I think I know why God put me here. I have a personal mission statement. It gets tweaked a bit now and then but it goes something like this. My purpose in life is to lead others to know they are loved by God, and to help you claim your gifts and use them to live out your purpose for being on this earth. That’s why God put me here. And a few years back that led to me planting The Village Church as a vehicle for doing that. We help people find God’s love and then live it out in the world.
Well this is graduation season and I’ve been reflecting on purpose in life during this season. I’m willing to bet that there have been lots of commencement addresses about purpose – finding your purpose. Lots of smart people out there are telling lots of hopeful graduates – here’s what it takes to have a good life and be successful. I’m sure there are some great speeches being given and more will be given this month.
This is what I would say. Do you know what makes me most happy for someone? When they find their own purpose! I love it when I meet a person who has found their bliss, their calling, their place in this world. They are so excited and certain. There is no stopping that person. I am convinced that God wants each one of us to be that person. God wants each one of us to discover God’s purpose for our lives.
A few days ago Becca and I went to go visit baby Avi and her mom Jessica. Jess was the first Village kids leader when we opened back in 2009. Jess is very special to my kids and to our family. She moved here with her husband from out west to do a doctorate at Wayne State. This week she will graduate with her PhD, and on Tuesday they will load up a moving truck and move to Logan Utah where she will teach at Utah State. When Becca and I hugged Avi good-bye yesterday I found myself silently giving Avi a little blessing. She is a happy little girl. Her parents love her very much. I want her to grow up knowing that she is a beloved child of God. As Becca played with Avi, I just found myself thinking about Becca and baby Avi.
My daughter is turning 13 this week, which is a pretty big milestone. As I look at these two girls what I want for both of them, is for them to find their purpose in life. I want them to find their bliss. Isn’t that what we all want? To know why God put us on this earth.
I believe, without a doubt, that we all have a purpose. Maybe the way we live out that purpose gets tweaked a bit in different seasons, but I think we each have pretty much one clear God-given purpose. And I pray that little baby Avi, and that my daughter Becca, and my son Jamie will find their purpose. I pray that each of you will find your purpose. As I told you, I’m blessed to feel confident that my own purpose in life is tied to helping others claim their gifts from God and use them in the world to live out their purpose.
Today’s scripture (Exodus 3 & 4 for those reading along on the net) is just such a story of finding one’s purpose. Are you familiar with this story from the Old Testament? You may have heard about the part with the burning bush. God speaks to Moses in a bush that burns, but is not consumed. That is to say, the bush is on fire, but it does not burn up.
If you don’t know that Bible background, let me give you a quick re-cap. Moses was born a Hebrew baby during a time when they were killing all the Hebrew babies. His mother hides him by sending him down the river in a basket and Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and saves him. Moses is then raised as an Egyptian in Pharaoh’s house as a child of privilege.
One day Moses has had enough of how the Egyptians are treating the slaves, who are the Hebrews, his people. He gets into a fight and kills one of the Egyptian over-seers. He knows he’s in trouble so he flees. He goes to Midian, where he meets Jethro and marries one of his daughters. He works there for awhile. This is where we find our story for today. Moses is tending the sheep, and God comes to Moses and gets his attention with this bush. God says to Moses: “I have seen the affliction of my people. They are suffering. I need you to go down to Pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. In essence, God says to Moses: “This is it. I have put you on earth for something much more important that tending sheep. It’s time to do something important. Moses replies with a list of excuses.
Do you know anyone who has ever done that? An opportunity comes along to do something great, and you just say: “Um, no, I don’t really think I am up to that. I’m not smart enough. I don’t think my parents, or my girlfriend or boyfriend would want me to do that. I don’t have the training, or the money to do that.” What other reasons might we give? Moses gave a whole bunch of answers
God just kept countering. God gave Moses a staff that would turn into a snake and then back into a staff. God told Moses what to call God.
When Moses said, “But God I can’t speak eloquently, I stutter,” God said, “You have a brother, Aaron, who can speak.”
You see, when God gives us a big task, we don’t even have to have all the skills. That’s why we have teams and why we have community. God gave Moses Aaron to be on his team. Aaron was part of the team and he had a purpose too.
Finally Moses wore down, and accepted his calling. He chose to accept the purpose God laid out for him. And he became the leader that the people needed. He went to Pharaoh. He led the people out of slavery and into the promised land. But only because he was willing to listen to God and to submit to the idea that God had a purpose for him.
So how does this play out in our own lives? Do you know what your purpose is? Maybe you have a hint, but maybe you’re trying to finalize the details. Well part of the Christian life is paying attention along the way to the markers God give us.
Do you see that pile of stones in the picture? Some of you have been wondering what that picture is about. These man-made piles or stacks of stones have been used since ancient times as trail markers, also called cairns. Sometimes they are “placed at junctions or in places where the trail direction is not obvious, and may also be used to indicate an obscured danger, such as a sudden drop, or a noteworthy point such as the summit of a mountain. Most trail cairns are small, a foot or less in height, but may be built taller so as to protrude through a layer of snow. Hikers passing by often add a stone, as a small bit of maintenance to counteract the erosive effects of severe weather.” ( Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cairn)
I like to think of these markers as similar to the signs or signals God gives us along the way in our lives. God uses people and experiences to show us the direction God wants us to go. When an experience is positive, or when we learn something, or people seem to grow or benefit in some way from our presence, then this might be pointing us toward our purpose in life. This is a marker for us.
If something just doesn’t seem right, then it’s a marker trying to guide away, and get us to head in another direction. These trail markers are the experiences that point us in the direction toward or away from God’s purpose for our lives. Spiritual discernment is the messy process of learning to pay attention to these markers.
You see a few years ago, it became clear to me, that I was put on this earth to plant The Village Church. It took at little while for me to be sure, but eventually the markers were all there and I began to see that everything in my life had brought me to this moment. I could look back and see experiences and situations since I was a teen-ager that had all come together to leave my job, take a step where there was no promise of having the money to pay my own salary, to be ready to take this leap.
They had all formed me, and prepared me to be a church planter in the right place at the right time plant this kind of church in this setting. No one else was in a position to do it, and nothing could stop me from doing it. It was a God given calling. As I said, I had previously written a personal mission statement: to lead others to claim that they are beloved children of God and to use their gifts in the world. You can see how that purpose ties into planting a church can’t you?
Well, let me tell you, it sounds clear now, but it was not so clear at the time. It came together in God’s time. But it was not easy when I was in the midst of discernment. And it will not be so clear and easy for Avi and Becca. How many young adults do you know right now who are drifting from one thing to another, trying to find their focus? They don’t know what they want to do with their lives and you wish they would figure it out. Maybe you don’t know what you want to do with your life! And maybe you are not so young! It happens all the time. It’s hard to discover our purpose. So many other factors can get in the way. So many other people will try to tell us what we should do or be. So many extenuating circumstances can throw us off course at any age.
The priest and prolific spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen, spent the last years of his life, working as a care-giver in the L’arche Community. He was the daily companion for a man with mental and physical disabilities named Adam Arnett. Now before he took this position, Nouwen had spent some time on Bolivia and Peru and contemplated living with the poor. Nouwen had been a university professor. He was sought after as a speaker and teacher. He could have had any number of jobs at prestigious universities. In the last years of his life he chose basically to be a direct care worker in a home for people with disabilities. He said Adam became his unlikely spiritual guide. Henri Nouwen often wrote about the spiritual state of brokenness and our need for God’s healing. He said that working in this community with Adam and others helped him look at his own brokenness and how we can find our way toward healing.
Henri Nouwen found the purpose that God laid out for him. His work has made an impact on the spiritual lives of countless people across the world. More than 2 million of his books have been sold in more than 22 languages. I am sure there are people who thought Henri Nouwen was crazy for choosing that job and that life. But he knew this was God’s purpose for his life, and it was the most meaningful thing he could do.
So how about you? Where are you in your discernment these days? Do you know your purpose and are you living it? Are you restless? Is God trying to speak to you and are you making excuses like Moses? We’ve all been there, there is no shame. Has it been a long time since you hear God speak, and it is time to try to re-open communications? There are probably people in this room at all of those stages, and others. That’s ok. We are all on a journey and God just wants to be on the journey with us. But if you don’t feel you are living God’s purpose for you, then I encourage you to look a little harder for those trail markers, and seek out some companions who might help you pay attention to the signs. There are people in our community here who will help you walk the trail with them, help lead you along the way.
We’re going to listen to the band play a song and then we’re going to take a few minutes to talk to the folks around us (come to the Village Facebook Page or this thread if you want for those following along at home) about today’s message. I want to ask you to consider this question, if God sent you a trail marker today pointing you toward your purpose in life, and it had a big sign on it, what would be written on that sign?
If you need some help finding a trailhead for this journey, think about stopping by the corner of Conant Street & the Anthony Wayne Trail at the Maumee Indoor Theater Sundays at 10:30 AM. There are many folks here, on various trails, walking at many speeds, to walk with you. Come join us.
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