B Pentecost14 2015
August 30, 2015
Mark 12:28-34
Deuteronomy 6:1-9
Bethlehem Values Series - Summary:
VISION
We are shining the
light of Christ so brightly
that everyone is
drawn in to God’s love through this community.
The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]
28One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one
another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which
commandment is the first of all?"29Jesus answered, "The
first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;30you
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.'31The second is
this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment
greater than these."32Then the scribe said to him, “You are
right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is
no other';33and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the
understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as
oneself,' — this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices."34When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said
to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one
dared to ask him any question.
The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].
Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
What
would you say if someone asked what your personal mission statement is?
Have
any of you done this before, thought about your individual mission? We often do this collectively in our
businesses and organizations, but what do you think God is calling you to do
each and every day?
The
scribe in today’s story asks Jesus that question.
Ok,
Jesus of Nazareth, I am impressed by your answers to the trick questions the
other Jewish groups and leaders have been asking you. Myself, as an expert in
the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/OT, the Jewish law), I
think you might actually get it. I think
you might actually understand what God is asking of us in our holy and most
central scriptures. So tell me, “Which
commandment is the first of all?” That
is, how do you know, in all of the Bible, what is most central to our
faith. What directs you in your daily
ministry, Jesus?
That is
the question.
The
question that Jesus answers with two slices of scripture, one from Duet 4 and
one from Leviticus – “'Hear,
O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;30you shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind, and with all your strength.'31The second is this, 'You shall
love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than
these."
This is
the answer.
Jesus
sums up all of Hebrew law and teaching in two tiny phrases: Love God first,
Love your neighbor as yourself.
So we
do.
This is
what Jesus came to teach us, God’s vision for the world and his Personal
Mission Statement. What’s yours?
Your
personal mission statements would all have unique, individual words to describe
how you live out the way you follow Jesus in the world. How you love God and love neighbor. I learned
about personal mission statements from my friend and mentor, Ron
Glusenkamp. I wish I could tell you
exactly what it is… but I remember the essence because every time I am with
him, I see him do it! “Laugh, Feed and Love.”[i]
The thing
that is so funny about mission statements, especially for people who are God’s
children and Jesus followers is that we have a whole book filled with different
ways to say the same mission, over and over and over again (The Bible). Mission/Vision/Values processes and
statements can feel like we are just regurgitating something that’s already
been said.
But we
use them because we, fallible, distractable creatures can have a hard time
staying on track, staying focused on living a Christian life, without some kind
of compass or north star in words that means something to us. The best Vision & Mission statements are
our north star, pointing us in the direction God calls us to go. Our values are like our compass to get
there.
Today
we hear Jesus explaining not only his personal mission statement – but God’s! God, our creator, redeemer and sustainer –
God’s mission is to penetrate this world with his love. Like light shining through our brokenness, we
see God’s power healing, restoring, and making us new.
And
that’s where your vision, mission and values come in, Bethlehem. These are our guiding light, our compass to
head where God is calling us now.
We see a vision of the world where the
light of Christ shines so brightly that everyone is drawn in to God’s love
through this community.
Our mission is to welcome all through
the light of Christ by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being a place
of shelter.
We value the Word of God, All People,
Serving and Opening the eyes of Faith.
With our vision clear, Jesus says to us, along with the
scribe in today’s Gospel, "You
are not far from the kingdom of God."
When we live into our vision, mission and values – we love God
first, and love our neighbor as ourselves – we experience the wholeness and
beautiful restoration of God’s kingdom!
We follow that shining light and we let that light shine through
us.
We have been talking about our values for the last four weeks, our
compass on this journey. The Illuminating Word of God, Seeing All
People and Perspectives, Serving our Communities with Delight and Opening the
eyes of Faith at every age.
With this compass, we are moving into the new program year. Our compass comes first in the shape of
intentionally putting the Illuminating
Word of God central in all we do.
Starting Sept 13th, we will be using Bible readings
in worship that begin in Genesis and move through the timeline of the Bible to
tell God’s story. We will near the
narrative of the Bible more sequentially.
Along with that, we will have devotional inserts that you are invited to
bring home, like many of you read and pray with the Christ in Our Home booklets,
these will coordinate your daily readings and prayer with Sunday morning.
We will come together for Adult Study (after worship and
fellowship) that invites us to consider how we understand God as Lutherans for
7 weeks; and then beginning in November we will dig into scripture with an
overview of the New Testament. You will
have two opportunities to overview the New Testament with daily readings using
a more scholarly approach with commentary and videos from experts: one on
Sunday mornings and one on a weekday evening with our “Bible and Wine” bookclub.
I pray that all of you will join me on this journey of
getting to know God’s story better this fall.
For this is our next best step to learning to use our navigation tools,
individually and as a community. Pointing
ahead to that Bethlehem star shining
Christ’s light so brightly that everyone is drawn in to God’s love through this
community.
Amen.
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