Setting a Vision

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Habakkuk 2:1a, 2-4:

The church where I did my internship was in Wellesley, Massachusetts, which also happens to be the half way point of the Boston Marathon, and the church itself was just off the race route. Each year we would post a banner outside the church, quoting the prophet Isaiah, which said “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Now to be honest, the runners never saw this as they went by, because there were spectators between them and it, but we did make the letters big enough so that if they could see it they would be able to read it, or more practically so that people driving by could read it as well. That sign always made me think of that passage we heard from the prophet Habakkuk today, and I’m guessing that few if any of you have ever heard anything from him before, and even today you’re not going to hear much, because I chose it not because of the prophesies that Habakkuk received from God, or what he delivered to Judea, but instead those first words from God. Write these words big enough so that people who are running by will be able to read them. That means the letters have to be big, in a legible font and clear, and perhaps the vision has to be somewhat short as well. It has to be concise.

But what God also tells Habakkuk is first is that there is a vision for the appointed time. When I hear that, what it means is that visions change, and have to change. That what is appropriate then will not work now, and what works now probably won’t work later. There is a vision for the appointed time. Secondly Habakkuk is told that visions don’t happen immediately, that sometimes you have to wait for things to occur, and waiting can be hard, especially if what we envision, or need or want, needs to happen right away. We have a vision of streets without potholes in them, right, but if the county was to try and fix them right now during the winter what would happen? That work would quickly be destroyed because they would face the same conditions that caused them in the first place. So sometimes we cast visions and then we have to wait, or it takes a while to get them implemented, and even when they get moving in the right direction, sometimes they start to fall backwards because change is hard. But, having the vision clearly articulated and large enough for everyone to see, even those who are running, keeps that vision front and center for everyone. So, if the vision is slow in coming, wait for it, and perhaps we should add, work for it even harder. And then is added what is probably the most famous line from Habakkuk, and it’s famous because Paul quotes it in the letter to the Romans and to the Galatians, “the righteous live by their faith.”

And when we think about faith now, it’s usually tied up in a series of beliefs. We say things like I believe in Jesus, which means something about him being the messiah, or the son of God, or similar things. But is that what faith means? I would argue very differently, and say that much of faith is, as God is telling Habakkuk, about vision and living. In Proverbs 29, in the King James Version, it says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” (29:18) Where there is no vision, the people perish. That is if you don’t know where you are going, you’ll stumble and fall. In that passage in the NRSV it says “where there is no prophecy, the people cast off restraint.” And so, think of that in light of Habakkuk, or really all of the prophets, and really most of scripture. Because while we might think of the Bible as these things that we are supposed to believe, it’s actually about vision. The vision God has set out for us, the vision of who we are supposed to be as a people, the vision of who we are supposed to be as a community, the vision of who we are to be as a church, the vision of who we are to be as individuals. Why did the Israelites wander in the wilderness for 40 years, or why did they keep wandering? because of the vision of the promised land. And the reason it took so long was because of them walking away from the vision. The prophets lay out the vision of God, and Jesus does exactly the same. Think of the beatitudes… a vision of God. When Jesus says “the kingdom of God is like….” That’s a vision. Jesus denying the temptations, which is the gospel passage for today, it’s because he has this vision that he has been taught of who God is and what God wants, and he is going to teach it to his disciples and us. After the resurrection he lays out this vision to the disciples and the early church to go forth and to make disciples through all the earth. A vision for us. Those without a vision, perish.

And so when the One Board, or our leadership team met in retreat, we began talking about the vision of the church, what we might be focusing on and what our goals might be, not just for the coming year, but also where we might be in ten years, as much of that work needs to begin now. And they said they wanted input from the congregation to help make those plans, and so through this series on Lent we are going to be talking about vision and where we want to go and who we want to be. And so last week we really started this process by asking you the question what 4-5 things you think we, as the church, should be focusing on, and while there were some specific things, most were fairly general and could be divided into a few categories. Those included worship, faith development activities, fellowship activities, programing for children and young adults, and then, of course, being engaged in our community in different ways to help people.

Now I suppose the good news is that we are already doing these things. But, perhaps we are not doing them as well as we could, or we could also be doing some of them in the wrong way. I know the wrong thing to ask a bunch of scientists is a scientific question, but what is the difference between energy and work? Energy is power which may be translated into motion, or the ability to do work.  So, work then is the expenditure of energy in motion, with a specific direction, or there is displacement.  So, a horse pulling on a wagon that is not moving is expending energy, but they are not doing work, but when the wagon begins to move then work is being done.  In the church we like to expend a lot of energy without actually doing any work, and we can do the same things in our faith lives.  We sit and we spin our wheels, but we are not actually going anywhere, and therefore no work is actually being done.  I used to do this a lot when writing sermons.  I would sit down to write, and then I go off and do something else, and come back, and then start playing solitaire, and then move onto something else.  I was expending a lot of energy, and a lot of my time, but I’m not actually getting any work done, I had no movement or direction, all I have done is expended energy. I’m much better now as concentrating my energy to actually get the work done in a reasonable amount of time, and I’m still getting better.

When we have a vision, when we have something written large so that runners can see it, then we have something to engage our energy to work towards something. And we have something to gauge against as well, are we making progress towards that goal? Are we moving in the same direction? Is what we are doing clear to everyone? And most importantly, is God engaged in what we are doing, because if we haven’t yoked ourselves to God in our vision then we are not going to be successful? Or as someone else I once heard said, churches shouldn’t be trying to figure out what God is calling them to do, they should instead see what God is already doing, often in what they are doing, and make sure they are participating in that thing. And the other piece is that it not only takes energy and work, but it also takes passion and excitement. We can believe, even believe deeply, in what we are doing is important, but if we aren’t engaged in it with excitement, with passion, with devotion, then it won’t matter, because they we’re just going through the motions, and more than likely we’re simply expending energy but not doing much work.

And perhaps that even might be what this message feels like, energy without work, but like that horse trying to get the wagon or sled moving, you have to begin pulling in the same direction, moving in the same direction, in order to get things unlocked, or engaged, in order to begin our progress to do God’s work here amongst us and in our community. God has given us a vision, and it’s clear enough to write large enough for runners to read, and that is to love God and our neighbor, to be known by the love that we show to the world and to be, in our words, God’s love in action. And how we live that vision out in new ways is just beginning, and all of us are called to not only create it, but to do it. I pray that it will be so my brothers and sisters. Amen.