Missional Living at a Micro Level

  • Mike Rydman
  • Aug 15, 2007

Missional Living at a Micro Level

 

This has already been a strange week! In the past months I have found myself craving solitude and study. With the exception of a break in the day to get outside and do something active, I otherwise want to hole up to study and write. Never having ever been accused of being an introvert I am none the less enjoying the alone times more and more.

 

However, this week has been different. Here on a Wednesday morning I have not really initiated the heavy lifting of sermon preparations for this coming Sunday. Instead, God has had some other things to learn that have not necessarily required a desk lamp or books.

 

Already this week I have been involved in conversations that center on broken marriages, or marriages in peril. Not being particularly gifted as a counselor, this has all been a stretch for me. And, God has also seen fit to teach me about what "living missionally" means at the micro level.

 

On Monday this week my next door neighbor, Louise, asked me to haul some trash to the Dump. When I went out to do the deed I was greeted with an incredible load of trash and yard waste in the bed of an old pick up truck. I got the key, got in the truck (that was essentially missing its accelerator pedal) and made it five blocks before running out of gas. At this point I'm thinking that missional living is overrated. After filling the gas tank I did make it to the Dump without getting pulled over for the uncovered load I was carrying. An hour later I had the load dealt with, and retuned home. Honestly, I did not enjoy this event in my life.

 

On Tuesday night after our Tribal (small group) meeting, one of our tribal members needed a ride home after his bicycle chain had broken. This individual is under-resourced and deals with some unique challenges. He does not necessarily reflect our Tribe's common demographics. In fact, my beloved wife, Debbie, has remarked more than once that this guy may in fact be "an angel who God has sent to our group for our benefit." I didn't feel like having to drive anywhere, but after dropping him off where he lives I experienced the "voice" of God on the way home; clearly, and without mistake or confusion. What my heart heard clearly was, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me," (Matthew 25:45.)

 

So, I was reminded that hauling a neighbor's trash in a pickup truck that isn't road worthy, or (today) fixing up an old bike of mine for someone who really needs it is really hauling trash and fixing a bike for Jesus. And, I've learned something in all this...

 

Expressions of the Kingdom are best seen at the micro level, at the ground floor, from the view for the first story window. God has already taught me early in this week that missional living is not theory; it is intentional practice, and it needs to be practiced until it becomes lifestyle.

 

So today as I write this I am thanking my Lord for graciously teaching me something about the expression of His Kingdom, about what it means to be a "living sacrifice," and about how I can trust Him to accomplish everything He wants to accomplish in me...even in helping me find the time I need to write a sermon. While I've been concerned with preparing a sermon for Sunday, God's been busy writing a sermon on my heart. And I still have four days...