Saturday the Missio Lux Build Team met for the first time. The Build Team has been charged with laying the foundation of the mission, vision and values of Missio Lux.
The first part of our time together was spent discovering in greater depth what Jesus has to say about the Kingdom of God. His first public statement was all about his vision of what the Kingdom of God is all about.
Let's not forget where Jesus made his public proclamation. It is was in his home town, in his home church. He took the scroll of Isaiah and read:
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
Can you imagine? Let's put ourselves in the place of the people at the church. They've known Jesus all his life, he worked beside his father, Joseph, as a carpenter. And, now he is proclaiming that he is the One that God sent to bring forth freedom for the Jews.
Let's wrestle with how different the reality of Jesus was from the Israelites expectations that a Messiah would come and sweep away all oppression in a single event. Could a carpenter apprentice really make that happen?
How would you respond? What feelings would Jesus' statement bring up in you? What would you say to the person sitting next to you as your first response? How do you think you would feel after you had time to think about it?
I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
3 comments:
oh man, i cant even begin to understand what went through their heads, he basicly went up said, "hi im the son of god and im going to free us from opression." garunteed half the people were saying what a nutter, the other half must have either been flored by the audacity of it or just straight up dumb founded.
this saturday i witnessed something i never thought i would see people defending a broken insitution, the first thing that Jesus said in his ministry was he came to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind. our churches are filled with the rich,i only know a handfull of christians going to the jails and half the people in the church are spirtualy blind. so on saturday when i heard and saw people defending an institution that is not even coming close to doing the very begin things of Christs ministry i was dumbfounded.
i am young and my experiance has been that of growing up in the church, i have a special fondness of liturgy and clasiscal church, but i know my generation and they hate church. to them and a bit to me it is just rules and regulations laid down by a distant and dead God who cares little about what problems we have. i hope missio lux will be able to adress that. how can you reach an individual who veiws God as someone who ditched out on responsibility.
Alex,
Your voice is an important voice for my generation to hear. It is easy to forget who is not amongst us when we gather; and I want to remember that your generation is so very often missing. Help us learn from you; what do you and your peers need? Be as specific as you can in the ways that you understand the shifts the Church needs to make so that your generation stays or becomes connected to Jesus in community.
Alex, your comments at the formation meeting were moving and important. I'd like to hear more from you. Please continue to help us understand the way your generation sees things.
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