Missio Dei

You may have noticed that the title for this months Shout is Missio Dei, which as our editor Adrian explained with the use of Wikipedia, is a Latin Christian theological term meaning ’Mission of God’ or ’Sending of God.’ (Wikipedia being reasonable accurate for once!)

In his book The Mission of God (a brilliant yet not easy read I assure you) Christopher Wright elucidates in mind-boggling detail what the Mission of God is all about. The fact that the Bible, the whole Bible, not only provides a basis for mission, but that the entire Bible is generate by, and is all about God’s mission.

In order to understand the Bible, we need an interpretative perspective that is in tune with this theme. We need to see the ‘big picture’ of God’s mission and how all part of Scripture fit into its grand narrative.

God’s mission is to redeem his whole creation from all that sin and evil have inflicted upon it, and the mission of God’s people must reflect the breadth and of God’s righteous and saving love for all he has made.

My question to you is this: what is part do you play in God’s mission?

Apolitical? Not really!

It would be wrong to say that I am 'apolitical', that I don’t have a political view neither do I engage in politics, I do, and I have shared this perhaps too vocally and publically over the past month as I react to what I see and hear from our politicians. I will not add comment to that debate but I have been asked by many what do I see as an alternative to our current system. I do have ideas, but I am not going to share them with you either; they will be faulty because I am human. So my political view and how I choose to engage is this, and it stems in a large part from what I understand from the Bible; Our government is in place and its authority is given by God (Romans 13:1-7, Titus 3:1), so I will be subject to this authority in obedience to God until such time as it contradicts the authority of God’s Word. Because of this I will pray for our leaders, each and every one of them that they may hear and respond to the voice of God, and that they will lead this country well and in doing so they will ‘do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly’ preferably with our God. I choose this over voting - although perhaps if there were a ‘none of the above’ on the ballot papers I might actually vote – and it is a very simple way to engage in politics: obedience and prayer. You can criticize this as idealistic or naive if you like, that is your prerogative, but it is my choice. I share that here so that you might understand that whilst I do not vote, I do engage. My challenge to you brother or sister in Christ is that however you choose to engage, whoever you choose to vote for, whoever comes to power, that you pray regularly for our leaders that they too may follow the path that you have chosen and by doing so be obedient to the ultimate authority, God.