i realize that i don't think much about flowers. i rarely consider lilies, and when i do i'm not even really clear as to what it is i'm considering- i don't know what a lily is. luckily, that's not the point. the lily is a symbol that Jesus used in his familiar sermon on the mount to remind us that God takes care of that which is surrendered to his glory…
and fortunately, flowers have remained surrendered. they've never fallen in with rebels, never bought into lies about their identity, never fought against God’s established order of things, never brought death into the world…
no, we did that, and continue to participate in it.
disconnection took place and all that was meant to be was relegated to all that is now… in short, the world fell into disrepair, largely because we, in our desire for dominion and autonomy, took on more than we could handle by our own fallen natural means…
this has always bugged God.
and God has been saying within earshot of those writing his words down, since just after the beginning, "O, that they would be my people and I would be their God…I just want my people back."
this is God, creator of the universe, sovereign over all, confessing the desire of his heart-
his missio dei.
so if God’s mission is to reconcile that which was lost to him in death through death itself- the death and resurrection of Christ- then what is our mission, as those called out of darkness into new light and life, as part of that of The Plan?
the leadership of the church that i have been called to shepherd, has articulated its mission as
To be a missional-minded church of growing worshipers who befriend the spiritually disconnected in Regina and beyond.
but what does Missional even mean?
alan hirsch, in his amazing book Forgotten Ways puts it this way:
A missional church is a church that defines itself, and organizes its life around, its real purpose as an agent of God's mission to the world. In other words, the church's true and authentic organizing principle is mission. When the church is in mission, it is the true church. The church itself is not only a product of that mission but is obligated and destined to extend it by whatever means possible.
(http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Ways-Reactivating-Missional-Church/dp/1587431645)
perhaps that's what Jesus in foretelling in Acts 1.8 when he says with some of his final words on earth, that the Holy Spirit of God would come upon people, driving them beyond their own inward gazing and the self-concerned spirituality to something that would be the delivery system of God's hope of the nations, even to the ends of the earth.
missional guru, lesslie newbiggin, describes missio ekklesia, the mission of the church as:
the church's obedient participation in that action of the Spirit by which the confession of Jesus as Lord becomes the authentic confession of every people, each in its own tongue.
but how do we as a people, as a family, as ‘agents on God’s mission' actively participate in the realization of God’s redemption dream?
in the classic pink floyd tune, Us and Them, roger waters makes some observations about conflict and injustice that are poignant:
Us, and them
And after all we're only ordinary men.
Me, and you.
God only knows it's noz what we would choose to do.
Forward he cried from the rear
and the front rank died.
And the general sat and the lines on the map
moved from side to side.
Black and blue
And who knows which is which and who is who.
Up and down.
But in the end it's only round and round.
Haven't you heard it's a battle of words
The poster bearer cried.
Listen son, said the man with the gun
There's room for you inside.
Down and out
It can't be helped but there's a lot of it about.
With, without.
And who'll deny it's what the fighting's all about?
Out of the way, it's a busy day
I've got things on my mind.
For the want of the price of tea and a slice
The old man died.
it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that in an earlier breakout session of the same retreat that records Christ's words about considering lilies, he spoke quite directly to injustice and to the missio dei:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. (matthew 5.9)
if we want to be part of the missio dei, we need to bring peace, sowing seeds of hope and justice in our community, our country and our world and then tending to these seeds. we are the hands of the gardener- we are how God intends to raise up new flowers from the rubble of a rebellion that is several millennia old.
perhaps this begins with tweeking our mission statement so that it reads to be a missional church rather than to be a missional-minded church.
there is often too great a chasm between thinking and being.
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