Missional dime drop

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." 3 So he told them this parable: 4 "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15


I love this parable. But until yesterday, I didn't realize I was missing out on entire vistas of what Jesus wanted to communicate. I feel dumb. But I am so glad God spoke to me through Ben. Yesterday, I was commenting at Ben's blog, Faith Autopsy, and he said something to me in the comments that finally made the concept of "missional" click for me. In the post Becoming Church for Tyler he wrote in response to me in the comments

Tyler won't go to your church or to the church I was at or any other church -- because he already (thinks he) knows what they think of him... and at some level, he is right. But I don't think the onus is on Tyler... but on the church. If we learn anything from Luke 15, we learn that God is on a search-and-rescue mission and wants us to be also. Missing people matter to God and therefore must matter to the church.
While Tyler does not stay awake at night wondering where he can find a church that will accept him, the church SHOULD BE staying up at night trying to figure out how to reach, connect with, and love people like Tyler. One of the things that makes Christianity totally unique over all other world religions and philosophies is that in all other cases, religion is really about MANKIND IN SEARCH OF THE DIVINE (whatever that may look like in that tradition). But Christianity is explicitly the opposite... what Advent, Christmas and the incarnation tell us is that Christianity is about THE DIVINE IN SEARCH OF MANKIND. That is radical... and it is life-transforming when you get it!
God is searching for and waiting for and longing for Tyler to come home to his Heavenly Father. I believe that Jesus weeps (and maybe even stays up late) because Tyler is missing from the great party... the great banquet. And the banquet is not complete until all those invited are there --- "my house must be full" Jesus says... "compel them to come in!" Luke 14 is as instrumental to our understanding the heart and mission of God as Luke 15 is.
I also believe to the core of my being that Jesus is far more concerned with the fact that Tyler doesn't know how much he is loved unconditionally by his Heavenly Father... that He is missing out on abundant life now... than who he is sleeping with when. Does God care about Tyler's sex life? Yes --- God cares about every aspect of our lives, big and small. But does God care more about Tyler's sex life than Tyler's relationship with God? No way! Yet the church is more obsessed with Tyler's sex life than his relationship with God... more obsessed with it than God is. And I believe that this stuff matters... that not only does the promise of abundant life (John 10:10) hang in the balance, but for Tyler and millions of others, eternity hangs in the balance. And if this is true, how dare we take a "take it or leave it" approach to Tyler. No! The church is responsible and accountable to God for what it is doing to reach Tyler. We should lose sleep over this stuff... we should be dreaming of new ways to do church... we should be praying like we've never prayed and loving like we've never loved...

Image via Wikipedia

A gay friend once brought me to a couple gay bars in New York City to show me his world. Ever since I've longed to somehow engage the mission field in the local gay bars. Ben's refresher for me in theology, that Jesus is in pursuit of the missing ones so should I, has re-awakened that longing.