Moved by ancient wisdom
We did not invent our mission, and our mission is not a new one, rather we received it just like those who have gone before us. We have been moved by God and motivated by his Spirit as we learn from the life stories of those who have taken the journey already. Some of the stories that have shaped our mission are the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Joshua, Deborah and Gideon, Samuel and David, Isaiah and Esther, Peter and James, Priscilla and Aquilla, Paul and John, as well as those who have been shaped by their stories - Ignatius, Augustine, Aquinas, St. Francis, Martin Luther, John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Corrie Ten Boom, Mother Theresa and those who aren't well known, but are living faithful lives devoted to God.
Jesus of course is the climax of the story and the head of our mission today. Both the scriptures and the Church to which Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom, help us to keep faithful to the mission.
Engaging a new renaissance
The Renaissance movement birthed a whole new era of thinking, knowing and perceiving, and in many ways a fresh wave of creativity and invention was birthed. In the same way we have entered a new era in which our understanding is expanding in how we gain knowledge and see reality. We are called to understand our times and engage with the world in which we find ourselves in with great wisdom.
Jesus once said that you cannot pour new wine into old wineskins, because the new wine would not be able to be contained in the old wineskins. New times require new approaches. The good news is that the message of God is such that it can never be contained to a particular people or a specific time, but it is cosmic in nature, meant for all people in all times. We are to learn from the past, engage in the present, and prepare for the future. Our context, the scripture, the spirit and the community of God help us to determine the best way in which we live out the story of God faithfully and effectively.
Working toward a coming Shalom
Shalom is the way in which the prophets talked about a day when all things would be put right again. Those things that have become corrupt and polluted would be re-made in such a way that it would take our breath away. Through imagery and story, their words painted a picture of how things are supposed to be. People would no longer be looked at as tools and property in the hands of the powerful, but as people made in the very image of God. People would not try to build their own kingdoms in which they rule in their own way, but would gladly be a part of the kingdom of God, letting God be God, so that peace would prevail in the world. They pictured a world in which the environment that was originally created good would become freed of the curse. They spoke of a place in which people would genuinely love each other.
Then Jesus came along and said something that is utterly amazing. When his followers asked him how to pray, one of the profound statements he made was that we should actually pray that these things would come about. He said to pray, "May your kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He was telling his followers to pray for the coming shalom, pray that the world would be made right again. That peace and beauty would prevail over violence and corruption. In the same way, Jesus invites us all to become active participants in bringing the hope of the prophets to reality. And though we won't see the fullness of that reality immediately, we can live with great hope that Jesus will finish what he started. Until then, we are to pray and work so that what is true in heaven would be true on earth.
