Encountering, Embracing, Embodying Christ in the World

 Mennonite Church Alberta is embarking on the third year of the action plan that grew out of over a year of reflection and discussion among people from the congregations of our provincial church: To Encounter, Embrace, and Embody Christ in Life, in Community, in the World.

 In year one, we looked to encounter, embrace, and embody Christ in life by looking inward to find God's amazing love living within us, and looking outward to see that love all around us.  We sought to embrace our identity as the beloved children of an amazing and omnipresent God, bound together by Christ living in all of us. We also looked to live in such a way as to embody Christ in our day to day lives.

In year two we expanded our gaze to see God living within our church communities - locally, province wide, and in the broader church. We embraced God speaking through Scripture, songs, and each other as we explored what it means to embrace our identity as Christ's people and live as the embodiment of Christ in community, and as a community.

This year we want to shift our gaze even further, as we look to encounter, embrace, and embody Christ in the world.

As we look to encounter Christ we can look at Scriptures.  We see Abraham encountering God's messengers in the form of travellers on the road. We read of Jacob finding God in the face of his brother, who extended unearned mercy and forgiveness. We read of Moses getting counsel from his Midianite father-in-law, who was a priest for a different religion. We hear the Psalmist encountering God in nature, in the awesome vastness of the star filled sky, a beauty of mountains and rivers.  We hear Jesus telling us we can encounter God through work for the poor and the helpless.  The Bible is filled with stories of people's experience of encountering God in so many different ways.  Sometimes God comes in miraculous ways, like Moses and the burning bush, and sometimes God comes in the ordinary. We, too, can encounter God in both the ordinary and the extraordinary, in the familiar and the new, and even in unexpected places like in people of different, or no, faith. I pray we learn to open our eyes, ears, hearts, and minds to encounter God in our world.

As we continue to read Scriptures and share stories with people around us, we also need to embrace God's presence in and around us.  We need to accept that it is only with God that we will have the strength and courage to face the parts of the world that are difficult. We need to embrace our dependence on God.  We need to accept that God loves us even when we don't love ourselves. We need to embrace the vastness of God's ways - as it says in Isaiah 55:9 (CEB) 

"Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my plans than your plans."

As we live in a world that tells us we need to DO more to earn God's love, and the acceptance of those around us, God tells us that we don't have to DO anything except accept the abundant love we are offered. While it is easy enough to sing "Jesus loves me" or "For God so loved us" (Gott ist die Liebe), it can be difficult to really embrace that reality. We are called to embrace God's loving presence, in ourselves, and in the world.

The third component of the vision for this year is to embody Christ in the world. This is the part so many Christians jump to.  They want to be a light to the world (Mathew 5:14-16) but sometimes forget the light is only there as long as someone lights it and provides fuel. They want to be ambassadors for Christ  (2 Corinthians 5:20) but forget that to be a good ambassador you need to know both the nation or person you represent and the people to whom you are being sent.  So yes, we want to be salt, and light, and ambassadors - embodying Christ in the world - but will only be able to do so if we are open to encountering and embracing Christ in the world, as well.

So let us go forth and love the world. "For God so loved the world..."(John 3:16) - let us  love that world, too.  Let us love the people and the creation that make up our world, as well as the God, who made it all, is revealed through it all, and loves each one of us, too. Let us go forth to encounter, embrace and embody Christ in this amazing world.


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