REFLECTION
MISSION IN A DIFFERENT WORLD
WEEKEND FOCUS
Susann Haehnel, vocational recruitment manager at Church Mission Society, reflects on change and opportunities to explore our calling in mission.
Saturday–Sunday 20–21 March
“I BELIEVE IN YOU” By R, who works with a family of four churches in the Middle East involved in church planting, outreach, youth and children’s work, discipleship training, prayer events and strengthening local Christian groups
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he world is no longer what it was a year ago. So much change and uncertainty makes us ask questions. Questions about God, ourselves, the world and our role in it. Some may understandably come from fear: “When can we return to normal?” Others from a desire for clarity: “When will I be able to hug my friends again?” Or even sheer desperation: “When will this end?” “How long, oh Lord?” We’ve been dealing with the reality of COVID-19 for almost a year. It’s been a process of sudden stop, adaptation and continual evolving. That’s the hard bit. We’ve not been able to settle into one thing and then get on with it. There is still no “new normal”. I came across this quote from author and activist Sonya Renee Taylor a few months ago, which helped put my desire for a return to normal in a fresh perspective. I hope it does the same for you: “We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our precorona existence was not normal, other than we normalized greed,
My time in England last year was very blessed and memorable, especially as we welcomed Baby Theo to the family. He is officially my grandnephew, but he really feels more like a grandson. My family was grateful to have been together and I was doubly grateful to unexpectedly be able to spend so much time at home. Baby Theo struggles to find his thumb. One day while looking for his thumb he looked so thoughtful. Of course, looking for a “lost” thumb is serious business! While striving with this serious business, he heard his mum’s voice; saw her face. She was saying, “Theo, you can do this, I believe in you, you can do this!” The joy on Theo’s face was priceless. He forgot his struggle and was just overjoyed to see the face of the one who unconditionally loves him. To me it was a picture of God’s love for us. In our day-to-day striving and struggling, as we deal with serious matters of life, may we be able to see the smile on our Heavenly Father’s face saying, “I believe in you, you can do this!” Then we will have hearts full of joy and a renewed strength to deal with the serious matters and issues before us.
PRAY 28
Pray for R to remember God’s confidence in her when things are difficult.
inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, one that fits all of humanity and nature.”1 This articulates where we’ve come from and the wrestling over what we’re asked to leave behind right now. Change is needed. Change takes courage, imagination, hope. Where do we start to imagine a different future? I was drawn to Luke 4 where Jesus articulates what could, should and will be: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, and he has anointed me to be hope for the poor, freedom for the brokenhearted, and new eyes for the blind, and to preach to prisoners, ‘You are set free!’ I have come to share the message of Jubilee, for the time of God’s great acceptance has begun.” Luke 4:18–19 (The Passion Translation) For us as Christians, Jesus needs to be the starting point for lasting change. I love how Luke 4:21 is interpreted in The Message:
Brene Brown with Sonya Renee Taylor on “The Body is Not an Apology” (podcast 16 September 2020). brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-sonya-renee-taylor-on-the-body-is-not-an-apology/
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