The Gift of a Vision, by Ken Baierl

Sunnyside Church received a gift a couple of weeks ago. It was delivered quietly, with little fanfare. The gift was a beautiful vision statement crafted by the Vision Panel – a group of Sunnysiders who didn’t know each other very well at the beginning but who were bound together by a common cause. They listened to God and did their work brilliantly. Now it is our turn, as a congregation, to build on what they have given us.


This summer we have started a Stepping Stones sermon series to reflect on the vision statement and the scriptures that support it. Last week more than 20 people gathered in the Music Room for the first discussion in the series. The conversation revolved around “Together we are called to build bridges of faith” sentence in the vision statement.


This Sunday, Jamie will preach on Genesis 12: 1-9 and Ephesians 1: 1-14 and their link to the vision statement. In reading the scriptures, I was struck by the line from Paul saying “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance…” I feel like I inherited a lot of things from Christ, including Sunnyside Church and all of you. I am grateful for that and want to use that inheritance wisely. Reflection and discussion of the vision statement seems to me like the wise thing to do with my inheritance from Christ this summer. I hope you will join us.


Questions for reflection:
• What is the Vision calling you to become?
• What images used in this Vision are familiar to you? What elements are unfamiliar?
• In what respects does the Vision call us together to greater faith and courage than what is commonly expressed in our congregation?
• What difference do you hope this Vision will make in the life of our congregation?

Musing on a Vision, by Abbe Golden

The Vision Statement has arrived! Now what? Well, we need to read the vision statement over and over, much like kneading dough and letting it rise for the perfect loaf of bread. We need to pray about it, faithfully and honestly, being open to God’s will for Sunnyside and for ourselves. We need to think, discuss, and pray some more.

As I read the vision statement over and over, certain thoughts and images dance through my mind. But for this particular blog post, I would like to concentrate on the image of being called together to build bridges of faith.

We travel over bridges all the time without much thought. But there are some bridges that make us stop and think, and look. For me, that bridge is the Mackinac Bridge connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan.

Metaphorically, what can this bridge made of steel teach us about bulding bridges of faith and relationships?

1. A bridge is a connection overcoming a gap or barrier. What barriers do we need to
overcome to deepen our relationships in our church and our communities?

2. The total length of the Mackinac Bridge is 26,372 feet. How far will we have to
go to make connections, both physically and spiritually.

3. A suspension bridge, like Mackinac, is designed to move to accommodate
changes in wind, weight and temperature. How willing are we to change and accommodate to do God’s will, to push ourselves out of our comfort level, to make connections, to build bridges of fatith.

4. The bridge took 3 and ½ years to build. Sometimes good work, important work takes time. How patient are we willing to be when building bridges?

5. At one time I had the privilege to walk across the Mackinac Bridge. Being on the bridge is very different than viewing it from afar. How involved are we willing to be when building those bridges?


The Mackinac Bridge is an amazing engineering example of a suspension bridge, the third largest in the world and still the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

What bridges of faith are we being called to build and will it make people stop, think, and look?

Questions for Reflection:
• What is this Vision calling you to become?
• What images used in this Vision are familiar to you; What elements are unfamiliar?
• In what respects does this Vision call us together to greater faith and courage than what is commonly expressed in our congregation.
• What difference do you hope this Vision will make in the life of our congregation?

Conversations on Our Common Vision

The Vision Panel has completed thier work on our Guiding Vision Statement (see statement on the right,) and we will spend this summer together reflecting on this statement and how it is calling us as individuals and as a congregation to engage more fully in God's mission in this place.

Please be sure to pick up a copy of the study book for this summer. (or download it here) It includes the Vision Statement as well as each of the scripture passages for the summer preaching series.

We invite you to join in conversation on these scripture passages and the Vision Statement in a variety of ways:

,Each of the Sundays of our study, after worship, you are invited to join us for a time of
feedback and reflection with the Stepping Stones team and your fellowSunnysiders.

,You are also invited to participate in an online conversation on these passages moderated by our Stepping Stones team here on the blog.

,This should be a time of personal reflection for our congregation, as individuals discern a call to greater discipleship through this Vision Statement and scriptural witness. May this resource and time also inform your personal devotion over the summer.

,There will also be cards in the Gathering Place on the Stepping Stones table that will provide space for written reflections and insights related to the Vision Statement and how it speaks to our congregation. Please place them in the box provided on the table as well.