sending and going

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them everything that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am always with you until the end of the age." Gospel of Matthew 28.  

My last post was on people leaving church.  Now I want to look at another angle.  Sending and going.  Church is not meant to be a stagnant community of people who remain together, huddled in a sanctuary until the end of time.  Church is an outward movement of the Holy Spirit sending Christ's followers into the world to share the gospel with power.  It is the people of God, freed and forgiven in Christ to love our neighbors with a radical, bold, and sacrificial love that changes lives and deepens our relationships with God. 
If our orientation is to hold on to one another forever against the cultural tide of mobility and change, then we are failing to grasp the commission and calling of the church as public witness for the world.
Jesus called fishermen and taught them to catch people.  What he also taught them was the capacity to catch and release them back into the proverbial sea.  Time and again, Jesus touches the lives of ordinary people dealing with overwhelming challenges in their lives, often with no support or care. Jesus' engagement with them provides the kind of support, compassion, forgiveness, and healing necessary for them to take up life again.  And it is clear that there is multiplication taking place as Jesus releases healed people back into community, who share their story with other broken people who need healing.  These people seek out Jesus because they are drawn to him by what others have said about him. Jesus catches, cleans, and releases people so that more people might be drawn to him.  So, if the church is a gathering of unchanged people, who have not yet experienced the fullness of God's love in their lives, then they will not likely share their faith and hope with others.  And there will be no multiplication, no release of the power of God to heal and rescue.   
Therefore, our orientation as followers of Jesus is outward, toward others.  As leaders, we are called to prepare and release God's beloved children to be salt and light and yeast and seeds in the soil of humanity.  So, if every gathering of Christians is not also a sending and going, it is not complete in its vocation. So much of our time and energy is spent on the gathering of the people of God, that we have forgotten how to send the people of God.  But now, Jesus is inviting and challenging his church to remember the apostles and the movement of the church from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.  We are always pioneers, moving beyond where we have been to be present where God is--in unexpected places.  Church is found where the beloved community is actively proclaiming in word and service what God has done for us.   
At the end of worship this is what we say:

The Spirit who gathers us here sends us forth to share the love of Christ with our neighbors, making disciples of Jesus Christ, and workers with us in the Kingdom of God. Go in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit.  May God the Father, Son +, and Holy Spirit bless you in your coming and in your going. Amen.