Mission Sunday
Some of you may have noticed that instead of celebrating the 24th Sunday after Pentecost today, we're celebrating Mission Sunday. I hope you're not too disappointed to be missing the last Sunday of Ordinary time, but today seems like a good time to sit back and reflect on the mission of the church and our our mission as Christians before celebrating our 150th anniversary next week and moving into the Advent season the week after. You probably know that our Diocese has just finished our General Synod, where clergy and lay people gather to discuss the business of our church and exchange thought and opinions about topics pertinent to our Christian witness. The topic of this General Synod was "From Maintenance to Mission" and it dealt with the nature of the mission of the church to the world. I know some of you were there, and I'm sure you agree that there were some interesting and worthwhile sessions. Our leader, Dr. Ian Douglas, an American missiologist (that is, someone whose expertise is in the area of Christian mission) gave us many things to reflect on and talk about, especially considering that fact that many see this as a dark time in the life of the church. One of his most interesting ideas was that idea that the church is not a monolithic, changeless structure, but part of God's ongoing project of salvation in the world, the project of the establishing a right relationship between humanity and God. This project is what we call the church's mission. But that word can be fraught with difficulty.
When we think of the word "mission" especially if we are of a certain age, we might find we associate it with the idea of bringing the Gospel to the heathens, somewhere out in the third world. As Dr Douglas pointed out, there was a time when mission meant that churches supported missionaries financially, sending money to far-off places. These missions had as a goal to create more Christians, Christians that looked very much like us spiritually, worshipped in the same way, had the same values and expressed their sense of relationship with God in a similar way to ours. The task of the people to whom the missionaries were sent was to leave aside their own misguided ways and conform to the ways of the missionaries, the right ways. This was the time of the great project of Christendom, a project which made the assumption that the ways of the industrialized Western world were the only ways that made sense, not only for the people living in that society, but for everyone in the world.
But times have changed. As Dr Douglas pointed out, the traditional church in many areas of the Western world, such as our own, are declining, while the number people calling themselves Christians in other areas of the world such as the Southern Hemisphere, Africa and Asia are increasing, and increasing independent of the Western church. The way they do church is very different from ours. They are no longer dependent on us to tell them what it means to be Christian. They have their own ways which they value every bit as much as we value ours. The model of mission which our Church was so invested, of us giving to them, has become obsolete.
So what do we do now with the mission of the church? If the old model isn't working, what can take its place? What can our church offer to the world now?
One of the things that many people have been exploring is the question of what the fundamental role of the church is. What are we as Christians to do with our faith? What does it mean to be baptized into the body of Christ? To do this, we find we have to look beyond dogma, beyond liturgical practices, beyond conventions of behaviour; we have to look into the most fundamental nature of our relationship with God and with each other.
As Christians, we believe that God is active in the world. This is the world in which Christ was incarnated and where the Holy Spirit works to inspire humans to understand the will of God. It is a place of ongoing re-creation. A place where God is continually calling us into a greater community with God's self. This project of God's work in the world is known as the missio dei –the mission of God. Through Scripture we know that God has a covenant with us and with all creation, one that will not be broken. And God invites us to be part of this mission of reconciliation so that the missio dei becomes the mission of the church and the mission of every Christian. We too can work toward the reconciliation of God and humanity, we can be part of this wonderful project that God has going.
An important thing to remember about this project is that it is not confined to the church. It is not a rigid set of behaviours, not a list of "right" ways of thinking and doing things. It is based on love –love of God and love of neighbour. If we love God and our neighbour we will be part of the missio dei, no matter what kind of church we go to, or even whether or not we are part of a church at all.
Today's Gospel lesson was one of the one's especially chosen for Mission Sunday. The story of the good Samaritan came up many times in our discussions on mission with Dr Douglas during Synod, and I think for good reason.
This is a story of radical care, care that transcends barriers of class, race and social standing. It's a story that turns conventional wisdom on its head. It's not the priest or the Levite that offers care to someone in need, but a Samaritan, an outcast –one is is not well-versed in the ways of the religious elite. This story suggests that it is more important to do the actual work of mercy than to have the trappings of power, yet ignore the needs of others. Who was part of the missio dei in this story? The priest? The Levite? I don't think so...
Well, at this point you might be tempted to tell me: Okay, Karla –let's all leave the church and go out and do good deeds. Why have church at all if we're closer participating in God project while caring for our neighbours? But I don't think that's the answer either. We come together as a community for many reasons: to have some space away from the pressures of our lives in the world, to hear and reflect on the word of God, to share in the Eucharist, to pray or to find a connection to God in music. In our churches, we foster our relationship to God and to each other, and that is a very good thing! But it can't stop there...
I have been doing marriage preparation with couple who plan to be married next year, and I always ask them: Once the wedding is over, what will the project of the marriage be? Because it's wonderful to have a relationship of love and joy and trust with someone, but that relationship is sterile unless it's engaged in a positive way with the world. Many theologians and saints have referred to the church as the bride of Christ, and there are many occasions in scripture where the relationship between God and God's people is seen in terms of a marriage. It's normal in such a relationship to glory in the other; it's natural that our churches worship God and delight to be in a relationship with God. But that's just the wedding. What will the project of our relationship with God be? Are we so focused on the wedding that the marriage becomes less important? How will we live out our vows?
As people baptized into the body of Christ, we are to be in the world, but not a part of the world's project –the missio mundi of monetary power and individual gain. We are part of the missio dei of love and care for others. We come together to encourage and enable each other to go back out into the world, sharing the good news of God's love for God's creation. Our relationship with God doesn't stop in the church; it starts there.
Our Bishop has named 6 marks of mission; you may have heard about them. These are the characteristics of a community which is engaged in the mission of the church. All churches have these characteristics to a greater of lesser extent, and some churches are stronger in some areas than others. They are are all very important to the mission of the church and it is these marks of mission that are being focused on throughout our diocese today in mission Sunday. But one of them, the third one, is, I think, fundamental: to respond to human need by loving service, and the readings for today were chosen to reflect that mark of mission. Responding to human need is how we show love for our neighbour. This is how we witness to the kingdom. It doesn't have to be a big thing, an established project. Even in our everyday lives we are called upon to care for others, even if just with a smile, or an understanding comment. We are witnesses of love and peace makers in our communities. This is a vital part of working within God's missio dei, but it doesn't have to stop there. There is a certain strength in numbers; there are things that we can do together that are difficult to do alone. The church has known that for centuries.
I am proud to be in a church community where coming together to do mission is a concern. Here at the cathedral, we take out role in the missio dei seriously: we do feed the hungry, we do help the homeless and needy. But is our community doing as much as we can? At synod I was so heartened to see some of the exciting things that some of our churches were doing: good work in third world countries, adopting refugee families, working with the disadvantaged in their communities. There are so many opportunities before us to truly be a part of God's work in the world.
We all have a calling as part of our relationship with God to care for our neighbour. Let us listen to that call and hear the voice of the spirit working in us. All it takes is one idea and willing hearts. Or even simpler, we can become part of a project that is already in progress, lending our energy and resources to make the project an even greater success.
As a couple in a marriage find their love for each other grows when they work together on a good and fulfilling project, so will our loving, covenanted relationship with God grow as we work together to foster God's mission in the world. Amen.
