There are a lot of images that can describe the faith journey from a Christian perspective.  The one that really speaks to me these days is the journey of following Jesus.  This means walking in my life the same way Jesus walked in his.  Since we cannot know for sure how Jesus lived from day to day, it takes faith to live this way.  It also takes tenacity, humility, a lot of grace, and a sense that we are stewards of all we touch in life. 

The Stewardship Workgroup from Crossroads Church has defined stewardship as a life long spiritual journey of recognizing our God-given gifts and calling us to a more intimate relationship with God and others.  I really like that definition and it challenges me as to the way I live.  Stewardship as a life-long spiritual journey is the process of discovering, recognizing, and investing to our God-given gifts.  The direction of our individual and communal journey is toward a more intimate relationship with God and others.  This also means living toward a more intimate relationship with God through others since much of our experience of God comes through relationships with other people.  The more we see God in others, both our friends and our enemies, the more we will relate to them in an attitude of love.

The result of following Jesus is a personal change of heart and a reorientation of our lives.  In other words, the purpose of our following Jesus is to be transformed so that our lives reflect the perspectives and values of Jesus.  As a church, this means that our reason for existence is to help people have a change of heart and a reorientation of life.  The Gospel According to John calls this being born again.  Our mission as church is produce transformed people who are changed as a result of their participation in church.  As a result of that transformation, all of us work to change the world according to God’s vision of Shalom.

I like that vision for why I am a Christian and why we are church.  It excites me and motivates me to be the best Christian and the best pastor I can be.  At the same time, I realize that living in the vision of Shalom is a bit like swimming upstream.  There is so much pressure not to change the status quo that most of us lose the sense of possibility for our lives and our world.  It seems just too impractical and the forces aligned against fundamental change are too powerful for us to resist.  Yet, that is what it means to follow Jesus in this world today.  He went to the cross to show us how committed he was to God’s vision.  He and countless other heroes of faith, many of whom also laid down their lives for that vision, have shown us the potential cost of faith.  They stand before us and call us to raise our vision!  They surround us like a cloud of witnesses, cheering us on —“You can do it!  Keep swimming!”  And we can in Jesus’ name.

Thanks for continuing to bless me on the journey.

--Jack Price

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