We find ourselves before the one true God
Hands open
Hearts laid bare and broken
We want to serve Him
We want His name to be the very foundation upon which we build our lives
To be the eyes through which we see the world
Our community
Ourselves
We want to walk the roads of Jesus with that same dust on our feet
We want to build bridges instead of burn them
We want to love with the kind of love that flips over tables in temples
And dares the religious to cast stones in judgment
And is willing to share a table with sinners and betrayers
This calling is bigger than a career
Extends beyond a job or formal position
This mission is eternal
Bigger than anything we could come up with ourselves
We are picking up the mission Jesus left for us
We are doing what He told us
“Love God
Love your neighbor
Love yourself
Take up your cross
Deny yourself
Follow Me
Make disciples
Teach them the way
Walk in the Spirit
Speak the truth but make sure you live it too”
Jesus is still calling His disciples
To put down our nets
To serve and love our neighbors
Next door and across the world
Jesus is calling all of us
Whether we need to walk across the street
Reach across the table
Move across the country
Make our home across the world
Live in community
Learn a new language
Practice talking less and listening more
Pray and discern what God has in store
This plow we put our hands to
This work we commit our lives to is not easy
There is plenty of harvest but very few hands
But we will not grow weary in well doing
We ask the God who plants and waters and harvests and reaps
To send the brave and the wise
To send the women and the men and the children
To send the leaders and the influencers
To send the elders and the young
To send artists, engineers, teachers, farmers, preachers,
Mechanics, musicians, athletes, architects
To send those who will befriend and walk alongside
To send those who will again and again offer their lives
We will not be a generation who is lulled to sleep
By apathy and selfishness and complacency
We are the people who will be moved to action
To walk humbly and love mercy and do justice
We want God to send us
To Seattle coffee shops and Shanghai start-ups
London streets and St. Louis neighborhoods
To skyscrapers and street corners in Detroit and Dubai
No matter where go
When God sends us on mission
We will answer with our whole lives
Amena Brown is a spoken word artist from Atlanta, Georgia.