What does it mean to be Missional ?

The term missional is an adjective that describes the fact that a church totally aligns itself with the missio Dei ( the mission of God). Christ Jesus prayed to the Father, “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world,” (John 17.18). This truth reveals that the church is to be missional, on mission, acting as “sent ones” in this world. The church is formed to continue the mission that began in the heart of the Father, was seen in the life of the Son, and is to continue in the Spirit empowered endeavors of the church. The basic premise of the missional church is that “missions” is not an organization or program of a church. Missions constitute the very essence or nature of the church.

This blog will be dedicated to leading all of us who engage in this conversation to find ways to be missional in New Orleans or where God has placed us. I will publish suggestions for missional activites on a regular basis as well as food for thought that is designed to make us become missional. It is my hope that my thoughts and suggestions will serve as a motivation for all of us to be about missio Dei .

Monday, July 28, 2014

Paradox

All that is hidden and all that is plain I have come to know through Wisdom. Within her is a spirit that is intelligent, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, dependable, unperturbed, all seeing…. She pervades and permeates all things, she is the untarnished mirror of God’s active power. She is one, and makes all things new, and in each generation passes into holy souls. — Wisdom 7:21-27

The history of spirituality tells us that we must learn to accept paradoxes, or we will never truly love anything, or see it correctly. (Normal thought would say you are either human or divine, but you can’t imagine being both until you meet Jesus!) Seeming contradictions are not impediments to the spiritual life, they are an integral part of it. They don’t encourage you to abandon your critical faculties, but to sharpen them. Please trust me on that.

The above passage personifying Wisdom (Sophia), is an insightful description of how one sees things paradoxically and contemplatively. Interestingly enough, Scripture calls this subtle seeing “she,” which in a patriarchal culture is a way of saying “alternative.” Alan Watts says that the loss of paradoxical thinking is the great blindness of our civilization, which is what many of us believe happened when we repressed the feminine side of our lives as the inferior side. It was a loss of subtlety, discrimination, and capacity for complementarity.

Each of us must learn to live with paradox, or we cannot live peacefully or happily even a single day of our lives. In fact, we must even learn to love paradox, or we will never be wise, forgiving, or possess the patience of good relationships. “Untarnished mirrors,” as Wisdom says, receive the whole picture, which is always the darkness, the light, and the subtle shadings of light that make shape, form, color, and texture beautiful. You cannot see in total light or total darkness. You must have variances of light to see.

Richard Rhor
Adapted from The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See

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