A Most Excellent Way!

A Most Excellent Way

A new vision for Grace.

I want to begin first by sharing about the journey.

·         A call to wait on the LORD

We began this fall with a series to “hurry up and wait on the LORD”    Hurry up defines our culture where we often want a response right away, but it also spoke to the fact that we needed to hear a fresh and anew from God.  We began with a day of prayer

Hurry up also is about our need to step into our calling, to discover and believe it. We initiate it by faith, embrace it with passion and commit to it with wholehearted devotion.

As pastors we all were experiencing different levels of dissatisfaction and for me personally, it kept me awake at night.  I went for sleep tests, blood tests and even got a new mattress!  The doctor confirmed I was healthy and didn’t have sleep apnea; however, I was still waking up with great restlessness in the night. I knew something had to change.  The question we couldn’t definitively answer was “where are we going as a church”.  I can remember being challenged on this question and not having a divinitive answer.  In fact, I went silent…there were many good things happening at Grace but where was it all moving us towards?

Our vision had become foggy as pastors.  We were doing good things all in our own little corners of Grace, but we were missing a real sense of connection to other.  Yes, we had started praying together more, but a shift needed to take place. 

·         A call to listen

As we left for Niagara-On-The-Lake all of us as pastors each were sent a text message from a member of Grace. 

It said, “have a great couple of days, rest in His presence, seek Him out and listen.  I am thinking this is weird to sent this but I have an impression that something that will be heard or said will be impactful.  The other thing is don’t look for it.”

As we walked together we began praying into that desire that God would lead us and our time together began with a real time of vulnerability where we became very transparent about the fears that we most succumb to whether that be rejection, embarrassment or inferiority.  What is fear anyways…it is false evidence appearing real!

·         A call to unity

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, members of our wise and very discerning leadership team  sat us down with us for the duration of the day of the Friday and we were able to speak with honesty about the issues that were front and center with each of us.  There was real openness and heart to heart conversation that took place coupled with prayer and I can say that we truly feel closer to each other than we ever have.  We realized the importance of showing greater trust and allegiance for each other as pastors.  We made commitments to moving forward with unity and the synergy that will result as we work more closely together.

With the rest of the leadership team, we prayed and reflected on the rebuilding themes of the temple and wall in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It was so good. 

Thoughts included:

·         20 year olds were involved in the supervision of the work

·         They took time to celebrate when the foundation of the temple was completed, they didn’t wait till the temple was completed

·         They were all from diverse backgrounds but they came together as one person

·         There was a simple, clear vision… rebuild the temple, rebuild the wall

·         They had boldness, they knew what they were called to do and went for it

 We then did an exercise on identifying where our ministries fit into our overall plan and focus in the church.  It was through this process that we identified a clear pathway of growth for our church and it really was an ‘a ha’ moment for the whole team.

·         The way of love  

As we as pastors spent the afternoon together, it was John who sensed that we needed to begin with looking at Sunday, this is the hub for all that takes place and something had to change in this time together.  The atmosphere needed to change.

We prayed and we talked about what we have become and what we wanted to be in not in 5 years, not 3 years, but in the next 9 months?  Could there be a big enough shift that it could be noticed?  We became convinced that is was love…well, to be honest I was a late adopter.  It seemed to simple and yet the more we dwelled on it, it became more profound.  We were convinced that as a church we needed to love.  We wanted to envision love in a deeper way that we ever have before where there was real breakthrough and then the words that finally remained on the white board were:

A time and a place where love abounds

We are not shelving the strategic plan, but we have a holy and high calling to love at the center of it all.

We are all here to minister to one another and have the Spirit work through us.

Vision leaks!  As I began to talk with ministry leaders and various people in the church, I discovered that everyone resonated with this new focus.

During one coffee meeting, it was Sue Wigston who shared, “When we are hurt our natural tendency as humans is to wait for love.  We live in a culture with a victim mentality.” 

Then there is Kerry M, who has every reason to wait for love teaching us pastors about an act of pure love!

There is a score, there are lives at stake.  There are hurting people who need our encouragement and there are people who are just bursting with a story to tell and bless others.  We want to hear those stories.  This is just the beginning.

We want to get to the place where people experience love that is far beyond what you experience out there!

Why are we excited about this vision?  Everyone can contribute.  A place where diversity is celebrated.

We just want to draw the lines and we want you to paint the picture with us and see yourself in the picture

If you really want to learn how to love each other, you’ll want to retain the teaching.

It is irresistible!

It is ‘on purpose’

We want to talk about it, share it, trend it for those who tweet #loveabounds and see where the journey takes us.  Sunday mornings are our laboratory!

As  pastors and leaders we talked about painting the picture of what this love might look like on a Sunday morning at Grace!

•          A time where people are looking for others to have over for lunch and if not looking to meet during the week for coffee, for dessert, for pizza, whatever, later in the week.

•          A place where people are putting their arm around each other and praying for each other after the service

•          A place where there are fresh muffins available to encourage conversation

•          A group of  people who are praying for those coming to our Sunday services

•          A community where you are known and where you are missed

•          A place where you can worship freely

•          A place where you can make friends easily

•          A people who look first to listen and understand

•          A place where you are accepted and belong

•          A time to receive comfort and encouragement

We are looking already ahead to Sunday November 25^th as a day that will we experience love in the form of “house churches” as this building gets taken over by ANIB.

We are going to be working with those who can help us measure our love quotient!  We plan to identify check points for us to hold us accountable to this kind of love.

As John spoke at the beginning of the month, God’s will is worth the wait.  It has truly become our food as pastors and nourished our conversations with anticipation of what God can do in this place as we seek His face.  It is the key to us glorifying God, living wisely and fulfillment for us as a body.  He taught us about the importance of a renewed mind and it will really take that for us to move forward in love!  Romans 12:2

A compelling vision    2 Corinthians 5:14,15

¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  2 Corinthians 5:14,15

·         compels defined

compel means to be driven or to be controlled.  One way to illustrate this is by being caught in a strong current of water that carries you downstream.  It is a force that moves you into action. 

To be compelled is to be drawn in a powerful way.

It is Christ’s love for us that compels us to love one another.

Could we become a people that help create a new perception, could we start here and let our Sunday mornings together from the time we enter the parking lot to the time we leave become so compelling?  Can we show a genuine love that draws other people in?  As we conform to the image of Christ, could our expression of Christianity be seen as compelling and relevant and Christ and his Church seen as the hope of the world, a people who live in the way of Jesus and address the brokenness of this world with the power and love of the Kingdom?

Think about Jesus’ first miracle, the changing of water in 20-30 gallon ceremonial jugs into wine. It was a compelling act of extravagant love!

This is the way the early church operated, they lived it out and they gained favor with all the people (Acts 2:46). The witness of this love in their community was held in high regard in their culture for the pattern of their lives and for the great things God was doing in and through them to bring hope and healing to people’s lives.

The hymn writer George Matheson knew of this kind of constraining love when he penned the words "O love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in Thee; / I give Thee back the life I owe, That in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be."

It is also understood in the basic sense to hold something together so that it does not fall apart.

Love is our only agenda item and it will lead us…

·         from selfishness to selflessness

 It is a sacrificial, self-giving love.

When we look at the love of Jesus, he redefines love for us – “actively securing the good of another at cost to yourself without requiring merit or demanding payment.”   JR Vassar

Jesus laid down his life for us and calls us to a self sacrificial love for others.

Sunday BEST!

A complete new Sunday wardrobe!  Colossians 3:12-14

I remember growing up in a church culture where we dressed up in our “Sunday best” for church.  The rationale?  Well, how would you dress if the queen of England showed up.  So, this is how I dressed for church 20 years ago….we have come along way!

·         clothe yourselves with

compassion – love’s acts of mercy that sees those who others pass by.  It is a direct affront to the bystander affect which ignores the needs of others.

kindness  - love’s tangible expressions that bring joy

humility -  love’s attitude, it is done with a higher view of another.

gentleness – love’s power under control

patience – love’s ability to wait

forgiveness  - love’s covering.  A love that covers a multitude of sins.  We treat people as if the offence did not happen in the first place.

·         your new outerwear        LOVE!  All of these acts must be done in love or they have no lasting weight or meaning in the life of another.  Love is our highest motivation.  It is what compels us to action.  It truly holds all the other virtues together.

I have been reading, ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ and on the 9^th Tuesday, Morrie tells Mitch, “I believe in being fully present.”  “That means you should be with the person you’re with.  When I’m talking to you now; Mitch, I try to keep focused only on what is going on between us. 

Love listens to the heart of another soul without trying to figure out what to tell them.  My heart’s desire is that this love would really listen both to the person and to the Holy Spirit who gives those promptings, a clear word of encouragement, maybe just the faith to carry on.

We need to have a love in this place that has eyes to see the people that God wants us to see to the exclusion of all else.  So, please don’t feel snubbed when I learn to love a person and not feel compelled to acknowledge anyone else around me.

The Take IN

Write a love note of encouragement to someone right now that God is laying on your heart.  Don’t delay!

We are believing God to change the atmosphere here at Grace and also to trust the Spirit to lead us and give us words of affirmation and love for one another.

Pray with me that we would push on the limitations that keep us in the status quo.  Create a lifestyle of prayer and fasting for this.  Take time to even use your hands as a cup and hold them to God in an act of faith asking him to fill you with His love overflowing!