purpose

preamble
(i just noticed that the symbol in blogger for creating a new post is a green cross: .)

i've had many dialogues as of late with kate, jim, wes, sue, and with the beta group. i made some preparatory notes for a meeting with pastor kitson, and i present them here. jim and i didn't discuss everything in my notes. of course we discussed things beyond my notes; i'll try to include some of these as i remember them. i'll probably make this a series of posts.


membership at knox
after the basics 101 course, we were invited to become members of knox, and several of us did so last sunday. i have chosen not to, not yet. i've vowed to give myself a year at knox, a year until easter 2007, a year to wait and see.

wait
wait to prove myself out, because i am often rash and jump into things

see
see what my purpose truly is


my purpose
i came to god, as you may recall from my posts in march, seeking a purpose to the universe and my purpose within it. it's simple:

my purpose is to fulfill god's purpose for me.

god has a general purpose for all of us:
Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

and:
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

within these general purposes i must seek god's purpose for me. becoming a christian is only the beginning. i have so much to learn, and i'm blessed to have a wonderful community at knox midland in which to share that learning:

• learn about god
• learn about my community, church and unchurched
• learn about my family, my friends
• learn about my self

direct purpose or indirect?
so, is it my main purpose to serve god directly through worship and evangelism ( to "love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence" and "Go out and train everyone you meet") where i am explicitly a christian; or is it my main purpose to serve god indirectly through stewardship of god's creation, such as environmentalism, where i am not explicitly a christian. (by explicit i mean that it is made clear to all that everything i do serves god, like calling your business "Born Again Environmental Assessments" rather than "Georgian Bay Environmental Assessments" or making explicit scriptural references in my assessments and reports).

similarly, is it better — better for me — to work for the salvation of souls or is it better for me to work for the salvation of wetlands, if in the salvation of wetlands i am being a steward of god's creation?
God spoke: "Let us make human beings in our image, make them
reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
and every animal that moves on the face of Earth."


to be continued...
next: eco-catastrophe and the new creation