2 Corinthians 10:1-18
When we think of the word missionary, what does it bring to mind?
To me, most often, it brings to mind this narrative of someone leaving their homeland and venturing off to the inner recesses of some jungle or desert, taking something that someone else presumably needs.
We take clean water to those who don't have it. We take medical supplies to those who have none. We take food to the homeless.
Then, there are the rest of us - the ones who pay the missionaries to go off and do God's work.
Growing up in the Southern Baptist tradition, there was this offering called Lottie Moon. I never knew much about it except that it was this fund that went out to missionaries all around the world who were doing mission work. They were doing all the stuff that Jesus did. They were feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and taking care of the orphans and widows. There was always this distance created between me and the actual mission. The only thing that could possibly connect it was the money that would go into the offering plate. Other than that, these brave souls were distant heroes in far-away lands who were doing work that I could only dream of doing.
We dream of Africa. We dream of being like Bono. We dream of traveling to these distant lands and exotic places to help make the world a better place. I've been on my share of mission trips, and the hype that I've experienced around visiting foreign places and helping foreign people has revolved more around the exoticism of where I'm going and who I'll be with. The people are exotic and different, and it intrigues me to be around them. The people are so different from me that they need to be brought up to my level. There culture is irrelevant and outdated, their beliefs too extreme or lacking, their lifestyles too impoverished, and I need to help them.
I've always wondered why so much emphasis growing up was placed on going somewhere else to do mission work. Was there some sort of unwritten rule that said missionaries had to go to other countries or cultures?
While going to other countries to do mission work is really important, I believe it's even more important to not forget the missions going on where we are already planted. I've said and I've heard so many people say things like, "I just don't know what my purpose is. I just don't know what God's will is for me." We create these grandiose schemes about journeying to distant lands, or creating more churches, or converting masses of people to our belief systems. Yet, something's off just a little bit.
If we were to step back and take a look at our schedules, and write down where we spend our most time, most of us would write down our jobs as number one on the list. We spend way more time with our coworkers and bosses than we spend with our families and friends. Yet, our minds convince us that our missions are out there, our purposes somewhere else.
I'm giving a pep talk to myself right now because I really need it, but if anyone else finds any truth in this, then even better. Wherever we are is where we are on mission. Wherever we spend the most time is the mission field.
This philosophy puts a new spin on mission. It takes the whole idea, and instead of wrapping it around these grandiose ideas of exoticism, it puts the mission right where we find ourselves spending the most time. The mission becomes less about who, and becomes more about what and how.
While all our "missions" may look different, we all have the ability to love the people we spend the most time with. I so often think that I have to create these grandiose schemes to get people to believe a certain way or subscribe to a certain way of life, but really it's about the simplicity of loving and sharing life. The mission is loving in ways that are possibly countercultural, counter-consumeristic, and counter-corporational. The kind of love we have to share flies in the face of the latest beaurocratic system, pyramid scheme, and chain of command. The mission stays the same whether we're in Africa working to bring clean water, or at Target managing a store. It's the rules that change.
We are paid missionaries, and we are given a set of rules to follow by the donors - or, employers. We have to wear certain things, do certain things, and say certain things. The rules come with the territory. Yet, we are undercover lovers. We play the game the way we're told, but underneath the layer of rule following, we are extravagantly gracious and forgiving. We are compassionate. We care about our coworkers, and even about our bosses. We even care about our presidents and CEO's, because, after all they are human just like us. Underneath the rule following, we find ourselves on mission to share life with each other, sharing our struggles and our successes, learning how to help each other out and listen.
We are all paid missionaries. Our donors are our bosses, presidents, and CEO's. They are paying for our mission work. They are funding our missions. Just don't get out of line with the rules, because the mission may end abruptly.
Today's Action: Follow the rules of the game. Love radically and covertly.
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