that connect the
timeless
truths of the gospel to the contemporary realities of the
people in that
culture.
Located in a growing area just full of young families with
children,
Ebenezer saw the vision for their particular ministry providing
worship,
learning, and service opportunities that held special meaning
for those in
their community.
Fieldstone Church on our own Roanoke District has just purchased and
now worships in the old Heilig Meyers furniture store in Christiansburg.
They are located in a community that the local government had labeled as
having no “pro-social” activities. In other words, an area where
teenagers
had nothing to do. And we all know what can happen when teenagers
have nothing to do. Led by pastor Lynne Alley-Grant, they found that to
be the greatest need in their area, so they focus their life on young
people,
especially young people who have not yet come through the church door.
The
needs of the least, the last, and the lost is the vision of Rising Hope
Church located on the “Route 1 Corridor” in Fairfax County. Rev. Keary
Kincannon has led this body of Christ to focus its mission on the needs
of
the unemployed, the homeless, and other marginalized persons in the
community.
Finally,
there is Bethel Church, also on our Roanoke District. Located in Craig
County which has only 5,000 residents, the Sinking Creek community which
the church serves is fairly remote and graced with beauty. But Craig
County also has a very high incidence of cancer. With so many affected by
this dreaded disease the church organized support opportunities for those
experiencing this kind of need. The Advocate reports that our
District Superintendent Tom Joyce was taking a scenic drive through the
community one day when he noticed flashing lights and flares up ahead.
Thinking he would be delayed by a traffic accident, he was surprised to
discover that state trooper were parking cars for a benefit concert for
the cancer survivors’ group at Bethel Church—it seemed the whole county
had come out in support of this ministry.
Every United Methodist congregation
has the mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ. That is South
Roanoke’s mission. But what is South Roanoke’s special vision? What
should be the focus of South Roanoke’s ministry in support of that
mission? The congregations named in the August issue of the Advocate
are known in their communities for their unique witness to the love of
Christ:
Ebenezer Church is the place where young families to go;
Fieldstone Church is finally a place young people can find
something
to do in that community;
Rising Hope Church cares for the least, the last, and the lost;
Bethel Church reaches out to people who suffer from the
realities
cancer in the community and is doing something about
it.
If you ask anybody in the communities in which these churches are located
they know what that church is known for. The “community grapevine” is all
“abuzz” with the good things that God is doing through the body of Christ
through those congregations.
What about South Roanoke Church.?
What are we known for in this community? What is God’s particular, unique
vision for the special way in that we seek to make disciples of Jesus
Christ because we are uniquely positioned and especially gifted to do
exactly that right now right here?
Your leaders that comprise our
Council on Ministries met together over two evenings not long after I
became your pastor. We discussed together the vision that God has for us
right now. After much discussion, much prayer, and (as you can imagine)
much editing, we tried to state that vision for our church. Adopted by
our Charge Conference last Sunday evening this vision statement appears on
cover page of your bulletin today. The essence of that statement, as you
can see, is “As Christ cares, we care.”
Next Sunday, in the final of the two
sermons I preach on this topic, I want to try to address more specifically
what this vision may mean for us as we seek to respond to God’s call on
our lives. But today let me say that if there is one thing I have heard
consistently and have learned in my own brief experience here, it is that
South Roanoke Church is a congregation that cares. Persons are attracted
to our church because of our friendliness. We have a history of always
trying to respond to the needs of others beyond ourselves. Caring is the
word that seems to capture the essence of who and what we are and always
seek to become as disciples of Jesus Christ.
The Psalmist earnestly calls upon
God to
Make me to know your ways…teach me your paths…Lead me in your
truth…
Paul’s letter prays that
The Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another
and
for all…and…strengthen your hearts in holiness..
God has put South Roanoke Church
right here right now for a particular, special purpose. We sense that
God’s sees us as a particularly caring community…a community that cares
for one another and for the needs for the local community, the nation, and
the world.
Brothers and sisters, the world is
desperate for a community just like that. In a world so fractured by
opposing opinions and ideologies and personalities that seems to only find
peace in the ultimate defeat of one faction over another, the church needs
to be the community in the culture that models for the world how persons
and groups of differing opinions can resolve their differences by finding
consensus in the peace of Christ. The world which has adopted a way of
life so contrary to God’s vision that everyone looks out for themselves,
the church needs to be the one place in the community where people learn
the truth about life—it’s not about getting and having, it’s about
giving.
That’s what we hope for again at
Advent, isn’t it? Our vision restored! A new and fresh commitment of the
people of God to the community God knows us to be! The body of Christ in
the world that, just like her Lord, sees the vision clearly, lives life
according to that vision, and models for the world around us the way of
Christ. The body of Christ shaping, molding persons, families,
communities, institutions, and the world in the image of God in which we
all are created.
About this time of year every year
we have to light a candle. We need to light a candle so we can see again
the vision that God has for our lives. I trust as you have come to
worship God this morning this candle has shown you the way of Jesus. As
you heard the Word of God today, see with His eyes the vision of God for
you, for our church, and for the world. As you leave this place, walk in
that light.
