Resources for Mission: Goals and Benchmarks

Weekly Devotion – January 29, 2012 – Resources for Mission: Goals and Benchmarks 

Theme/Title:    The Finish Line is Where?

Scripture:  Luke 14: 25-30; Luke 6: 46-49 & Luke 8: 1-3;

Media:   Vulture scene from Disney’s “Jungle Book”

Reflection:

I am a bit of a handyman or at least I can do small projects and remodeling around my house.  Before I begin a job I assemble the tools and materials I have that will help me complete the project.  In fact, the tools and materials help me determine if the project is one I can accomplish because if I don’t have the right tools or materials I cannot do the job.

Among the tools and materials we need to accomplish our mission of boldly shaping partners of God for the transformation of the world are money, talents, prayers, presence, witness and goals.  Goals and their accompanying benchmarks are key to the completion of our task as they give us landmarks on our journey to achieving God’s dream.

 As I have already said, I believe that VHUMC and its people are uniquely positioned to address four key issues of our community and world: inclusion, poverty, the environmental crisis, and the need for hope.  We have strengths in these areas.  We have a proven track record in these efforts.  We have people committed to addressing these concerns both locally and globally.  With strengths and passion we have a step up in determining goals and setting benchmarks.  Our goals for realizing our mission must grow out of what we do well and what we are passionate about if we have any hope of success.

Think about yourself.  What do you already do, support, and advocate for, that addresses the four areas mentioned?  What do you already have a passion for, commitment to and desire to achieve that is included in the four areas listed?  What do you bring to the table as we begin the process of setting goals and deciding benchmarks that will guide us in our effort to achieve God’s mission for our lives and community?  We cannot carry out our mission if we don’t have your work, your passion, your resources and your commitment to realizing the goals that will guide us in boldly shaping partners of God for the transformation of the world.

Any chance of success for any effort takes some vision, some planning, some idea of what will be needed and the resources necessary to complete the task.  We have the vision in our mission from God.  We have the idea of what we need to do. Now we must pull together the resources so that we don’t get a half laid foundation or wage a battle without troops enough to win.  We want to build our effort on the rock so that nothing can sweep it away.  And we need people to step up and provide out of their resources for the accomplishment of the work.

Meditation:

What do you do and do well?  What are you passionate about that addresses God’s mission?  What tools and resources do you bring that will help in setting goals and creating benchmarks for our task?  What goals should we set?  How will we measure our efforts at meeting them?

Prayer:

Thank God for the passion you have.  Praise God for the things you do and do well.  Ask God to help you discern how you can apply your resources and passions to our mission.  Ask God to reveal the goals and benchmarks needed for our community to realize God’s mission.

Goals to help us do the “How”

Weekly Devotion – January 22, 2012 – Goals to help us do the “How”

Theme/Title:   Keep Your Eyes on the Prize! 

Scripture:   Philippians 3: 12-16 & Mark 12: 28-31

Media:  YouTube video David Summerford “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize” 

 

Reflection:

I have a hard time with goals.  Not with setting them or seeing their value and importance.  The problem I have with goals is that I do such a poor job of achieving them.  I allow myself to get distracted or I don’t keep the ultimate goal in mind. 

Often my struggle with goals is twofold:  I either do not have a clear end result identified or I haven’t recognized the benchmarks along the way.  Goals are fine, but if the ultimate prize isn’t very well defined or understood then no matter the goals they will not be achieved in any meaningful way.  If the end result is clear and goals are set I still can’t accomplish my mission if I don’t have clear, specific and reasonable benchmarks to measure my progress. 

A goal is the purpose toward which an endeavor is directed; an objective.  A benchmark is a standard by which something can be measured or judged and is used to determine if a goal is being reached. 

In setting goals and benchmarks you have to keep a couple things in mind.  One is that playing to your strengths and your preferences will help and the other is being clear about the what and the how of reaching the goal.  In addition you have to be willing to compromise all else in your effort to complete the mission, subjugating other wants, needs and desires to the ultimate achievement of benchmarks and goals.  Add to this a clear understanding of what your resources are and the passions that drive you and allowing them to influence the goals and benchmarks you set. 

Loving God with all you are and loving your neighbor are goals for the mission God has given us.  But what are the benchmarks?  In the Gospel of Luke the Great Commandments section is followed by the Parable of the Good Samaritan which is Jesus’ answer to the question “who is my neighbor?” which is the setting of a benchmark for the goal of loving your neighbor.  Our benchmarks might be different.  But they will all serve as a standard by which our loving can be measured or judged and used to determine if the goal is being reached.

What do you think the goals and accompanying benchmarks should be for our church?  What are the areas or ministries we have a passion for?  Where can our skills, talents and resources best be used to complete God’s mission?

Meditation:

What is the one issue you are most passionate about?  What are your strengths, passions, skills, talents and resources?  What ministries would they be most useful in? 

Prayer:

Thank God for your skills, talents, resources and passions.  Ask God to reveal to you the places you should be in ministry.  Ask God to reveal to you or someone else the ministries our church should be about.

How? Ending Poverty

Weekly Devotion – January 15, 2012 – How? Ending Poverty

Theme/Title:    The Simple Fix – Eliminate Poverty 

Scripture:      Psalm 10; Isaiah 58: 6-8 and Luke 1: 46-55

Media:    YouTube video “Sermon @ the 51st Annual Prayer Breakfast” by WildxFlower,

Reflection:

So now we get to the final area that the church can really have an impact on, poverty.  We have been working at this for centuries. In fact, the very first churches struggled with how to feed the widows and poor and Paul even took up a collection among the Gentile churches for this need in Jerusalem.

The United Methodist Church has programs to feed the hungry in countries all over the world.  We have programs to teach farming techniques, sustainable practices, irrigation programs, animal husbandry; we offer programs in food storage and preparation.  We also do things to address poverty like micro loans and house businesses.  We try to take donated funds and spend them in country to help with local economies.  We are providing health care, vaccines and nets to fight malaria.  We really are invested in addressing poverty as a denomination.

As a local church we collect food and household items for FISH.  We collect money and food stuff for Neighborhood House’s Emergency Food Box Program.  We drive Meals on Wheels and serve Loaves and Fishes.  We volunteer at the Oregon Food Bank and on Habitat builds.  We support the SW Health Clinic and many of our people volunteer there.  We really do a lot to address poverty.

But still it is a problem.  The 2010 US Census found that more people than ever are poor in this country.  Famine is raging over parts of Africa.  Floods have wiped out crops in Pakistan and the poor are bearing the brunt of the loss.  The statistics prove the adage that the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer and those of us in between are getting to be a smaller and smaller number.  But hope is not lost.  People still give.  People still care.  And with celebrities like Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Bono and billionaires like Bill and Malinda Gates and Warren Buffet stepping up there is some traction being gained.  But until the richest nations invest substantial dollars, time and resources into addressing the root cause of poverty the problem will persist. 

And for people of faith who are boldly shaping partners of God for the transformation of the world we must see addressing poverty and its root causes as a spiritual matter and not just a political or humanitarian one.  Poverty is a symptom of spiritual anemia as John Wesley knew and pointed out.  His challenge to faithful people is famous: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, as long as ever you can.”  What more needs to be said?

Meditation:

Remember a time you helped address poverty by helping with a program or project.  Call to mind a time when you found yourself judging someone less fortunate for their choices.  Identify something you feel passionate about that will address poverty and its root causes.

Prayer:           

Pray for the poor and those who work tirelessly to help the poor and address poverty’s root causes.  Offer thanksgiving for people of wealth, fame and status who give and work to make poverty history.  Pray for strength and wisdom to invest yourself in the fight to end poverty.  Ask God to help you live simply so that other can simply live.

How? Cleaning up and Caring for God’s Creation

Weekly Devotion – January 8, 2012 – How? Cleaning up and Caring for God’s Creation

Scripture:   Genesis 1:1 – 2:4 & Mark 13: 32-37;

Media:  YouTube video “The Crying Indian – Keep America Beautiful” 

Reflection:

I remember seeing the commercial of a Native American paddling a canoe and finding pollution everywhere.  The commercial ends with a bag of garbage landing at his feet and a tear running down his cheek.  Powerful!  It is one of the iconic images of my youth and still causes me to pause and reflection on what it is we are doing to planet earth. 

There is a saying, “Live simply so that others can simply live.”  And it is a statement of truth, justice and challenge for us all.  Gone are the days when we could just pretend that what we did to the environment didn’t impact us or others.  We all know how something we buy here is a product of manufacturing and mining and transportation and how all these steps contribute to the health or lack of it for our environment.  We know that the metaphor of the butterfly flapping its wings is true – the cutting of a tree in Brazil does affect the air quality and temperature in Texas. 

Recycling is an act of faith.  Community Supported Agriculture is a spiritual discipline.  Buying less and reusing more is a witness.  Energy efficiency is a testament of your beliefs.  What you buy shows what you believe.  Caring for this creation is an act of everyday justice it brings hope to others and shows acceptance of the basic fact that we all are in the same boat, we all are equal because the sun shines on us all, water is life to us all and what we do to the air and water we do to ourselves. 

To boldly shape partners of God for the transformation of the world we must do all we can to protect, restore and revitalize creation.  Our actions show others the way and bold actions are seen more clearly.  By partnering with God as co-creators we take our task of stewarding creation to heart and it deepens our relationship with God, ourselves and others.  When we practice what we preach and are a community that shows its care for creation we take steps to transform the world.

Meditation:

How do you participate in caring for creation?  How do you see yourself in the web, the circle of life?  When have you been a restorer of creation and how did it feel?  When have you witnessed the destruction of creation?  When have you participated in it?  Who has helped you claim your role as steward of God’s creation and how did they do that?

Prayer:

Thank God for the wonders of this creation.  Praise God for all that creations gives to you.  Hold up to God those who work to make this earth healthy and whole.  Ask God to help you be the steward, the partner, God needs to insure the health and vitality of earth.  Seek God’s forgiveness for those times and ways you have not cared for creation as you ought. Thank God for letting you be a witness to living simply.

Our Commitment to the Mission

Week of January 1, 2012 – New Year Renewed Commitment

Theme/Title:  Our Commitment to the Mission

Scripture:   Genesis 22: 15-18; 2 Kings 23: 1-3; Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Matthew 25: 31-40

 Media:        YouTube video “Bono Prayer Speech” by Jborn4christ

Reflections:

Happy New Year!  Once again we begin a new year, a new opportunity to do things differently and to be different.  We make resolutions and seriously expect that we will work at keeping them.  All is positive expectations about what is to come.  We do have our nagging thoughts about all that bothered us in the old year.  We know that most of what was will continue to be.  And we aren’t naive enough to believe that all changes just because it is 2012.  We also take it with a grain of salt what the doomsayers and predictors of the coming end are saying.  But still it is a new year and an opportunity to try and get it right.

One thing we in the church have is a way to move beyond the past and into a future that is better, we have confession and forgiveness; we have grace.  As those who know God and God’s grace we know that tomorrow can be better than today and that today can be better than yesterday.  And because of this knowledge and belief we make a promise to God and the universe.  We enter into a covenant, a pledge, a promise that this day and this year will be better for all God’s children and all God’s creation, that we will do what we can to make this so and that we will move beyond our own selfish wants and needs toward meeting the wants and needs of God’s children throughout the world.

We say, like St Francis and John Wesley and so many others, “Not my will but thine be done.”  We ask God to help us be whatever it is God needs us to be and then to help us move beyond ourselves so that we can be what it is God needs us to be; what the world needs us to be.  We covenant and our strong conviction is that we will fulfill that covenant knowing that God always fulfills God’s part – to grant us grace, to accept and love us and to be with us no matter what we face.

May we all say with honest conviction and wholehearted enthusiasm “O glorious and blessed God…thou art mine, and I am thine.  So be it.  And the covenant which I make on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.”

Meditation:       

Standing before God, perhaps at night under the stars, reflect on the year past.  Remember all the times you knew God’s grace.  Call to mind the times when you helped to make the world a better place.  Celebrate those times.  Dredge up those times when you gave in to your own wants and needs, when you didn’t care about the world and making it better.  Bear in mind that God has already forgiven you, now forgive yourself.

Prayer:

Thank God for the year past.  Praise God for the moments of grace you experienced.  Thank God for the good you did and the blessings you gave others.  Claim the forgiveness God has already granted you for those failures and missteps of the year past.  Ask God to give you strength and focus in the year ahead so that you can honestly fulfill your covenant to follow and do God’s will.