Isaiah 64:1-4, 8-11
John 1:6-8, 19-28

I learned something about myself a couple years ago. It was kind of shocking because previously I was above such things. But, I learned that I love fantasy novels.

I’m currently rereading the first two books of a trilogy, hoping to pick upon hints to the conclusion, as I await the publication of the third book. It’s about a famous wizard who seems to be at the end of his life’s journey. He’s recounting his story to a historian before certain doom falls. I’ve come again to that part in the story where as an adolescent he’s seeking to gain admission to the university. To do that you have to interview with a team of master professors who grill you on all sorts of subjects including science, mathematics, and language, in addition to the magical ones.

He comes finally to the Master Namer who most of the times seems a bit out to lunch, but occasionally displays remarkable powers of insight, perception, and wisdom. He asks, (displaying one finger,) “How many fingers am I holding up?” The aspiring wizard thinks for a while and says, “Likely one, and no more than 6.” Revealing two fingers on his other hand the Master Namer seems satisfied. (Now, maybe you saw that one coming.)

But, it’s the Master Namer’s job to get you thinking beyond your normal ways, to guide you into your inner knowing and intuitive mind, and to the power that lies within. To do that he asks all sorts of crazy questions, most of them probably without answer.

They remind me of the questions that my children have asked me. Just the other day Lucy asked, “Daddy, what’s the opposite of Spanish?” Charley once asked, “Dad, how fast is a white car?”

They’ve struck me like Buddhist koans, like “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” As if the answers, or the contemplations would lead me to some deeper knowledge, some hidden but present truth about the meaning of life.

I like questions. Often I like them better than answers. I especially like questions about faith and God because while they rarely lead us to hard and fast conclusions, they really do very often guide us into something more. They lead us someplace deeper, someplace that brings us into connection with a truth that is beyond us and at the same time very much a part of us.

My sense is that the UCC values questions as well. The big one we’ve wrestled with in class is: how do we make truth claims about the God of Christ when that God is always transcendent and revealed to us only as God so wills in the ever changing moments of our lived out lives? In other words, if Christian doctrines have to do with truth claims, then what exactly are their roles? The best answer I’ve come upon is offered by professor Christine Helmer, “Doctrines point us to eternal mysteries to be enjoyed and contemplated but never exhausted.”[i]

Well, last week we talked about preparing the way of the Lord. We discussed the question of repentance and what it truly means in a world where it may not even be possible to completely remove ourselves from the sinful or broken patterns of our culture. This week I’m wondering about what it means to be sent by God, and when we’re sent, what our mission in this world as Christians really is.

I’m wondering because that seems to be the common thread in our scriptures today. Both Isaiah and John are “sent.” That’s the source of their authority. Their mission comes from God almighty.

Isaiah is sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor to a people in ruins. John the Baptist is equally sent, but his mission sounds a bit different. “He came,” we are told, “as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that through him everyone would believe in the light.”

Isaiah is sent as an activist. John is sent as an evangelist. For centuries the church has been sending its members out into the world as if also commissioned by God. In fact, did you know that that’s what the Catholic “mass” stands for? “Mass” refers to the sending forth that they do after having received the Good News of Christ. In that sense we too do the same thing every week. We celebrate a “mass” too. We send ourselves out in ministry after receiving anew the word of God, as if that is what we’ve been commissioned from on high to do.

But, what’s that mean and what’s that look like?

The Church has no shortage of answers to that question. To some the mission is to “save souls”: to encourage a confession of belief that will keep a convert from going to hell when they die. That’s not been my sense of mission, nor do I think it ever will be, though I know folks who say their souls have been saved and I appreciate the sense of holy intervention and love that’s broken through their resistance and transformed their lives. They have a belief in the love of God that carries them now and saves them forever. In their best moments they want others to have the same good thing they have.

There are other sendings though. The UCC says theirs pretty consistently. This is from a document that I’ll share with the new members group in a little while. It tells of an “alternative vision”

• Where God is all-loving and inclusive
• Where the Church of Jesus Christ welcomes and accepts everyone as they are
• Where your mind is nourished as much as your soul
• Where Jesus the healer meets Jesus the revolutionary
• Where together we grow a just and peaceful world.

Those last two points get emphasized a lot. In fact, the Conference Minister, when he spoke with

our class said it quite vehemently. He didn’t want a church that existed for the sake of “being church.” And, future leaders of the church should be prepared to depart from the business of maintaining the status quo in order to more fully engage in the world-altering work of Christ. The church is meant to seek and build justice in the world. The church is meant for making social change in keeping with the priorities of Christ. He mentioned Ferguson and some other areas of social concern and talked about our need as church leaders to raise awareness and to lead the way in making change.

I agreed with him a lot, but I can’t say I agreed with him fully. For one reason, when we look at organizations that are set up to enact political change, or to feed people, or educate people, or equip people with resources that they need in order to thrive, there are many organizations that are better, more prepared, more staffed, more rescourced for the job than churches. On the other hand, I have to say that some of my more profoundly humbling and moving experiences of grace have come as I’ve found myself in places of service: feeding, building, listening. Serving in one way or another, we are often reminded of how blessed we are when we give of ourselves.

Sitting in class across from me I could see from the expression of another student that she agreed with our speaker less than I did. Later we talked. She said, “The pastor at my church always talks about our mission for social justice. The UCC loves her for it too; she’s a shining star in the denomination. But honestly, the last time my church was full, the last time that our church was so packed you couldn’t even stand, was when we held my son’s funeral 2 years ago.” She told me how what she needed more than anything in the world was Christ. She also told me that in beautiful ways she received him. She said, “The social issues of the world matter, but people are living busy lives with lots of stress, and loss, and questions, and problems. What the church needs to give people is Christ. That needs to be our mission.” And I could tell she felt sad to be out of step with what seemed to be the major thrust of her church (and perhaps denomination.)

Then class ended. She and I hugged, and we went on with our days – me to the church and she to the hospital where she was serving as chaplain.

So, what is our mission as a church? What exactly are we all, you and I together, sent out to do? It seems odd to say this, but I can’t completely tell you. I know that we are sent out to love and serve the Lord, and I tell you that every week, but what exactly that means I can’t say. It’s not for lack of ideas; really, it’s for lack of limitations. God knows what God will have us doing! God knows; and we’ll know too as we avail ourselves to the will and movement of God’s Spirit.

We may find ourselves in some weird places. We may find that we’re Methodists lead to be worshiping in a Congregational church. We may find ourselves, despite our inclination to be private about such things, sharing with another how the love of God has been saving our souls (and it might just be saving theirs too). Or, how we found God in our efforts to better the world. Or, how we didn’t find God at all, but rather, God found us through the worship and fellowship of a church family and gave us what we most desperately needed.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places! That’s the title, a pretty good one I think, to a book I once read. The point is that Christ is in it all. Our opportunities to tie ourselves to the mission of Christ are endless, and they might even look as diverse as we are. I would suggest that we have no “one mission,” we’re not sent out for “one thing,” unless that one thing is to know like John and like Isaiah that we are indeed sent. And, more important than that is to know the one who is sending.

[i] Theology and the End of Doctrine, page 11.