The following is an excerpt from my sermon this past Sunday. Just to show that I am on board with some of MC USA’s priorities. You can also read other sermons from our “Enough for All” series: Proverbs 30:7-9; 1 Kings 17:1-16.

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How do we not worry? Seek first God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. 

If you would, permit me just a moment for a vocabulary lesson. The word “missional” is something of a buzzword in our denomination right now. And a lot of progressives hate it. In part because it sounds like “missionary” and we all know horror stories of how Christians have oppressed native peoples in the name of “spreading the gospel.”

In part because “missional” is often thrown out by denominational leaders and conservatives as a sort of counter to those of us working to affirm the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Mennonites in our midst. People write things like: “We’re not going to worry about these ‘side issues.’ We should just all go be missional.”

So “missional” gets a bad wrap. And it’s too bad. Because I think, at its heart, being missional means we do exactly what Jesus says here: seek God’s kingdom first. Being missional means we pay attention to what God is doing in the world and we find ways to join in that effort. Many of us experienced a missional moment this past Thursday night at the Nehemiah Assembly. God is clearly working in this city toward better care for those with mental illness, toward a means of providing more affordable housing. Every single city and county official who was asked to support these efforts said “yes.” God is at work and we get to be part of it! When we are caught up in the God-work going on around us, we have less time and energy to spend worrying about ourselves.