Greetings friends. It\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve shared any writing. A heartfelt thank you to those who have gently encouraged me to write! It brings out the best in me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just over a year ago, my diocese received a new bishop. From the get-go, he has indicated a desire for our diocese \u201cto pivot from maintenance to mission.\u201d We began by extending that invitation to our priests, but are about to expand it to everyone in the diocese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you hear the word \u201cmission,\u201d what first enters you mind?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I find, both for myself and for others, our thoughts immediately race into tasks that we do<\/em><\/strong>. Historically, we recall the perilous voyages and arduous labors of Saint Paul or Saint Francis Xavier. In our present-day context, we think of all the problems needing fixing and how we can accomplish more. We form a task list and begin checking off boxes. We set measurable goals and objectives to ensure that we don\u2019t \u201cfail\u201d in our mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s easy to miss the deeper truth: \u201cmission\u201d is a way of being, and we are already assured of victory. Mission begins with our shared identity in Christ, who is \u201cfrom the Father\u201d while abiding in perfect union with the Father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Nicene Creed, these truths flash like fireworks. This very month, we celebrate the 1700th<\/sup> anniversary of the closing deliberations of the great Council of Nicea, which promulgated the first draft of the Creed we profess every Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus Christ is \u201cbegotten, not made.\u201d He is eternally in a relationship of equality with his Father, even though he is \u201cfrom\u201d the Father. He was not produced or achieved by the Father. He and his Father are one, in a relationship of mutual delight. The Holy Spirit is<\/u><\/strong> that eternal bond of love, that shared delight, that shared glory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bishops at Nicea borrowed philosophical terms like \u201cconsubstantial\u201d (in Greek, homoousios<\/em>) in order to express with greater precision what was always there in the Gospels. The bishop Arius and his followers were outraged at this new terminology, insisting that Jesus could not be from the Father unless \u201cthere was once when he was not.\u201d They were not thinking of God as an abiding relationship. They were thinking in terms of before and after, greater than and less than.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Arian heresy actually gained momentum following the Council of Nicea. Five decades later, Saint Jerome lamented the situation: \u201cThe whole world groaned, and was astonished to find itself Arian.\u201d In 381, the bishops of the Church convened again, this time in Constantinople. They expanded the wording of the Creed, now drawing from the brilliant contributions of Gregory Nazianzen, Basil the Great, and Gregory of Nyssa \u2013 all of whom understood God as an eternal relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s hard for us humans to imagine what eternal relationship is like. Even if God never created us or any universe at all, God would be just as good and just as great. \u201cGod is love\u201d even without any creatures to love. And Jesus is eternally sent forth. \u201cMission\u201d is his way of being in relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMission\u201d literally means \u201csending forth.\u201d When we live in a state of felt threat and felt scarcity, we gravitate to a militaristic understanding of mission: important or powerful individuals send forth less important ones, who achieve objectives under obedience to orders. It\u2019s a partial truth that obscures the larger reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Indeed, heresy causes the most damage when it is almost true. It\u2019s more seductive that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the fullness of time, the Father actually does send his Son on a rescue mission. Jesus enters this occupied world in stealth, born in an obscure town in the dead of night. Only social outcasts like the shepherds witness his birth. He lives a hidden life in Nazareth for three decades. But when he is baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit, and audibly claimed as the Father\u2019s beloved, the devil is clearly concerned. He tempts Jesus in the desert. He probes Jesus throughout the Gospels, seeking to unravel the identity of this divinely anointed man. Like Sauron in Lord of the Rings<\/em>, the devil cannot fathom God\u2019s actual plan. He cannot envision the eternal Son of God emptying himself and willingly sharing in all the suffering of every human. So the devil sadistically delights in the darkness of Good Friday, realizing \u2013 too late \u2013 that his kingdom has been overthrown and the human race has been rescued by the blood of the Lamb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, Jesus obediently \u201cdoes\u201d these things as one who is sent on a rescue mission. But as Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) reminds us in his Eucharistic hymn (Verbum Supernum Prodiens<\/em>), Jesus enters his Passion without ever leaving the Father\u2019s bosom. Any earthly \u201cdoing\u201d of Jesus flows from his secure identity as the eternally begotten Son of God. His mission is primarily his way of being, how he relates to the Father, how he relates to us, and how he invites us into relationship. Being \u201con mission\u201d means abiding in abundant connection, which overflows into fruitful self-giving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know this core truth, but I so easily forget. I get sucked into survival mode and familiar feelings of scarcity. I feel the expectations from without and from within. I feel that old and familiar fear of failure \u2013 beneath which is an even deeper fear that no one will love me. It\u2019s so easy in those moments to feel the suffocating pressure of \u201cI don\u2019t have time for that!\u201d Then I flop back and forth between a pressurized doing and mindless escaping, neglecting what matters most, what would actually bring my relationships alive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Writing is not what matters most for me, but it is truly good for me. It connects me with my emotions and needs, opening my imagination and childlike playfulness. It helps me abide. In this renewal project, I will bring more joy and creativity to my labors if I allow myself to abide and receive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Part of the problem is that we in the West have been swimming in toxic waters for at least 500 years. The misguided exaltation of doing over being has become so normalized that we barely notice it. Little by little, it has infected not only our cultures but our churches as well, alluring us with its seductive power while robbing us of joy and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Gospel is indeed liberating \u201cGood News.\u201d As my bishop once preached, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t depend on you \u2013 and it never has.\u201d We get to share in the fullness of Christ, who always shares in the fullness of his Father. Secure in that love, we go into the world as Christ did, not with fear of failure or grasping for power, but with full confidence in the unshakable Love of the Kingdom. Mission is a way of being.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greetings friends. It\u2019s been a long time since I\u2019ve shared any writing. A heartfelt thank you to those who have gently encouraged me to write! It brings out the best in me. Just over a year ago, my diocese received a new bishop. From the get-go, he has indicated a desire for our diocese \u201cto … <\/p>\n