The Biblical Perspective

The Church is Organized for Mission

Most people think of Pentecost as the birthday of the Church because they think of Pentecost as the day when the Spirit was given. That's from Acts of the Apostles; Acts 2:1-4 where once the Apostles received the Spirit, they spoke in diffferent tounges "as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim." But John's Gospel has the Spirit being given at Jesus post-resurrection appearence to the disiciples when Thomas was not present; Jn 20:19-21. Here Jesus says, "As the father has sent me, I am sending you." At either birth of the Church, whether it is the Apostles or the disciples, the mission is given and the power to carry out the mission (the Spirit) is given.

The Mission is Evangelization

The mission given the Church is clear in the Great Commission of Mt 28:16-20; "go and make disciples".

The Method is Love

The best explanation of the "how" comes from the journey narrative in Luke's Gospel. It extends from the end of Chptr 9 to Chptr 19 and seems to include final preparation of the disciples and OJT training. There are two times when he sends people out, the Apostles first, then the 72.

Their job is to prepare the way for the Lord in the towns and villages where he will visit Lk 9:52 & 10:1. Notice that John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord by preaching a baptism of repentence while the 72 are told "Whatever town you enter and they welcome you, eat what is set before you, cure the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God is at hand for you.’" Lk 10:8-9.

It appears to me that the method involves three things; 1. Develop relationships (stay & eat what is set befor you), 2. Heal what needs healing, and 3. Proclaim God's kingdom of peace and love. In short; love, love, love.

Living the Mission Today

Where are we being sent to prepare the way of the Lord?

For me, that's easy... I simply think that we are being sent to wherever life has lead us. For some of us that is marriage & family. For others it might be a particular career, workplace, school or neighborhood... or, maybe even the local fitness center.

What method are we to use in the 21st Century?

Again, that's easy... do relationship, heal what needs to be healed and proclaim the kingdom. But how?

For example, in our families we should be paying attention to relationship. We should constantly be working on developing true intimacy with our spouse. But for some people that is too hard so, instead, we work out a way of living in the house without true relationship.

We should be constantly working on our relationship with our children also. And, as with our spouses, it has to be true Christian relationship. It can't be based upon power even though as parents we must maintain our authority. It too must involve intimacy. And, remember, intimacy isn't sexuality. It's the ability for two people to be whom they are in the presence of the other and be affirmed in who they are; faults and all. That doesn't mean accepting faults but it does mean not condemning the other because of their faults.

ASIDE: It is only through practicing intimacy with our children that they will learn what true intimacy is. It will give them the ability to do authentic relationship and when it is appropriate to express their intimacy sexually with their marriage partner the will be able to experience the fullness of sexuality.

If we work on relationship, we will become aware of the other's need for healing and will be able to bring God's healing love to the situation. Remember that Christian love is "concern for the good of (the growth of) the other". As Pope John Paul II expressed it, "Authentic love does not say: "I long for you as a good" but "I long for your good," "I long for that which is good for you." (Love & Responsibility Ignatius Press, 1993. 83-84) It is authentic love that calls us beyond all that we need to be healed of. With authentic love we can offer God's healing to the other. For some people, that is too hard so authentic love is replaced with power plays, manipulation, withholding of self, etc. and the sickness gets sicker.

If we enter into relationship with authentic love, healing occurs and people recognize that we are different; that, in itself, is proclamation of God's kingdom of love & peace.

But remember, we can't enter into relationships of authentic love without Jesus as our guide because it is God's love that is authentic love. It seems to me that, if we can visualize our relationships as part of the mission of preparing the way of the Lord, then we will let go of all self interests and let the Spirit guide us through authentic relationship and the Lord, who is love, will be brought into the relationship. The more we do that - in our personal live, in our work live and in our corporate lives - the more we enter into the mission of the Church.

Problems along the Way

It's Counter-cultural

Most of our culture is busy preparing the way for corporate America. It's a survival thing. Our economy is built on capitalism and the owners of capital are the owners of corporations. Without a healty economy, and the return on investment it produces, our country dies.

One reason we have difficulty with immigrants is, as my brother pointed out, "for us to help them means that we have to give up something". We give up jobs for our own people, we give up services, we give up safety, etc. But, our Lord trained the disciples to develope relationship with people, heal what needs healing and proclaim his kingdom of peace and love.

I don't want to get into a discussion on the issue of immigration. I just want to point out that the Lord never said "protect", he said "give". I want to point out that preparing the way for corporate America is, oftentimes, different from preparing the way for the Lord. We need to recognize that tension because as disciples we live in the midst of it. If we don't feel the tension we have to ask ourselves if we are really disciples.