Our Christian Job Description

Yesterday, our pastor's sermon was a meditation on this job description, which he said we got at our baptism: Servants of Christ and Stewards of God's Mysteries.

So, for those of you who are part of church councils who still can't develop your mission statement, here's a simple one. Feel free to adopt it. It fits on a coffee cup. It's easy to remember.

But more important, it focuses the mind. It helps us decide which actions are worthy, and which are not. Everything we do should be to serve Christ and take care of God's mysteries.

I spent Sunday reading apocalyptic texts. No, not the book of Revelation or Daniel. I started off reading this article in The Washington Post about a climate activist who is making additional adaptations because he believes that the pace of climate change will be coming at us faster than originally predicted. In the afternoon, I read Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth. It, too, presents the thesis that we've waited too long, and now we will need to adapt to a planet we've never experienced before.

We have not been good stewards of God's mysteries.

What is the solution? Obviously, it's time to step up our actions. Our pastor, who didn't mention climate change, did talk about building community. We each have special gifts--it's not a competition. Our task is to support each other in our essential job: to serve Christ and to be stewards of God's mysteries. We are all going to need strong communities to survive the coming years of tumult that climate change will provoke.

The season of Lent approaches. What discipline might you adopt to help you fulfill your essential job and use your gifts? I'll be writing a series of pieces to launch us into Lent, starting on Thursday.

In the meantime, if you want to experience my pastor's sermon, go here. You can hear the YouTube recording of the sermon as delivered. You can read the version of the sermon that my pastor posted on Saturday night if you scroll down.