Below is the narration. I added some practical words at the end. I wonder if they'll help. You know that children's song, "I Cannot Come"? That song has been in my head for two days now. Think maybe there's a little anxiety present?
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slide with lake and picture of church
You have seen the bulletin insert about Hineni, and
I’m here to talk about it with you.
As you’ve read, Hineni is a Hebrew word meaning “Here
I am,” but it’s more than just being present like you’d say if someone were
taking roll.
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slide – heading that says Here I am
In a Spiritual sense it means “Here I am, Lord, ready
and willing to do God’s will,” or “to take on the mission you give me.”
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slide – multiple pictures of people saying Here I am
Hineni is used a lot in the Bible, not always
translated the same, but it’s used over 170 times!
When God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, Moses
answered, “Hineni – here I am ready to do your will.”
When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham said “Hineni,” too,
“ready to do what you’ve said.”
When Samuel heard someone calling his name in the
night, Eli finally recognized it was God, and told Samuel to answer, “Here I am
Lord.”
When Gabriel gave Mary the news she would bear the
Messiah, Mary at first was hesitant, but ended by saying Hineni, translated as
“I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be filled.”
Even God says Hineni when he speaks to his people and
says, “Behold, here am I, doing this thing.”
I think our church is in a time of Hineni – a time
when we are searching for God’s will for the future of our church. And we, too,
say, “Here we are Lord, ready and willing to do your mission.”
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slide – Hineni team
So, I talked with Council and we have started a plan.
It starts with forming a Hineni team.
EVERYONE is invited to join the team – really, truly
everyone. Young, old, in-between, whatever.
Even if you are thinking you won’t be in the church in
a few years or after some time, you’re still invited. My dad used to quote “A
society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall
never sit in.” Being on the team is for the future, for the church family now
and to come.
We’ll be passing out cards for everyone to express
their interest and to indicate the best days and times to meet. We’re shooting
for at least twice a month.
We’ll start meeting as soon as we can, and begin
praying and meditating. I’ll share with you some methods of praying that have
helped me, and others can share what helps them, too. We’ll pray together and
we’ll listen together, to hear God speaking to us.
We’ll be giving everyone updates often, and inviting
everyone to pray, on the team or not.
This will be part of becoming internally strong.
Praying together, growing closer to each other and to God.
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slide – Follow up steps
Then we’ll start the process of becoming externally
focused
We’ll ask ourselves what are we good at.
Maybe we’ll get ideas by sending out postcards to the
neighborhood, maybe to the Google bussers
And we’ll study the book together, “The Externally
Focused Church”
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slide – Ideas??
There are lots of ideas out there.
One church had a sign outside asking people if they
were lonely, and inviting them in to talk, maybe become a friend.
Grace Cathedral in San Francisco holds yoga classes
and has concerts.
Maybe we could have a hospitality center
Vance talked about his church doing oil changes
Some churches have an after school center
One church has a group dinner thing – where people get
together to make meals for the week.
We may not figure out everything, but we’ll try to
hear God’s will for our next step, and we’ll go to Council about it
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slide - interested?
Are you interested? We’ll pass out the cards now for
you to fill in. You can put them in the offering bag, or give them to me or one
of the Council members. I’ll be talking with you, too.
As I finish, I want to talk about some practicalities.
I know you are – we are – very busy people. I know we
have busy jobs that sometimes mean traveling. And we have busy kids with
schedules full of sports, music, school, homework, and all that.
I know that the thought of doing “one more thing”
might be daunting. And I know I might sound as if I’m trying to guilt you into
doing something.
I am praying that you change the way you’re looking at
it. Think about participating in this effort out of love, not guilt. Out of
gratefulness, not guilt.
Look at the person sitting to the left and right and front
and back of you. Look at the children, the grown-ups, the elderly. Imagine the
people who aren’t here. Imagine the future people who will become members of
our church family.
You love them. I love them. It can make me choke up
sometimes to see this family and to sing with them. They love you. They love
me. We all love God. Let’s do this together in love.
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