We live in a world
where we want things to count. We want that with which we engage to matter, to
be a means of achieving something, to do stuff. That tends to include our understanding
of mission. What is the mission? What is it doing? What are we achieving
through it?
Sometimes I think it
would be so much better if we just saw mission as a matter of being faithful
God. After all, that’s the call – not to be successful, but to be faithful. Mission
is not ours, it’s God’s – and we do well to remember that. We need to accept
that there is a big picture of which we are tiny part.
I like Stefan Paas’s
suggestion that we should see mission as art.
“Rather than using
traditional militaristic or business metaphors, we might think of mission as
creating art. Art radiates beauty and meaning that does not depend on its
possible usefulness. On the contrary; precisely because of its lack of
usefulness, art helps us understand that goodness and beauty are not
necessarily useful in terms of impact or money. Mission might be a work of art.
It is a cause of joy and gratitude; it is a work of free and undemanding love;
it is serving a God who is sheer love and beauty.”
Quote is
from an article "Pilgrims and Priests: Missional Ecclesiology in a Secular
Society" in ANVIL – Journal of Theology and Mission – Church
Missionary Society Vol. 35 Issue 3 - (2019).
No comments:
Post a Comment