A “Sent” People
Surprise the World #5— Sent
April 14, 2019
Commonwealth Bridge Worship
#5 Sent
Today marks the fifth and final habit of the Surprise the World series. In the past four weeks, we went over four different habits — Bless, Eat, Listen, and Learn — which are universally accepted as “helpful” for our personal growth, professional development, and overall wellness.
For instance, our first habit, “bless” is related to the habit of saying “Thank You” through words, cards, or actions. Randy Pausch, whom you may know by the book The Last Lecture, says this: “Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.” The first habit “bless” is our way of recognizing and naming the humanity within people near us and around us.
The second habit “eat” emphasizes the importance of human connection and relationship. I don’t have to emphasize how important family meals are for the family’s holistic health. It forces the family to eat healthier, builds a sense of belonging which leads to better self-esteem, and, according to a study by the journal Pediatrics, eating together also prevents obesity because people tend to eat less because of all the talking. There’s also a business best-selling book called Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi, which highlights how important networking is for the success of any businesses — and a meal is a spectacular way to build a relationship with someone. So, if you’re eating alone, you are not actually being efficient, but missing out on an opportunity to network for success.
The third habit “listen” is our way of meditation, centering ourselves onto Christ in silence, solitude, and prayers. Forbes magazine recommends meditation as a daily practice, noting that it is a growing trend amongst successful leaders who use it as a way of bringing back focus and thus, improving mind, body, and soul.
The fourth habit “learn” is our way of never stopping to learn. It can be done in a traditional way, which is through reading — gaining knowledge and stimulating creativity. It can be done also in other creative ways, such as listening, watching, or even taking online classes. It is our way of expanding our knowledge and wisdom, bringing progress and growth as a habit into our life.
And today, our last habit is called “sent.” This may sound foreign to you — but what it encourages us to do is something we all consider as one of the most important habits. This something is this: I will journal throughout the week all the ways I witnessed the reign of God through Christ.
What do you mean by the reign of God?
And what does this have to do with the word “sent”?
Let’s look at today’s scripture reading from John 17:6–19 — which is part of Jesus’ prayer before he gets arrested to die on the cross.
Jesus’ Prayer
Today’s passage clarifies again what it means to be Christians. For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to us so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have enteral life (John 3:16). We’ve likely all heard this at one point before in church or from people who go to church. God sent Jesus to us, so that we may receive this gift of love, so that we may be loved; and not just any love, but a kind of love that lasts an eternity.
But what’s more is this: “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (v. 18). Not only do we receive this gift from the one whom God sent, but we also share this gift as people sent into the world, sent into the neighborhood, and sent into the lives of others. This is who we are as Christians, as it is clearly stated in the Greatest Commandment: love God and love neighbors.
We may be very well familiar with the church’s hyper-focus on loving God and loving Jesus, but we are not so impressed with the church’s approach to loving neighbors. We are accustomed to seeing Christians loudly proclaiming Jesus as the sent one, but we are not so sure of Christians demonstrating Christ-like love to their neighbors. We have heard a lot about thoughts and prayers, but we have not seen much actions.
And to be completely honest, not only do I sympathize with this observation, but I also relate to it. After all, I’m one of those Christians. As I shared last week from The Brothers Karamazov, the task of loving neighbors is almost impossible. Because, just as Ivan Karamazov said, we are not gods.
I think Jesus also understood this. In today’s portion of his prayer, Jesus asked three things.[1]
First, he asked for protection for his disciples from the impending danger and hostility. To love neighbors is a dangerous task. Truly loving someone as Christ did require compassion, an ability to suffer together — to be with someone through the thin and the thick. And, often, someone’s suffering is a space that is vulnerable and hostile and takes a lot of toils. In fact, many times, we are not welcomed there, for we do not belong there; and if that’s the case, we may need to respect that thoughtfully, instead of forcing ourselves into that space.
If you have been a caretaker, you know what I’m talking about. It’s extremely difficult and dangerous to enter someone else’s suffering — it drains our spiritual energy, emotional energy, and physical energy. In this context, the idea of self-sacrificial love makes sense, as our hearts literally break for others.
When you spend a significant amount of time sharing someone else’s pain, afterward you feel like part of you has just died. So, what we end up doing is either we withdraw ourselves completely from another’s suffering or we normalize another’s suffering, telling ourselves that it is what it is and there’s nothing much we can do.
Second, Jesus prayed for protection over his disciples from the loss of holiness. This is when we lose touch with God. This is when we lose touch with love. When we are burnt out and when we give up. This is when we reject the truth that we are God’s beloved children. This is when we reject the truth that the Spirit of God resides in us. This is when we reject the truth that there is hope in the risen Christ.
Third, Jesus prayed for protection over unity. “Protect them so that they may be one, as we are one.” In this context, I think the concept of unity is more than our idealistic vision of staying together for the sake of being together. Here, unity is our unity in God and what God is doing. A community that is aligned with God, aligned with the truth, and aligned with God’s mission for the world. I believe this is the oneness Jesus prayed for, the unity exemplified in Jesus’ oneness with the Father (a.k.a., submission, obedience, relationship, communion). It is the kind of oneness symbolized in our breaking the bread and sharing the cup.
God’s Reign & A “Sent” People
Jesus knew how difficult, how dangerous, and how impossible it is to love God and love neighbors. If not, he wouldn’t pray such a prayer where he asks for protection.
We are a sent people. This means that we are people on a mission. This also means that we have someone who approves this mission, who sponsors this mission, who supports this mission, and who backs up this mission. That someone is God. And the manifestation and actualization of this mission is what we call the reign of God.
What does the reign of God look like? What might it look like to live out our call as a sent people? The book Surprise the World gives us four examples (though not necessarily exhaustive) of the reign of God.[2]
- The first image is reconciliation — the restoration of any divine-to-human or human-to-human relationships, whether from brokenness, sourness, or staleness. It is written in 2 Corinthians 5:14, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” When we become the mediator between two enemies, when we seek forgiveness from our old friends, when we help our friends rekindle their relationship with Christ; reconciliation is something we either champion it, describe it, explain it, or advocate it.
- The second image is justice — the betterment of our society, or to make our society right and good in the sight of God. Scripture calls for us to “defend and uphold the dignity and well-being of all persons, especially the poor and powerless.” This is the work of restoration that God desires from us; leading people to a place where their full humanity is restored and reinstated — whether through the abolition of slavery, campaigning for clean water and affordable housing, or advocating for the voiceless in our midst.
- The third image is beauty. Our God is a God of creation. I don’t know if you have experiences like this, but whenever I visit places like Grand Canyon, I feel this awe and wonder of God’s presence. Even the look of a beautiful sky makes me feel this divine grandeur. And it’s not just nature, but also the human-made creations that give us this kind of sense of wonder. Looking over a beautiful skyline, visiting majestic cathedrals, or hearing beautiful music. Our God is a creative God and thus we, who are created in the image of God, exhibits that creativity. The expression of our creativity is also an expression of God’s reign.
- The fourth image is wholeness — the healing of broken people, physical, mentally, and/or spiritually. Bringing healing to the people is one of Jesus’ major ministries described in the Gospel. And so are we to partake in this healing ministry, which in itself is an expression of God’s reign — whether providing emergency relief to victims of natural disasters, treating patients with dignity and grace, or simply visiting our hospitalized friends waiting on their surgeries.
What the fifth habit is suggesting is to journal the glimpse of the reign of God we witness, whether in the expression of reconciliation, justice, beauty, or wholeness. What I encourage us to do — whether on this notebook or on our usual journal platform — is to write down daily our thoughts and reflections on these four images of God’s reign.
We all agree on how important journaling is to understand who we are. It is said that “writing our thoughts down every day helps us sort our mental clutter, be clearer on our ambitions and goals, consolidates what we learn, increases our gratitude, and improves insight and understanding of our life.”[2] And what I’m suggesting is that if we do this in a way that reminds us our daily walk as a sent people, we would have a better sense of how we are partaking in this mission, and our Christian walk of loving God and loving neighbors. This commandment is not a goal we push ourselves to accomplish, but a lifestyle that we live out daily. And journaling will help us stay in course and remind ourselves that we are protected by Jesus’ prayer. Journaling reminds us that we are not a product of mere accomplishments and failures; but that we are a people part of a much larger story, a story of a sent people, a story of a people on a journey.
And just like the four previous habits, this is also a habit I want all of us to foster as a church. We often say how church is not a building, but a people. If we fill ourselves with mere programs and events, that’s when we become a building. But if we fill ourselves with small habits, I believe that’s when we truly become a people who live each and every day as a sent people, joining in Jesus’ ministry to all the world. This is a kind of community we are called to be here at Commonwealth. Let us pray.
[1] William Loader, “First Thoughts on Year B Gospel Passages from the Lectionary,” Bill Loader’s Website.
[2] Michael Frost, Surprise the World.
[3] Dan Silvestre, “7 Good Daily Habits: How to Create an Epic Life,” Daniel Silvestre.
