A couple of weeks ago I was leading a doctoral seminar at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. The focus of the seminar was missional spirituality. Though we talked about how a missional perspective (about what God is doing in the world to reconcile humanity to himself and to one another) and how it effects and affects our spirituality, we also spent a significant amount of time talking about the Holy Spirits and the Spirit's presence and activity in the world.
John Taylor talks about the Holy Spirit as the Go-Between God in which he talks about the Spirit as God who goes before us, draws us into relationship with God and with one another, and prepares the hearts and lives of people to have ears to hear and eyes to see the activity and presence of God in the world.
A significant conclusion we came to as a class is that we need to become more aware of where the Spirit of God is in the world. As we live out our daily lives, we are so focused on our agendas, what issues and responsibilities are ours, our schedules, our appointments, our commitments. What we miss in this focus on what we are about or what we need to be doing is that we rarely take the time to see where the Spirit of God is present, what the Spirit of God is up to, the encounters the Spirit of God leads us into.
Two of us had an interesting encounter on the weekend between the first and second week of class. On Saturday I decided to take the transit system into Dallas to see Dealey Plaza and the Sixth Floor museum to reflect on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Afterwords I had some great barbecue at Sonny Bryans. On the way back to SMU I got involved in a conversation with a homeless person. We talked for about half an hour. His name is Robert and he had lost family and home through Katrina. I helped him out. Unbeknownst to me (I found out about this in class Monday), Joe, a pastor from Atlanta taking the class, also went into Dallas, also had an encounter with Robert, also helped him out and took him to lunch at Sonny Bryans. We missed each other by about 30 minutes. Robert gave Joe a different story about getting out of prison, etc. Did we get duped? Probably! Robert seems to have a different story for every occasion. But as we reflected upon it in class, we also concluded both Joe and my encounter with Robert was no coincidence - but something that revealed the activity of the Spirit - for sure in our lives and I am sure in Robert's life as well. If we had another weekend, I am sure Joe and I would have gone together into Dallas, found Robert and rather than confronting him, we were open to being present to him in the way Jesus might.
This brings about something else we talked about in class. Not only do we need to have better vision to see the presence of the Spirit in the world, but how do we respond when we see the Spirit being present in the world? Because the Spirit has taken possession of our lives, are we not at the Spirit's disposal to connect with others to whomever God leads us so that the Spirit of God can "go-between" us so that the other experiences an encounter with God?
I will address this more in another blog.
So the challenge for me (and maybe for you to) is not to live my life so self-absorbed and caught up in my own schedules, but to be open to see where the Spirit is, what the Spirit is doing. To be open to wherever the Spirit may lead me, because maybe, if I am open to the Spirit and I am not too caught up in what I am about, the Spirit just may bring the presence of God to bear into another person's life.
Anyways, this is a challenge I want to always be open to.
Roland
Showing posts with label Missional. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missional. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Re-reading Bosch's Transforming Mission
Over the past six years or so I have been immersing myself in the literature related to God's mission in the world - missio Dei. I have realized that what I read early on in my learning about what it means to be missional might reveal fresh insights as I began rereading these books, articles, etc..
So I am beginning to re-read David J. Bosch's magnum opus Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission in order to gain some fresh insights as I bring years of reflection to insights that began my reflections.
One such insight is expressed through the Foreword. Bosch states, "at its most profound level, its [i.e., mission] purpose is to transform reality around it" (xv).
This idea of mission that transforms reality is deeply rooted in God's mission. God is not just about doing good in the world -- some may question where God is in the face of all that is not good in the world -- but rather, God is about recreation, of making all things new, of reconciling humanity to one another and to God. Mission is not about coercion and enculturalization into a Western perspective, but it is about recreating humanity and recreating the world. As we develop eyes to see what God is doing in the world and give ourselves to participate with God's action in the world, we are in mission -- mission that transforms reality around it.
This is a calling not to try to adjust the way things are, it is a calling to radically represent what it means to be human when we are caught up in the Story and Action of God in making all things new.
This mission is not just a task. This mission is living into a whole other reality that gives birth to life in the midst of all the warring ways of humanity.
So I am beginning to re-read David J. Bosch's magnum opus Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in the Theology of Mission in order to gain some fresh insights as I bring years of reflection to insights that began my reflections.
One such insight is expressed through the Foreword. Bosch states, "at its most profound level, its [i.e., mission] purpose is to transform reality around it" (xv).
This idea of mission that transforms reality is deeply rooted in God's mission. God is not just about doing good in the world -- some may question where God is in the face of all that is not good in the world -- but rather, God is about recreation, of making all things new, of reconciling humanity to one another and to God. Mission is not about coercion and enculturalization into a Western perspective, but it is about recreating humanity and recreating the world. As we develop eyes to see what God is doing in the world and give ourselves to participate with God's action in the world, we are in mission -- mission that transforms reality around it.
This is a calling not to try to adjust the way things are, it is a calling to radically represent what it means to be human when we are caught up in the Story and Action of God in making all things new.
This mission is not just a task. This mission is living into a whole other reality that gives birth to life in the midst of all the warring ways of humanity.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Making Space for the Gospel in the World
Recently I came across an article by Todd Hiestand entitled, The Gospel and the God-Forsaken, which gives focus to the challenge of being missional in the suburbs. He raises a unique distinction for understanding what differentiates missional churches from churches operating within the Christendom paradigm.
It is a distinction between being sent and those that go. Basically, churches that have a mindset of “going” see themselves as separate from the world and in order to share the Gospel they make forays into the world to “do mission” and then retreat “back to the safety of separation” (Hiestand, http://www.allelon.org/articles/article.cfm?id=385). Many of us live out our Christian faith in this way. We interpret Jesus’ command in Matthew 28: 18) of go into the world as making disciples as a command to set everything aside and go, with the result that we charge into the world, only to retreat once again to be refreshed. This cycle of going and retreating keeps us from being not only “of the world,” but it also keeps us from “being in the world” as well.
In many ways this represents a monastic paradigm in which we separate ourselves from the world; even in our reaching out we exude a separateness. And so we wonder why we struggle with making space for the Gospel in the world.
In taking note of how Jesus became one of us and engaged the culture, we see that an incarnational approach calls for us to be in the world. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to be in the world carrying out God’s redemptive mission, so too we as Christ’s community in the world, called to continue in the ministry of Christ, we are a community that is sent into the world, rather than a community that goes into the world. The difference is staggering.
The realization that we are sent is the realization that we have been placed in the world in order to make space for the Gospel. By the way we live, relate to one another, carry out our business, we are sign, foretaste, and demonstration of the presence of God’s rule in the world. As a sent community in the world, we live out an alternate reality to the way the world is used to living.
What might this look like? I propose that we are called to walk among our neighbors – those God has placed us beside in our contexts – to walk with them, alongside of them, supporting and encouraging them in their growth and development as human beings by engaging them in the way Jesus would. We engage our neighbors with the realization that it is not our efforts that make space for the Gospel, but as we are open to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit who sends us as persons and communities to engage our world. We are sent to love the people who we are with in the world as Christ loves them, to seek their well-being, to offer ourselves, as imperfect as we are, to be of use to God so that they might be made whole.
In an attitude of sentness, we make space for the Gospel in the lives of our neighbors, as we make space for them in our lives. As we make room for others in our lives, we do not come to them with our agendas, but we are open to the agenda that God has for us in coming alongside of them in our encounter. As we make room for others in our lives – our lives in being open and yielded to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit has opportunity to touch the lives of our neighbors and draw them to himself. In an attitude of sentness we remain in the world and the Spirit is present in our relationships making space for the Gospel. It is when we go and retreat that we are more apt to grieve the Spirit and create barriers for our neighbors to experience the reality of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.
It is a distinction between being sent and those that go. Basically, churches that have a mindset of “going” see themselves as separate from the world and in order to share the Gospel they make forays into the world to “do mission” and then retreat “back to the safety of separation” (Hiestand, http://www.allelon.org/articles/article.cfm?id=385). Many of us live out our Christian faith in this way. We interpret Jesus’ command in Matthew 28: 18) of go into the world as making disciples as a command to set everything aside and go, with the result that we charge into the world, only to retreat once again to be refreshed. This cycle of going and retreating keeps us from being not only “of the world,” but it also keeps us from “being in the world” as well.
In many ways this represents a monastic paradigm in which we separate ourselves from the world; even in our reaching out we exude a separateness. And so we wonder why we struggle with making space for the Gospel in the world.
In taking note of how Jesus became one of us and engaged the culture, we see that an incarnational approach calls for us to be in the world. Just as Jesus was sent by the Father to be in the world carrying out God’s redemptive mission, so too we as Christ’s community in the world, called to continue in the ministry of Christ, we are a community that is sent into the world, rather than a community that goes into the world. The difference is staggering.
The realization that we are sent is the realization that we have been placed in the world in order to make space for the Gospel. By the way we live, relate to one another, carry out our business, we are sign, foretaste, and demonstration of the presence of God’s rule in the world. As a sent community in the world, we live out an alternate reality to the way the world is used to living.
What might this look like? I propose that we are called to walk among our neighbors – those God has placed us beside in our contexts – to walk with them, alongside of them, supporting and encouraging them in their growth and development as human beings by engaging them in the way Jesus would. We engage our neighbors with the realization that it is not our efforts that make space for the Gospel, but as we are open to discern the leading of the Holy Spirit, it is the Spirit who sends us as persons and communities to engage our world. We are sent to love the people who we are with in the world as Christ loves them, to seek their well-being, to offer ourselves, as imperfect as we are, to be of use to God so that they might be made whole.
In an attitude of sentness, we make space for the Gospel in the lives of our neighbors, as we make space for them in our lives. As we make room for others in our lives, we do not come to them with our agendas, but we are open to the agenda that God has for us in coming alongside of them in our encounter. As we make room for others in our lives – our lives in being open and yielded to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit has opportunity to touch the lives of our neighbors and draw them to himself. In an attitude of sentness we remain in the world and the Spirit is present in our relationships making space for the Gospel. It is when we go and retreat that we are more apt to grieve the Spirit and create barriers for our neighbors to experience the reality of the Gospel in Jesus Christ.
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