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COMMENTARIES

by Herbert Watson Jr.

What's the hot topic where you worship: a vision for the church or a division in the church?

The time is upon us again to consider visions, as the Baltimore-Washington Conference gathers for Leadership Days.

For some this training event is like annual conference, an opportunity to greet friends that we do not see often. For others it may be about earning continuing education units. Still others may yearn to learn with little thought of putting these lessons into practice.

I must confess that in my many years of attendance, I've been there for those reasons and less. As you may have guessed, my attitude has changed.

A few years ago I was a lamenter. That's a polite way of saying I was a complainer. I could see all that was wrong with the church. We were losing members and closing churches while others were growing congregations in communities and buildings that United Methodists had left.

It was at this time that God smacked me upside my head with 2 Chronicles 7:14, 'If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land.'

I realized that in the midst of my busy-ness of trying to have the church become what I thought it should be, I neglected to be in regular contact with the one who called me and the church into being. I forgot to humble myself before God and to seek God's counsel in prayer and to strive to be aware of God's abiding presence in my life.

In that moment of conviction I humbled myself before God and prayed for my personal healing so that I would be a better vessel for God's use.

That moment also revealed that just as physical blindness and deafness happen gradually, the same occurs spiritually. I could neither see nor hear what God was trying to share with me. God is the one who can heal us when we are spiritually blind and deaf. I have now had my spiritual sight and hearing restored. Daily I am more tuned into the purpose God has for my life.

I am blessed to be a facilitator for Leadership Days. I have been asked to lead a workshop that I have done in other settings: dealing with finding God's vision for the church.

Proverbs 29:19 states that without a vision people perish. On many a Sunday morning and other occasions, pastors stand before their congregations and wonder why they don't see what the congregation sees. In those same moments congregations are looking at their pastors and wondering why they don't see what the pastors see. What we all need is to desire to see what God wants us to see.

In 'The Purpose Driven Life,' author Rick Warren reminds us in the first sentence that 'it's not about you.' It is all about God.

The challenge before us is to find tools that can help us discern God's vision for the church. There are a few things that can happen on this road to discovery.

First, our egos and comfort zones can be impacted. Second, we may discover that risks are involved. We may discover that in order to get the job done we will need God's involvement. Finally we may learn that we must believe and trust that God knows what God is doing. It has been said that God will not give a vision without providing the provisions.

It is my prayer that all of us will make it a priority to take advantage of the training provided by Leadership Days. I would also encourage us to humble ourselves, pray and seek God's vision fervently and continually as a New Year begins. Then God's healing will begin to flow through our lives, our churches and the communities that we serve.

The Rev. Herbert Watson Jr. is pastor of St. Mark UMC in Hanover.