Get Off the Bed and Go!

I love the Old Testament Reading for Epiphany from Isaiah 60.  “Arise! Shine!  For your light has come and the glory of the Lord rises upon you!”  Whenever I read that verse I think of a sermon by Dr. Ed Westcott.  He was preaching at a Mission Festival in Tilden, NE.  What he shared has stuck with me for many years.  Reminding us that we are all called to be missionaries, he told us that “our mission fields start right where our feet hit the ground every morning.”

He was right on both accounts.  Each one of us is a missionary with a great story to tell about … of how God loves the world so much that He gave His only Son…of how Jesus paid the price for our sins by His death on the cross… of how Jesus conquered death itself by His resurrection… of how the glory of the Lord has risen upon us and changed our lives.    

Dr. Westcott was also right about where our individual mission fields are found.  They are not off in some distant land. (I know I am in Germany right now, but for me, at this moment, that is not a distant land… that is where my feet hit the ground right now.)   Our mission fields are our homes with our families, in our neighborhoods with those who live around us and the strangers who pass through; in our workplaces and schools with our co-workers and classmates; on the commuter trains we ride and planes we fly in; even in the church we attend and the people who sit next to us in the pew.  Our mission field is wherever we happen to be at any given moment.

At first that comforted me.  I didn’t have to go searching for a mission field.  Get out of bed in the morning and I was there.    But then it scared me.  After all, if my mission field is right here… if it’s not far off somewhere, then I have no excuse for not doing my mission work.   What’s more my family and friends know me too well.  I can’t fake my way through.  They know my weaknesses.  They will know it if I am playing the hypocrite.  It also scares me because I don’t know how to do it all the time…  How do I share my faith in our neighborhood when everyone speaks German and I don’t yet… when people I see on the sidewalk won’t even look at me, and when I say “Guten Morgan” they look at me like I am strange… as if they wonder, “I don’t know you why are you talking to me?”  No one talks on the commuter train.  If my mission field starts where my feet hit the ground, then the easy thing to do is stay in bed.  At least in a figurative sense, I think that is what a lot of us do… We stay in bed… we say nothing… we hide our faith…   After all what can we do?

That’s the point though.  We can’t do anything.  That’s okay.  The good news is the light has come.  Jesus has taken hold of and changed our lives.  He has made His light “shine into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4) He doesn’t expect us to change anyone else’s life.  He just asks us to get off the bed and share His light… to be loving and friendly to the people He puts in our life tell His story as He gives us openings…  to be genuine and humble - not trying to deny our weaknesses but letting others see in us how forgiving God is… to let Him do in others what He has done in us… That light changed our lives.  He can do the same in others.   Where should we start?  Start with Him. Pray.  Ask Him to give you opportunities.  Ask Him to open doorways for you.  As Him to open your eyes to opportunities.  Ask Him to use you.  Then get off the bed. Let your feet hit the ground and Go.   That’s what the text says… “Arise!  Shine!  Let the Light take care of the rest.