Last week we began talking about our common mission. Our vision statement crystallizes the calling that guides us:
To love and serve Christ,
To love and serve one another in Christ,
To love and serve the world for Christ.
Our mission and ministry centers on Jesus Christ. He guides us. He works through us. He gives us strength and walks with us every step of the way.
This week we move from a general discussion of our vision to a more detailed reflection on each element of this vision statement. We’ll begin with the opening phrase: To love and serve Christ. This brief but potent expression guides our Worship and our Christian Formation. Let me explain by way of unpacking the phrase and then talking about what the vision means for these ministries.
To love and to serve Christ means several related and yet distinct things. Loving Christ involves our affections, and also our minds and wills. We are drawn to Christ in our hearts, first and foremost because he loved us first. We want to know him intimately. Our relationship with him takes priority over all other things in our life. Serving him means that we acknowledge him as our Lord. We devote ourselves to him because he is utterly dedicated to us. He knows the good for us and we follow his lead.
Our principal act of love and devotion is worship. Excellent worship in the Anglican Tradition is at the heart of all we do. The Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal guide us in offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to the crucified and risen Christ. As the Cathedral of the Diocese of Western Louisiana, we have a special duty and privilege to set a high standard of Anglican worship and to model worship as prescribed by the Book of Common Prayer. By God’s grace, we already do this and will continue that strong tradition. (As we all know, this tradition of excellence is largely grounded in our wonderful music program and the gifts of our organist-choirmaster Don Smith.)
Loving and serving Christ also requires a sustained commitment to excellence in Christian Formation for all ages. Note that I use the term Christian Formation and not the term Christian Education. That’s because “Christian Formation” represents a broader concept of spiritual growth, character development, and what one philosopher called soul-making than does “Christian Education.” More can be said about this later, but this will suffice for our purposes here.
A community born from the waters of Baptism (in other words, the Church), is a community dedicated to nurturing each other in what St. Paul calls taking on the mind of Christ. That means Christian Formation is about personal growth but also something each of us must do to contribute our spiritual part to the life of the community.
There is much good being done in Christian Formation. More must be done.
One measure is to call a Canon for Christian Formation and Family Ministries. This Canon will be responsible for Formation from nursery to nursing home, provide ministry support for Lions Pride, institute and sustain small group ministries, nurture families as incubators of the Christian Faith, and coordinate Christian Formation and Youth Ministry. Until this Canon is called our Curate, Deacon Michael Millard, has agreed to assume this ministry in an interim capacity. He is off and running in an impressive way.
Next week, we will turn to the next component of our vision statement: To Love and Serve One Another in Christ. We have a high calling in Christ. What a joy and privilege!
