Vision is a picture of a preferred future.
This Easter season we’ve been looking at Vision and how it forms our perspective. Our perspective impacts the way we see the world. Our ability to be a good parent, a good boss, a good son or daughter, will only be as good as our perspective.
If we can’t see it right, then we can’t live it right. The Resurrection gives us the right perspective on the future. Jesus rose from the dead. He took what appeared to be utter failure – his death on the cross and turned it into the greatest victory ever.
We need to see life through the lens of the resurrection. If Jesus can conquer the grave and we share in that victory, then no failure is ever final. We can live with hope knowing if God raised to life his dead Son, he can do anything.
Internally, we have been calling this Easter message series Vision “3” because it is the third time we have returned to the topic in the last few years. “Vision” is the name we gave to our Capital Campaign to build a new church, which we launched in 2014, originally raising $8m. That was a wonderful amount pledged, but to get started on the project we had in mind we needed more. So, we eventually hosted Vision “2” in the Spring of 2015, which included a wider circle of support and brought our total pledges closer to $10m. By this time last year we found ourselves around $12m, which gave us enough confidence to break ground and begin construction.
Now with the end in sight (September 2017) we find ourselves at over $13.5m in pledges, our total budget standing firm at $15m.
Vision “3” is about closing that gap and bringing this whole project to completion with no debt. Specifically, this coming weekend is “Commitment Weekend” and the final time we’ll be asking everyone to commit to our campaign:
- If you originally committed to a two or three year pledge, we’re looking for one more year.
- If you haven’t yet committed, we’re inviting you to join us at this time.
This is not the launch of a new campaign — we’re just landing the plane of the campaign we began three years ago.
To complete this building project debt free will be an incredible testimony to the faith commitment of this parish.
That’s the way we began this whole project three years ago – looking at the campaign from a faith perspective: the perspective of God’s vision for our parish.
