Do Not Worry

I did a really fun thing tonight. Our Lenten study has been focused on God's calling us into mission. We spent a week talking about poverty and another focused on injustices in the world. Then this week I gave everyone (remember, this is a church of people mostly over the age of 65 and many over 75) a newspaper, scissors, and glue and asked them what kind of headline they would create if our church had unlimited resources -- money, time, and people -- to reach out into the community. The trick was that they could only fashion their headlines out of words they cut out from their newspapers (so they kinda reflected ransom notes). The headlines were priceless. We had everything from "We Never Close!" to ways to reach out to the homeless, to people caught in addictions, and to families; We had the church giving money to people, feeding people, etc. We even had affordable senior housing on the grounds! And of course we had a lot of laughs. Then I turned in the Gospel of Matthew to listen as Jesus teaches us not to worry about anything, for God will take care of our needs. I reminded people that they were able to envision the kingdom of God during our exercise because they stopped worrying that there would not be enough money or enough food or that they would not live very much longer. And I encouraged people to take these visions that seemed a bit over the top and begin to wonder what God is calling the church to be. And then I turned to Matthew 28 and together we heard the Great Commission. "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I commanded you." And then we heard the best news ever: "Remember, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Next week we'll get specific about what God is calling us to do and to be. But this week, we recognized a vision.