REVerberations
It is probably fair to say that most people at one time or another have made something they thought of as their “List of Things to Do Today.” Whether you’ve entered it into your computer by way of some integrated high-tech organizational system, scrawled it on a napkin during a fast-food lunch, or simply made mental notes, you’ve likely developed some strategy for getting done what you need to get done. Perhaps you have such a list going right now and, if you’re lucky or disciplined or both, you are busily checking off item after completed item.
But have you stopped recently to examine the rules that govern which items get put on your list in the first place? What values shape your intentions? What beliefs influence what you do? Have you put your day-to-day or minute-by-minute activities in perspective by measuring them against your larger life goals, or evaluated them in relation to the things for which you will one day want to be remembered? Have you examined your daily duties in relation to your call to Christian discipleship?
It seems to me worthwhile for us to consider making a “List of Things to BE Today (and Tomorrow and the Next Day).” This would, of course, be different than hoping to be a millionaire or wanting to be a firefighter when we grow up. A List of Things to BE based on our core values and beliefs would provide a way of differentiating between what is merely “important” and what really does matter as part of a larger plan.
The visioning process that we’ll be talking about over the next several months will allow us the opportunity to distill our core congregational values and beliefs so that we might be better prepared to state unequivocally who we are and why we are here as a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland in January, 2006 and beyond. Having a good handle on the answers to those questions will make it possible for us to look ahead with a coherent, values-based plan for our future together.
Until we formally make our way into the visioning process, we can only guess at the answers to those vital questions, and we either risk becoming so diffuse that our impact on and in the world is diminished, or we are in jeopardy of missing completely what God has set aside as our unique purpose in the world.
Of course there are significant decisions related to our visioning process itself; those decisions have to do with the way we choose to undertake our visioning, the extent of engagement with outside consultants and resources, the locus of responsibility for the process and the amount of collective energy we have available to put toward this work.
As we undertake our visioning process, I hope we’ll be especially careful to find a spiritually healthy balance between being and doing, between talking and listening, and between celebrating what we’ve been, recognizing what we are and growing together toward what we hope to become. In all things I pray that we’ll proceed with thoughtful awareness of our emerging congregational identity and unified purpose under the leadership of our blessed Savior.
Clearly,
We owe it to ourselves, to each other and to our Still Speaking God to have a clear sense of who we are and why we are here as the local mission outpost of the church of Jesus Christ, then to let that vision guide us forward together in Christ’s name.
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May God be with us through this process and bless us into this New Year.
Blessings,
Marty
Last update: February 6, 2006