The Mission--January 23, 2020

The Mission--January 23, 2020

[Jesus said:] "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." [John 10:10]

Well, there it is: Jesus' mission statement, of sorts.

Why has Jesus come?  To hear him tell it here in John's Gospel, Jesus has come to bring life in overflowing abundance.  Jesus has come so that we might live fully.

I wonder what would happen if we who live in the communities called "church" thought of our purpose in those terms: what if we said that our reason for existence were "letting Jesus bring life to us and through us"?  

I suggest that because honestly, I think we who care about churchy things often think only in terms of self-preservation, rather than how Jesus would use us so that others "may have life abundantly."  And it shows. Our neighbors can sniff it out.  Self-interest reeks from a mile away, and it doesn't smell pretty.  

And when our logic in churchy circles is reduced to, "How can we get more people to join our church... so that we can keep existing?" or "How can we get more high-giving members?" or "What can we do to get the church into more positions of power and influence and privilege?" the world can tell.  Nobody wants to be invited to church if they can tell they are being viewed simply as a means of keeping the church going.  Nobody wants to belong to a community whose mission is simply, "We're here to keep propping ourselves up."  And nobody wants to be involved in a gathering of people that never looks outside its own doors or walls.  Because--again, to hear Jesus tell it--that ain't what Jesus has come for.

When the conversation among churchy folks is, "How do we get more people... or more money... or more resources... just to keep our own little group going?" we reveal that we aren't in line with Jesus' mission.  Jesus hasn't come to benefit himself.  Jesus hasn't come just to perpetuate his own life.  He has deliberately come to give life to those who need it--and he isn't stingy with it.  The arrows flow out from Jesus, and that means the arrows will flow from Jesus through us and out beyond us to the world around us.

You'll notice, too, that in a way, Jesus' mission statement doesn't sound all that "religious," either.  There's not a mention here of achieving sufficient holiness in people that they will then earn their place in the afterlife. There's not a discussion of creating an institution that will have leverage to influence public policy with its heft as a voting bloc.  There's not any mention of getting people to pray a certain prayer in order to activate Jesus' saving power for them.  There is simply the sentence, "I have come that they may have life... abundantly."  

That tells me anything and everything we do that brings people to fuller life--inside and outside our doors--is a part of Jesus' mission.  When we tell people the news that they are beloved and precious of God and can leave behind the burdens of guilt and shame they have been carrying, that brings people to life.  And when we feed people around tables and actually share conversation with them, treating one another like actual human beings rather than mere objects of our pity, that brings people to life, too.  And when we create space in our church classrooms for homeless families to sleep at night while they get themselves back on their feet, guess what--that brings people to life, too. And when we make room for people who look different from us, or who have been told somewhere along the way that they are unacceptable and unworthy, quite often we discover that their presence among us is Jesus, come to bring you and me to life, too.

All of a sudden, we see that the life Jesus calls us to is so much wider, so much more expansive, than just preserving a religion club for the sake of members who already belong to it.  And that's the great wonder: when we open ourselves up to the bigger vision of "letting Jesus bring life through us to others around us," Jesus simultaneously brings us to a deeper and richer life than we had settled for.

Maybe all that work and effort spent with focus groups and marketing firms crafting catchy slogans and inspiring mission statements can be set aside... if we dare simply to listen to Jesus' mission: I have come to bring life abundantly all around.

I could see myself spending a lifetime doing that.

Lord Jesus, bring us to life and then bring life through us to all.