PLANKS IN THE PLATFORM

Our major political parties have recently convened and emerged with their platforms which are made of “planks” – that is to say, their core issues and actions. These planks are, in turn, expressed in “talking points” in order for the party be unified and stay “on message”

Please forgive my political metaphor - Jesus was no politician – but Jesus did have planks, a platform and talking points to help us stay on message. This platform is expressed in Luke 4:18-20

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

There are four planks from this scripture for us to emulate at Central Christian Church to help us stay “on message” the first of which is “to proclaim good news”. Our mission and ministry is always to keep the good news of God’s transforming God’s love central to all that we do. Simple message – awesome outcomes for those who accept it. If we only had one plank this would be it. There is, however, a second plank – “to proclaim liberty and to set free the oppressed”. The good news of God’s love empowers us to break free from all that enslaves us and sets us free. The third plank - recovery of sight for the blind. God’s love is so expansive, liberating and empowering it miraculously opens our eyes to hope, dreams and vision! And the fourth plank - to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor – because of God’s sacrificial love we all have found favor with God.

This is our platform, our four planks, our four talking points that keeps us “on message”.

There is however, one more element in our platform that without it our planks will be just deadwood. Here it is in Jesus’ preamble “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me”. It was my honor last Sunday to receive the “anointing”, i.e. official acceptance by The Central Board as pastor of Central Christian Church. It is my prayer, as your pastor, in all that we do, regardless of platforms, planks and talking points that we be people anointed by his Spirit. At every worship at Central the words of this hymn should always be subliminal to our platform:

“There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place and I know it’s the Spirit of the Lord.”