Sent

The sending out is my favourite part of the Eucharist service. Happening just after the blessing from the priest, the deacon (or often lay minister of the word) gives this command, "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord" with the congregation responding, "In the name of Christ, Amen". Of course, this does not exclude the work of the Eucharist which is the climax in the Anglican service but rather it says, you have been fed and received, now go bring the church out into the world, do not leave it here.

Reading the scriptures we see God has a habit of sending. Prophets get sent all the time, and in 1 Samuel 16.1-13 we see Samuel, the last of the judges being sent to anoint a new king. In order to do so Samuel needs to ask Jesse send for David to come in who was tending to the sheep.

Jesus sends a blind man off for his healing to completed, John 9.1-41. Jesus has all the power of God the Father the one who sent him and could heal the blind man on the spot; yet Jesus makes mud, spreading it on the mans eyes and telling him to "Go wash in the pool of Siloam", which John has an parenthetical comment that Siloam means Sent. To be sent is not merely to obey God's command but also a recognition that you do not have to obey the words. Samuel could have stopped his service; the Blind man could have felt offended and seeked a different space to wash his face, though the commands seem personal, and for the time that the other person is ready.

To be ready is also a varied response, Ephesians 5.8-14 shows this. The knowledge and acceptance of Christ is the initial spark and light switch, it is still an intentional action. I had to sit in verse 10 for a moment, "Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord." This is a comment for a childlike faith which will make mistakes, it is clear from this one verse that call to be ready is far from perfect but it is to try to walk in that light. Many of us are not the wisest when we first wake up, yet we are called to try, explore, and examine our lives and the actions of the day under Christ so the next day we can live again.

‘Sleeper, awake!
    Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’

And in all this darkness, all this fault of self, yet God continues to send the broken, the shameful and the lost. We then see Psalm 23. On our hardest days, reciting Psalm 23 can feel like miles away, but we know God is with us in our still beating hearts.

The Sending can be lonely, but we are all the sent, walking a pilgrimage to that final home, God's kingdom come.

While writing this Fight of my Life by Rend Collective was the song that was accompanying it. I regularly connect songs to works, either my own or others. Particularly the 3rd and 4th verse, then the pre-chorus and chorus round the thoughts.

I’ll search for something more
Show me all Your colours, Lord
Cause I can’t live my life in monochrome

Gotta go full send to the end
Right through hell and back again
God don’t make me have to go there alone

It was hard to find You in the pain
But it’s harder now that I can’t feel a thing
Don’t know how to find my fire again
But I need You now

I need you to be my joy
This is the fight of my life
I’ve gotta keep looking for the light
I’m in a war for my mind
Oh i need you in the fight of my life