Mission of God's People - Chaper 2 - Part 2.2

Wright writes: "Indeed, we need to ask ourselves right up front: how well do you actually know the biblical story? If Jesus and Paul saw fit to repeatedly go over it with those who knew their Old Testament Scriptures inside out, how much more do we need to make sure we are familiar with the content of the Bible as a whole?"

We are in Chapter 2 of Mission of God's People which is entitled "People who know the story they are in." Wright is arguing for a thorough understanding of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, or at least the story it tells, as important to the mission of God's people. That's not to say we all need be Bible scholars, we don't all  need to go to seminary or know Hebrew and Greek. Frankly, you can do all those things and still miss the story. Our big challenge with the story today, in our sound-bite culture, seems to be  our reductionist theology that Christianity is all about Jesus and me - personal salvation being key. It is after all my story but now Jesus fits my story. We may not say it in quiet that way but the the rarity of Biblical worldview amongst Christians demonstrates it clearly.

Q - How does that though challenge you? How would you push back against that idea?

We need to ask what has this self-centered Christianity really gotten us and how is  it impacting the world for Christ? Answering that question is beyond the scope of this single post but consider this recent headline (10/09/12) by the New York Time - Percentage of Protestant Americans Is in Steep Decline, Study Finds. For the first time in our history the total population of Protestants has slipped below a majority. According to this Pew survey, 1 in 5 Americans now consider themselves "Nones."The secularization of America tells us that people are buying a different story.

If Jesus and Paul put such great importance on knowing the story. might it be imperative that we understand it as well? Knowing the story was culturally relevant then but recapturing it is even more so today. In our consistently confused culture we need to be able to offer a clear alternative narrative. It's not sufficient to simply say "Jesus saves" and expect people to flock into churches to "find Jesus," as if he was ever lost. What people want, what they long for, is the genuine which is why Jesus had so much to say in opposition to the hypocritical. They want the authentic and not some imitation. In order to get there we need to reengage the story that Jesus and Paul understood, that Wright is bringing us to. But why aren't we there? Where did we go wrong?

Q- What are your thoughts? 

Today I just want to offer three observations:

First, most sensible people like Jesus, or at least the one our culture portrays.  He's cool, radical, loving, tender all wrapped up into an attractive icon, packaged for us by our modern  marketing, and deemed safe for children (that's why many non-religious parents drop their kids off for children's Sunday school .) After all, looks at those loving eyes, his tender manner, and he's holding a baby lamb. You've probably seen this picture but as Mr. Beaver points out in Chronicles of Narnia "he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you." We like the main character of the story but don't really know him.


Second, we make the story about us so we don't bother to understand it except as it applies to us. Stanley Hauerwas suggests that "Most Americans tell themselves the story that you should have no story except the story you chose when you had no story." Simply put, Hauerwas is saying that we want to author own story. And because we do, Christian "self-help"books, tape, seminars, conferences, therapists for both men and women, is big business as we try to live our own story instead of God's. The problem we encounter when we try to live our own story is that we live displayed lives and so need those "self-help" remedies to try to cope and attempt to live "the best life now" as we define it.

Third, in the other direction, as Wright points out, "The attitude of some is all you need is the Great Commission and the power of the Holy Spirit. Bible reading or biblical theology will only serve to delay you in the urgent task." It is all about what we do for Jesus that counts or it is all about how we love people that counts. Both are popular beliefs today. Both contain some truth as far as they go. But the Biblical evidence is that Jesus, Paul and the Apostles understood his story and it is what animated mission from the beginning. The story still animates much mission today but not nearly enough when you consider mission statistics (a topic for another day.) 

We must be "People who know the story they are in"and when we do we define our best life now according to that story. Could it be that  when the whole story becomes our whole lives we start to become the whole person we are created to be? Could that be why "Jesus and Paul saw fit repeatedly go over it with those who knew" the story they were in. Could the whole Bible story lead us to together with the whole Church, to live out the whole Gospel,for the transformation of the whole World? I don't know but I'm willing to live like it until we find out for living sent today. 

Q:  how well do you think you actually know the biblical story?

Missional Musing - 11-15-2012

The great 20th Century theologian John Stott wrote: "Our mandate for world evangelization is the whole Bible. It is to be found in the creation of God (because of which all humans beings are responsible to him), in the character of God (as outgoing, loving, compassionate, not willing that any should perish, desiring that all should come to repentance) in the promises of God (that all nations will be blessed through Abraham;s seed and will become the Messiah's inheritance), in the Christ of God (now exalted with universal authority, to receive universal acclaim) in the Spirit of God (who convicts of sin, witnesses to Christ, and impels the Church to evangelize) and in the Church of God (which is a multinational, missionary community, under orders to evangelize until Christ returns)."

We therefore err if  we limit our missional praxis to any portion of the Bible, any particular thread of Scripture, or any single ideas about what mission should be today. We need to recalibrate around the whole Council of God and rethink the whole Gospel, whole Church, whole World through the lens of the whole Bible, once again. But how do we live that out? All that Stott tells us is "of God" needs to be reviewed through the "Kingdom of God" (which is the realization of all that the Church of God is empowered to do through the Spirit of God, due to the completed work of the Christ of God, toward fulfillment of the Promises of God, to display the Character of God, for the redemption and restoration of the Creation of God.) That does kind of rule out placing limitations of how we understand the Mission of God.

Missional Musings - 11-14-2012

"Through believing the story, we are drawn in to the account and find ourselves caught up in the saving movement of God. We learn to "indwell" the story so looking our from within the biblical world with new eyes onto our postmodern live and world we stop trying to make the Bible relevant to our lives and instead begin to find ourselves being made relevant to the Bible. We give up the clumsy attempt to wrench the ancient text into our contemporary world and instead bring our world back into collision with and cleansing by, the strange new world of the Bible." Philip Greensdale.

"Who needs the Bible? I't's irrelevant. It's an outdated ancient bunch of nonsense written by old men. It's a fairly tale. It's irrelevant to my life. It's full of errors and contradictions. I don't need the Bible, I've got science." You have probably heard things like this but the problem is not with the naysayers. There have always been naysayers who have their hearts closed to truth (2 Cor 4:4). They are not our concern.

The problem is when those who say they follow Christ give credence to these naysayers, thinking "maybe they are right?"  They convince themselves that they can follow Jesus without the Bible or by only focusing on the "red letters." They stop reading the Bible altogether and get their spiritual milk somewhere else - like the plethora of Christian books and music - instead of drinking from the Source of true life and power. Today, many think they can move beyond the Bible."Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: "So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." (Romans 3:4). In order to do that we need the Spirit of God to open our eyes and shape our hearts to make us relevant to the Bible. We don't fit the Bible into our lives We enter the Bible's story and learn to live in it, allowing it to conform us to the cosmic story it tells.

First, though we need to know the story it tells and where it is taking us. That's why I am blogging through Mission of God's People. I invite you to come along and invite others to join us on this journey. May God be true and everyman a liar.

Mission of God's People - Chapter 2 - Knowing the Story - Part 2.1

 If someone were to ask you what the Bible is about how would you answer? In chapter 2 of Mission of God's People Wright begins to answer that question but he does so in way that most Christians are completely unfamiliar with today. Wright has written extensively on the Grand Narrative of Scripture in his tome - The Mission of God. I think it is safe to say that most Christians understand that the Bible is about Jesus, foretold in the Old Testament, revealed in the New. Some may add it is the story of how God dealt with Israel and the Church. Some would undoubtedly say that is a love story or the greatest story ever told, but is that really sufficient? That's like saying that War and Peace is about war and peace, an unhelpful tautology.

Truth is, we have been taught to read the Bible, when we read it at all,  as a devotional, random bits and pieces, isolating stories from the whole. Or, worse we get our Biblical diet from other "devotionals" instead of drinking from the source. This simply is insufficient as it doesn't connect the whole cosmic story together for us. It's like seeing a tree but missing the forest. Sadly, we have a tragic paucity of Biblical understanding in the Church today. How do I know this is true?

First, studies indicate a great lack of Biblical understanding by American Christians today. The fact is fewer than 1 in 10 Christians actually have a Biblical worldview. When we don't start there we will not even know there are deeper riches to be gleaned. I often encounter atheists who have a better understanding about our sacred text than most Christians. We may know some favorite Bible verses that give us comfort but we miss the Big Story, the meta-narrative, of the Bible and what it tells us about how we are to live sent today.

Second, my personal experience with the Perspectives study program makes this glaringly clear. Many students come to me after the Biblical section, the first five week, and ask, "How come I have never heard this before? I've been in church for ____ years." My simple response is, "because its not taught." This doesn't just apply for average Joe Christian who has sat in a pew for years but now wants to know what God has for them, so someone suggested they take Perspectives. I have had numerous veterans of missions, who have served the Lord for many years, have the same experience. One 30 year Wycliffe veteran, after understanding the Bible story we teach, gave testimony that, "now I see my ministry in a whole new light."

The fact is that we simply do not know what we do not know. And because we don't know this story we don't allow it to shape our lives. And when the story doesn't shape our lives we don't live the mission we are called to. But when we know the story, we live the story, just like so many Perspective alumni. who have been "ruined for the ordinary" (a little saying we have in Perspectives.)
Why aren't more Christians living sent today? Because they don't know the story we are in. But Wrights point out that this was not the issue for the first followers of Jesus and because they understood the mission of God went forth to live sent and shape the world across the last two thousand years.

Wright asks, "What was it that made Christianity a missionary faith from the beginning. What made the first followers of Jesus so passionately, courageously and unstoppably  committed to telling the whole world about him?" Wright points out that it was not the Great Commission, although most Evangelical churches, who are at all mission oriented, use this as the rallying cry - "Go therefore and make disciples..." But as Wright points out the New Testament, with Matthew 28:19-20 recorded for all of history was not written until years following the launch of the mission enterprise we call the Church. That's not to imply Jesus didn't say this. However, as Wright points out, if it was the Great Commission that motivated and mobilized the Church, it wasn't mentioned in the Book of Acts by the early Church and Paul never once refers to it. 

Wright points out that ut is also insufficient to say that the earlier followers of the Way simply were living out of obedience to what they understood and had been instructed to do. Then as now, Wright tells us that, "to call people to conversion was to confront them with serious and costly demand."  We need to rethink what the Great Commission is, as it is not a call to an adventurous life to escape the monotony for average Jane Christian, as she heads off to some exotic foreign land. You cannot be in most churches long without hearing something about the Great Commission, that we need to live in obedience to it, that we should "go." Why then do most of us stay? Do we really want to live in disobedience, unwilling to lay down our 5 and 10 year plans? Maybe its deeper than that? Maybe we simply don't understand the story we are in?

One final thought here today, we also have some insufficient thinking about what the Great Commission calls us to. Many think that the Great Commission is a call to foreign missions - "Go into all the world" and that is way it is often communicated, as mission has been taught to be "over there." Then the result is, "I am not called to go overseas" and so we have an excuse to stay home and not be involved in mission (reflect back on the whole church, whole Gospel, whole world idea we looked at previously - see the menu on the right.) But what Jesus was really saying in the word "Go" is better translated, "as you continue on your way, make disciples..." I think it is safe to say that Jesus understood the story he was in. That being the case, perhaps we can rethink the Great Commission this way: "as you continue to live in my story, make disciples."

We'll look more at how we can know the whole story next time. We have to know His Story for living sent today.

Missional Musings - 11-12-2012

“God created all things ‘not to increase his glory, but to show it forth and to communicate it,’ for God has no other reason for creating than his love and goodness.” Bonaventure.

God's glory does not spread to places where it is not (Isaiah 6:3). Rather God's glory shines, it becomes visible, it becomes known (Habakkuk 2:14). To spread would mean it is not yet there which could not be true of our omnipresent God.But to shine means God's glory is not yet seen, not yet known, not yet experienced. World evangelism then is not the spreading of the Good News as if we need to bring God with us because he is not already there. Rather the task is the showing forth of the glory that is already there - for "Christ is all, and IS in all." (Colossians 3:11). The reason then that we make disciples is not to spread the Gospel as if it is not already there for Christ is everywhere. No, the missionary task is to bring forth, release, and make known what is already in every human soul - the divine spark of creation. "Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved." (Psalm 80:3).

The Mission of God's People - The Whole Gospel - Chapter 1 - Part 1.5

It's been a few weeks since I last blogged on the Mission of God's People. In that time, Ethnic Embrace USA was launched at Denver 2012, during the Mission America Coalition National Leadership Consultation. Then we had the election and frankly my disappointment got me off track as I grieved for what our nation has become and really needed to rethink and recalibrate. I was hoping and praying that the Lord would be merciful and maybe he actually was, especially if now we must rely on him more than ever. The Lord's heart cry is always "return to me with all your heart" (Joel 2:12) and I think that is the message that comes out of the election season, at least for me. I don't want to get political, that's not my purpose on this blog, so we'll move on. 

Previously, we started looking at two of three "whole" statements, the "whole World" and "whole Church" as expressed in the in the Lausanne statement: "Global evangelization requires the whole Church, taking the whole Gospel, to the whole world."  Dr. Wright is beginning his book by introducing these "wholes." Understanding what is meant by the "whole Church, whole Gospel, whole world" will help us to live God's mission for his people. One of the key ideas that we touched on so far is the "everything" of  the mission of God's people which must be embedded in our thinking for living sent, on missions, in the world and as the Church. Now what about the third "whole" - the Gospel? Does that include everything too?

The other day, while driving and listening to the radio, I heard an idea that was captivating - "the Gospel is the reversal of how the world thinks." It was from an advertisement on a Christian station. While I don't recall what the ad was about, I do recall my reaction - "that's it, isn't it?" I proclaimed to myself. I had never quite heard the Gospel defined in those terms before, as a reversal of how the "world thinks." But the more I thought about the depth of that statement the more I began to understand how true that statement is, when you think about all that the Gospel reverses.

The Gospel redeems (1 Peter 1:18), restores (1 Peter 5:10 )and renews (Romans 12:2 ) all of  which are reversals. The Gospel reserves the curse (Galatians 3:13), it cures man of himself (Ephesians 2:5), and it sets right what is wrong (John 16:8).  The Gospel is the power of salvation for those who believe (Romans 1:16). The Gospel empowers us to overcome our worldly thinking and now think as Kingdom citizens as we think Christ's thoughts (1 Corinthians 2:16 ). The Gospel gives life to that which is dead as is it's most important reversal (Colossians 2:13). So in every sense the Gospel is everything that is different from our fallen natural world. The Gospel that has been called God's plan of redemption, and it is certainly that, could equally be called God's plan for the Great Reversal.

"So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit." (1 Corinthians 15:45). And that is Good News! 

Question: How have you previously thought about the Gospel? 

Dr. Ralph Winter spoke of a "Great Reversal" from another perspectives. He noted the reversal from a holistic Gospel up to the mid 19th century that involved all areas of life that God was redeeming to a narrow, sin management, spiritual salvation message focused on a confession of personal faith that became the Evangelical message of the 20th Century. Richard Stearn, President of World Vision, writes about the "hole in the Gospel" which is a reversal from the whole Gospel that neglected care of the poor to what is "true Christianity." Stearn's writes as a response to the election: "Christians can stop worrying about the symbols of the decline of Christian America" an important reversal,  "and get back to the mission Jesus gave us to show the world a different way to live -- a way that demonstrates the great character of God: his love, his justice, his compassion, his forgiveness and his reconciliation." (read the article here.) All of which is certainly an important reversal of how the Church thinks and operates. 

What if we saw the Gospel as the cosmic Great Reversal it is - from darkness to light, from brokenness to restoration, from despair to hope, from lostness to foundness, from anxiety to peace, from sickness to health, from captivity to liberty? Could we then begin to understand the depth, breadth and width of the "everything" of the Gospel as it is meant to be if "Christ is all." All of these ideas are expressed Biblically concerning the Gospel but we have reduced the grand and glorious Good News to a formula, marginalized it to a concept and too often trivialized it in the Church.  If Christ is all, and he is, why wouldn't we want to plunge the glorious depths of the "everything" of the Gospel and the riches of all that he (for the Gospel is Christ who is all and in all) offers us?

Question: What could you add to the above list of Gospel reversals? 

Wright asks what is the scale and scope of  God's redemption? I think we can say it is the  redemption reclamation, restoration, and renewal of every human system and central to that is every human person, according to the will of God who makes this life available to all. Every human system is based on how humans think, even to some extent the human body itself, as we interact with God's creation. But can we, as we grasp the expanse of the whole Gospel, really change "everything" about the human system? To some degree yes although as the old saying goes there are two certainties in life - death and taxes. To those certainties we must add the Good News that in Christ we now have the power to reverse our wrong thinking and live the life of  repentance He calls us to.

Question: Have you previously considered that repentance is a reversal of how you think?

We are just getting started. There is much that needs to be explored and expanded on the "everything" of the whole Gospel. Which is why Wright takes use on this Biblical exploration of the Mission of God's People. We are only just beginning to explore the whole realm of truth packed within the pages of the Bible. I think this exploration will take us outside some of the traditional thinking with respect to how we tend to limit the Gospel. But that's wholly okay so long as we explore the full biblical content. We don't want to let our passions about what we believe to be true about the Gospel interfere with what actually is for as Wright points out...

"One of the dangers with a word like "gospel' is that we all love is so much (rightly), and want to share it so passionately (rightly again), that we don't take the time to explore it's full biblical content."

That's the journey we are on for Living Sent Today.In the next post we will begin Chapter 2 - "People Who Know The Story They Are Part Of" 

Post Election 2012 - Rethinking and Recalibrating

This week I have been giving a lot of thought about why we saw the election results we did. I think it's time to rethink priorities in light of the results.

In 1997 George Will wrote the following:

"True conservatives distrust and try to modulate social forces that work against the conservation of traditional values.” That is a fine and noble cause as a Christian because traditionally those values are founded on Biblical precepts – ideas such as truth, honor, integrity, duty, family, community and personal responsibility. But Will goes on…

“But for a century, the dominant conservatism has uncritically worshiped the most transforming force, the dynamism of the American economy. No coherent conservatism can be based solely on commercialism, but this conservatism has been consistently ardent only about economic growth, and hence about economies of scale, and social mobility....Conservatism often has been inarticulate about what to conserve, other than “free enterprise,” which is institutionalized restlessness, an engine of perpetual change. But to govern is to choose one social outcome over others; to impose a collective will on processes of change. Conservatism that does not extend beyond reverence for enterprise is unphilosophic, has little to do with government and conserves little."

Almost 40 years ago Will wrote the above and it still rings true today, so for nearly 140 years Conservatism has frequently come up short because of the primary focus on “free enterprise” or the simply making the economy the main issue.  Not that the economy is not always a major issue but when it is the primary issue we end up conserving little. This is one of the reasons why Romney lost. Another is that Conservatives remain “inarticulate about what to conserve.” For instance when was the last time a “conservative” politician talked about truth? There were important issues of truth to talk about in this election. Romney completely forgot about Fast & Furious and the President's lack of transparency. He said little of any consequence about what many are calling the biggest cover-up in our history – Benghazi. The conservative pundits are saying that Romney lost because he wasn't Conservative enough. But I think that's missing the point. Repeatedly there was but one conservative issue painted as the only one to be concerned about - a "reverence for enterprise," meaning the economy, and it became a losing issue.

The dominate competing argument was one of raising taxes on the top tier income earners back to what they were before 2000 against cutting taxes on all levels of income including that top tier.  Barrack Obama was able to show how his plan won back in the 1990s, bringing in President Clinton under whose term it did work, and won about 51% of the vote. Obama was able to show how Romney’s plan and conservative thinking is seen as protecting one class, rightly or wrongly, and leading to the issues we face as a nation. When Obama could point to Clinton's success with the higher rate it became a losing issue for Romney. But when it's the only issue that Romney tried to communicate it becomes a losing issue for Conservatives.  Romney pretty much agreed with Obama on many other issues, unable to articulate other conservative principles.

Republicans have held Congress hostage over this same issue for the past few years, claiming that it will hurt the economy to raise taxes on the top tier earner. Democrats have said that they would compromise on spending if taxes would return to the 1990's level for those earning over $250,000. Conjecture was on the side of the Republicans, argued against the factual evidence of the 1990’s (even if much of what happened in that decade was built on bubble economies.) One main selling point of course was the balanced budgets and budget surpluses of the late 1990’s. It is difficult to win an argument when the evidence is on the other side. Yes, Republicans could point to the runaway spending of the past four years, juxtaposed against an improving economy, but the challenge in doing so was in demonstrating how the Bush era tax cuts weren’t part of the issue. Romney failed to communicate that in a way that was convincing and arguing “I’m different” without showing how is disingenuous. The issue of cutting taxes needs to be rethought but I have nothing to offer on the subject since I am not a policy wonk. I do think however that we will now find out if higher taxes work the way Republicans fear.

The point here is the economy should never be the only issue or even the main issue for conservative values. That’s Will’s point. Notice that for the most part there were was no conversation about social issues that are tearing our nations apart. Now we have 4 new states that passed same sex marriage as the will of the people. Did you know that was on the table? Now 2 states have legalized marijuana, who knew? We know those are the big issues along with abortion but what about fatherlessness, unemployment in the Black community, increased gang violence or even a sensible approach to immigration reform (by the way – when did it become not conservative to protect the alien in our midst when the Bible so clearly speaks to it repeatedly, assuming that is the basis of our traditional values).

As a Christian first, we must put social issues at the forefront, regardless of how culturally unpopular for as Will says – “to govern is to choose one social outcome over others.” Because we have made the election a referendum on the economy all our other social ills have only increased. As Conservatives we must be coherent about what to conserve and we must conserve what is right or our people will continue to fall for what is wrong. It’s not an easy argument to make these days but it is an important one to live out. Conservatives love to complain about the entitlement mentality in this country but haven’t clearly articulated a solution. Conservatives love to talk about the decline of social values but only contribute to the problem.  Shouting at the darkness doesn’t bring light. But as Will points out, “Conservatism often has been inarticulate about what to conserve,” other than what serves our economic interests. I hope we have learned that is no longer sufficient.

Evil has won the day. No, I’m not calling Barrack Obama evil, though I would argue that he is an unrighteous leader who supports some evil policies. As one example, we know abortion is a great evil and his record is an appalling one on this issue. Rather what is evil is the the pursuit of economic prosperity as the single most important conservative principle, just as Will wrote about 40 years ago. I know that’s not popular to say but here’s the rub – as most conservatives claim to be Christian, we should know what the Bible has to say about uncritically worshipping  “the dynamism of the American economy.” Many will no doubt object and claim that Will is wrong, or I am for agreeing, claiming they don’t worship the American economy. But when we can’t articulate a response to the slogans such as “it’s the economy stupid” with other more important issues of our time and the economy takes center stage, can we really deny that we worship the “dynamism of the American economy?” Worship is devotion and there is great devotion to our economy and a diminishing devotion to God from whom all blessings flow.

Jesus did tell us that we could not serve both God and money, right? Our Lord also told us that “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.” And, we should know that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Christians need to ask ourselves what is more important - our economic prosperity or our Biblical values? We need to ask ourselves what is more important for me, my personal prosperity or the common good of our nation? We need to ask ourselves who we are serving, God or mammon? Then we need to articulate why we think so, speaking the truth in love. But more importantly, we need to live sent today, in a counter-cultural way, lovingly rebuking the evil of our time through a message of grace, peace, restoration and yes even prosperity based on putting the Lord first in our lives. Then if we fail at least we can say we are on the Lord’s side and there is nothing more important than that, is there?

Unless we do form a coherent conservatism, solidly Biblically based, rooted and established on all that honors our Lord, Conservatives may not succeed in another Presidential election, until the people cry out for mercy. We need to discerningly weigh what all leaders, pundits and prognosticators are saying when they are not saying, “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge me and I will direct your path.” What if more who claim to be Christians actually believed this was true and lived like it? There is of course much more to it which is why I am blogging through the Mission of God’s People. I’ll pick that up again this next week.

One last point, for Christians who voted for Obama, you too need to ask yourself how your vote lines up with Biblical values, other than what you perceive to be reflective of Matthew 25. There is much more to the Good News than care for the truly poor. We live in a fallen fall but we shouldn’t add to the fallenness.  The liberal message is even more inconsistent with Biblical values than the conservative message has been.  If we are Christ followers we need to recalibrate our lives around what God says is important, not what we think is.

Even after the Israelities had gone their own way and were about to be sent into captivity for 70 years due to their national sin, God said to them, “

Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.

(Joel 2:12-13)

 

We need to think long and hard about what the Lord is saying here for living sent today.