New Year

I took a break from blogging while I was on vacation for the Holidays. We got back into town Sunday night, and I was fortunate to watch a very interesting 60 Minutes. They presented two stories that that caused me to ponder. First, they interviewed the winner of the XPrize. For those of you that haven't heard of the XPrize, it was a contest with a 10 million dollar prize for a private company to produce an aircraft that could fly to space twice in two weeks. The manufacturer is now modifying the ship to take tourists into space. Affordable space travel is his goal, and he is confident he and his team can make it happen in the next 25 years! Expensive personal space travel is even nearer with flights in his aircraft scheduled to begin in 2008!

The second story was about biologist from Cambridge that predicts medical advancements within the next 25 years that will produce infinite longevity. In his opinion, which he backs with careful scientific reasoning, is that soon all illness, even aging, will be made chronic and treatable. He thinks within the next generation we will be literally able to chose when we die.

Now leaving the moral questions aside--though eventually we will have to face that vast multitude of ethical questions arising from both stories--what struck me was the visionary nature of both interview subjects. They both had the ability to not be limited by current perceptions of what can and cannot be done. Both were able to gather people around them that when presented with what most would say an impossible problem are able to figure out an answer.

I believe this visionary spirit is necessary in our congregations! We who believe that all things are possible through Christ should never say "we can't". The question which we should be asking, which through prayer should be lived out with Christ, is "how?" I believe that if we are truly doing something for the sake of the Kingdom of God, then failure is not an option because God's grace is made perfect in our weakness. If we don't "suceed" in any way that we can understand in this life, God forgives, God loves, God says give me what you got and I'll make it work! There should be nothing stopping us from ministering to all, inviting all, welcoming all. We are allowed to be bold, we are not allowed to whine. We are allowed to be creative, we are not allowed to be stagnant! It's time to get to work. It's time to pray, sing, preach, worship, feed, listen, care, and love this world in the way God intended, the way Christ modeled, the way that saves our souls!