Dear People of St. James’,
Everyone has made it through early bird check-in. Binders of paperwork are ready. The first aid kit is full of covid tests. Cash and colones (Costa Rican currency) are on hand. No one tested positive for covid today. So far, so good!
Tomorrow, the St. James’ team of 8 set out for San José, Costa Rica to meet up with the Christ Church Cathedral team before we load into a bus and drive out to the city of Limon.
I always feel a bit of apprehension before a trip like this. I know that I will overpack, and yet, someway, somehow, I will also manage to forget to bring something. And yet, I also have great confidence based in experience that someone will have thought to bring that thing I forgot or we will find it there, and all will be well. I know that our team does not yet know how much we need each other, and the process of coming to that knowledge will involve hard work, maybe some complaining or arguing, a little gnashing of teeth, some vulnerability, and a bunch of prayer. But for me, that has always been the miracle of mission.
We only live once. We can only be in one place at a time. Our human perspective is always limited. Our experience of God is always limited. And so, we need each other. We need others so that we can more fully experience the love of God. We need others to shift our perspective so that we can more fully see the vision of God’s for the world. Mission furthers the work of discipleship because it reminds us that discipleship is not a solitary vocation. Archbishop Desmond Tutu puts it well in his introduction to the African Prayer Book:
“A totally self-sufficient human being is ultimately a sub-human. We are made for complementarity. I have gifts that you do not; and you have gifts that I do not. So we need each other to become fully human … and to realise the fullness of our potential. God is smart, making us different so that we will get to know our need for each other.”
As always, the mission is God’s, and we need each other to see it.
Please pray with me:
Oh Dios, nuestro Padre celestial, cuya gloria llena toda la creación y cuya presencia encontramos dondequiera que vayamos: Protege a los que viajan especialmente el equipo que viaja a Costa Rica: rodéales con tu cuidado y amor; guárdales de todo peligro y haz que lleguen sanos y salvos a su destino; por Jesucristo nuestro Señor. Amén.
O Lord, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills all of creation and whose presence we encounter wherever we may go: Protect those who travel, especially Team Costa Rica: Surround them with your care and love; guard them from all danger and may they arrive safe and sound at their destination; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Rev. Eileen
