We keep waiting for God to initiate…
All the while God keeps inviting us to collaborate…
Engaging God’s mission of the Beloved Community!
In early November while on retreat with John Dominic Crossan, he said something that sparked those three statements for me. I think of how often I have prayerfully waited for God to “initiate” only at the end of the day to realize that all the while, God was already making things happen.
Truth be told, like most folks, I can always come up with reasons why it is not quite the right time to jump in. I need more ideas, need more people, need more money. These are often the big three.
Today, I participated in the Christian Gathering for Racial Healing convened by the consecrated leaders of the four Historically Black Churches of Minnesota. This is the second time we have come together. The first time was the judicatories (Bishop types) and this time the invitation was expanded to include millennial leaders of color from our faith traditions. Our initial time together was extremely powerful and acutely painful. The leaders of the Historically Black Churches shared their stories and then posed the question to those of us who lead Anglo majority faith traditions: what are we willing to do to bring healing not only to our faith communities but also to our neighborhoods?
This conversation is well overdue. For far too long, racism has been pervasive at every level of our society, including in our faith traditions. It was not until those who have suffered the most from racism issued the invitation to the conversation that we were able to begin the long journey of healing. For far too long we have been waiting for God to initiate, all the while God had been inviting us to collaborate. And now that that collaboration has begun, you can begin to see the rays of the Beloved Community beginning to break through the darkness.
Where in your context are you waiting for God to initiate? What will it take to “jump in?” God is inviting and cannot wait to collaborate with you and others to engage in God’s mission of the Beloved Community.
Source: Bishop Brian Prior – An Invitation