We're on a mission from God

I have the remarkable privilege in the next few weeks to spend some time in Kenya, first on a short-term mission to the Anglican Diocese of Taita Taveta and then to a global Anglican conference in Nairobi.  And it makes me think, naturally, of mission.

The only things I remember from the film, The Blues Brothers, are its title, its stars (John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd) and their iconic phrase, "We're on a mission from God."  I did not even remember what the mission was until I looked it up on IMDB this morning - they were trying to save a Catholic orphanage.  Their mission, although not what we classically think of as such - no unreached masses except perhaps Jake and Elwood themselves - but it was connected to the ministry of the Church.  It remind me that mission is a word whose roots are fundamentally Christian. Etymologically is is rooted in the Latin word that means "to send."  From the beginning Christians have sent people out to tell others about God's love and saving work in Jesus Christ.

The word, being a good one, has been taken for use in business and other sectors.  Everybody these days has a mission statement.  It is a distillation, as concise as possible, of what a business or organization is about - what they are trying to accomplish.

So as I go on mission, what am I trying to accomplish?  What is my mission statement?  Frankly, I don't know.  (This approach, by the way, is a recipe for business failure).  But there is a reason I am in the dark on this.  Like Jake and Elwood it is not the classical sort of mission - at least from my perspective.

We (the team of my bishop, two fellow priests and me) are ostensibly in Taita Teveta to preach and teach on God's healing power through Jesus and in the Holy Spirit.  And in that sense it is typical. We are going with something to proclaim.  We are going to give something we have and know.

But here's where it is not.  Paul expresses in his letter to the Colossians exactly what I feel about the East African Church:

We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints.
(Colossians 1:3-4, ESV)

I have heard of the faith of the African Church and particularly of the Anglican Church in Kenya, of which I was for a time a North American missionary priest.  And I am in awe of their faith and courage.      And of the rate at which the Church is growing there.  It puts us in the West to shame.  Would that I had that kind of faith in Jesus Christ.*

So I go on mission feeling that those to whom I am supposed to proclaim something have rather more to proclaim to me.  So I don't really know what I am trying to accomplish.

But here is where we hit something else significant about mission.  MY mission statement is of secondary importance.  Because the mission is God's.  So I go on mission seeking to understand what God is trying to accomplish.  And I have confidence that it is to bring us all into a new or deeper knowledge of Jesus.

Grace and peace,
Alex



* I am reminded, however, that Jesus tells us that we need faith only the size of a mustard seed (Luke 17:5-6)