Mitch Lewis

In his recent book on "justification," N. T. Wright complains that we have taken a perfectly good Biblical word with a limited set of meanings and tried to use it do describe the whole of the Christian theology and life experience. You can do that, he says, but you need to realize that your meaning of the word "justification" encompasses a lot of things for which the Biblical authors used different words - or didn't think about at all.

I feel much the same about the word "mission."

Mark Roberts is a Presbyterian pastor whose postings I read regularly. In a series of posts revisiting John Stott's Christian Mission in the the Modern World, Roberts says something with which I disagree:

“Mission” describes rather everything the church is sent into the world to do.

Now the word "sent" there does imply mission of some sort. Based on Robert's excerpts, however, Stott's concept of mission includes everything that Christians - corporately and individually - in the church and in the world - are to be and do. Coming out of evangelical Anglicanism, Stott has an admirable purpose: to convince Christians that being a "missionary" isn't the only important vocation for serious, committed Christians. So far, I agree. But not every Christian virtue, aspiration, function and practice is best described as the mission of the Church.

First of all, to speak of the mission of the Church is to speak of the mission of the corporate body. "Church" and "Christian" are not interchangeable words.

Secondly, not every virtue or practice is part of the corporate mission, as important as important as these virtues and practices may be.

The other world in which I live - the Army - knows something about mission statements. We live by them; they focus our actions. The Army values are Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor and Personal Courage. But courage is not the Army's mission. Neither is respect is not the Army's mission. We live by these values as we accomplish the Army's mission. Our individual  actions and organizational functions contribute to the mission. Our "off duty" life also has an impact on the mission. None of these things, however, is the mission itself.

"Mission" is not, by the way, a New Testament word. The New Testament frequently speaks of being sent, but it does not use the word "mission" in connection with that activity. Most translations describe Paul's journey as a "mission" in Acts 12:25, but the word is "diakonia," probably better translated as "ministry" or "service."

Within the church, I think it is best to use the word mission in its ordinary sense, to give focus to our actions. The more domains we try to incorporate into our concept of mission, the less helpful the word becomes.

Luke 10:38-42

In the 1991 film City Slickers, Billy Crystal plays Mitch, a middle aged, big-city advertising salesman dissatisfied with his work and unhappy at home. He is having a mid-life crisis. Mitch?s wife sees his unhappiness and sends him and two friends on a two-week trip to a working ranch in the ?Old West? to find himself.

On the trip, they meet Curly, played by Jack Palance. Curly is everything Mitch is not: taciturn, a loner, rough and gruff. Curly is a real-deal leather-faced cowboy.

A great scene occurs near the middle of the film. The city slickers are taking part in a cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado. Curly takes Mitch along with him to catch a few strays, and while on the trail the two men with nothing in common eventually have a real conversation.

Curly: You know what the secret of life is?
Mitch: No, what?
Curly: This. [Holds up his finger]
Mitch: Your finger?
Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and everything else don't mean [expletive deleted].
Mitch: That's great, but what's the one thing?
Curly: That's what you've got to figure out.

Is that what you've got to figure out? And does everyone have their own ?one thing?? Is your ?one thing? different than mine?

In the gospel reading for today, Jesus also says that there is only ?one thing? that is needed. Perhaps Jesus has something to say to those who are looking for the ?one thing? that gives life meaning and puts everything else in perspective.

Let?s look at the story of Jesus, Mary and Martha.

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When I tell people that I have been a United Methodist pastor for 26 years, I sometimes receive a strange look and a question. "What? I thought you were an Army chaplain."

Public law says very little about the duties of Army chaplains. The basic legal framework in Title 10 (Section 3547) is over a century old. It specifies only two functions: leading worship and burying the dead.

10USC3547 (a) Each chaplain shall, when practicable, hold appropriate religious services at least once on each Sunday for the command to which he is assigned, and shall perform appropriate religious burial services for members of the Army who die while in that command.

The United Methodist Church also has a legal definition of a pastor in paragraph 339 of The Book of Discipline (2004). It specifically includes elders appointed to extension ministries such as the chaplaincy under the title of "pastor." Pastors have a four-fold responsibility of word, sacrament, order and service. Unlike some in who serve in extension ministries, military chaplains perform those functions on a regular basis.

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Assembly of God seminarian Amy Maxwell is a participant in the Army Reserve's Chaplain Candidate program. She is also a wife and a mother. In "A Mother's Call," she answers those who have difficulty believing that God could possibly call her to military ministry.

My God sometimes calls mothers to do uncomfortable things. Things that don?t make sense. Things like putting a baby in a basket and hoping the river will carry him to safety? Things like giving birth to a son only to see him die on a cross thirty-three years later. Motherhood does not serve as an exemption for service or sacrifice.

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