Making Excellent Sense
There have been many religious leaders posting on washingtonpost.com, answering this question: Is Jesus Christ the Son of God?
While there have been many interesting answers, this particular answer arrested my attention:
Can I prove this astounding conviction about Jesus Christ? I cannot. Can one fit this conviction into a plausible account of reality as a whole? Yes, one can. Indeed, it is from the perspective of the conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God that everything else we know about the world can make excellent sense. - Miroslav Volf
As I reflect on Christ in this Holiday season, and as I reflect on what the Missio Dei really is, this quote stands out to me - ...That everything else we know about the world can make excellent sense.
Recently, my good friend Jim, who to my knowledge is not a Christian, has been going through a really tough time. I have been trying to spend more time with him, as he has been wandering around in life bewildered and hurt by his surroundings. He is a great guy, but is missing a key foundation: ...That everything else we know about the world can make excellent sense.
This to me has been the wonderful heart of what Missio Dei is - trying to bring this excellent sense to the Mokena-Frankfort-New Lenox community.
On Christmas Eve, Kim and I dropped bags of cookies with a Christmas card in front of every apartment in our building. We did this at 6 a.m., because we needed to leave for Kim's parents house. Now, a few days later, we have received multiple "thank you" cards, and many of our neighbors have talked to us personally about how much this simple gesture meant to them. This will become a tradition for us every year, and it is because of a challenge from the Missio Dei outreach group - that as we launch a church in the community, the holidays provide a great time for us to meet our immediate community. The truth that we want to demonstrate to our neighbors is the perspective of the conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Why did we give our neighbors cards and cookies? Because we are convicted of this foundational truth.
It is this thought that moves us forward, and it is this thought that has prompted Kim and I to join the launch team of Missio Dei. As you pray for this ministry, please focus this week that each of us would in some way be able to help our community see the perspective of the conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God so that everything else they know about the world can make excellent sense.
And as you pray for Missio Dei this week, I would challenge you to reach out to your community during this time of year, and help them see the perspective of the conviction that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
