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The Spirit of Mission The mission experience: what is it? why do I continue coming back to it after more then 30 years? Christian mission is a passage; it is to cross the boundary between faith in Jesus Christ and its absence: To pass from one cultural context to another. This transition supposes a list of functions such as: to proclaim, to witness, to serve, to worship, to nurture, to evangelize. To do this is a real challenge. We do not fly out of our comfortable nests very willingly. We remember the first big mission push of our Church was caused by persecution. Acts tells us that King Herod killed the apostle James and tried the same with Peter. Many first Christians ran to cross the border to get out of danger but carried the faith with them to their new place. During the war in Nicaragua, I asked a lay pastor in one of my 70 mountain communities why he ran and abandoned his church work. He looked quite sad and after a silence said, “por amor de este cuero,” “for love of my hide.” I suppose we also do a lot to save our hide. When we cross borders, we do risk our hide and a lot more. Maybe there is always that anxiety about how we will be received. Mission has to proceed in a way compatible with the intention of Jesus and at the same time respect legitimate claims of persons. People are not blank slates upon whom a passing missioner can write what he or she pleases. Each society of people lives in a cultural heritage and human context all its own. Each culture has seeds of the Word of God implanted by our Divine Creator. What is the Gospel message going to do to help each people grow and flower into their particular manifestation of the likeness of God?
This depends on our mission spirit. How well are we mirroring the spirit of Jesus in us? We are like glass windows. A dirty window will draw its attention to the dirt on the glass. A clean window passes our vision on to the scenery beyond. Would it be that each one of our missions begins when we let the Gospel values shine through our sometimes messed up humanity? On September 11th, you were rudely awakened to the fact that many people are not where we are at. If they are not where we are at, a true Christian missionary spirit spurs us on to do something. It spurs us to go in the spirit of Jesus and seek those who are out there beyond, not to make them like we are, but to offer them a glimpse of Jesus the Lord. How? By pulling out some nice holy picture? Our Lord tells us that through their fruits you will know them. Galatians 5:22 tells us the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patient endurance, kindness, generosity, faith, mildness and chastity. A glimpse of Jesus is to invite them to follow Him, to point in the same direction He was going and to offer to accompany them on the journey. This down-to-earth evangelization we all can do. For more information about connections with Nicaragua...
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