1st blog post..."mission statement"

Anyone who knows me is aware that I’m a couple of steps behind the majority culture when it comes to technology. When my friends, family and colleagues were well on the way with email, years ago, I resisted. I had my arguments lined up for debate: “There’s no substitute for the ‘high-touch’ forms of communicating- in person or on the phone.” “Communication could slide into being impersonal; even the hand-written note conveys something about the personal nature of what I want to communicate that an email could never do.” “This could lead to further breakdown of community.” I had my reasons.

That was then and this is now: how could I exist without email?

“I-pod? I’m fine, thank you, with my CDs. Saving songs to I-tunes and purchasing songs will be time consuming.” Guess who listens to his I-pod on bike rides and working out at the fitness center?

Then: “Digital camera? Is it necessary?” Now: “Why didn’t you guys tell me about this before?!” In the past I kept my list of contacts in the back of my Franklin Covey Planner (nope, I haven’t switched to a PDA yet), whereas now, I run down the cell number, email, home address, and personal information in my Contacts in Outlook.

It won’t take Albert E’s keen intellect to deduce that I’ve been late to the blogging scene. I’ve been pushed and poked and prodded by friends and family to consider my own blog.

My read is that there are tons of reasons why people blog and some that are great and some that are, uh, not so great.

So, here’s my primary motivation for this blog: the start of our new church and community in Denver. This is one vehicle to communicate the vision, hopes and direction of this church for participants and for those who may be interested. As well, I hope it can be a setting to offer some reflections- perhaps, on-the-ground theology and stories and ways of trying to live in this way of Jesus here and now. My hope is for conversation and engagement with interested folks.

Blog entry number 1…

Some of you will know that we are starting a new church in Denver (I’ll have much more to say about this in the future; since we are just getting started and only three weeks old, and no website yet, I’m very happy to communicate personally about this). It will be affiliated with the Mennonite Church (I’ll try to dispel some of the myths about Mennonites in the future- no, we’re not Mormons, I don’t have a horse and buggy, my wife does not wear a white bonnet, and I like to dance).

But, we will be more than that and not linked to some of the historical, cultural expressions of the Mennonite Church, e.g. dress, style of worship, family ancestry and so on. For example, with the beginning group in this church, only a minority of the persons are from any Mennonite Church background. It will be tied to faith values of personal relationship with God, serving one another and the world, social justice, peace and endeavoring to be a visible expression as a community of Jesus’ followers here and now.

One further thought. I’m reading a book by N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, and a potent line jumped out at me. (He wants to have us rethink a popular notion going around for some time: that the point for Christians is all that matters is getting a “soul saved,” dying and then this disembodied soul goes off to heaven. It’s got to be more than this. I’m with him!)

So, this line jumps out at me, a good summary line. And, it occurs to me: this could be my “mission statement” of sorts. And our new church’s mission statement. And, something you might consider. Here goes:

“Our task in the present…is to live as resurrection people in between Easter and the final day, with our Christian life, corporate and individual, in both worship and mission, as a sign of the first and a foretaste of the second. (p. 30)

I like this. I like this a lot. I have never written a personal mission statement that I have laminated and tacked to my office wall. But, this feels like a mission statement I could live with.

This is part of what I’m seeking to do: live as a resurrection person, in between Easter and the final day, and that this life can be a sign of the first (Easter) and a foretaste of the second (final day). That’s what I seek to be in my marriage, how I treat the clerk at King Soopers or the waitress at McCormick and Schick’s who brings drinks and appetizers, why our recycling bins are full each week, why I pray for those who see me as their enemy, why we put relief kits together for persons in Iraq…actually, for every facet of my life. I falter, ask for forgiveness, and keep going.

Hey, I think this is a compelling mission statement. I think many in the world are looking for this type of visible Christianity. Not just talk and theology and statements of faith, but living “testaments” of faith as resurrection people, here and now.

That’s the hope for my life. That’s the hope for this new church and community in Denver.