One of my favorite movies is City Slickers. If you dont know the movie, City Slickers is the story of three friends who are bored with their yuppie work-a-day lives. In order to spice up their daily grind, they keep going on extreme vacations - even deciding to take a trip to Spain to run with the bulls in Pamplona. After one of them gets gored in the rear end, they look for something a little less dangerous and decide to join a cattle drive that will take them from New Mexico to Colorado. One of the three friends, Mitch, has a loving wife, a decent job, two wonderful kids, and is in a real funk. He has all the pieces of a fulfilling life, but they dont add up to anything that approaches fulfillment. While on the cattle drive, Mitch has a conversation with Curly the trail boss. Curly is a crusty wind-blown cowboy. In addition to keeping drunken cow hands under control and knowing what a cow is going to do just by looking at it, Curly is also a philosopher, a spiritual guide of sorts. Mitch tells Curly about his boring life and about the purpose that keeps eluding him. After listening with a mixture of bemusement and contempt, Curly tells Mitch that he knows the secret to life. Mitch asks what it is and Curly holds up one finger. Mitch says, "The secret to life is your finger?" "No," says Curly, "one thing." "What is that one thing?" asks Mitch. "Youll have to figure that out for yourself," comes the reply. And so Mitch spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out what that one thing is - what is his bliss, his center, his purpose.

The movie City Slickers rings true for so many of us because we all are looking for the purpose of our lives. We spend enormous amounts of time and energy trying to figure it out - and sometimes, we actually do. Sometimes it comes to us only for a fleeting moment, we see our purpose out of our peripheral vision and we know it is there - for some of us, that can be enough to help us redirect our efforts and our energy. Sometimes we discover our purpose in strong and distilled moments, in a rush of understanding, like holding your newborn child for the first time and knowing that your life will never be the same; or holding the hands of your beloved, looking into her eyes and saying, "I do." Sometimes the strands of our lives are woven together in such a way that the whole texture of our life makes sense. It is as if the stars align and a whole new pattern emerges. And when we cant discover that one thing, when our lifes purpose eludes us, we often turn to counselors who with great skill and gentle leading can help us discover and discern what our lives are about. All of these are important occasions in our lives as we grow to maturity, as we seek that "one thing."

This quest to know the meaning of our lives, to discover our purpose, to know that "one thing" also is part of our collective life as the church. Like our own lives, we often dont think about our purpose as the church because we are busy living it. Or perhaps we didnt know that there was anything else - we are so accustomed to what we know we didnt suspect that there were new ways to see things, new ways to feel things - we didnt suspect that there were new ways to live. But there are times, profound times, when the church again actively seeks that "one thing." Often, perhaps usually, maybe even always, that quest is spurred by a disruption. I recently heard that the advent of the modern fire department has had a greater impact on the way that churches live into the future than any other phenomenon. In previous generations, fire used to level churches with alarming frequency. And what did a church do when it burned down? It had to decide where to rebuild, how to rebuild, and even if to rebuild. And those questions beg larger questions: Why would we rebuild? What is our mission? What is our purpose? What is our "one thing"? When this church had a fire in 1979, it did not result in a change of address, but some of those questions, no doubt, lurked in the background. A change in pastoral leadership is also the occasion for asking these questions. Even the rotation of elders and deacons on their respective boards can promote such thinking. This quest, these questions in search of the churchs purpose can also be driven by external factors. This is certainly the case for us now as we rise to meet new challenges in the 21st Century. How do we minister in the midst of a changing society that no longer views the church as a meaningful and relevant institution. People are no less spiritual than in previous times; in fact, this may be one of the most spiritual generations in a long time. But while the populace professes great spiritual curiosity and interest, it has mostly rejected the church and other formal religious institutions. This societal shift is no less profound than the church burning down - and those questions about our "one thing" keep rising to surface.

So what is Trinitys "one thing"? What is our mission, our center, our purpose? We spend a lot of time looking for it. Over the past decade or so (actually beginning formally in 1992 when Trinity embarked on a long - range planning process), we have engaged in numerous vision and mission and core value exercises, always asking ourselves, what is God calling us to? Each of these exercises has been valuable and each has helped us move closer to an answer. But the discovery of our purpose, the recognition of that "one thing", as Mitch in City Slickers found out, doesnt come just by talking about it and thinking about it. In order to rediscover what is most important to us, we must get out of ourselves. Talking and thinking are essential, but they alone will not get us there. So how do we get out of ourselves? Are we obligated to go on a two week cattle drive chasing stray dogies, living through stampedes, and enduring driving rain? Not really - it wouldnt be practical to do that, nor is it necessary to leave our own place. Rather we move forward with our eyes open to Gods leading and Gods surprises. This is certainly what we did with our response to Hurricane Katrina this past year. A week before the hurricane hit, we didnt imagine we would be engaged any relief effort let alone one so massive. A day before, we knew it would be a hard time for New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, but didnt anticipate the devastation. And in the weeks afterward, we planned, dreamed, implemented, changed directions, prayed, and planned and implemented some more. Whole new ministries emerged, new relationships within the congregation and with the community were forged. It was no less thrilling than Mitchs wild ride in the river trying to rescue his adopted baby calf. And in that process we learned a lot, not only about cooking red beans and rice and gathering health kits, but about reaching out and engaging in successful ministry, and who God is calling us to be. In that process we gained new insights about our mission, about our purpose.

But as it turns out, the church isnt wholly dependent on figuring this out its purpose by itself. For we, to belabor the metaphor, ride with a trail boss who not only puts his finger in the air and invites us to discover our center, our purpose for ourselves. No, we walk with a savior who is our center, and who in love for us and for all the world commissions us to live with him and for him. In giving us the Great Commission, Jesus tells us what our "one thing" is. The Great Commission is at the very heart of our ministry - indeed, it is our ministry. This is our one thing. We are to go into all the world (no modesty here!) and make disciples of all nations. We are commissioned to baptize and teach. It is interesting, we often think of church as the place where that we go to, where we are baptized and where we are taught. In this mindset, the "one thing" of the church is to provide services to all who come. But in the Great Commission, Jesus turns that one thing around: the church is the place from which we are sent, so that we might baptize others and teach others. Not that having a place to gather, for baptism and teaching is a problem - indeed, they are essential to us if we are to be authentically and confidently sent. Jesus never sends us out without the proper equipment; but finally, our one thing, our purpose, our calling, is not in here, but out there.

Now, for Presbyterians, I have just wandered into touchy territory - for I am now referring to the E-word - evangelism. We get scared about evangelism - and rightly so. We see so many bad and even harmful forms of what others call evangelism. Threats of hell, cultural imperialism, self-righteousness and self-justification are all too often the coin of the realm when it comes to evangelizing. We, as Gods disciples, do not want to be pushy, or arrogant or rude, not in the name of the God of love and mercy. But that is not what Jesus is asking us to do - there is nothing in his life to suggest that that is authentic evangelism. There is nothing in Jesus ministry that suggests that we first have to tear people down in order to build them up. And thats just the point: the evangelism that we are called to live every day is not aggressive or intolerant; rather it is invitational and loving. We are called to share the good news of life in Jesus Christ as we would share our excitement about a new movie or a restaurant or exhibition at the Art Museum. We share out of our abundance of joy for the Lord and our love for others. If others choose not to respond, choose not to come to church, choose not to learn more, we dont chalk them up as having a one way ticket to hell. Who made us God? Our calling by God is to be messengers of a good news that has come to all the people. And we do that when we extend hospitality at our Red Beans & Rice Caf, when we feed the hungry through our Food Pantry, when we go on mission trips, not only to share Jesus, but to meet Jesus, when we worship, and pray and offer our praise. These are all different ministries, but they are all same part of the same ministry, of the same mission, of our purpose and our calling, of our one thing: to go into the world and share the good news of Jesus Christ.

Recognizing this as our first calling, as our "one thing", the Session of this church has committed us to a new emphasis in ministry, an emphasis called equipping ministry. We are moving into this new emphasis, not because someone said it would spice things up or will make us grow (although I am confident that both of those will happen). We are taking on this new emphasis because it will help us more effectively and more faithfully live out our first calling: to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world. If we are going to go out and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them so that they can go out and do the same, we need to be equipped for this ministry. We need the training, the teaching, the encouragement, the relationships that will propel us forward and help us share the good news with compassion and effectiveness - and this is true whether we are feeding people, sharing our faith story with people, welcoming people, or whatever.

And Jesus reminds us, that finally, in him, we are also equipped for this - for he does not sit at the ranch and tell us what to do, he goes with us on the trail, he teaches us, forgives us, encourages us, and loves us - not just today, not just tomorrow, but to the close of the age. As we move into this coming year, into Gods amazing grace-filled future, we do so, not alone, or unequipped, but in the company of one another and in the company of our Lord and Savior. In him we are never alone. In him, we are never unequipped. In him, we find our purpose, our calling, our one thing, and we find that, not only today, not only tomorrow, but even to the close of the age.