Pentecost 16 L25 B, Core Values

Who do you say that I am? What do we as a congregation have to say about what it means to follow Jesus?

It must not be a trivial question, because Peter, who speaks up and gives an A+ disciple answer: ‘you are the Messiah,’ is quickly rebuked and called the devil by Jesus when he misunderstands what it means. Jesus is passionate about what it means to be a disciple that follows Jesus.

And the trouble is that it’s hard: Peter makes the same mistake that many before and after him have made. It’s the human mistake: Peter believes that being a follower of Jesus means glory. That it means his own way. His own desires. His own intentions.

And Peter’s intention is for Jesus to stick around for a while. For Jesus to be respected. Established. For Jesus to be held in honor. These don’t seem to be particularly evil desires. They sound like good intentions to me. But not to Jesus. Jesus sees thru every desire and finds that at the root of even Peter’s good intentions a faith based on Peter. Jesus says if you want life, you have to let go of Peter, you have to let go of being the center of your own world. You have to give yourself away in order to find life.

This is hard. It’s one thing to believe you have to give up vices, and malice, and evil desires in order to find life. But it’s even harder to give up our good intentions. It’s harder to give up our grasp on life when we believe that we are right. That we’re good, and that we’ve earned it.

But as always, there is a promise that goes along with the trouble that Jesus stirs up, and the promise is this: that when we deny ourselves…when we give up on believing our good intentions will save us…when we place Jesus at the center of ourselves…we find overflowing and abundant life. We find life that we could never hope to achieve on our own. We find life beyond even our own best intentions. Following Jesus, we can find more life than we ever could on our own. And we need each other to do it.

So, as a congregation, who do we say that Jesus is? How do we follow Jesus? How do we put aside our own intentions and put Jesus at the center of our life together? How do we pick up and lift high the cross — not just in worship, but with our whole lives?

A note to newcomers: today’s message will be a little different. It’s going to focus a lot on our congregational life. Even if you aren’t a part of this congregation, though, it will be a peek into the process…a look at how we’re all struggling together with how we best follow Jesus: with wholeness, with integrity, with authenticity. I’ll be asking questions that I don’t know the answers to.

But we’re going to use the answers as part of a continuing process here called “Following the Shepherd’s Call.” I’m going to be asking for some responses today that will help shape the crafting of the mission, vision, and values of who we are.

Definition of core values

One of the ways that we can talk about following Jesus as a congregation is to investigate what is most central to who we are — what our identity is as a congregation. Sometimes this is called naming ‘core values.’ Core values are those things that make us who we are. They don’t change much over time, they don’t change from one pastor to the next, they can’t be tried on like a new outfits. They make up the church’s DNA.

In this terminology, core values are different from a mission statement. A church’s mission might change every few years as the world around it changes. But the values that form the mission — they stay the same.

If the mission is what we’re doing, then Core Values are how we do it. How we behave. Here’s a Core Values example from outside the church world: the Disney Theme Parks.¹

1. Safety
2. Courtesy
3. Show
4. Efficiency

Those aren’t the only important things in the world, they’re not even the only important things to Disney. But those four values define how every ‘cast member’ of Disney works together to do what only Disney can do. It’s what makes them who they are.

We at Good Shepherd are not Disney…far from it. But we have Core Values that guide our actions and our behaviors that make us a unique congregation in the Church of Christ.

Now here’s the challenge: just like Peter, we are constantly tempted to confuse our own personal values with the church’s. Probably the most common downfall of any congregation is when individual personalities start to steer the ship.

But please don’t hear that to mean that individuality and personal contributions aren’t important. God made us all different for a reason. It’s not so that we can each have it all our way, but that our unique gifts can fit together to serve a new way.

Get the difference? Let’s just say that I really really love modern New Orleans brass band music (just hypothetically.) My personal opinion might be that a church should do a modern New Orleans brass band style worship service every Sunday. That would be having it my way. But if I commit to listening for what God is leading our congregation to do, I have to admit that the brass band service would probably be more appealing to me than anyone else. But — that passion that I have is important, because it helps me understand that certain expressions of music, for example, can fill people with joy, and so maybe I discern that God is leading us to share music that connects with people’s souls.

Questions to get at core values

For each question, I’m not asking about your personal opinion on what we should do — although your unique, personal, and individual insight should be used — but use it to answer the question, ‘what do you sense God is leading us to do?’

Write number on top! —- Input from everyone!

1. If we had to start over, what would we keep? (Anything except being ‘friendly’ and ‘welcoming’)
2. What about us should we nurture for positive change?
3. What value are we missing that we should add?

Distribute final feedback form.

Thank you! I appreciate your willingness to do this holy disciple work of stepping out of your desires, your own intentions, and centering Jesus in our life together. Not only are you helping build the church and the kingdom of God, but you will find life in letting go of your own intentions, your own have-it-your-ways.

Each of you is unique (your close family and friends might have less kind ways of describing you), and that’s good, but you will find out truly what your uniqueness is for … in Christ and the way of the cross.

It takes all of us, but together, having let go of ‘mine,’ we find ‘ours.’ We find something greater than we could ever accomplish on our own.

This is not the final step in determining our Core Values. The Mission Planning team will use today’s feedback as part of a number of ways of listening to God’s mission around here. We’ll share what these cards say, and then there will be time for more feedback.

But in the meantime, let’s pray:

Gracious God, we thank you for the uniqueness and giftedness of each and every person here, and we thank you for the uniqueness of us together as the church. Help us to hear your call to use those gifts for the sake of the world that you so loved that your Son lived with us, died with us, and brought us to abundant life in you. In his name we pray, Amen.