Dear Friends

 

Greetings in the name of Jesus!  For years the mission statement of the United Methodist Church has been “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world”.  Many local congregations including ours have adopted it as their own.  I like it because it is rooted in Jesus’s words in Matthew 20:18-20, which are often referred to as the Great Commission.

 

While simple and easy to remember, this statement does not completely depict the work of the church.  Earlier this year denominational leaders released a vision statement to further clarify what our task of disciple making entails: “The United Methodist Church forms disciples of Jesus Christ who, empowered by the Holy Spirit, love boldly, serve joyfully, and lead courageously in local communities and worldwide connections.”

 

Pastor Amanda and I began a series of sermons based on this vision for our church for September and will continue it through October.  We began by talking about how the Great Commission is a list of tasks for the church to perform such as making disciples, baptizing and teaching.  The Great Commandment to love God and to love neighbor is about relationships with those around us.  Pastor Amanda challenged us to begin that within the walls of our sanctuary by getting to know those in worship we haven’t yet met.

 

We continued to dig deeper into what loving boldly looks like on September 21st as we thought about the ways each of us wants to put limits on who we should love.  We can relate to the expert in the law who asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”  The Good Samaritan reached out in compassion to the one who was left on the side of the road demonstrating that our neighbor is anyone in need.  Jesus told us to follow his example in extending mercy.  The fact that a Samaritan despised by the Jews of the time was exalted as the hero of the story defines our neighbor as everyone, even those we don’t like!  We will finish our exploration of what it means to love boldly by thinking about our obligation to build up one another in love especially those we might consider weak on September 28th.

 

We begin October considering what it means to serve joyfully. Psalm 100 opens with these words: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.  Serve the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. How do we joyfully worship the Lord?  How do we serve God with gladness?  On October 5th we will contemplate our answers to those questions.  In Romans 15, Paul asks God to give the church the ability to harmoniously glorify God and to fill them with joy and peace so they may abound in hope.  We will think about ways God is empowering us to work together as we serve joyfully on October 12th.

 

The third part of the vision is to lead courageously.  It is easy for us to become frightened or overwhelmed by the tasks we face.  Joshua, Moses’ successor, must have experienced those emotions as he was appointed to lead the Israelites into the promised land.  He was told to be courageous and was given a source of courage, which we will examine on October 19th.  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  These words from Ephesians are a fitting way to close out our series on October 26th as consider what it means to lead courageously.   

 

I hope that you will join us in worship at 8:30 or 11 AM as we contemplate together what kind of disciples God is shaping us to be.  If you can’t be with us in person or have missed one of these sermons, feel free to watch via our YouTube channel.  I am praying that God will transform us and our world.

 

Blessings,

Pastor Keith