The Ebb Tide
Tena tātou katoa e te iwi mīhana… (Greetings to all the people in mission),
This month’s whakataukī (proverb) is: “I timu noa te tai.” (The tide ebbs without effort). This saying encourages us to wait at times and let things work themselves out. For followers of Jesus, we should not yield to fatalism, as if the impersonal fates, the universe or destiny will work everything out. Followers of Jesus are people of faith, trusting deeply that “God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them” (Romans 8:28 NLT). As the people of God we are called to serve without striving, like the way the tide is pulled by the moon. This is the Sabbath rest. This is the peace of Christ. This is shalom.
As our external world becomes less controllable we invest our energies into what we can control.
There remains a great deal of uncertainty in the world as COVID-19, climate change, regional unrest, economic crises, and emotionally-charged differences of opinion threaten peoples’ wellbeing. The drive to protect ourselves and our way of life is hard-coded into our human DNA. As our external world becomes less controllable we invest our energies into what we can control—our opinions, our beliefs, our perceived rights and freedom of choice. If we meet resistance, over time our efforts become exhausting, like chasing the wind. It is not dissimilar to those who become weary from carrying heavy burdens, to whom Jesus offers rest. What we need to do is yield to Him and learn from Him. After all, he promises that following Him is easy and light, (Matt 11:28-30 NLT), like a tide on the ebb.
What then? Are we to simply do nothing? Should we just give up our rights, give in to the powerful, and allow them to run rough-shod over the poor, weak, needy and marginalised? Well, no. Jesus’ followers are indeed a people who care and advocate for the oppressed, who love our neighbour.
It is precisely in the wake of the unanticipated consequences of social engineering that God’s mission finds its best opportunities.
In the post-Christian Western world today, which includes Australia and New Zealand, believers are wrestling with a lot of angst. Our ways of understanding the world are more often than not ridiculed in academia and the media, and conservative morals are dismissed by government and law. Privilege is lost, and that is very destabilising for those used to having it. We are right to make a stand to mitigate the excesses of libertarian reforms, that is a benefit of our democratic society, but we do not have a right to demand or impose our views on a pluralistic society. We live within a societal contract, and when the bulk of our society prefers (by virtue of their voting preferences) to live in ways contrary to our biblical perspectives, we must learn to adapt. I’m not suggesting moral compromise, but rather adapt our ministries to meet the fallout of the choices wider society is making. Whether led by a conservative, liberal or totalitarian government there will always be fallout. It is precisely in the wake of the unanticipated consequences of social engineering that God’s mission finds its best opportunities.
Should we just let sweeping changes that are contrary to our morals go uncontested? No, we have a prophetic responsibility to point out the dangers of those decisions—not in defence of our own comfort and privilege, but in defence of all of the vulnerable who are likely to be negatively affected by the changes. But once change is legally bedded in, our responsibility must shift to living out the love of Christ in our communities, caring for those affected. We need to flow with the changing tide, adapting our ministries to suit.
As churches in the West haemorrhage members, evangelistic efforts fail to bring revival, and commentators mock our demise, we would do well to zoom out and see the much bigger picture. The Global Church continues to explode in the Majority World, becoming larger than that in the West since 1981, and continuing to grow exponentially in the four decades since. In the past decade or so alone, missions researchers estimate (with strong validation) that 1% of the world’s population has come to Christ from another majority religion. That is more than 75,000,000 people. If you want to talk about something “unprecedented”, this is it. It is a young, indigenous and dynamic Church, and it will dominate Christian history from here on even as the Western Church’s dominance wanes. The tide shifts effortlessly (in a manner of speaking).
For something else to grow and flourish a sacrifice is required.
We only need look to nature to see the “unforced rhythms of grace” that Jesus calls us to (Matt 11:29 MSG). Seasons come and go. In healthy environments flora die off to feed and give way to the new. Tides ebb and flow to the cycles of the moon. “Progress” is rooted in a false assumption of unlimited potential. Growth, however, implies that for something else to grow and flourish a sacrifice (a giving up) is required. Philosophies of progress do not understand this.
At a recent global gathering online we were reminded that missions too must give up to grow—to first wait, watch, pray, and discern what God is doing. Only then should we presume to participate according to our competencies and calling. We are to feel the pull of the moon as it were. In sum then, if our witness to the world is motivated more by holding on with angst and striving to our own sense of justice and progress, than constrained by a sacrificial love of Christ for the betterment of others, we are not effortlessly moving as we ought to, in order to #stayonmission.
Arohanui ki a koutou e haere ana ki te ao (love to you all as you go into the world),
Jay
