Christ's Mission Statement

            Mission statements. Everyone has to have one.  They define who we are, what our purpose is and how we plan to achieve that purpose.  Corporations have to have them.  Small companies have to have them. Even Jesus had one. 

            He spent His life living out a Mission Statement that fulfilled His and God’s vision.  It comes from the book of Isaiah and it is what was to define His ministry:

                     “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,


                                     because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
 

                                     He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
  

                                     and recovery of sight to the blind,
    

                                     to let the oppressed go free,


                                    to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

            It has all the requisites of a mission statement.  It clearly and accurately tells us who Christ is: “The annointed One of God”.  And it tells us this in plain English (OK, it’s really plain Aramaic.).  But Jesus says what He plans to accomplish in language no one can misunderstand:

             He is here to bring Good News, not to those who believe they have everything they need without the help of God and not to the religious who believe they have already achieved salvation on their.  He comes instead to the poor, to those in physical and spiritual need, those held captive by life experiences. 

            Christ has come to give sight not just to the physically blind but to those who have become blind to the goodness and love in our world, who no longer see the positive but focus in on hatred and fear.

            Christ has come to let the oppressed, the downtrodden, the bruised by life, the crushed and the broken --- go free.  He has come to break their chains  and proclaim that the year of God’s favor, the year when the Messiah would appear, has in fact come.  It is here and it is now. 

            Of all that is said in these two short verses the fact that the year of the Lord’s favor is now has always struck me. 

            NOW, in this very moment, we have the ability to throw off our chains, chains to the past that bind us, chains that keep us from moving forward. 

            NOW, right now, we can move past our broken dreams.

            NOW we can choose to see ourselves as God sees us: as a beloved child, whole and perfect in His sight. 

            NOW we can dream dreams and make them come true. 

            NOW we no longer have to be blind to our possibilities mired in the darkness of hopelessness and fear.  We don’t have to wait until tomorrow --- we can claim our future NOW --- RIGHT NOW. 

            NOW we are free to be the people, the church, the world, God created us to be. That’s Christ’s mission statement.  May it be our as well.