A story was told about a church in Atlanta called Church of God Grill. When the owner was asked how the restaurant had been given such an unusual name, he said: “Well, we had a little mission down here, and we started selling chicken dinners after church on Sunday to help pay the bills. Well, people liked the chicken, and we did such a good business, that eventually we cut back on the church service. After a while we just closed down the church altogether and kept on serving the chicken dinners! We kept the name we started with, and that’s Church of God Grill.” Being a church wasn’t their main thing anymore. Being a restaurant was.
Two weeks ago, on the Feast of the Ascension, we heard Mark tell us the same message as Matthew does today. “Go and make disciples of all nations…” That is the Church’s mission. That is our mission. The easiest thing in the world is to lose sight of that mission. This command was the last command Jesus gave to the chosen disciples and to us, after His resurrection and just before He ascended to heaven.
The Message this week is a very simple one: We should always be aware of what our true mission is. As we may have heard before, the main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. Remember the Mission and don’t get lost in the details.
Let’s discuss this as a family:
* How do you experience God’s love in your family?
* How do you share God’s love in your family?
* What are some things you can do together to stay focused on our mission as Christians: to love one another?