Two community meetings in one week — both with an unnoticed but prophetic tone.
The first was a meeting of a regional group called DAWN — Drug and Alcohol Wellness Network. The group is attempting to get local communities to stem the destruction of drug and alcohol in their respective areas.
The team has worked on various general directions and now is into strategies. As we are now talking about initiating local committees, a theme is and will emerge.
Unless you have a champion(s) to lead the charge, the hill will never be taken.
We’ve seen that in our town. Two leaders are emerging. Without that central coordination the effort would have died a few months ago. Without that driving force our community would still be lounging in indifference. Without that personal contact person(s) the facelessness would have made the effort impersonal and merely professional. Instead, though the effort is slow, there is progress.
The second was a meeting of youth and youth leaders with our town leadership. The forum was an opportunity for youth to express their thoughts — particularly as it pertains to what our town should do for youth.
Out of the meeting arose a common theme — we need a coordinator who knows what is going on in various youth areas around the town. A coordinator who can motivate the various agencies to work collaboratively together. A coordinator who carries the concern for youth deep in their bones. Not someone just hired to do a job, not someone just hired to manage, not someone just hired to fill out the administrative chart.
A few weeks ago, the arts, culture and heritage section of the town said the same thing. “We need a coordinator.”
Now, not to turn this into a matter of semantics, but each group was asking for a Messiah. Someone to serve as the leader, the coordinator, the facilitator.
Years ago, people were in the same mood. They saw a possibility in a man called Jesus. They enlisted him. He agreed that they needed, and that they had a Messiah in him. He just had a different job description than the one they had tucked away in their minds.
As he rolled out His job description in stark words over one short week, one of his own closest disciples turned on him. Those who had always been opposed to him, thinking previously about what they should do to him, now began to ask how they could eliminate him — kill him.
At the end of the week, the people upheld their need for a Messiah.
If he couldn’t fulfil their expectations, the best idea was to shelve him and look for another Messiah. One week was long enough to figure that out. “Crucify him” was a logical next step towards finding that next Messiah.
For those who stood with him, even though not sure of the final outcome, the Messiah began to infiltrate their whole being — some immediately, others little by little.
Their lives began to take on a mirror image of the Messiah. Their lives began to reflect Messiah to their communities. They became little Messiah’s wherever they walked and talked.
Everyone is looking for a Messiah.