"In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."
     Acts 2:17

How often do we find ourselves micromanaging the details of our daily lives and ministries without stopping to absorb the vision for them? How often do we find ourselves operating, as Parker Palmer describes it, as "functional atheists?"

Wesley Frensdorff was the Episcopal Bishop of Nevada about twenty years ago. His parents were immigrants from Denmark during World War II. Frensdorff's father was a good Danish Lutheran. His mother was Jewish. Folks today continue to talk about Bishop Frensdorff's charismatic leadership on behalf of his diocese so filled with tiny, isolated, and impoverished parishes. Some time after the bishop's death, Charles R. Wilson (a personal friend) found a handwritten vision statement entitled "The Dream of Bishop Wesley Frensdorff" amid boxes of memoirs. I am pleased to share with you a few portions from this God-inspired vision that was passed on to me at a recent pastors' conference:

"Let us dream of a church in which all members know simply and surely God's great love, and each is certain that in the divine heart we are all known by name; in which Jesus is every Word, our window into the Father's heart; the sign of God's hope and design for all human kind; in which the Spirit is not a party symbol, but wind and fire in everyone; gracing the church with a kaleidoscope of gifts and constant renewal for all.

"Let us dream of a church so salty and so yeasty that it really would be missed if no longer around; where there is wild sowing of seeds and much rejoicing when they take root; but little concern for success, comparative statistics, growth or even survival; a church so evangelical that its worship, its quality of caring, its eagerness to reach out to those in need cannot be contained.

"Let us dream of a people called to recognize all the absurdities in ourselves and in one another, including the absurdity that is LOVE; serious about the call and its mission, but not very much about ourselves; who, in the company of our Clown Redeemer can dance and sing and laugh and cry in worship, in ministry and even in conflict."

Lord, be our vision. Draw us today beyond our micromanaged lives and ministries. Take us to the horizon of hope where we can see your vision of life amid death, life over death, and ultimately life after death. Amen

Contributed by Pastor Dan
Published Monday February 10, 2003
Week 10 of Liturgical Year B