Monday Message, May 29, 2003

KNOW

Enjoy your day off today. Unplug. Spend time with family. Grill something. Pray for those who have served our country.

Parish Leader Check In Tomorrow. Find the link here. We will mostly talk about next year’s calendar.

Funeral arrangements for John Campbell can be found here.

REFLECT

Continued from last week…

We know that that young person will stay connected to that parish because they know the adults care about them. In short, they belong to that community.

We need to ask what it means to be a follower of Jesus in a connected, networked, post-modern, technological world.

We must seek ways to apprentice and mentor the younger generations in discipleship. We just can’t wait until middle school to start doing our jobs.

Now I know that this makes people squirm. The talk of any ministry expanding to include younger generations sounds to some like a coup d’état.

Too bad.

If our church is going to survive, silos have to come down, bridges have to be built, and we need to see each other as co-workers in the vineyard, not a thief in the night coming to steal my children.

In short, we need to take our cue from the early disciples and work together. They didn’t always trust each other, remember those two clowns vying for a place next to Jesus – and its true that sometimes those who work together in ministry struggle to get along. But that’s because, like Peter and Matthew, we struggle to see that the ministry isn’t mine – it’s God’s. They aren’t my kids and this isn’t my work.

It all belongs to God.

LAUGH