It’s already happening. It’s subtle but you can see (and this morning, feel) the change. In
the past week the drive from my house to church has becoming more colorful. It seemed
like we just had Labor Day weekend and now it’s October – by the time you read this. It’s just past mid-September when I’m writing this and when I took the dog out this morning it was just a bit “nippy” as they say.
I’m reminded by the change of colors and temperature that God is always moving into the next New Thing, and the Holy Spirit is always seeking to inspire our hearts and orient our souls on this activity. This momentum of God’s grace, justice, and shalom already active and about the business of Christ’s Commonwealth. And Jesus invites and calls us to join in; to “come, and follow me”.
As we join in the work and movement of the gospel, I encourage us to look to scripture to give us guiding values both individually as each of us express our own personal discipleship and as a congregation; a community of faith seeking to express and live out the call of the gospel.
Let’s start with Mark 12:28-31. Known as The Great Commandment, Jesus tells his listeners to “love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. Then he continues immediately saying, “love your neighbor as yourself”. This scripture is a great place to begin setting guiding values. We are rooted in Jesus! Jesus is our foundation, the One who commands us to love our neighbors as ourselves, to love enemies and welcome the sojourner. Christ is the very embodiment of love; Emmanuel – “God with us.” Let’s engage in The Great Commandment in our daily lives, Loving God with our full selves and loving our neighbors.
We are grounded in the Wesleyan Movement. The great preacher and theologian, John Wesley, is called the founder of Methodism. Wesleyan theology is the tradition in which United Methodism is formed. It emphasizes personal piety (God’s relationship with you personally and “right living”) and social holiness (God’s connecting and society-transforming love). God’s grace journeys with us throughout our lives and calls us to fulfill “The Great Requirement” (Micah 6:8) to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.
Matthew 28:19-20 is known as “The Great Commission” that scripture tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. The invitation to become a disciple of Jesus, the Christ, is for each and for all. It is fully embracing of all people. We aren’t to baptize only “Those” people or not baptize “That” person. God’s love extends to each and all….period. The church is to invite, welcome, support, and nurture any and all; bringing them into Beloved Community – the Church.
A fourth guiding value from scripture is from Luke 4:16-21. Jesus, preaching in the synagogue, quotes Isaiah 61:1. We are a church created to participate in God’s redemptive work in this world. We hold an unwavering commitment to the hard work of advocacy, justice, redemption, and liberation. Our work is shaped by this passage from Luke, often referred to as “The Great Proclamation”, preaching good news to the poor and setting the oppressed free.
As we go forward into this new season- this “New Thing” God is already afoot making happen and inviting us to participate in, let’s use these scriptural guiding values: The Great Commandment (Mark 12:28-31, The Great Requirement (Micah 6:8), The Great Commission (Matthew 18:19-20), and The Great Proclamation” (Luke 4:16-21) as we make happen our missions and ministries.
Be God’s, Pastor Jim
