The Relational Mission

"We are not here to entice you into our religion by benefits allegedly found only in it. We are here to introduce you to the true God, for whatever he can do with you—which may well be suffering and oppression." —Philip Melanchthon I read this quote a few days ago and I've not been able to shake it. It's actually haunted me a bit. Even though Melanchton, a contemporary of and collaborator with Martin Luther, spoke these words almost 500 years ago, they are a prophetic challenge to us today. I think about how many books and sermons and Christian TV programs speak to how we can have a better life if we follow Jesus. I've reflected on how I've shared Jesus with unbelievers and tried to entice them to follow Jesus with benefits. The problem is that the focus on the benefits gets in the way of the relationship. I'm not saying that there are not benefits to following Jesus. I was a depressed, friendless mess before I made myself vulnerable to the love of God...

"One dark night, fired with love's urgent longings —ah, the sheer grace!— I went out unseen, my house being now all stilled." These words comprise the opening stanza of The Dark Night by Saint John of the Cross. For years, I've heard about the experience of the dark night of the soul. And I've tried my best to avoid the dark night experience and this book because I had no desire for anything that looked like a dark night. I guess that's because I associated "dark night" with depression and I went through that once and I don't ever want to go back there. However, the dark night experience is a bit different. In describing this stanza, John commented "The soul speaks of the way it followed in its departure from love of both self and all things. Through a method of true mortification, it died to all these things and to itself. It did this so as to reach the sweet and delightful life of love of God." I've come about a dark nig...

Out of our pain, while we are still being healed ourselves, we become a conduit of healing for others. We love even in our since of being unlovely. We offer grace, when we are still trying to know grace ourselves. We pray even when we have questions about the effectiveness of our prayers. We sit with others in their darkness when we feel that we have more darkness. We lead others when we are unsure of where we are leading. This flies in the face of so many unrealistic expectation of what great spiritual leaders must be. The mystery is found in the fact that God works through our weakness, not only in spite of weakness. The ministry of God is God's ministry not ours. Hence, we minister our of brokenness, not out of self-sufficiency. Here is a reflection by Henri Nouwen from his great book The Wounded Healer : "In the middle of our convulsive world men and women raise their voices time and again to announce with incredible boldness that we are waiting for a Liberator. We...

On a scale of 1 to 10, ten being high, how true do you think this statement is? "Churches, for example, ask members to affirm certain religious beliefs and the mission those beliefs imply. But rarely are churches intentional about naming—let alone asking members to commit themselves to—the relational norms and practices that would sup- port their beliefs and mission. As a result, the relationships within many churches are shaped more by the norms of secular culture than by those of the religious tradition." —Parker Palmer What do you think needs to be done to make this better?