Your Mission
Our community has joined the ranks of those proud disciples who have gone before us. We have shown ourselves to be courageous just by accepting the mission. We have bucked the trends of our society and boldly stepped forward to answer the challenge. Let’s look at the tasks we have been given and try to apply them to our life today. Proclaim the good news. Too many believe this is the sole responsibilty of the pastors. As people of the Lord we find ourselves comfortable with language about salvation, grace, and resurrection when we use those words in a church environment, but uncomfortable using the same language in our everyday conversations in the real world. It is easier to talk about luck than providence; it is more comfortable to talk about what is wrong with others than to attempt reconciliation. As His disciples we are called to proclaim the good news, and to do that effectively we need to use His language and be unafraid to use it in our every day life. Cure the sick. There are so many evil influences in the world - not just viruses, bacteria, MRSA, salmonella, or e-coli. The larger evil is the influence the world has on us and on future generations. When we baptize our children, we “promise to guide and nurture by word and deed, with love and prayer, encouraging all others to know and follow the Lord and to be faithful members of his church.” When we say those words, we act as a community of faith, and take responsibility on ourselves to instill the high moral value of the church in that child. But, once we leave that service of baptism, do we ever think of those words of commitment again – particularly when we see our young people acting in destructive manner? What are we doing to encourage, make that "insist," that the young people attend church regularly and take part in youth activities? There are many temptations attracting our youth away from Sunday services. For example, we have allowed Sunday sports to become standard. In effect we have allowed sports to become an alternative form of worship. If enough Christian parents stood up and said, “My child will not be at practice, or a game, because Sunday is when we worship together as a family” - the soccer field, the ball diamond, the hockey rink, the basketball field and volleyball courts, the swimming pool, and the practice field would cease to be such a draining influence on the Christian education of our children. In standing up to influences like this you proclaim the power of God to heal us. Raise the dead. Believe in your heart in the power of the Resurrection. The evidence is there for us. Christ’s victory over death has been proclaimed for over two thousand years, and for good reason. It is true and deserves to be proclaimed freely by all of us. Death of our mortal bodies is not the end, it is the beginning, the beginning of life eternal in the presence of our Lord. Raise your voice to proclaim the absolute truth, in Christ’s life, death, Resurrection and ascension we all have been shown that there is eternal life. Your call is to proclaim that truth endlessly. Cleanse the lepers. The lepers of our society are all around us. We are not speaking here of those who have any of the skin afflictions the ancients referred to as leprosy and were deemed untouchable. Our society has many different kinds of lepers today and some think them to be untouchable as well. Today’s lepers are on street corners begging for food, shelter or work. But, those are the easy “lepers” of today to spot. Our society has singled out many more kinds of lepers. Our political divisiveness has gotten so bad, if someone is of a different political party, they become not just a Democrat or a Republican but rather someone who is not to be trusted, someone who will work to destroy your life as you know it. Don’t want to believe it is true? Listen to the rhetoric in this year’s Presidential campaign. Listen to talk radio and try to find any kind words said about someone of the opposite political party. The days of respectful disagreement, if not gone, are fading fast. We see it in Washington. We see it at the State level. We even see the lack of tolerance of anyone with a different point of view in our local governments and school boards too. Some might say it is true in our churches as well. For some, the recognition of lepers around us comes with ethnic, racial or religious labels. People who are “different” too often are shunned for no other reason than appearance. But, it doesn’t have to be ethnic, racial or religious differences that cause us to pull back. Some do for other reasons as well – tattoos, body piercings, hair color and style, clothing styles all represent forms of modern day leprosy for some of us. We are called to proclaim the power of God to bring us a sense of community, to banish prejudice, and to allow ourselves to listen to the different voices of all children of God, even the lepers. Cast out demons. Throw away the urge to shrug your shoulders and say, “the job is just too
big.” “What can we do? What can I do?” when you are faced with evil. Exclude lying and cheating as a part of life.
Reject the notion that “everyone is doing it” is an acceptable creed to justify bad behavior. Exclude negative
behavior by yourself and others that sucks the wind out of the goodness that is a part of who you are. Banish the
idea that the Ten Commandments are really the Ten Suggestions. | ||||||
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