We are concluding a series on the Vision Statement of the United Methodist Churches in this area. We are a group of Christians who hope to be motivated by God’s grace, loved by others in our beloved community, transformed into a healthy Body of Christ here, sensing the heart warmed power of Almighty God, and engaged in mission for the transformation of the world.
The world needs transformation. I have been very involved with a study of gangs this week in Jackson Heights. Newtown High School
is the most likely high school for students in our area. This is a school with 200% 
overcrowding. Students go to classes in shifts. The first shift arrives at school at 7am, has finished lunch by 10am and is on the streets by 1pm for an unsupervised afternoon. Test
scores are still dropping and so is the graduation rate.
The murder of the 11 year old child last summer moved me to think what a church could do to help. If we really believe that we have the power of God, when do things get bad enough that we approach government, approach leaders, and go outside our own building to interrupt the work of the devil?
The result of receiving God’s grace is to pass it on. The result of being in a wonderful beloved community like this one is to make the circle larger. The result of being a healthy Body of Christ is to make offer that health to someone who is weak or afraid or sick, a youth for example, recruited by gangs or already caught in violence.
The truth is that most of us do not feel ready for mission. If mission requires grace, a beloved community, a healthy Body of Christ, and heart warmed Methodists, then we plead that we are still missing some vital ingredients.
And many of us struggle with very real issues, not just a general sense of inadequacy. I am always amazed when I sit down with someone to discover how complex their life is and so often they are struggling bravely with more than I could have ever guessed. If we each had a life thermometer on our forehead and green means I’m coasting and yellow means I have a serious life issue where I need healing and red means I need healing because the next issue is already hitting – how many people here this morning would be green and how many yellow and how many red?
If you are a green, the rest of us are envious. If you are green, then you better be on some committees, make sure you’re in church every Sunday, and that better be a tithe in your envelope this morning. And about mission, your message is short this morning. Just do it. When the church does this street fair for gangs, we want you there for the whole thing and no whining. Got that?
Actually, as I looked at the Bible’s understanding of mission, much of it is done by people in the yellow and red moments of life. Isn’t that amazing? Perhaps you have come this morning, hoping that God will make this a day to do something about your issue or maybe your multiple issues. There will be a chance to be at the altar in receiving communion and have prayer about your burdens. But God has a special message for you about mission. It will help your healing process too as we look to words from Luke and Paul in the moments ahead. Lets worship
I started this morning with the idea of thermometers on our foreheads, green for life is good, yellow for I need healing and red for I need healing and the next issue has already hit. If those were really on our heads, a lot of us would have yellow and red. Now God does not send us problems. But God does often allow our problem to stay with us for a while. I can’t give you the full reason for that, but I can tell you this, most of mission comes out of our weakness. Luke says, I do not send you out in strength. I send you out in weakness. I send you out as lambs among wolves.
Bob Woodruff just did a TV special last week. He was the anchor for ABC news and was the first anchor ever to be wounded. He was in a tank in Iraq and nearly killed. During his recovery from trauma, he became aware of how our government is ignoring veterans. I literally cannot believe this administration. They use the military in ways which are reckless and then they don’t want to take care of the very people in harms way. The veterans need an advocate. And they got one in Bob Woodruff. Bob Woodruff never thought about veterans before. He never thought about war wounds. His mission has come out of his weakness.
The 1950s and the 1920s were great periods of missionary growth in America. Thousands of young people, especially young men, chose to go overseas with the gospel. Why were those the decades of missionary growth? Because those same young people had been in World War 1 and 2 and they came home troubled by the bombings, the wreckage of war, and the need of people. They came into mission through the feelings of their own experience.
Peter says in chapter 1 of his first letter, “… though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith may be proved genuine.” Our faith is proved in mission. As God takes you through your crisis, one group of people that you have unique access to is people suffering in ways similar to you.
Someone was speaking to me 2 weeks ago about their children and suddenly mentioned that their oldest has Downs syndrome. I felt a tightness in my throat suddenly because there are very few of us in this room who know what it is for your child to be sick in a way that you can’t help. Downs syndrome is not just a mental slowness, it is a lifelong roller coaster of physical crises and I have been on that roller coaster. I truly believe that God sends a person to me occasionally who needs someone who understands about Downs.
You may think that no one should come to you, struggling with addiction or cancer or unemployment marriage or sexuality or depression. What can you offer to any other person? Perhaps God has not given the answer. You still need healing yourself. What can you do? You can understand.
Jesus Christ was sent to earth as a human in the Incarnation. His years in earth were not primarily to do a few miracles. His time here was to assure that he understands our weakness in the face of mighty challenges. He has felt illness and aging, violence of people and the heat and cold of nature itself, the storms of the lake, and the weariness of a long day.
And there’s more. You haven’t given up. Even if God hasn’t brought the answer yet, you haven’t given up. If you had given up, you wouldn’t be here this morning. That’s a testimony in itself. You underestimate how healthy you are because you don’t realize how desperate the person is who’s watching you.
Mission usually comes from weakness.
And mission comes with support. The disciples are sent out in pairs. We need the support of this beloved community which is a healthy Body of Christ. We need to ask each other how our mission is going and encourage each other.
On a group level, a young man was murdered a month ago today. Sunday morning, February 4th, Robinson Lopez was killed at Roosevelt Avenue and 82nd Street. I believe that we need to do something. His story quickly slipped off the news pages but we need to stand together and tell our community and our youth that Jesus has hope for their lives. We are struggling, but some of them are struggling more.
The result of grace is our healing. Its going to happen. You have got to hold on because God is using this time to refine you. But you are not forgotten. The Lord is at work. And this grace becomes your story. Your weakness becomes your mission. Are you willing to tell someone who is struggling that you understand?
