| Reflections on Dwelling In the Word Click here to return to the Church Innovations web site. I have no idea how many hundreds of times I have read, or have heard read, the Luke 10:1-12 passage in the 8 years I have been affiliated with Church Innovations. I have often marveled at how my imagination gets caught by ever changing parts of the passage (sometimes this word, sometimes that phrase) making the passage always seem fresh and new. I have come to expect new insights when the passage is read, but I wasn’t prepared for what happened one day recently. In the Partnership for Missional Church process the spiritual leader of each congregation in the PMC cluster is supported by two “Phone Loop” calls between all of the cluster events. These coaching/mentoring calls are designed to provide a safe space for the spiritual leader to talk about missional ministry challenges and for accountability of spiritual practices. I am blessed to be a coach/mentor for these Phone Loop calls for dozens of spiritual leaders across the United States. Every call begins with a time of Dwelling in the Word, and I always ask the spiritual leader if they would like to read or if they would like me to. A few weeks ago on a Phone Loop call a spiritual leader said he would like to read. As he began to read the Luke 10 passage I noticed immediately that he was being very careful to enunciate every word. When he got to the phrase “Go on your way. See, I am sending you out…” my thought process was hooked. In that moment I heard the words “I am” as “I AM” and my thoughts were taken immediately to the conversation between Moses and God at the burning bush…the place where the divine name “I AM WHO I AM” is revealed to Moses. The place where he is told “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” The spiritual leader I was on the call with continued to read but I was no longer listening to the words. Next my mind went to the “I AM” passages in the Gospel of John…I AM: the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate, the good shepherd, the true vine. I even remembered the rather obscure verse in John 8:58 where “Jesus said to them (the Jews who had believed in him) ‘Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I AM.’” In that moment of Dwelling in the Word I experienced a powerful connection that the Jesus who still sends his disciples out to do Kingdom work in the world is none other than the I AM of the universe. Made we wonder, what would happen if all of the disciples of Jesus would hear the instruction given “Go on your way. See, I AM sending you out…” What kind of difference do you suppose that would make? As for me, I know I will never be able hear this passage with an anemic, almost passive “I am” again. John Mueller Nowell is Director of Consulting at Church Innovations. |
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