What a Shame

What a shame to seek the Kingdom and miss the King.  

These words were spoken to me as I was on my way to my silent retreat this past February by a long-time prayer partner.  He added that it would be a shame to waste time licking envelopes instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus. 

Those words came back to me on the silent retreat that just ended yesterday.  

I spent the first hour of my silent retreat rereading my silent retreat journals from the last several years and came across that very statement.  I then looked up to see a stack of envelopes on the desk in my room at the Hermitage that I had snuck into my backpack (so that my husband wouldn't see and tell me to leave them at home) for a mailing that I hadn't quite finished before I left.

I was here to seek the King.  But as is not atypical for me, I get distracted by seeking the Kingdom.

I love the calling.  But I also need to love the Caller.

But as I began to process, I wondered: Licking envelopes / Being WITH God. 

Two opposite things?  Or two sides of the same coin?

At first, I thought that the behaviors of Mary and Martha are actually two sides of the same coin.  It's not an either/or.  It's not a good versus bad. 

If we live our lives only as Mary, nothing gets done.  

If we live our lives only as Martha's, we miss being with the King. 

But then I realized that there is a third option. One MUST come before the other. First I love the King and spend time WITH the King. And from there, I work to seek the Kingdom. The order matters.

Of course, I know my prayer partner understands the need to lick envelopes and appreciates that all work can be done as an act of worship.  

But he also knows my tendency to be Martha rather than Mary.  My tendency to want to get "stuff" done BEFORE I sit at the feet of Jesus.  My "what's next" approach to life can generate good work, but it can also be problematic.

My tendency is to do life "for" God instead of life "with" God.  And the danger in that is that the work becomes an idol.  It puts God's mission before God Himself. You become so busy SERVING that you miss BEING.

I know that I have to be intentional to listen. 

At my retreat, I spent a considerable amount of time in an amazing labyrinth that took me forty minutes to complete. I focused on being quiet and listening as I walked. What a delight to be silent and just be with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  What a joy to lie on the ground at the center of the labyrinth and just view the sky. What a joy to be reminded of the call to joy.

What a gift.  I call silent retreats my vacate-tion.  They are the gift of no obligations, no shoulds and oughts, no talking...just being.  True rest for soul and body. I highly recommend them.

Indeed, it would be a shame to go through life seeking the Kingdom and missing the King.

I do desire His Kingdom to come and His will to be done, but not as an end in and of itself.  The goal is the fellowship and community with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  To know Him better.  To love Him better.  

I asked Him to show me where I need to improve to be a better disciple, and He graciously showed me three areas. He thankfully stopped at just three... for now... enough for me to work on, yet not be overwhelmed.

I didn't miss the King on this retreat. But because I love the King, I also seek His Kingdom. 

Oh, and just in case you are wondering, I did finish the mailing while on the retreat and then drove to the nearby town's post office to mail it out. But as soon as I got back, right back to silence.  I can do both.  But the order matters.

What about you? How do you make sure that you are not missing the King while seeking the Kingdom?

How to Watch Your Language Regarding the Sacred-Secular Divide

This week, DML is hosting its annual summit.  In even-numbered years, we gather in person, and in odd-numbered years, we gather virtually.  This year's retreat will be virtual, with every team gathering in their own country for a week-long retreat. We will meet together daily for four hours via Zoom.  

In total, we will have 220 people gathering from 25 countries.  We covet your prayers.

Our theme is "Whole Life Disciples," where we seek to make "whole-life missionary disciples, who are learning to live the way of Jesus in their context, at this moment."

Part of learning how to make whole-life disciples means learning to watch our language.  

Specifically, we have to learn to watch our language regarding the sacred-secular divide.

It's remarkable how often we use language that emphasizes a church vision rather than a Kingdom vision, subtly reminding the majority of believers that they are second-class Christians because they are not in "full-time" ministry.

So we work hard as a team to watch our language.  Here are some specific things that we pay attention to and seek to help our church leaders pay attention to:

(Table taken from BAM Global's BAM and the Church paper.)

When someone says:	What it might imply (not biblical):	Better words or concepts to use:
Called	Only some Christians are called, which sounds mysterious.	All Christians have a calling to serve in God’s kingdom and be salt and light in their daily lives.
Full-time ministry	Ministry is within a certain time rather than a lifestyle	Use an adjective prior to 'ministry.’ For example, ‘pastoral
Clergy/laity	Some individuals have a more important role than others.	‘Pulpit pastor’ and ‘marketplace minister’. We are a kingdom of priests.
Go to church	The church building is the primary place to worship God.	‘Church gathered’ (when in the church building), 'church scattered’ or ‘church sent out’ (when not in the building, but being the church every day).
Missionary	Special people, while other Christians are exempt from God’s mission.	We are all on a mission, though some are “Cross-cultural gospel workers.” Others go to their own workplace locally.
Worship	Often refers only to the songs we sing during the service when the church is gathered.	Worship is to be all of life. We do work as an act of worship, raising children as an act of worship, doing chores as an act of worship, etc.
‘The ministry’	Only one, and it is only within the church building.	Living a life on mission, ministry is a natural part of everyday life.
Evangelism	It is an event with a program.	Life-on-life evangelism in every place and space.
Discipleship	A program about doctrine for new Christians.	Lifetime learning to apply God’s work and be obedient to Him.
Money as the root of evil	Implies that money itself is evil, but money is actually neutral.	We can worship God through how we use our money. Wealth creation is part of the covenant.
Commissioning	Sending out a few people who are selected to work for God.	All Christians are sent by God to be on mission every day.
‘I’m not gifted in evangelism.’	Used as an excuse to not share Christ with others.	All Christians are called to share Christ with others, but we need to understand that there are different ways to do this.

As you enter this week, may you remember that when God created the world, He declared that all of it, in beautiful synergy, was very good.  When we participate in God's creation and do it for His glory, there is no distinction between sacred and secular.  So together, let's break it down - watch our language as we speak!