Logos

This past Sunday we kicked off our new ministry emphasis – Cokes Chapel: A Place for All GOD’s Children. The inspiration comes from 1 John 5:1-2, which challenges us to show how much we love GOD in the ways we love GOD’s children. I read from John 1 in my Sunday message as the gospel proclaims Jesus as the Word of GOD, present at the beginning of creation and active in the re-creation of all of humanity (2 Corinthians 5:17). When we believe in Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Savior of our life, we are given the right to become children of GOD! 

Looking at the word, Word, in the Greek as used in John 1, it is translated, logos. The use of logos in this verse is actually an action word which means, “to tell”. This teaches that Jesus came to tell us about the heart and mind of GOD that wants everyone to know of GOD’s love and desire to be in a saving relationship with all GOD’s children. As part of that message, I also explained how the logos we use (in this case I’m referring to images and artwork) helps us tell our story as United Methodists at Cokes Chapel.

First of all, we use the United Mehodist Church’s cross and flame. This logo was adopted shortly after the merger of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church in 1968 to form The United Methodist Church. It helps us relate to GOD through Christ in the cross and by the power of the Holy Spirit, represented by the flame. The flame is a reminder of Pentecost when witnesses were unified by the Holy Spirit and saw “tongues as of fire” (Acts 2:3). The two tongues of the single flame are also to be understood to represent the union of the two denominations, forming one movement on a mission to share the love of GOD in Jesus Christ.

We also the logo specific to Cokes Chapel that was designed and voted into use by the leadership team in 2010. It is symbolic on several levels: for starters, the overall image is a cross to show that the cross of Christ is at the center of who we are and our purpose as a church. Each cross is made up of an ichthys, or the ancient fish symbol of Christianity, showing that we believe in following Jesus’ call to fish for people. Each individual fish has a different color to represent a specific aspect of the church working together for the overall purpose of making disciples of Jesus here, there, and everywhere. The red is symbolic of the traditional service and the foundation of the merger as Cokes Chapel opened its doors to welcome new friends. The blue is symbolic of the contemporary service and the Lighthouse to shine GOD’s light; the green is symbolic of the church’s ministry to children and youth (since this is where our fertile growth will come); and the yellow is symbolic of our primary ministry to the community with the Childcare Center.

On Sunday, we unveiled the artwork for our All GOD’s Children ministry campaign. This artwork introduces the image of multi-colored children surrounding the world, while incorporating the UMC cross and flame and the Cokes Chapel logo. This image is to remind us of our call and commitment to Jesus’ Great Commission (to go into the world to make disciples) and Jesus’ Great Commandment (to love one another) as we strive to make Cokes Chapel A Place for All GOD’s Children.

My hope and prayer as we move through our All GOD’s Children emphasis is we will be able to commit to heart and memory the vision and mission of our church. The vision is to be A Place for All GOD’s Children and our mission is to make disciples of Jesus here, there, and everywhere. Used together, we see that Cokes Chapel is a place for all GOD’s children, making disciples of Jesus here, there, and everywhere! We will be referencing this a lot in the coming weeks, so please, incorporate this into your prayer and thought patterns, so if you run into someone in the neighborhood, at a store or a restaurant, or anywhere, you can tell them the vision and mission of Cokes Chapel United Methodist Church.

GOD Bless!