A Message from the Bishop - November 2022A
Dear Friends,
In the Daily Lectionary this week, we read more about the fledgling church in Antioch in Acts 13.
When they came together for worship in Antioch, they came with an expectancy of meeting God. They weren’t just going through the motions. They didn’t just come to hear a good sermon. They came open to God, eager to give him praise, passionate to know him more, receptive to what he wanted to do in their lives.
And one day, while they were worshiping and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke and—praise God—they listened. The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (verse 2).
God speaks, God directs. God has a will and a plan for us personally, and he has a will and a plan for our churches. That means we lay down our own agendas, and we follow the Holy Spirit.
“Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus” (verses 3-4).
The church sent out Barnabas and Saul. Antioch was still a young church, and these were their very best. And yet they sent them out.
Interestingly, the wording in the original doesn’t quite come through in English. In verse 3 where it says that the church “sent” Barnabas and Saul, the word used really means “released.” The church released them. Then in verse 4, it is the Holy Spirit who actually sent them.
And that’s exactly the way it works. The church needed to release them to do what the Holy Spirit was calling them to do. And when they said yes to God and let go of these leaders, the Holy Spirit sent them out on a mission that changed the world.
Sometimes it’s we ourselves who are holding on and need to do the releasing so God can use us fully in whatever way, in whatever context he chooses.
You and I are on mission. We are being sent. Whether we travel a great distance or serve in our own community, we can answer the Lord’s call to be sent on mission.
Perhaps you recall the prophet Ahijah, who also shows us something about being sent on mission.
In 1 Kings 14, we read that the son of King Jeroboam of Israel fell sick. And the king told his wife to go to the prophet Ahijah to inquire of the Lord as to whether the child would recover. The prophet Ahijah was the one who had prophesied that Jeroboam would become king, so Jeroboam probably expected that he would have a good word for him.
Now Ahijah at this point was very old and frail, and he had gone blind. But when the king’s wife came to him, he said to her, “I have been sent to you with bad news” (verse 6). Now Ahijah hadn’t gone anywhere, but he said, “I have been sent.” He was too old and disabled to get up and go physically. But he knew that he had been sent—he was on God’s mission.
The ESV translates the word not as “sent” but as “charged,” because it was obvious that Ahijah hadn’t gone anywhere. But that misses the point. The word is translated hundreds of times as “sent” and in the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word is translated into Greek as apostolos, apostle, “I am one who is sent,” or “I am a missionary.”
How easy it is to look at our circumstances and think we’re not on mission. Perhaps we think that because of our situation we can’t go, so we’re off the hook! Or maybe we think wistfully that as much as we might wish we could engage in mission, we’re just not able to in the way those who are younger or fitter are called to go to certain places or in particular ways.
But being sent by God is not about geography, it’s about obedience. It’s not about physical ability, it’s about availability to God for him to use us for his work. Even if we’re like Ahijah and we can’t even get up to answer the door, God can use us, and he delights to send us into mission.
Let’s worship God with expectancy and let’s listen for the voice of him who delights to send us out for his Kingdom purposes.
Faithfully yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. John A. M. Guernsey