Missional lives, lives with intent

You may or may not know (depending on how attentive you are) that I've been reading Blue Like Jazz recently and am loving it. I just don't have time to finish it and I semi don't want to finish it because that means that it's over. But this is a major digression.

I read something in it that really challenged me the other day:

"He had been to some sort of pastors reception where a guy spoke about how the church ahs lost touch with people who didn't know about Jesus. Rick said he was really convicted about this and asked us if we thought we needed to repent and start lovng people who were very different from us. We all told him yes, we did, but I don't think any of us knew what that meant. Rick said that he thought it meant that we should live missional lives, that we should intentionally befriend people who are different from us. I didn't like the sound of that, to be honest. I didn't want to befriend somebody just to trick them into going to my church. Rick said that was not what he was talking about. He said he was talking about loving people just because they exist - homeless people and Gothic people and gays and fruit nuts. And then I liked the sound of it. I liked the idea of loving people just to love them, not to get them to come to church..." - Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz p.135

I liked that term, "missional lives". I liked what it meant and I felt really challenged about that. So often for me the point of getting to know people is getting them to church. And once they're there then they're "in" and I don't have to worry about it at all.

But what about just loving them because they are who God created them to be?

We're gearing up for Harvest at the moment. It is a big deal. 104 churches in the Christchurch area have signed up. I was so sceptical when I first heard about it, but I have a feeling/expectation now that it will be great. I feel a strong sense of connection to anyone who's car sports a Greg Laurie bumper sticker. (Not kidding!)

But it's really challenging. We went to a prayer meeting specifically for Harvest last night and they were saying that it wasn't just about the praying. Because the devil wants to keep us on our knees so we don't do anything else. We actually have to go out and be intentional.

Intentional.

1. Done deliberately; intended
2. Having to do with intention.

What would the world, your city, your community, your apartment block, your household, look like if we were intentional about loving each other just because?

What would it look like if we were intentional about being disciples?

What would it look like if we were intentional about being proactive?

What would it look like if we were intentional about being lights in this world, about living missional lives?

What then?