For Further Reflection and Discussion
- Author Steve Veazey writes about his use of “poised” in Doctrine and Covenants 164:9a, which focuses on fulfilling God’s ultimate vision for the church. Talk about times in your discipleship when you have felt “poised” as an individual or congregation.
- Section 164 also addresses our “natural fear of spiritual and relational transformation.” Why are people scared of such change?
- How can we, as a faith movement, overcome such fears? What will be lost if we don’t?
- Reread the statement by Daniel L. Migliore in the story. It holds the Christian church to a higher standard. Do we reflect this higher standard in our everyday lives? How?
- In many places, President Veazey refers to elements found in the Enduring Principles. What Enduring Principles do you see reflected here? How are they pertinent to change?
- President Veazey quotes a story about a Hasidic rabbi and the love a young disciple holds for him. What does this story tell us about the nature of complete love? How does that relate to becoming “part of a new creation”?
- How does the Enduring Principle of grace and generosity relate to spiritual and relational transformation?
- At the end of the story, President Veazey notes that we stand at a “pivotal place.” What will we risk if don’t make clear choices?
—Greg Clark
Integrated Communication
Poised to Fulfill God’s Vision
by Stephen M. Veazey
Community of Christ president
Herald, March 2011
Beloved children of the Restoration, your continuing faith adventure with God has been divinely led, eventful, challenging, and sometimes surprising to you. By the grace of God, you are poised to fulfill God’s ultimate vision for the church.
—Doctrine and Covenants 164:9a
When I finished writing what became Doctrine and Covenants 164, I thought paragraph 8 was the conclusion. After completing it, I paused to “rest” with God in quiet reflection.
Being with God in that way provided an opportunity for more words of blessing to emerge. A heightened sense arose of divine expectation about the “readiness” of the church to respond to God’s full vision for it.
I searched for the right word to capture the meaning of what I was experiencing. The word “ready,” though descriptive, was not sufficient. The phrase “on the edge” was in the right direction but could be misunderstood. Then, the word “poised” caught my attention.
Yes, “poised” seemed right. I looked up “poised” in my dictionary. Poised means ready, prepared, perched, primed, and “in position” to do something.
When I was in high school I played (American) football. My coach suggested I run track to stay in shape in the off-season.
My track coach approached me one day and said, “Veazey, we don’t have anyone to run the low hurdles. What about you?” With enthusiasm I said, “Sure coach, I’ll give it a try!”
My first attempt was less than impressive. Over the next months I studied the proper technique. I visualized what I needed to do. I practiced every chance I got.
Eventually, the day of my first track meet arrived. When my race was called, I walked to the assigned lane and put my feet in the blocks. I placed my hands just behind the starting line and waited.
The starter bellowed, “Ready!” I rose into a crouched position. The starter shouted, “Set.” Every muscle became tight. My heart rate rose. Adrenaline surged. Mind and body became singularly focused.
In that moment between “set” and “go,” I was “poised!” Poised is when sense of purpose and preparation meets opportunity. There was no way I wasn’t going to run the race! Unless, of course, in that pivotal moment between “set” and “go” my confidence or desire failed, and I stepped back.
Paragraph 9a describes the church as being “poised” to fulfill God’s ultimate vision for it. All that has been—especially the more-challenging and surprising parts of our faith journey—happened to prepare us for opportunities ahead.
What could keep us from responding?
When your willingness to live in sacred community as Christ’s new creation exceeds your natural fear of spiritual and relational transformation, you will become who you are called to be. The rise of Zion the beautiful, the peaceful reign of Christ, awaits your wholehearted response to the call to make and steadfastly hold to God’s covenant of peace in Jesus Christ.
—Doctrine and Covenants 164:9b
When “willingness to live in sacred community as Christ’s new creation” exceeds our “natural fear of relational and spiritual transformation” the church will leap into the future God envisions.
The phrase “sacred community as Christ’s new creation” refers to the vision presented in paragraph 5 of Section 164:
…when you are truly baptized into Christ you become part of a new creation. By taking on the life and mind of Christ, you increasingly view yourselves and others from a changed perspective. Former ways of defining people by economic status, social class, sex, gender, or ethnicity no longer are primary. Through the gospel of Christ a new community of tolerance, reconciliation, unity in diversity, and love is being born as a visible sign of the coming reign of God.
Is this paragraph impractical idealism or wishful thinking? If so, we are in good company. Paragraph 5 focuses on the vision of Christian community found throughout the New Testament as expressed in Galatians 3:27–29 NRSV:
As many of you as were (are) baptized in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
This passage recalls a confessional statement made at baptismal services in the early Christian church. Baptismal candidates publically committed to living in a new community of equal standing before God and with others, centered in Christ’s love.
The church will move into God’s future when our willingness to live the meaning of baptism as communities of oneness in Christ overtakes our reluctance to change how we view others. Our natural instinct is to label, stereotype, and even fear others based on perceived human differences. These predispositions reside so deeply in our minds, it is extremely difficult to recognize them, much less change them.
However, God in Christ has brought into human experience the spiritual power to recognize, reconcile, and transform these differences. As we live the meaning of baptism in Christ, walls of separation and hostility break down. (Read Ephesians 2:11–22.) Through baptism we are incorporated into a covenant community where the peace of Jesus Christ redefines our relationships.
Baptism is the sacrament of human solidarity in Christ with each other, and especially with those who are different, strange, and even frightening to us…
Baptism creates a solidarity that defies and shatters the divisions and barriers that sinful human beings have created. Racism, sexism, and other ideologies of separation are doubly reprehensible when they exist within or are supported by the Christian church, since they are a denial of the solidarity that is God’s intention for human life…
—Daniel L. Migliore,
Faith Seeking Understanding, p. 294
Living God’s covenant of peace in Christ, while difficult, is transformative.
This covenant entails sacramental living that respects and reveals God’s presence and reconciling activity in creation. It requires whole-life stewardship dedicated to expanding the church’s restoring ministries, especially those devoted to asserting the worth of persons, protecting the sacredness of creation, and relieving physical and spiritual suffering.
—Doctrine and Covenants 164: 9c
Living the covenant of peace is much more than holding right beliefs or just attending church. It involves righteous, grace-filled living that is “sacramental.”
Sacramental living reveals the sacredness of creation and God’s vision of peace. It highlights the reconciling and healing activity of God wherever it occurs.
Living the covenant of peace takes initiative to “assert the worth of persons.” This is more than simply accepting human worth. It involves ministries that stress the inherent worth of others while stopping discriminatory attitudes and systems that degrade people. It relieves human suffering where possible so people can experience more of their worth and giftedness as God intends.
Doctrine and Covenants 164:9d connects God’s covenant of peace with living “the concerns and passion of Christ.” The following story helps us understand:
Here is the story of a Hasidic rabbi, renowned for his piety. He was unexpectedly confronted one day by one of his devoted youthful disciples. In a burst of feeling, the young disciple exclaimed, “My master, I love you!” The ancient teacher looked up from his books and asked his fervent disciple, “Do you know what hurts me, my son?”
The young man was puzzled. Composing himself, he stuttered, “I don’t understand your question, Rabbi. I am trying to tell you how much you mean to me, and you confuse me with irrelevant questions.”
“My question is neither confusing nor irrelevant,” rejoined the rabbi, “For if you do not know what hurts me, how can you truly love me?”
—Madeleine L ’Engle in Walking on Water, quoted
in Spiritual Literacy by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, p. 427
Ideally, as disciples we come to know Jesus Christ in such an intimate way that we clearly sense his greatest wishes and wounds. The word “passion” can mean fervor or zeal. In the scriptural sense, it also means “suffering.”
So, what hurts the One we claim to love the most? Is it when we rebuild the walls of hostility that he sacrificed his life to tear down? Is it when we ignore our baptismal covenant and choose to hide the sacredness of our lives and others? Is it when we ostracize others in the name of Christ without truly knowing the extent of Christ’s love? Is it when we could be generous, but we withhold?
Whenever I reflect on the “concerns and passion of Christ,” I ponder an image of Jesus gazing over the city of Jerusalem and weeping. Grieving over the lack of human responsiveness to his message, he said, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace” (Luke 19:41)!
If we truly are growing as disciples of Jesus Christ we will live his passion for peace. The “things that make for peace” will be our highest priorities.
It is not easy to be community in Christ, living the meaning of God’s covenant of peace. According to paragraph 9e, “The challenges and opportunities are momentous.”
We stand at a pivotal place in the history of our faith community with a crucial question to answer:
Will you remain hesitant in the shadow of your fears, insecurities, and competing loyalties? Or will you move forward in the light of your divinely instilled call and vision?
—Doctrine and Covenants 164:9e
God always allows us freedom to choose. However, if “the mission of Jesus Christ is what matters most for the journey ahead” (Doctrine and Covenants 164:9f), the answer should be clear.