Catching Up
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April 20, 2010I’m not quite sure how it happened but it seems as if I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing on this Blog and have missed some opportunities. Last week about Friday sometime I reminded myself I hadn’t written yet and thought, “Oh I’ll just finish what I’m working on and then I’ll do it”…and here it is Tuesday! I sometimes wonder, who really reads it? I know a couple of you have commented on it and I am thankful for your participation and the encouragement it gives me to know it’s not all for me.
Our content management system (CMS) gives me statistics but I find them hard to believe…I need to ask about the counting. It says for example from the beginning of April we’ve had 402 hits on our website! I know that counts every time someone clicks on anything yet it does seem like a lot. It also tells me that even the little blurb from April 10th has 27 views? I thought that couldn’t be right especially since it also said much older Blogs had been read as well and then I got a note from Tony in Texas commenting on our new members joining the church! Praise God maybe more than just a few are reading this thing!
Last week at the end of the sermon I mentioned the scripture reading from John 21 and how the three commands that Jesus gave Peter are the basis for our organizational structure and even our budget at BUM. I tried to find the sermon from three years ago when this passage came up last but somehow I could only find the PowerPoint! I’m not sure how that happens? It’s not the only time this has happened in trying to look back and see how I addressed a passage in the past. I keep them all electronically in the same place but somehow I end up with things missing! It was especially difficult this last week since it was my turn to preach at Saint Francis (Catholic retirement home) and the sermon I preached at BUM was part of the series ‘Windows on the Gospel’ and it covered Catholicism! Not that I said anything that was derogatory or wrong…yet I would have like to have preached just on the scripture passage! I quickly adapted the message and it worked fine…as far as I know.
I have been intending since the beginning of the year to get together one at a time with our Ministry leaders and further develop our approach to fulfill Jesus’ commands to Peter in John 21:15-17 and here it is past mid April and I’ve only met with a few! My initial plan was to just take the development I had done on our website under the ‘Ministries’ tab and put it on poster board and hang them in the hallway outside the sanctuary to develop some interest and hopefully further the ministries.
Last week after learning that the Catholic Church's symbol for the Pope includes three crowns and looks to John 21:15-17 it reminded me and gave me further urgency in this need. I am pleased with the preparations that are taking place without me (Blessing of the Bikes is one example) yet I’m sure that not everyone has bought into the bigger vision for the purpose of Church. Our Vision statement of ‘Reaching People with the Love of Christ’ is a good one and yet for almost seven years now I’ve been seeking to flesh that out with specifics…how do we reach people with the Love of Christ?
The job of developing the content for our new website has encouraged me in realizing that there have been a lot of things happening at BUM! As I listed the various aspects of ministry opportunities I was encouraged by the sheer number of things we’ve been involved in. I was also convicted to ensure that ‘everything we do’ would be aligned with our Vision or have a really good reason why it doesn’t (I don’t think one exists yet)!
I guess my intention for writing all this is in hopes to re-capture the opportunity lost by not writing last week on the Gospel passage from John and to ask all of you to help me in fleshing out this Vision we have at BUM. I want there to be no doubt as to why we gather every Sunday, no doubt as to the purpose and reason this building and body of people even exists!
There are lots of other things we could all be doing with our time and resources…
Do we truly recognize the opportunity provided to us by Christ, have we truly taken seriously the enormity of His command? I pray so…as much for me as all of you.
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