Vision

A magic word, vision. A glimpse of some future reality that might come to pass. A quick flash of insight that compels us to push forward with new energy and new hope. A slight intuition that speaks of more life pouring in, more friends gathered for the journey, more people lifted from brokenness and despair. A brief, fleeting thought that dares us to think it: perhaps we can change, finally grow up, finally find wholeness, maturity, and on the best days, a touch of the holy.

They say vibrant, alive churches have this is common: a simple vision. Maybe the same could be said of theatres, companies, and social clubs. Maybe it’s core to being human; that’s what we say in the theatre. Behavior is driven by desire. What we want. Marcus Buckingham says our appetites drive our behavior, our desires, and vision grows from that. Even the vision of being completely committed to doing God’s will instead of our own is a vision related to what we want, which is to know God, please Him, and have His power in our lives.

At church I’ve been teasing a sense of vision out of the people by constantly referring to the “Joe Girardi Jersey.”  The new skipper of the Yankees passed on wearing his usual #25 from his playing days, opting instead to wear #27.  The Yankees have won 26 world titles, so Girardi is declaring his goal on the back of his jersey for the whole world to see.  I’ve been asking the church about what they would put on the back of our jersey if we had one.  Yesterday, I told them to hone their “back of the jersey” thought to one sentence–two to five words if they could do it–and they’ll turn those in next week.   Perhaps it will give us a sense of what is going on in the minds of the people as they look toward the future.  I’m terribly interested to what kind of vision our church family has.

I know what two words I’d use…