Chapter three of CCotC is entitled "Mission as Witness". In it, Darrell Guder argues that the essential character of the mission of the followers of Jesus is to be his witnesses. To begin to explain what this means, I think I need to quote the first paragraph of this chapter in full.What makes the gospel truly good news is the fact that the Jesus events are the outcome of God's loving decision to heal the broken creation. We have described this as God's mission. To demonstrate divine love, God brought about salvation for all creation in the death of Jesus on the cross. That joyful message is now to be made known to all the world. That is how God's mission now continues. The center or core of the missio Dei is evangelization: the communication of the gospel. Carrying the good news across all borders and into all the world is an essential part of the kingdom message which Jesus brought and embodied. Jesus Christ intended the mission of the apostolic faith community as the necessary consequence of God's redemptive work for all creation, which was accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection. "A clear line of connection can be drawn between the sending of Jesus and the sending of his disciples: as Jesus reflects in his actions the goodness and righteousness of his Father, who send him into the world, so his disciples become witnesses and the image of Christ to those to whom Jesus sent them.Further:
In the tradition of "the other Mike's"* fine series on Miroslav Volf's teachings at the Emergent Theological Conversation (#1, #2, #3, #4), I thought I'd blog some of my notes from Marcus Borg's engaging lecture at the National Cathedral last week, entitled "The Last Week". The lecture shares a title and subject with a book recently published by Borg and John Dominic Crossan, about the last week of the life of Jesus, with an emphasis on the account in the Gospel of Mark. If you'd like to actually watch the talk (highly recommended!), you can check it out here.
My friend Marco has set up a blog for the Lamb Center which will be updated with their current needs:
So yesterday, I get an e-mail from A. Bowie Snodgrass, Web Content Editor of the Office of Communication of the Episcopal Church, saying that my blog was, at some point within the last year, one of the top 25 referring domains to the "Come and Grow" evangelism campaign of the national church. Frankly, that's a little scary. I love dearly each and every one of you readers of this humble blog, but one thing you aren't is numerous.
Chapter 2 of Guder's book is entitled, "God's Mission is Good News". He begins by saying that "Our theory of evangelistic ministry must be rooted in a biblical theology of mission and, above all, dominated and shaped by the gospel it seeks to proclaim." Toward the formation of such a theory, Guder makes the following assertions:The missio Dei has always been the gospel, good news about God's goodness revealed in God's Word through Israel's experience, leading up to its climax and culmination in Jesus Christ. Throughout the biblical witness, God acts, initiates, and sends. God's compassion leads to his salvific witness in human history. The Father sends the Son. This exclusive focus on God as the subject of his mission is essential to the gospel, for it makes clear that humans, in their lostness, find hope in what God has done for them, not in what they might imagine they can do for themselves. Now, however, on the cross and at Easter, the salvation of the world was accomplished. God's mission now broadens to embrace the whole world for which Christ died. The gospel of God's love fulfilled in Christ is now to be made known to everyone. Because of the evangel [good news], the call to evangelize is now heard. God's mission continues as that call takes shape in the apostolic community, the church.
By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 7, 2006; B02
One of Northern Virginia's only daytime homeless shelters has been so stretched by the number of people needing help this winter that the facility has closed for 48 hours while its staff determines its future, the shelter director said yesterday.
The Lamb Center, a daytime drop-in program operated by Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax City, has been coping with a sharp increase in the number of homeless people it has been serving. What began several years ago as a place for spiritual guidance and job counseling has evolved into a critical source of support for those without shelter in Fairfax.
This winter, 60 to 70 people, mostly single adult men, have been coming to the center every day for a meal, a shower, a telephone, washing machines and a gathering place for those taking late-afternoon buses to spend the night in one of the Fairfax churches participating in a program to keep the homeless off the street in cold weather.
That is roughly twice the number of previous years. And it has created an often crowded, sometimes chaotic scene at the small (less than 3,500 square feet) converted car radio repair store on Old Lee Highway near Fairfax Circle.
"We've just been swamped to the gills," said director Bob Wyatt, who said the numbers have made it difficult to pursue the spiritual end of his mission. The church decided to close the center's doors until tomorrow morning to give Wyatt and his staff a chance to clean up and reorganize what space they have.
The increased numbers have frayed the staff and relations with Fairfax City, which has long been uncomfortable with the center's location in a commercial strip adjacent to a 7-Eleven, where many of the homeless purchase alcohol. At least twice in recent weeks, city police have responded to calls at the center. In one instance Feb. 17, police arrived to find a man outside the center waving a two-foot board and threatening to hit people. He was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.
"The Lamb Center is in a crisis situation because of overcrowding and its popularity," said Fairfax City Mayor Robert F. Lederer, who said he has worked for months to find it a new location.
Wyatt and church officials say they remain committed to the Lamb Center. But Bob Sisson, Fairfax's city manager, said Truro seriously considered closing the facility permanently.
"That's what they told us," Sisson said.
Tom Riley, Truro's project manager for the Lamb Center, replied, "I can't imagine us doing that."
Wyatt did acknowledge, however, that the center may make changes to try to winnow the numbers. Among the possibilities: cutting back on meals and using a firmer hand in helping patrons make new plans for their lives.
City, county and church officials met over the weekend to discuss the situation. To improve conditions at the center, the city agreed to provide space at a nearby park as a gathering spot for people taking buses to overnight church shelters. The county donated two Fairfax Connector buses to assist.
The Lamb Center's predicament is part of what Fairfax officials describe as an increase in the number of people seeking shelter.
Waiting lists for families seeking space in one of the county's five shelters have expanded over the last year, from an average of 60 families to more than 90. Church volunteers anticipated about 30 to 35 each night for their shelter program. Instead, the numbers have been twice that, despite the relatively mild winter.
Fairfax's homeless population has hovered around 2,000 for the past five years, the highest of any area jurisdiction except the District, with its more than 8,900 homeless, according to the most recent figures. Those who work with the homeless are not sure whether the increased demand at shelters represents an increase in the population or heightened awareness of the services available.
"I don't think the homeless population is growing. I think they just found us," Riley said.
Whatever the underlying reasons, county officials said yesterday that the Lamb Center is a critical link in the chain of services for the area's homeless and that permanent closure is not an option.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said a task force is being assembled to redouble efforts to find a new home for the center.
"The Lamb Center is an absolutely essential lifeline," he said.
Yesterday, with the Lamb Center closed, its clients were scattered about central Fairfax, some in libraries, others in parks or movie theaters. Waiting for the bus yesterday at Draper Drive Park, Louis Crandall, 52, said: "This has left a lot of people in dire straits."
Great day,
