Stewarding God’s Vision
At Lakewood United Methodist Church, we have a vision statement that I absolutely love which was written and prayerfully worked on by the leaders of the church.
In Lakewood: the good news, shared; the hungry, fed; the thirsty, quenched; the homeless, housed; the stranger, welcomed; the naked, clothed; the sick, comforted; the prisoner, liberated; the directionless, called; God’s creation, nurtured.
I love it because it is a vision of verbs in the past tense. It’s a vision full of confidence that we are a part of God’s dream where all of these things are done. A vision is not a proclamation of what is happening in the moment, it is a proclamation of what we believe will happen. And as a church that means a proclamation of what God will do through us if we remain willing to be attentive and obedient to God’s call on our lives as people of faith.
Since this vision is impossible without the involvement of God, we aren’t the perpetrators of it. Instead, we are stewards of it. We are caretakers of an abundance God entrusts us with. God has given us good news, and so it will be shared. God is leading us to those who are hungry and thirsty, and so they will be fed and their thirst will be quenched. Not because we have the power on our own to make that happen, but because we have been given, by God’s grace and God willing, a task. By ourselves, this vision will not come to fruition.
But with God? With partners God sends our way? With resources God surprises us with? With God’s grace present in our failure? It will.
For the next few weeks until the beginning of November, we will be exploring this audacious vision statement and how we are stewards of this vision. We will explore the many dimensions of this vision which emerge in scripture each Sunday. We will talk about the resources we have to plan for the future work we can do to co-create this vision with God. We will talk about how the greatest resource we have as a church is one another.
Here is a look at each Sunday in the coming few months:
August 30 - the directionless, called: Matthew 16:21-28
September 6 - the hungry, fed: Exodus 12:1-4
September 13 - (KICK OFF SUNDAY) the stranger, welcomed: Romans 14:1-12 (Join us this Sunday to learn about ministries and activities you can plug into for the coming year!)
September 20 - the homeless, housed: Matthew 20: 1-16
September 27 - the thirsty, quenched: Exodus 17:1-7
October 4- the naked, clothed: Phillippians 3:4-14
October 11 - the sick, comforted: Phillippians 4:1-9
October 18 - the prisoner, liberated: Matthew 22:15-22
October 25 - God’s creation, nurtured: Matthew 22:34-46
November 1 - (ALL SAINTS SUNDAY) the good news, shared: 1 John 3:1-3
