In the beginning, mission in communion:
The Father sent the Son and the Spirit.
God spoke his word through
Melchizedek and Hagar,
Rahab and Ruth,
Balaam and Naaman,
Jethro and Job.
Together they are sent:
Together we are sent.
God spoke his word through
Woman of Samaria,
Roman soldier,
Woman of Phoenicia,
Caesarea centurion.
Together they are sent:
Together we are sent.
God spoke his word through
Monica of Africa,
Ajayi Crowther,
Abdul Masih,
Pandita Ramabai,
Watchman Nee.
Together they are sent:
Together we are sent.
From the beginning, mission in communion.
‘The Father sent me: I send you.’
Receive the Spirit:
the Spirit of release.
Until the end, Holy Communion.
Our hearts are fed, by Christ by faith,
We proclaim his death, until he comes.
Maranatha, Alleluia: Alleluia, Amen.
Maranatha, Alleluia: Alleluia, Amen.
The Rt Revd Dr Graham Kings is Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Ely and Research Associate at the Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.
For killing time in a long procession, there is nothing quite like a Catholic litany of saints, but this creative use of smaller sets of selected names to exemplify mission-shaped insight into God is much better. Apart from that, the biblical genealogies are sometimes, as in the gospels, more than chronicle, and litany– “call and response” we might say– advances like the generations anyway, so it makes sense as a vehicle for recalling them. But this litany is more evocative than that– each group of names further widens the Kingdom.
Nice 🙂