This week is the fourth week of Discipleship Month. As we go through each week, perhaps it becoming clearer that these Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations are being explored in a specific order. We are first welcomed into the family of God (and thus endeavour to show radical hospitality to the stranger); we then offer our worship to God (and God blesses us with heart-warming moments along the way); we then learn more about who God is and what God has done for us (in order to better abide in Christ); this week we look at shifting our gaze from the sanctuary to the world, as we focus on Risk-Taking Mission.

We often think of mission in two extremes. First, that God tells us to save, feed, clothe, rescue the whole world; and second, that God tells us to give God all the problems of the world, in prayer. I recently came across this short poem online (with no attribution) that offers a different perspective:

I was hungry…
And you formed humanities groups to discuss my hunger.

I was imprisoned…
And you crept off quietly to your church and prayed for my release.

I was naked…
And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick…
And you knelt and thanked God for your health.

I was homeless…
And you preached to me of the spiritual shelter of the love of God.

I was lonely…
And you left me alone to pray for me.

You seem so holy, so close to God…
But I am still hungry… and lonely… and cold…

I wonder then, if God’s missional call on our lives is to do simple acts with tremendous love. Consider the old story of the boy throwing the starfish back into the sea, responding to the old man’s cynicism with: “I made a different to that one.” And, consider Paul’s words: “if I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:3)

Friends, the mission of God is absolutely about taking risks, about pushing ourselves beyond our comfort zones, about making small differences in the lives of people in such different circumstances to our own. But our actions, our money, our time, our sacrifices mean nothing without love.