bucket lists: visions and hopes are inspirations of the heart

From my message on Feb. 3, the third in series on Extravagant Generosity, from Joel 2:28, Col. 3:1, Matt. 6:33

I believe God has visions and hopes for us.  I trust that these are more than just my need for order, my need for life to make sense, more than an existence that is just a chaotic mishmash of random events.  Don't you want for there to be some order to the universe?  I believe God's purposes are at work.  I believe God's will will be done with us and sometimes in spite of us.

I read the Bible and look for the arc of God's purposes.  One is that these purposes are inclusive.  God wants to welcome as many people as possible.  The prophet Joel says that God will place God's dreams in the young and the old, males and females, the poor and the privileged.  From the call of Abram and Sarai, we have God sending them away from their comfortable life to a "land that I will show you," not to disrupt their lives but to a higher calling.  They will be blessed to be a blessing; through them all of the families of the earth will be blessed.  The prophet Jonah is sent to Ninevah, code langauge for your worst enemy and former opressor, to preach to them.  Isaiah has the LORD calling Israel to be a light to the nations, so that all may ascend God's holy hill.  Jesus comes as Emmanuel, God with us.  From his birth, wise ones from foreign lands, Gentiles at that, and poor Jewish shepherds come to worship him.  See my arms open wide as I stand behind this table, consecrating these communion elements.  That is God's welcoming embrace for all people.

Another arc is that God's purposes are for our good.  You may remember that verse from the prophet Jeremiah, 29:11, "For surely I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope."  Paul in Col., says seek the higher things where Christ is.  Jesus says in Matt., seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things shall be yours as well.  God only wants what is best for us.

So I have this sermon topic that has bucket list as part of the title. I work way out ahead on these messages.  Sure enough, "bucket list" made the list at Michigan Lake Superior State University of  one of the most over-used phrases of 2012.  The phrase was used in the movie where the 2 men were dying of cancer, but they wanted to do the things they had always wanted to do before they died, before they kicked the bucket. I am turning 60 soon.  I am very aware of my mortality, but I don't want us to be motivated by fear of dying.  I want us to be full of living for Jesus.

So my phrasing would be like this:  God places burdens on our hearts.  That's how God's visions and hopes feel.  Something that won't leave you alone.  You feel compelled to do it.  The older I get, the less I work and the more I pray.  I am ceasing to push getting my own way.  It just leaves me exhausted and you frustrated.  I am not longer manipulating, engineering, trying harder and longer to get my way.  I am trying to listen for God's purposes.  I am trying to align myself with God's purposes. 

One burden that God has placed on my heart is about payday loans.  I have done some research here, and they are outright usury.  I wish I didn't have this burden, but I can't escape it.  My research has revealed that there are some churches that are offering alternatives to payday loans, a Catholic church in Conroe, Tx, and a United Church of Christ congregation here in Austin, among others.  I am trying to get these churches networked through the Texas Conference of Churches so that the poor can not get entrapped by crushing debt payments.

For this congregation, God has placed some burdens on my hearts, some hopes and visions.  The number one is a clear path of discipleship.  I no longer want to be busy; I want to be about helping people to follow Christ.  I no longer want to fill up the calendar; I want to help people to follow Christ. 

Within this path of discipleship, my heart's burden is for families with children and youth.  To that end, I hope we can start a Children First worship service in the fall, a place where families will feel welcome.  I talk to lots of parents who say their kids are not ready for prime time worship, they have a hard time sitting still.  The Children First model is very interactive, fast-paced, with drama, music, prayer, and message.  If God has placed this burden on your heart too, talk to Hilary Martin, our director of children's ministries.

We need more help in the youth area too.  Diane, our director of youth ministries has done a great job of contacting youth.  Youth don't just come on Sunday evening for UMYF anymore; they come all during the week.  Some only come to Sunday School.  Some only come to Bible Study on Monday night, or Wednesday night, or Thursday morning.  Some only go on mission trips; some only sing in choir.  Some only go to Six Flags over Texas.  I challenged Diane to come up with a list of youth she knew.  She has contact with over 100 youth.  We need an assistant youth director. 

What burdens are on your heart?  What are God's visions and hopes for us?  I want to fill out the yellow card as I tell you one story.  I want to illustrate how the path of discipleship has impacted one family in our midst.  Jason and Kerry started visiting us over a year ago.  They found the people in the worship service to be friendly.  They had questions about what we believe, and they took my Methodist 101 class.  They got pregnant.  They took our class on baptism and faith development.  They wanted to know more about the Bible.  They took the Bible from Scratch:  The New Testament for Beginners.  They came from another faith tradition.  They told me, "We learned more about the Bible in that 8 week survey course than in all the years we spent in our other church."  They had their child baptized here in December.  They are now a part of the Practical Faith Sunday School class.  That's what I believe God's vision is for our church.