Thought For The Week 7 July 2024

Recently a small team from our congregation got together to work on a ‘mission action experiment’, which is a fancier sounding way of saying we’re experimenting in doing mission in our community. Which really means, we’re ‘having a go’. But our aim is not just to throw darts at the board hoping something will stick. We’re taking the long way around and taking the time to try and catch a glimpse of where God is already at work, so we can join him, rather than    asking God to join us.

As we work through this process we trust God will help us settle on a one-off event for our community, which will play out in the first half of September. When the time comes there will be an opportunity for you to be a part of it and help out if you would like.

Experiments like this mean I’m learning a lot about ‘discernment’ in this season, but our learning doesn’t necessarily make it any easier or the path clearer. As followers of Christ, we are to follow where Jesus is going instead of where we want to go. That is true whether it be in our personal decision-making, or when making decisions that  affect our lives together in community with others. Author Ruth Haley-Barton reminds us that one of the most difficult things we can do is to say “not my will, but yours be done”. Praying a prayer of indifference to anything other than what God may have for us. It’s a scary step. It led Jesus to the Cross, but it also led Peter to Cornelius and Paul around the Mediterranean. It led Esther to confront King Xerxes and Mary to bear and care for the incarnate Christ. When we are brave enough to say “not my will, but yours be done. There’s no telling the places we may find ourselves  journeying with Jesus.

Luke