Happy New Year! A lot has been said about entering the year 2020 with 20/20 vision and having clear sight as our focus. So what does having clear vision for Asbury UMC mean for us this year?
I believe to take a good look at where we’re going, we need to consider the basics of who we are. We are people who follow Jesus Christ and join God’s work bringing the Kingdom to earth. We are tasked to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus sends us as disciples out into the world with the message of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. And, Jesus reminds us the way in which we follow Him is by caring for the least, the last, and the lost.
These are the Biblical imperatives guiding everything we do. The Minnesota Conference’s vision statement “Grow in love of God and neighbor, reach new people, and heal a broken world” is grounded in these Biblical principles.
Here at Asbury, our mission statement also leads us with this vision. “Asbury United Methodist is a caring, Christian community which welcomes all people as God’s children. We will strive to grow in spirit and seek God’s vision of hope, love and peace in the community and world.”
It’s always important, and also difficult, to keep the vision as we enter into work and appointments, cares and trials of everyday life. So to begin this year, we are going to build a playlist to keep us going and remind us our everyday work can be filled with God sightings and God moments. I’m calling it the New Year Jesus Play List. I’ve heard it said ‘singing is like praying twice’. So let me invite you to be like the person we’ve all seen driving down the road, singing like no one’s watching and there is no tomorrow. My husband, Brian and I have designed a playlist that might be a little unusual but I PROMISE does tie in to our scripture and behavior as Christian disciples.
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/12r64TdpbgaHHDAvK65mLq
I realize not all of us use technology in the same way so let me tell you a bit about the link above. Titled “New Year Jesus Playlist”, you will find songs we will be using in worship in the coming months to flesh out our scriptures and sermons. Taking a cue from John and Charles Wesley, we gathered popular secular music to move the message of Christ into our ears, hearts and actions. I know, it’s not from the hymnal, but none
of the current hymnal songs were in the Catholic or Church of England’s regular play list 200 years ago either.
In case you can’t open the link, some of the songs are from Led Zeppelin, U2, Adele and Katy Perry, among others. We even slipped in some Cash, though the song isn’t original to him. And, if these scriptures/sermons remind YOU of songs not in the cannon of religious songs, please let me know. My hope is we are all invited into creative ways of taking secular voices and use them to remind us of eternal truths in the Good News.
As we enter the new year, may we be reminded of God’s vision for us all and find reminders in our daily lives. Join us for worship as we sing and dance our way into the new year!
Blessings and Peace,
Katherine