Just when I think I can’t squeeze one more word out of this week’s tiny Gospel passage, another one pops up: Sent. It is implied in what Jesus says about people welcoming those who come in his name as prophets and righteous folks, that they are sent, as he was sent.
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
What does it mean to be sent? Messengers are sent, ambassadors are sent, representatives are sent, teams are sent out on the field, troops sent to war, ambulances sent to accident sites… To be sent means to be deployed for a specific purpose. Most often in life our being sent bears some relation to our skills or connections.
Jesus sent his disciples to proclaim Good News of God’s activity in the world, to announce freedom to the poor and those in captivity, to love the outcast into community, to heal the sick and raise the dead. Those are still the reasons he sends his followers out. Do you feel sent to any particular place or people? Where do your skills and connections and passions point you?
I feel a call to forge relationships with people who don’t look or think like me. I’m not sure I can say “sent” yet, for I don’t really know where to start, and coping with Covid is taking a lot of my personal bandwidth. But today I will chair an inaugural meeting of an interfaith coalition to connect faith communities in my county. That's a start. As the Spirit leads me, I pray the sending will become more clear.
That's the thing with God - the One who sends also leads and equips us. Unlike a courier who goes out and reports back, apostles of Jesus Christ get to carry his presence and power as we go. It takes off some of the pressure, if we can allow the Spirit to do the work and stop taking it on ourselves.
When have you felt sent by God, short or long-term?
What inner urges are you discerning – or trying to push down?
Where would you like to be sent? Where are you afraid to be sent?
Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They come through our own desires, sometimes, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it really clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. (Talk to my friend Martha Hoffmann sometime about how God blitzed her with references to Uganda, leading to an incredibly fruitful ministry there.) We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, it will only be fruitful as we are aware of going with God, not for God.
And wherever we are sent by God, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.
Being sent starts, like everything in the Christian life, with relationship. We strengthen our relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit so that we can better understand God's prompts. They come through our own desires, sometimes, or through discerning a need or a lack. Sometimes God makes it really clear through dreams and “coincidences” that cannot finally be denied. (Talk to my friend Martha Hoffmann sometime about how God blitzed her with references to Uganda, leading to an incredibly fruitful ministry there.) We can check with others if a calling seems really odd or risky – and if we go forward, it will only be fruitful as we are aware of going with God, not for God.
And wherever we are sent by God, when we get there, we find God there too. Funny how that works.
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