June 26, 2016 - Sixth Sunday after Pentecost - Setting Our Faces to the Future

Today's worship and Creator's discussion on hopes and dreams felt like they were cut from the same cloth.

Last week the man in the city cried out "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me".

Part of the Gospel for today, Luke 9:51-62, to my ears is a deeper exploration of what Jesus asks of us to lead a Christian life.

The harsh tone Jesus may seem to strike reminds us of our priorities and the urgency of acting as disciples.  There will always be seemingly sound "life excuses" to postpone or delay our Christian discipleship or response to life.  Other important demands in life divert our attention or thwart us. The mission to bring forth God's reign on earth should not wait until we get around to it.

We need to set our faces to what God asks of us.

Another part is our tendency, as we follow, to judge others.  We see a righteous responsibility to ask "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"  Jesus is facing Jerusalem and all he will engage in there and the disciples concern themselves with the lack of hospitality of the Samaritans that can nullify salvation.  And Jesus, understanding God's will since the time of Noah and the flood, rebuked them.  So much for stories in Revelation in favor of Matthew 7:5.  Another reminder it is time to take the speck out of our own eye.  Time to set our own faces.

There is a poignancy to Jesus, after being rejected by Jewish authorities because he associated with outcasts, being rejected by outcasts at the beginning of his journey to Jerusalem.  He falls short in their "salvation bookkeeping" and his disciples engage in the same behavior.

The discussion after worship was about hopes and dreams for Creator's future.  At first, as would be expected, specifics were brought forward but quickly the talk became general.  To use the language of the gospel lesson to frame this description we talked about setting our face to being a community oriented church.  We also discussed the Christ-centered work we could engage in against oppression and systemic injustices.

In this context Bob shared a story in the meeting that opened my eyes to a few of Creator's possible futures.  Bob mowed Creator's lawn for years as part of what he did for the church.  Some time ago he was faced with a decision to continue to do this or to engage more deeply in his volunteer work with helping children at school.  He chose helping the children.

In that decision, as a member, he moved Creator towards being a more community oriented church.  Yet this matter of the heart for him is less visible than the mowing to those who worship on Sunday.  There might be an inevitable wringing of hands as individuals talk about the good old days when there was a commitment to lawn mowing.  It is clear to see how this is true about much of what is going on at Creator.

Annie and Tini shared how tough it was to hear dreams about being a more community oriented church because they don't live in the Creator's geographic community.  For those who come to Creator as a destination church (meaning there are closer churches where  they could attend) this may make them feel isolated from others even though those geographic boundaries of the community are vague at best.

The conversations about hopes and dreams too often move us towards thinking about individual wants, desires and needs.  Trying to discover the hopes and dreams of a congregation is certainly more than that and we did take another step this journey.