Friday, May 15, 2015

Start with Why - Seeking God’s Justice

Last week I proposed an idea borrowed from Simon Sinek’s Start with Why that suggested that the difference between success and failure in projects often comes down to motivation, inspiration and passion, which come from having a crystal clear sense of why we are doing something (See last week's missive below) Starting with why touches our sense of identity; why speaks to our soul.
            A corollary to Start with Why is to define “why” in terms that are real, compelling and connect to our lives in simple yet powerful ways. Dan Heath, in his book Writing a Mission Statement that Doesn’t Suck, illustrates what happens when we try to get too cute with our words. He tells the story of the pizza parlor who proposed the following mission statement:
·         Our mission is to serve the tastiest damn pizza in Wake County.
Nice, right? Simple, clear, compelling: makes my mouth water.
            But then Dan tells what happened when the owner suggested this mission statement to his managers; everyone became a 10th grade English teacher and began to worry about things from grammar to political correctness to channeling one’s inner thesaurus. The resulting mission statement sounded like this:
·         Our mission is to present with integrity the highest quality entertainment solutions to families.
Would you like to have pizza from this place?
            This past week I was privileged to visit the border ministry of Frontera de Cristo with Mark Adams and folks from de Cristo presbytery. We talked across the border fence with Mexican church leaders; we visited a migrant repatriation center and a food cooperative; we held a prayer vigil to remember those who have died in the desert; we spoke with Border Patrol agents and the mayor of Douglas. Sounds nice, right? Perhaps…perhaps not. But what happens when I talk not about what we did but why we did it; our day of prayer and reflection takes on a whole new light:
·         Because Jesus is Lord of all nations, we lived the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) by speaking with those of other tongues, praying the Lord would break down the dividing wall of hostility (Ephesians 2:14).
·         Because God hears the cries of the oppressed (Exodus 3:7), we visited a center of healing and hope to hear stories of God’s mercy and care.
·         Because God cares for the needs of the hungry (Matthew 25:40), we visited a food cooperative to hear the amazing story of how 16 families no longer suffer food scarcity.
·         Because God knows all people by name (Matthew 6:26), we prayed for those forgotten in the desert; we remembered them, and our hearts burned with a passion for shalom.
·         Because God has established all governing authorities (Romans 13:1), we listened to the hearts of Border Patrol agents as they seek to protect our nation even while wrestling with the very real human tragedies that surround them.
Do you know why you do what you do? Can you articulate this truth in simple, compelling ways? As a spiritual exercise, I urge everyone reading this to write a personal mission statement for at least one thing you do for the Lord and then share that statement with another person. In Christian faith, what we do certainly matters, but God cares about our hearts; why we do it matters just as much, maybe more.
Abounding in hope,
Brad Munroe


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