This Epiphany, the season of revelation, we are fixing our eyes on Jesus:
· Jesus, revealed as God’s Messiah for everyone, even the unexpected ones.
· Jesus, revealed as God’s Messiah who transforms, a transformation we carry into the world.
· Jesus, revealed as God’s Messiah with a Mission, a Proclamation that RORs – Release, Opening of Eyes, Restoration.
This upcoming Sunday, we’ll learn that Messiah’s Mission is revealed to be our Mission as well. As those baptized into Christ, Jesus shares with us what He has – individual and communal intimacy with the Father, anointing of the Holy Spirit, authority over the enemy, and the ancient-future Mission “to unite all things in [Jesus], things in heaven and things on earth” (Ephesians 1:7-10),
The Vestry, staff, and I intentionally participated in the Messiah’s Mission this week through prayer. We spent time discussing these questions:
· From what does Immanuel need to be released?
· In what ways do we need to have our eyes opened?
· What would we ask the Lord to restore to Immanuel?
We turned our discussion into intercession, confident our prayers will be answered because of Jesus’ words, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). The life, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of the Messiah uniting us to the Father, clears the way for the confident proclamation that the Lord’s peace-giving favor is flowing into us.
And that favor-full flow is not only for us. The Messiah’s Mission is to proclaim release, eye-opening, and restoration to everyone. The people of Jesus’s hometown angrily, violently rejected this message (Luke 4:22-30). How will we respond?
We’ll hear more about this revelation on Sunday, and I believe it is God-inspired timing that this message coincides with our Annual Meeting. What a good opportunity to consider our past and our future within the framework of the Messiah’s Mission.
I look forward to being with you on Sunday, together fixing our eyes on Jesus.
Your Pastor in Christ,
