Mission and Movement

I’ve been reading through the Gospels again and was struck, once more, by the last verses in the 1st chapter of John.  It’s such a wonderful and symbolic picture of discipleship for me.

The lamb of God is identified by John the Baptist as being present in the world, the Father has inaugurated His son’s ministry by declaring that He is pleased with Jesus (isn’t that interesting that all of Jesus’ distinct mission and ministry flows from a place of the Father being well pleased in His Son…it begins there, but Jesus doesn’t just camp out basking in that presence, He then follows, obeys, and is directed by the King)…and then two young disciples of John get REALLY curious about Jesus…they go as far as to trail after him and then go further by asking him where He is staying.  I take that to be an amazing moment. It’s like, for the first time in human history (and the History of God) in many ways, folks want to be around God and to know what He’s about…Jesus does an interesting thing…it’s a profound statement, “Come and see”.

My feeling about that statement is that it is so invitational…come and see what I’m about…come and take part in the activities I am doing…come and participate in the Mission that I’m engaged with…or not…
There’s a risk there.  There’s a moment, just like in every moment that Jesus initiates with would be disciples, where they are able to choose to be about other things besides the Way of living he proposes…Some folks went back to lives of sin, some folks went back to ordinary lives of subsistence and “being”, and some went back to worshipful lives of observing God…but only a few (we are told) did as these two men did that day…followed in the footsteps of the Rabbi and were caught up in his dust. The truth is that Jesus always makes the offer, but he never chases them down.  He lays out the decision to join him in his mission but he never conscripts or drafts…simply invites…

Being an evangelical seems to extend beyond agreeing with some theological tenets, in many ways it reminds me of Catholics who never practice but always identify themselves as Catholic…it’s a bias they’re never able to shake…it’s their culture…it’s in them…and I wonder how much it is just IN many of us.  It simple effects us regardless of how far we’ve distanced ourselves from the dogmas it holds.

One aspect of evangelicalism is this idea of “come to us”.  It demands of sinners and it demands of God, “bring them to us”.  Having shaken the extreme notion of needing to convert every person I see, I can’t help but think that we still fall into the notion of “this is my life…God comes to me and brings me His will…”  It’s a safe place to be, that’s for certain.  It’s wonderfully comforting. And maybe that’s what is needed for many folks. Safety.  Their lives are too convoluted and confusing as it is…why add un-security in spirituality?

But of course…there’s always a risk isn’t there?

And though all are called, a few will choose to take the invitation of a lonely Rabbi who has no place to lay His head…they will venture out with him as he has compassion on the multitudes, touches the lepers, eats with sinners, and spends the majority of his time with the spiritually AND SOCIALLY ill.  They will actually lose their own lives…materially, socially, and spiritually in order to take on His radical new Way of living.  “Come and see…”

“The starting point for mission is a missional God who is active in the world.  God invites us and beckons us to join his mission.  So in this sense, we join in with what God is doing rather than ‘taking God with us’…God is already working in the world.  Our role is to discover where and then to stand alongside God.  Many evangelicals believe they are taking God to the world and into their daily lives…I do not like the dualsim associated with that kind of theology.  God leads and we follow as we can.  We find that God is planting and we water it…I don’t take God in with me but find God where he is and then join him.”