Vision

For the last three weeks our homily series was about bringing 

people into a relationship with Jesus.  Let’s take today and look

at the biblical foundations for bringing people into a

relationship with Jesus and what that has to do with us.  To do

this we must explore the following questions. Why are you

here? Who are you as church. Who are you as Saint Mary

Catholic Church?

Bringing people to Jesus is the entire reason the church exists.
 
Bringing people to Jesus is the entire reason Saint Mary

Catholic Church exists.  Bringing people to Jesus is the reason

you are a member of the church. Bringing people to Jesus is

the reason you are here. Is that a surprise to you?

What is one of the first things Jesus says to the disciples after he rises from the dead?  He says to them, As the Father has sent me, so I send you.

And just as he ascends into heaven he says, go make disciples of all nations.  Jesus says to you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you. Jesus says to you, go and make disciples of all nations. That means, help others to come to me.

You are not supposed to be focused on yourself and what the church can do for you, you are supposed to be focused on others, and what you can do for others.  And the primary thing you are supposed to do for others is bring them to Jesus, that is what it means to make disciples, bring them to Jesus. That is who you are as church, that is your identity.  Your identity is this identity of bringing others to Jesus, so that they can be in relationship with him. That is your calling. Your primary life’s calling, as given to you by Jesus, is to bring people to him, while secondarily doing whatever you need to do to get food on the table. It’s not the reverse, as it is often viewed.

Consider this famous saying: The church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.  Have you ever thought about church that way? The church is the only institution that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members. The church exists to bring other people to Jesus.  That is the missionary identity of the church, and you are church, and in that sense you are on a mission, you are local missionaries.

Your identity, as church, is to bring others to Jesus.  Rather than seeing our church as something that exists for its own good, just for us, what would it look like if our church embraced its identity of bringing others to Jesus?

The problem is, there are many in our parish who are here to be spiritually cared for, fed, and kept safe.  That is, we mostly exist for our own good, not solely for the good of others.

Many of us think that others are responsible for making disciples, others are responsible for leading people to Jesus.  Many people think the purpose of priests and deacons, are to be the disciple makers, to lead others to Jesus, while everyone else is here to be spiritually cared for, fed, and kept safe. That is incorrect. The priests and deacons are not the only disciples sent by Jesus to do the mission of the church, which is to bring others to Jesus.  You, are the disciples every bit as much as the priests and deacons. You are sent by Jesus, to make disciples, to bring people to him. The only time the church, you, are being church is when you, as church, exist for others. If you are the church, you are here for others, not yourself.

Yes, we gather here around the Eucharist, the body of Christ.  But the primary reason we do that, and receive the body of Christ, in Communion, is to go out and be Christ to others.

The only reason you receive Christ is to be more like the body of Christ.  We call the church the body of Christ right? So we receive Christ’s body to be more and more church, and church is only church when it exists for others.  You are only church when you exist for others, especially for those who are not here. And the way you are called, and sent to exist for others, is to make disciples, to bring those who are not here, to Jesus.  That is why Jesus calls you together here, and that is why he sends you, to make disciples. That is the reason you exist as church.

And I’m not talking about going out for one and done service type opportunities either, like a clothing giveaway, visiting a nursing home, volunteering for a day somewhere, a small group serving at a soup kitchen, short-term mission trips, or a disaster relief collection. One-and-done service opportunities cannot be the end in themselves.  These are only a means to help you discover your true primary vocation, which is what Jesus says to you, as the Father has sent me, so I send you, to make disciples.

So why does every Catholic parish in the world exist?  It is for this reason: To fulfill Jesus’ great commission: go out and make disciples of all nations.  To make disciples means to bring other people to Jesus.

Why do we exist at Saint Mary?
To fulfill Jesus’ great commission: go out and make disciples of all nations, to bring people to Jesus.

Based on this, what is our vision for Saint Mary parish, our parish?  Our Vision for our parish is this: A place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world.

Based on all we have said here today, as our calling as church, that is our vision for our parish. A place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world.

This is the initial step in making disciples. Sharing Jesus with others has to happen if we are to make disciples, if we are to bring other people to him, we must first share him.

How do we do that? Listen to this brief passage from today’s gospel. “No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher.”  Jesus is our teacher, we will never be superior or equal to him. We know that, but we can be like Jesus, and the first step in being like Jesus is to tell other people the good news.  Remember the good news? The good news is that God loves you so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, to give his life for you. That is how much you are loved. Do you want to share that love?

Do you want to share the news of God’s love with your family and friends?  Think about the first time you fell in love. Didn’t you want to tell other people?  God wants you to tell others about your love for him.

We can be like Jesus by sharing the news of how much God loves all of us, and the more we do that the more we become a place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world because God’s love and Jesus are fully intertwined.

Let’s take a look at what it looks like to become a place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world.

Just imagine this!  Imagine if our parish was like this!

Wouldn’t it be great if your teenagers, your adult children, your teenage friends, your adult friends, your adult nieces and nephews, the people who you love most said to you:

When I come to church here I feel like I belong.  I want to stay!

I want to be part of this place and what is happening here.

I never knew church could be like this.

I want to invite my friends to church here.

For the first time I understand what it means for me to have a relationship with God, and I feel like I can do that.

I look forward to Sunday Mass all week.

My children want to come here on Sunday, and they don’t want to leave!

I understand and feel what it means for Jesus to love me and to be my Lord and Savior.

I feel the fire of the Holy Spirit in my heart, and I want to bring others to Jesus.

Wouldn’t it be fantastic for the people you love the most to say and feel these things?  Can you imagine! How wonderful would that make you feel?!

How wonderful would you feel that this faith, which means so much to you, began to mean so much to those you love the most, so much so, that they want to share it with others?

This is what it means to be a place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world.

Because we must first encounter the person of Jesus here at Saint Mary, we grow into a deeper relationship with Jesus here, and then we go out to bring others to Jesus.

Through a personal encounter with Jesus here, growing with Jesus here, and going out to bring Jesus to others, we will become a place where the Holy Spirit is so active and on fire among us, that we are a place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world.

This is our vision for Saint Mary.  We have been working hard on this, with revamping our homilies and putting together more engaging homily series for the last several months.  The homily message is spread throughout our children's ministries every week, including our entire school, every week.

We have been working hard on being a place where it becomes impossible not to share Jesus with the world by giving you some tools to use to share Jesus, such as the invest and invite strategy we have been explaining for the last three weeks.  Invest in someone, and invite them to come to Mass next weekend. You can get a refresher on that invest and invite strategy, if you like, by looking at our homilies for the last three weeks online.

What else? . . . We have been working hard on being a place more on fire with the Holy Spirit by completely revamping our music ministry.  Our worship through beautiful music is fully integrated to the entire Mass. And the areas of Homilies and Music continue to evolve and grow.

We are just beginning to work on our hospitality ministries, so that everyone feels welcome and embraced because they belong to Jesus, they belong here in this place.  We are working on creating a brighter more welcoming environment here in church with an improved sound system, windows, lighting, paint, new doors, etc.

We are working hard on our vision for children at Saint Mary by developing children's ministries where our children fall in love with God and his Son Jesus, where they want to come to Mass every weekend and do not want to leave, a place where our children go forth wanting to tell their friends, their parents and the world about God’s love for them, and thus sharing Jesus with others.

This is our vision for Saint Mary, working hard on having a more prayerful staff, and prayer filled ministry teams, where all of our staff and ministries are first and foremost teams of prayer who follow the call to share Jesus with others.  Want to be on our staff and involved in a ministry?, then you must live the call to pray, and share Jesus with others, whether you are a reader, a hospitality minister, or an EOMHC, children’s minister, school teacher, etc. Staff and all ministry members must set the example for prayer and sharing Jesus with other people because that’s why you're here.

This is what we want you to know today: You are church! And the only time we are church is when we exist for others, especially those who are not here, following Jesus’ call to share him with the world. That’s what we want you to know.

This is what we want you to do:  Pray for your personal transformation to change, to be on fire for God’s Son and the courage to share him with others.  Pray, pray for yourself and our parish’s transformation.

We are praying for you.  We are begging God’s Holy Spirit to give you courage.  We are begging God’s Holy Spirit to give you courage. To give you courage to follow Jesus’ call to share God’s love with the world.

We are praying and working hard on allowing God’s Holy Spirit to work through us, in all things, and in all ways, so that all of you, all of us, are more and more empowered by God to be a place where it become impossible, where it becomes impossible, not to share Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of the living God with the entire world!

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