Once upon a time, I played the French horn in a wind ensemble band. It was an experience which I still cherish. Maybe you have played in a musical ensemble before or attended the concert of a symphony orchestra. Or maybe you simply enjoy video and audio recordings of classical music on your own. Most of us, at the very least, have seen enough of these musical groups to understand how they function. All of the musicians, dressed in various clothes that reflect their individual backgrounds and personalities, add their particular instrument and part to the symphonic whole. Each person is essential. Each one is playing their own instrument, adding what they can do well, in a way that nobody else can quite do. Each one brings a different artistic skill, a different giftedness, and different emotions as they play. Yet they play together with one sound so beautifully. Despite there being a wide range of instruments which sound very different from each other, they join together as one community for the single purpose of creating beautiful music. In fact, it is their diversity which allows room for each person to be so significant and needed, but by working together in harmony they achieve a sort of musical unity that can stir the emotions of those who are listening.
This is a beautiful example of human flourishing. At the same time, we witness the efforts of the one as well as the many. At the same time, we recognize what is unique and what is common. We see that the contributions to the whole produce creative and passionate music that can become very meaningful as we experience it. This type of human flourishing is found across all cultures and all times. Sometimes it is formal and sometimes it is informal. Sometimes it is public and sometimes it is private. Sometimes it involves very common experiences and sometimes it is quite exceptional. Flourishing can happen at home, within families, on the athletic field, in a business meeting, in positions of hospitality, in both rich and poor circumstances, and in any language or context. The capacity to flourish is built-in for every person.
The God made known in Scripture and incarnate in Jesus Christ desires flourishing people who live in a flourishing world. Human flourishing is God’s intention and His commitment. In fact, God created humans in such a way that they flourish best when they co-labor with Him toward that end. The extent to which we respond positively to this desire of God is an important issue to think about. Sadly, the Bible narrative contains many stories that tell about how humans have undermined God’s plan for human flourishing. Beginning all the way back at the garden of Eden and continuing right up through the Gospel narratives, we read about how our human ancestors replaced God’s plan with their own ideas about how to flourish as human beings. We also read about the devastating consequences that usually result from such choices as well.
Right alongside those stories, however, the Bible tells the long and never-ending story of how God relentlessly pursues us in faithfulness and love. The everlasting communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a flourishing of its own, and from the overflow of that flourishing we find our hope and our salvation. God desires for humans to flourish in ways that He created us to. We, as part of Jesus’ church, are intended to be tangible evidence of God’s desire for the world. You and I. Together – as the church. This is our calling as followers of Jesus. As a church, we respond to God’s calling and show everyone around us the way to the true purpose of human life. The Word made flesh in Jesus Christ shows through us. We are the primary evidence to the rest of the world that God’s version of human flourishing includes love, grace, and truth in Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
The heart of God’s call for humans is that we receive God’s love for us and for the world, and that we in turn live out that love in the world around us. It is the foundation on which Jesus says in Matthew 22: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” We are made to love the Lord and our neighbors. Our call is to love our communion with God, yes, but our call is also to look at the world around us with the same type of love and compassion that God does. It should become the defining characteristic for our identity, for our community, and for everything we do.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are to live our lives as ambassadors of God’s kingdom. This is our primary call, God’s call to each one of us. The narrative of Scripture overwhelmingly illustrates that God is not a deity primarily concerned with ideas and forms. Those are important, of course. However, God is more concerned with expressing His love and pursuing relationship with us. The fullness of God’s pursuit of us is shown through His promising, pursuing, calling, engaging, revealing, sustaining, comforting, and redeeming us. The Bible is overflowing with examples of grace demonstrated and truth performed.
The first and second commandments, as identified by Jesus – to love God and love our neighbor – are our calling. They guide the way we conduct our lives as God intends them to be lived. We FIND our lives by LOSING them in these particular ways. The people of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are meant to be the hope of the world, the model for all humanity. We are also the living defense of the faith that God is present and that God’s loving purposes will come to pass. Often, we forget to live with this calling in mind. We are not perfect and sin invades our thinking and behavior. We get distracted by all of the complexities of daily life and the burdens of living in a broken world. We, like our ancestors of old, sometimes decide that we know better when it comes to identifying what makes humans flourish. We pay the price for these decisions in our own walk.
The church also pays a price when we fall short as well. Many outside the church look at us and see only our faults and inability to follow Christ completely. Our identities as bright, uncovered lights have been obscured by our unwillingness to follow Jesus in everything we do. Our calling sort of slips through our fingers as we instead focus on programs, buildings, classes, projects, and budgets. Programs, buildings, classes, projects, and budgets are important! However, we cannot allow them to overshadow our primary call to pursue relationships with the unbelievers around us. That is what God pursues so persistently, so we should as well. The world around us knows why salt and light are good in a physical sense, and since they are created in God’s image they will be drawn to salt and light in the Spiritual sense as well.
In March of 2013, the Catholic Church elected Jorge Borgoglio of Argentina to become Pope Francis. He chose Francis as his papal name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, and he is beloved for his humility and emphasis on God’s mercy. During his first days as Pope, the world watched as he washed feet, cared for the poor, and reaffirmed the basic vocation of the church as the presence of Christ in the world. The world was shocked by what they saw! They expected to see another Pope surrounded by the trappings and power of the Catholic Church, maneuvering deftly with defensiveness, crafty words, and great posturing. Suddenly, they were confronted with what appeared to be a genuine disciple of Christ. He didn’t merely represent church power, but lived what the church claims is its calling. It was enough of a shock that Time Magazine chose Pope Francis as their 2013 Person of the Year. Why did they do that? He simply lives as a follower of Jesus, and that matters. The world recognizes it when they see it.
It is ironic that what Pope Francis does draws such dramatic attention. He is simply doing what every Christian is meant to be doing. It is shocking because in that context it is so unusual. It gives us the opportunity to step back and think about ourselves. Are we living in a way that shows the world around us what Christ looks like? Or would those who pass by us on the street be surprised if they saw us loving them as Christ does? Sometimes the church just seems unusual. We have odd habits, ways of talking, attitudes, potluck meals, and whatever else. Every church is uniquely particular, and you can sort of “smell” it as soon as you walk in the door. Every human group develops this characteristic. The point isn’t whether or not we are odd. I can confirm for you all that we are. Rather, the question we should be asking is, “Are we odd because we imitate Christ?”
The vocation of every Christian is to live as a follower of Jesus today. In every aspect of life, whether small or large, we are to seek to live out the grace and truth of Jesus. This is our calling. Put simply, this is the exact call Jesus made to all of his disciples: “Follow me.” Peter wasn’t Matthew. Matthew wasn’t James or John. Each of them followed Jesus in a manner unique to his own life, but they had the same basic vocation. This is the clear, unifying call to those trying to be disciples of Jesus. As we learn to follow Jesus, it is important to consider where we start. We aren’t generic robots programmed to follow Jesus. We are people with histories, personalities, relationships, and much more. As we grow more Christ-like in our walk, we must do so right in the middle of this existing context. Each of us is a child of parents and maybe a sibling to someone. We all have friends, co-workers, and others we interact with frequently. Following Jesus starts with learning to see these people again for the first time – as they are made and loved by God.
This is where our calling gets challenging. Sometimes people are annoying to us, or interested only in themselves, or they reject us because they are afraid of our faith. It is here, in the middle of ordinary life, where we learn to follow Jesus by learning to love and serve those around us. This will be true throughout our lives as disciples. We will never be called to do less, and sometimes this can feel like the hardest part of all. Jesus began his earthly ministry by proclaiming that “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is because Jesus himself had drawn near. Whether it was the woman caught in adultery, or a group of children wanting to be near, a leper crying out for help, or one of his disciples asking the wrong questions, Jesus was present with them and always building relationships with whomever crossed his path.
We, as the church, declare Jesus’ kingdom and we enact that declaration as His devoted people. This is a grand and far-reaching proclamation! However, it is played out in the small and ordinary details of our daily lives far more often than in flashy, large events. Our gifts and context help shape our contributions to the life of the church and it is important for us to explore how we can better use them to influence those around us.
Thinking back to our musical beginning, it is important for us to individually learn how to play our parts. The better we can do that, the easier it will be for us to join in the symphony of sound that is Christ’s church. We must be careful, though, to not allow our individual playing to overshadow the sweet music that we are creating as a community. Jesus simply calls us to “Come, follow me.” As we learn how to follow Him better, let us remember that Jesus always valued building relationships with the people around Him. It is through these small, daily interactions that the Kingdom of God will be revealed. Amen.
~ Clay
Fowlers in Japan 