Greetings from the Pastor,
This past year your council has been working on a new mission statement to lead us into the future. For the next several months, I am going to use this space to provide background and clarity on the different parts of the statement. The mission statement drafted by the council is: “Called by Jesus to go and do likewise, we love, we experience, we discover, as we’re sent out into God’s world”. The shortened version of this is LED.
Last month I discussed the second of the three commands of the mission statement “we experience”, and what it means for us. This command to experience God is lived out in forgiveness, in seeking justice for others, in serving others, in living generous lives and many other ways that reflect God. Thus, Hope is committed to providing opportunities for everyone to experience God’s amazing grace in daily life; to give opportunities to serve others, to live generous lives and to offer and receive forgiveness. We understand we need not only to talk about God, but we also need to experience God in our lives and through these experiences we will be changed.
This month we look at the third of the three commands, “we discover”, and what it means for us. When one thinks about discovery, one’s thoughts turn to some of the great discoveries in history: the discovery of gravity, E=MC2 and other breakthroughs in science and knowledge. Discovery is not finding something that wasn’t there before, it is in fact recognizing something that was always there, just not known. E=MC2 has always been true, but we were not aware of it. We did not have the eyes and ears to see and hear its truth.
It is the same way when it comes to God and God’s presence in the world. The call for us to discover is not to find God but to recognize where God has always been. God has been actively working in the world and in people’s lives without them often recognizing it. God does not work only in the lives of those who trust in Him, but also those who do not trust or do not even know of Him. Scripture reminds us that God brings rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. This call to discover is a call to see and hear what has always been there: God’ s love and concern for all people. As people called to discover what God is doing in the lives of others, we have been given the privilege to recognize that which is not seen by human eyes, but made known by the eyes of faith. We are called to proclaim to each other how God is working and bringing about the salvation of the world. Discover for yourself what God is already up to in your life and share that discovery with those around you.
“Called by Jesus to go and do likewise, we love, we experience, we discover, as we’re sent out into God’s world”
Next month we will look at “we’re sent”,
See you in worship,
Pastor Mike
