Prospect
The Rev'd Robert Warren.
Luke 24:36b-48
"...repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are
witnesses of these things."
My Sunday School teachers made much of the Great Commission (and
related pronouncements of Jesus) to "go forth" into the
world. This was the late sixties in
Western Canada and elements of the Anglican Church of Canada (and other
mainline denominations) had begun to set aside old colonialist ideas that our
task was to civilize and westernize foreign societies. One sensed rejoicing that God was present in
the lives of African and Asian Christians as African and Asian people and not
merely copies of a dominant culture from the West. The Spirit of God was abroad in the
world. The parishes which my parents
attended made much of this and I can still remember being told (and shown) how
my link with the lives of Christians in other places was as important as my
link to those of my own clan and nation.
As Jesus opens the minds and hearts of his disciples in the
period of time which follows his Resurrection he says two things: First of all, the preaching of repentance and
forgiveness of sins is to begin from home in Jerusalem and with the skills that
they have presently at hand - from that place where the disciples
find themselves on that very day.
Their own experience of the risen Christ will be sufficient as subject
matter. Even with the help of the Holy
Spirit it will be the words of fishermen and small-scale artisans from the
Galilee which will carry the message to the ends of the earth. Secondly, however, that local attachment will
have its day. It is only
provisional. It will, and must be, superseded. Christians belong to the world of the Kingdom
more than they belong to their own nation, kin, language and social
network. It only begins at home. It ends up elsewhere.
Our young people experienced some of this last Spring at Youth
Across Europe as they mingled with members of Episcopal Churches in Italy,
Switzerland and Germany who live and study in more than one language and who
are gathered into parishes and youth groups in their place of residence as our
young people are in theirs. These opportunities
to mingle with other young Christians on an international level may be the
lever which opens the door on a faith which has oftentimes been associated with
parents and grandparents and with what is, perhaps, almost too well known. Jesus would open the world to us - to our
churches - to our children. He who has
ears to hear - let him hear.
