A Taste of Heaven

Most people in Iowa know the phrase, “where there’s a helpful smile in every aisle.”  This is the slogan for the HyVee supermarket that can be seen on everything from their website to name tags and semi-tractor trailers. More importantly it is in the minds of over 70,000 employees who are charged to give friendly service to everyone who walks into their stores.

Lovett Weems has written that “Vision is the invisible leader” (Take the Next Step, Leading Lasting Change in the Church, p. 135). Mission and vision are closely related, but they are different. Mission is the goal of an organization. Vision is the compelling image of what it will look like when the mission is accomplished.

The United Methodist Church has a clear mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. This mission might have been articulated by the General Conference, but it comes from Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20, John 3:17).

The next step of leaders is lifting up a vision of what the fulfillment of the mission will look like in their particular situation. When people can see the destination, they are able to act on their own to help get there. Visions are cast in pictures, not statistics.  They offer people a sense of purpose and direction that touches the heart as much as the mind.

I’ve been trying to discern a vision for our life together as United Methodist churches in Northwest Iowa.  I believe that relationships are everything.  A relationship with God through faith in Jesus is the foundation for our lives. What if our relationships with other people reflected the truth and love that we experience in our relationship with God through Jesus Christ? 

Isn’t it one of the most wonderful things in life to have a relationship with someone where you can be truthful and know that you are still loved? This is the character of God expressed in the Bible and is most clearly seen in Jesus. I believe that God’s Holy Spirit within us can help us experience that kind of truthful and loving relationship with others. When we do, it can feel like a taste of heaven.

So here is a vision of where we are going: People who are growing in their relationship with God so that their relationships with other people offers a taste of heaven. It may seem presumptuous to think that anything we do could be compared to the glories of heaven.  But didn’t Jesus teach us to pray for God’s will to be “done on earth as it is in heaven?”

Can you see it? In our families, our churches, our communities and our world? More than just a helpful smile, relationships that offer a taste of heaven is where I long to go.  Will you come with me?