Mission/Purpose

This morning our ABF teacher (my most favorite professor)shared a story about a woman who had come through the seminary, who was estranged from her family, and who was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately died surrounded by her seminary family. At one point friends gathered and after they prayed she prayed. Dr. Flora said he only heard four words: privilege, beauty, and two others I can’t recall.

That got me to thinking. What four words would you like to have people use when they remember you? Mine? I’ve mulled this one over all afternoon. Here’s sort of the process I went through:

Inspiring, insightful, compassionate, loving
Approachable, energetic, determined, friend
Motivational, spiritual, fun, connected
Leader, creative, visionary, smart

Now, how do I pull just four out of that? I asked Nelson to pick four words and he said he didn’t know. He was polite and reluctant. That didn’t leave me feeling very good.

The lesson this morning focused on Psalm 27. There are a couple verses in that Psalm that have spoken to my heart, verse 10 in particular. This morning Dr. Flora emphasized verse 4:

4 I'm asking the Lord for only one thing. Here is what I want. I want to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I want to look at the beauty of the Lord. I want to worship him in his temple.

Dr. Flora said this was a sort of Old Testament mission statement. That caught my ear. I help people write their mission statements every week and here was a model from forever ago. How cool is that?

It reminded me of when I was a energetic, young pastor. All the pastors I hung around with had a verse that defined their philosophy/mission in ministry so I figured I better decide what mine was going to be. I read and read and finally stumbled onto Colossians 2:2 in the New International Version. It fit me well, and I thought it was cool that it started out with “my purpose.”

2My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, (NIV)

As I was getting started in this position, I had to take all the classes that I would be teaching. That meant I sat in on the lecture on creating a personal mission statement and had to come up with one. Using our formula I came up with: My purpose is to encourage, unify, and restore to greater wholeness the people with whom I cross paths.

After I wrote it remembered my “purpose” verse from nearly thirty years before. What that seemed to confirm for me is that I had really landed on my purpose verse all those years before and it was still true, which is a solid indicator that it really is a life mission statement.

Recently, I found this translation of my verse:
2I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. (The Message)

I really like the image of a tapestry of love and our lives weaving together. Being in touch with God is so cool. To be in touch with God infers solid connection. And minds that are confident, at rest, and focused. I can definitely wrap my life around that!

So have you come up with your four words yet?