Hello, friends of mine,
Last week was the most extraordinary week. Admittedly, I approached the week with cautious optimism, as we were gathering a new group of mission leaders to journey together over two years in a Leadership Development process. It had been months of challenging organisation, various knock-backs and a level of admin that had worn me down. Was I ready? Were they? But when we came together, something sacred happened. A sense of holy communion burst forth.
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Monthly Musings: Ready
On the first day, a rag-tag group began to arrive from several countries around the Pacific, North America, Asia, and from across Australia. Many of them were weary, empty, spent, some arriving with eyes wide, guarded and contained. They came to grow as leaders within a mission context, but first, they needed to just be – be with God their loving Father, be with Christ their true Saviour, be with God their active Spirit. Yes, He is with them always, but there is something renewing about soaking in His presence with holy leisure. As
writes in, “…when Jesus is put back at the center, everything else soon falls in line…No longer disjointed and fractured.”1 For this group, they needed the gift of time set aside to bring renewal, readjustment, refining.And there is something precious about being with a community of His people who were desperately orientating themselves in the same direction as they were – God-wards. They came as a disparate constellation, spread out, not yet connected. They left as community. We, the facilitators, came to minister to them. We, too, left as community.
So, what happened?
This stretch of days was marinated in worship, in the Word, in prayer. It was embroidered with story, with vulnerability and communal, multi-cultural learning. And in the background, there sat an eager readiness - to engage, to grow, to become the mission leaders God was asking them - us - to be. “A teacher comes, they say, when you are ready.”2 And so it seemed with this group. They were ready, with upturned hands, waiting to see what God, our best teacher, would do.
There was something particularly precious about the multi-cultural mix of our group. Perhaps it was this readiness, but for what? It was as if a global family reunion was taking place, although some did not yet know that we were, actually, related. But with Father as the head of the family, we are. With Christ as the head of the church, we are. With the Spirit as the active Uniter, we are. Because we belong to Him, we belong to each other. For us, it was a gift so exquisite, it caused us to pause.
It reminds me of the spread of colourful seashells we often spot along the seashore. So, too, we gathered a collection of cultures, of nuanced stories, of ways of viewing and understanding the world, bringing them together for a short time as a gift to each other. Mission leaders serving throughout the world, but needing each other. Better because of each other.
Pictures: Shoreham Beach, Victoria
A Ghanaian Uncle shared his cross-cultural wisdom, explaining it like this. It was as though, at this gathering of leaders, we opened up space. Citizen or refugee, all were welcome. Minority or majority voice, all were invited to listen, to speak, to learn together. For those who were used to not having a voice, not being invited to speak, we intentionally, consistently invited them to do so, again and again. To those used to rejection, we ensured welcome. Their voices were wanted, needed. We learnt to attune our ears to the God of all and to each other. We listened to the Word, as our greatest most consistent authority, but we also honoured each other by listening to and learning from our brother, our sister, our friend. We bent our ears to the subtleties and ambiguities that culture at times brings. We paid attention to the oblique. We ministered to each other. Our various cultural heritages complimented each other, enriched each other in and through each session, each conversation. We sang in harmony, both literally and metaphorically. Our skin colours created a seashell mosaic, a patchwork quilt – beauty in the various hues. And it was good.
We came on that first day as a collection of individuals. We left the following week as those who had walked the beach together, collecting shells of various colours and patterns, shapes and sizes, aware of the gift we held. Many came ready - ready for God’s deep work of renewal or transformation. We left ready - ready to enter into God-at-work-in-the-world in fresh, more profound ways that continue to orientate us and others towards God revealed in Jesus.
Book News: Instagram
If you’re on Instagram and looking for book ideas, check out - SPCK Publishing (@spck_publishing). They publish NT or Tom Wright’s books, which are always a bit of a fav for me. I can’t wait to read On Earth as in Heaven!
On another note… I’ve received several endorsements so far, with a range of others promised. People are kind! It’s both scary and wonderful, continuing the theme of vulnerability for this year. Please keep praying that this process will be Spirit-led.
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants (Milkwood Editions, 2013), 222.
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