Mission Spirituality
Two young fish are swimming along, and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says, “Morning, how’s the water?” The two young fish swim on for a bit, when eventually one of them looks over to the other and says, “What water?” The Spirit is around us.
This fish story was popularized by author, David Wallace Foster, in his 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College.1 We can become so immersed in our environment, experiences, histories, and stories, that we overlook what is right before us.
Like fish unaware of the water they are immersed in, people can be unaware of the invisible spirit surrounding them. The beginning of the Creation Story reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen. 1:1, NIV).
Spirituality is the capacity to sense, connect, and comprehend the spirit. It is distinct from physicality, mentality, or emotionality. Spirituality is that unique human-divine connection when we read, “the Lord God formed the human from the topsoil of the fertile land and blew life’s breath into his nostrils; The human came to life” (Gen. 2:7, CEB). Every human being has an innate capacity to sense and comprehend the spirit, and the potential to be connected to the Spirit of God. But like the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of our life-experience, our capacity in the spirit-domain, that part of our self that bears the image of God and spirit consciousness, is developmental. Spirituality can be described along a continuum of awareness, learning, and growth. Even Jesus, who was both fully human and divine, experienced growth. “Jesus matured in wisdom and years, and in favor with God and with people (Lk. 2:52, CEB).
The Bible describes the spiritually darkened (Ps. 49:10, Is. 8:20, Zech. 12:8), and those who have become more spiritually aware (Is. 11:2, 1 Sam. 2:26, 2 Pet. 3:18, Lk. 17:5, Heb. 5:12–14). Our developmental progress is subject to the grace and generosity of God (Eph. 2:8–9, 2 Cor. 4:4) recognizing that, “The Lord isn’t slow to keep his promise, as some think of slowness, but he is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish, but all to change their hearts and lives (2 Pet. 3:9).
Because “God’s Spirit blows wherever it wishes, you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It’s the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (Jn. 3:8 CEB). Our growth as human beings therefore, needs to include not only our connection to the spiritual realm, but our communities of faith need to provide spiritual resources if lives, communities, and the world are to experience a transformed, abundant life through Christ.
In Acts 19, the apostle Paul met a group of people that did not understand the spirit. They knew about Jesus, heard for example about the baptism of John, but didn’t experience the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul explained, “John baptized with a baptism by which people showed they were changing their hearts and lives. It was a baptism that told people about the one who was coming after John. This is the one in whom they were to believe. This one is Jesus” (Acts 19:4, CEB). Paul did not assume everyone knew what he knew. He saw an incredible opportunity to share the Spirit in relevant ways that people could understand. He demonstrated the love, joy, and hope that everyone deserved to know about.
Each of us must learn just as Nicodemus learned from Jesus (Jn. 3), that the Spirit is all around us, but we must find the best way to connect to that Spirit in order to receive its life-giving energy. The early church increased its environmental impact as it grew in its spiritual development when, “the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers” (Acts 2:42, CEB). They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added those who were being saved daily to the community (v.47). The Spirit is all around us.
The Spirit is for us. No one has a corner on spirituality. In Num. 11:26–30, we read of the people of Israel complaining about their wilderness hardships. Their leader Moses was angry and the entire camp was wailing, “Why did we ever leave Egypt” (Num. 11:20, CEB)? In spite (or because) of the people’s distress, the Spirit of God visited the group of elders: “When the spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but only this once” (v25). But apparently, two of the seventy elders were unaccounted for. Moments later, the “Spiritual-Police” complained to Moses that they noticed two men who were not with them at the official Tent of Meeting were prophesying as if they had been! I love the response Moses gave, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all of the Lord’s people were prophets with the Lord placing his spirit on them” (v.29). Spiritual energy cannot be put away in a box, or contained. The Spirit is not a controlled substance, in limited supply, or reserved for the benefit of a few insiders. Jesus said the Living Waters would flow (Jn. 7:37–38).2
God created people as spiritual beings. The Spirit brings life that is available to all. The community of faith must always remember that the Church and its leaders are called to be authentic, open channels for God’s spiritual energy to flow through us. We are not the spiritual energy. But we are immersed and filled with spiritual energy sourced in God. Each of us as followers of Jesus Christ are gathered and sent on the mission to release spiritual energy.
Without being aware of it, we can unintentionally constrict spiritual energy instead of releasing it. How could this happen? Do we try to hoard up blessings inside our buildings that benefit only those who attend? How much of our congregation’s budget is invested in mission, local and beyond?
The church as a community of faith is not merely about individual goal accomplishment, or focusing on just “my preferences, my church, or my group.” It’s not even just about our leadership teams, the pastor, or the many other dedicated followers of Jesus. Instead, it is about each one of us doing our part because the kingdom of God is built using the gifts of the Spirit of God! It is about the common good. Taking the inside, outside; from worship to mission. Building networks of spiritual energy means we seek to be more of a “farming church” (planting seeds, sharing resources, thriving to bless everyone) and less of a “mining church” (consuming resources for our own survival).3
Congregations can be spigots of blessing in their communities and around the world, but only as they grow in their spiritual capacity. Jesus said in his inaugural statement of mission, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18–19, CEB). The Spirit is for us.
The Spirit makes the difference. For example, early microwave ovens were tested for leakage using a florescent bulb held near the door seals. They proved the unit was working when the oven actually leaked a bit of that unseen energy causing the bulb to glow outside the unit! Likewise, can we see a “glowing” of spiritual energy on the lives of those who follow Jesus? Is it like the flames above the heads of those gathered at Pentecost (Acts 2:3ff)?
People in our communities are spiritual beings. We may notice varying degrees of spiritual development. Some may be similar to those fish who didn’t notice the water. Still others may be troubled by spirits, anxieties, and impairments that require spiritual intervention (Mk. 1:29–39). But everyone has the potential to access the Holy Spirit’s life-giving power.
Developing spirituality for an individual, for a community of faith, or in the community at large, bears witness to the difference the Spirit makes. "God’s various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God’s Spirit. God’s various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God himself is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!" (1 Corinthians 12:4–9, MSG).
Let’s adapt Foster’s fish story in this way: Imagine two young people walking along, and they happen to pass an older person walking the other way who nods at them and says, “Morning, how’s the spirit?” And the two young people walk on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What spirit?”
We have a job to do. Who will introduce neighbors to the realities of the spirit? How will those desperately seeking hope, peace, joy, wellness, and wholeness for themselves and their family access spiritual resources? Our communities are looking for God’s glow. The Spirit makes the difference with mission spirituality.
Notes
1. Foster, David Wallace, “This Is Water,” Alumni Bulletin Kenyon College, Kenyon University, bulletin-archive.kenyon.edu/x4280.html.
2. The idea of the Spiritual-Police in Numbers 11 and its application to mission spirituality was inspired by Charles Meyer’s Dying Church Living God: A Call to Begin Again, Wood Lake Publishing, 2012.
3. The theme of farming vs. mining was originally published in this author’s book, Crayons for the City: Reneighboring Communities of Faith to Rebuild Neighborhoods of Hope, Cascade Books, 2017.
