April 2004
The Women

So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. -Matthew 28:8

Having Vision

It was not possible to just walk away from the empty tomb-to stroll along that Sunday morning as though languishing in dreamy contentment or cloudy consciousness. These women had a startling awareness of things being turned upside down. They saw what God was doing. What they saw changed everything. Nothing could go on as before. The vision of the future was breaking into the present. Jesus was alive!

Nothing is so unstoppable as a clear and compelling vision. Visions of what can be have inspired revolutions and religions. Clear and compelling visions create community and move us to great persistence and selflessness. People who have a vision have a purpose that beckons them out of sleep in the morning, that designs their priorities for every part of their day, and that gives them gratitude at the close of their day. The vision of what can be and will be is what really matters.

Leaders are not about the management of the mundane, but the vitality of the vision. They are not simply charged with responsibility for managing and maintaining what is, but with holding up a vision of what can be. They see the larger reality, the trends and needs, the purpose and destination of the things in their care. They are unstoppably driven to bring about the new reality coming into being in Christ. Nothing can go on as before because God's vision for us is changing everything. They know that it is time for new life. Leaders know that Jesus is alive.

What is your vision of what God is making of you as a congregation?

Prayer: Fill us, O God, with the vision that you have for leaders, churches, and communities that are alive with newness and life. Use us as bearers of that vision to others. Amen.