On Sunday, February 24th, we continued our conversation about living into our new vision statement that was presented at this year’s annual meeting.
This vision is a vision of a worshiping community that knows Jesus and grows in love. A community united in relationships of holy connection and communion. A community growing with people of every age, race, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic situation, and political persuasion. A community inspired by our understanding of why we are Christian, why we are Episcopalian, why Redeemer matters to us. A community sent into the world, rooted and grounded in love, to serve all people with humility, compassion, and faithfulness.
As your new associate for Mission and Liturgy, I facilitated an Adult Forum on Sunday that looked at the root of mission and the specific call of the laity to serve God as one body.
I did this by illustrating how learning to do mission is a lot like learning to swim: scary and confusing at first, against our impulse, but amazingly freeing and fun with practice and perseverance.
On page 855 of The Book of Common Prayer, you will find some questions and answers in our Outline of the Faith that helped to guide our discussion on Sunday.
Q. What is the mission of the Church?
A. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.
Q. How does the Church pursue its mission?
A. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love.
Q. Through whom does the Church carry out its mission?
A. The church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.
The specifics of your mission are found under the ministry of the laity.
Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
Notice, that our mission is not to rest in the comforts of our worldly possessions or hide our eyes from the needs of the world or live in fear.
No, our mission is to restore all people to unity with God in Christ, at all times and in all places.
As an exercise of honesty, we listed out on a large piece of white paper, on one side, known needs in our community, and on the other side, gifts and talents that we can share with others. Here is what you all came up with:
Gifts
Hospitality
Financial Health
Compassion
Leadership Skills
Passion for Justice
Privilege
Partnerships
Resources
Reconciliation
Energy
Needs
Diversity awareness
Educational access
Ending the prison pipeline
Food insecurity
Mental health services
Isolation
Homelessness
Racial injustice
Marriage support
Social Justice
Reclaiming our identity as apostles and missionaries for Christ makes it possible to bridge the gap between the needs of this world and the abundance of grace and mercy available to all.
Learning to be a Christian is a lot like learning to swim, it’s scary at first, but once we learn how to breathe and how to move swiftly underwater, we will find that the pain we endure in practice is well worth the exhilarating feeling of weightlessness we get when we cast our burdens on God and run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
As we continue to become the community that God calls us to be, I hope that you will consider mission an essential part of being united, inspired, growing in love, and being sent; for this is our mission and vision.
I think you’re ready for your mission, so suit up, and dive in!
In Peace,
The Rev. Melanie W. J. Slane
