Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I was a guest at a friends home whom I knew because of our shared involvement in the church. As with most households, the kitchen area seemed to be the hub of the activity and, because it was a household of teenagers, the refrigerator was the center point of much of our activity. I remember that refrigerator, not because of the nourishment that was within it, but because of what was hanging upon the door; photos of the family, a picture of the dog, a few witty sayings, and then there was this - the Family Mission Statement. This was the late 80’s and mission statements were moving in popularity from the corporate culture into other sectors of life. This was the first family statement I had ever seen. 

I can’t remember much of that mission statement but I remember how I felt reading the mission statement and it didn’t make me feel good. It seemed prescriptive and narrow. It felt more like a list of rules than a statement of love.

During this season of Epiphany, Christ reveals to us, over and over again, the radical ways in which we are being called to follow him. In the text for this week, Luke 6:1-16 we encounter Jesus exposing a radical new way of understanding what it means to live out God’s love in our relationships with each other as he recognizes a man in need and heals him - breaking the Sabbath laws of the day. By doing so, Jesus is expressing that the rule of love supersedes the rule of law.

What is Your Mission Statement?

I wonder, if you were to take pen to paper and write out your own personal or family mission statement, would that same rule of law, Jesus’ rule of love, be at the top of your statement?

As we continue this series, we ask you to reflect this week on the following questions:

1. How do you / we hide behind the priorities in life? Do you / we sometimes hide behind our duties rather than act with compassion?
2. Have you ever been on the receiving end of this radical type of love?
3. How might Roseville Lutheran Church, as a commmunity of faith, live into Christ’s “rule of love,” now, in this place and in this space?

And as you ponder, may you know, wherever you are, that like that man in the Synagogue on that day, Christ sees you and his response – always – is one of love.