I was reading Richard J. Foster's "Heart to Heart" letter to his Renovare readers about his response to the events of 9/11/01 and was so impressed with his letter that I decided to include the final page where he tells all of us that we need a New Vision in order to go forward in today's world. So I quote his final page as follows:
"We need a vision that calls all God's people together on the basis of a firm, positive affirmation of the things we have in common rather than a negative listing of our differences.
We need a vision that welcomes the rich diversity of the body of Christ while being absolutely clear on the essentials of Christian life and faith.
We need a vision that understands the difference between things central and things peripheral and that will not confuse the one for the other.
We need a vision that is highly Christocentrica vision centered in a living faith in the living Christ.
We need a vision that does justice to the complexity of the human person in relationship with the infinite-personal God.
We need a vision that brings people into such life-transforming realities that they are indeed taken over by love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and generosity and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control, indeed, all the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
We need a vision in which worship and caring and community life become natural and instinctive.
We need a vision of justice and shalom that can attack evil in all its multifaceted forms, overcoming it with good.
May the year 2002 find you secure in God, in genuine harmony with family and friends, and empowered to walk cheerfully over the earth."
Peace and joy,
Richard J. Foster
Permission is granted to duplicate this letter for free distribution. Any quotations or references to it should give proper credit to RENOVARÉ, 8 Inverness Drive East, Suite 102, Englewood, CO 80112-5624 USA.
I was deeply impressed with Richard Foster's letter and just wanted to share a part of it with my readers. Click on letter for the full text.
That's it for today, 5/13/02
Peace,
Earl J. Prignitz
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