By Dave Brower
It’s a phrase that appears a number of times in scripture. Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and the disciples are all told to “go!” The theme of being sent within the Bible is a common one. Often times, the people being sent are the ones who are identifying their life with the mission of God.
God is an active God. God is at work in the world. If we are claiming to be God’s people and followers of Christ then we must be people who are willing to “go!” The term “followers” at its core suggests movement. In reading through the gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry we find that he moves throughout the region at a brisk pace with the message: “The kingdom of God has come near!”
As the church we gather together in worship in order to open our eyes and our hearts to a God who is already at work. We do not gather for the sole purpose of anesthetizing our senses to the realities of life. No, instead we gather to heighten our awareness of God at work in those realities. The realities of: broken relationships, chemotherapy, birth, death, community, loneliness, and Facebook.
These are just some of the realities where God is present. In Luke 10, not even halfway through his ministry, Jesus sends out between seventy and seventy-seven (depending on translation) of his disciples into the world with the clothes on their back, a companion, and the message: “the kingdom of God has come near!” This message wasn’t a threat and it wasn’t a scare tactic. Instead, it was the good news of a proactive God and a new understanding of what it meant to be human in light of this news.
Today we hear this same call. We are to “go!” We continue to gather together in worship, week in and week out, but that is not our end-goal. We gather to be sent into a world with the good news of God’s presence.
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