God is Suffering

A missional church is a church that actively seeks to figure out what God is doing in the world and then does what it can to be a part of God's redemptive work in the world. The tricky part is actually figuring out what God is doing! I've heard it said that one of the keys to figuring out what God is doing is to ask where it is that God is suffering. That makes sense when you recognize that God is most fully revealed in Christ's suffering on the cross.

On Saturday, I attended the CG2013 conference that was put together by my friends at Christ Community Church. This was a conference dedicated to thinking about ways the church and the social sector can partner in pursuing the common good in the Kansas City area. This was a really cool gathering that brought together folks from non-profits, school districts, churches, and business from both urban and suburban settings. At one of the breakout sessions, I learned that Kansas City is a major hub for human trafficking. One of the hotspots for this trafficking happens to be about a mile down the road from our congregation! In the last two days, I've talked with folks involved in law enforcement and city government and learned that the problem is quite extensive. You need to realize that our community consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the country! Suffering of this sort is not the kind of thing that gets promoted, let alone noticed.

Call it serendipity or the work of the Holy Spirit, but I've had it called to my attention that today, April 9, enditmovement.com is calling for awareness of the issue of human trafficking by having people trace a red X on their hands. I'm prone to recall that those who have had a cross traced on their foreheads 365 days a year have a baptismal call to "proclaim release to the captives" and to "let the oppressed go free." We are a missional church that bears the good news of resurrection.

I have no idea how to proceed a this point, other than to share this shocking and disturbing reality in our community. God is suffering. I mentioned this fact during worship on Sunday, and we already have mission partners in law enforcement, government, and education who are asking how the faith community can be part of the solution. In recognizing the suffering, we can begin to respond to our missional call.