MaryBeth LaMont

Every now and then a particular word strikes me for one reason or another. It doesn’t have to be a unique word. It may or may not be the kind of word that finds its way into SAT tests; neither its quality nor its sophistication really matter.

Today the word that struck me is “stage.” It has many uses, not all related. A stage is a platform of one sort or another upon which actors perform or musicians play their instruments or singers sing their songs. Back in the day you could be transported from places like Omaha, Nebraska to Denver, Colorado via a stage of the Wells Fargo variety. Realtors frequently stage a house to put it on the market for sale. You and I say things such as, “There is no need to do that at this stage.” See some of the different usages?

A stage then can be something in place. It can be a verb and an activity. A stage can be something in motion. It can be a place or a place in time as in “not at this stage”.
Stage is a multi -purpose word. It has its origin in an old Latin word meaning to stand in place. Like many words, its use and meaning have evolved over the centuries.

Language in general and the word stage in particular stand in place as examples of how you and I also evolve over our lifetimes. You are not the same person you were a decade or so ago. You will not be the same person after another decade passes. Much of it has to do with what happens to us over time; that is what life does to us over the years.

Much of it also has to do with what God does to us over time often with and through those experiences that continue life’s constant molding, meddling, and shaping of us. Yes, of course part of some inner being in us may be the same throughout life, that is, some core, but as we mature, we adapt many different patterns, change our thoughts and rethink even some of our values. Our faith even evolves a bit over the years often as we become more accepting of what we do not know about God.

Like me you have seen books and magazines with photos of “Then and Now.” Some places even one hundred years later are easily recognized, others completely different and unrecognizable. You and I do not have a book chronicling our life in such photos, but we do have such photos. Often, we find ourselves chuckling at something we once proudly wore, or a hair style quite foreign to today’s styles. What the photos do not reveal are how we have changed more deeply; how we have changed as persons.

Words continue to evolve. The word “prevent” once meant, as its Latin root means, “to come before”, that is, to arrive before another. Now, of course, prevent means to stop.

You and I evolve. Followers of Jesus evolve in their following. This means God is not yet finished with us. We are never finely polished complete followers of Jesus. God is not through with us. This actually is good news for us.

It is easy in a congregation with college students to see young adults as those with so much ahead of them. Some of us as we age don’t always see that even in middle age. It is not about what quantity of time that lies ahead of us. It is instead that simply stated there is time ahead of us. It is God’s time and God will use it as God uses all time to both work with us and work on us. God is not yet finished with us. However large or small, we have following to do, and God has more caring to do.

Epiphany has often been seen as a time to focus on missionaries. In all the congregations I served sponsoring missionaries, this is often the time we would focus on some aspect of their work, and, if they were in the country on furlough, have them come on a Sunday to teach, preach, and get personally acquainted.

In a time of US church decline we need to remind ourselves that all the church is not in decline. It is just in the southern hemisphere that the church is thriving. Africa, South America, and parts of Asia continue to be very receptive to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our missionary efforts work!

They also work to help lift up some of the health, poverty, and hunger issues suffered especially in these regions. One missionary a church I served sponsored worked high in the Andes of Peru teaching locals dealing with great hunger how to use one of their best resources, rivers and streams, and raise fish for food.

Not all missionary endeavors now or in time past were so focused on the gospel nor on helping the needs of those being evangelized. Too often colonialism went hand in hand with mission work. A saying even these days in Hawaii is, “When the missionaries came we had the land and they had the Bibles. Now we have the Bibles, and they have the land.” Indeed. Though most land belongs now to the Hawaiian government, some land continues to be owned in Hawaii by the descendants of missionaries, rented out to those who built or own houses on the land. At one time the entire island of Lanai was completely owned by missionary descendants.

We are only too familiar with stories of South Africa, the former Rhodesia, and other nations on the African continent where missionary work and colonialism sometimes seemed indistinguishable. Our own efforts with Native Americans often seemed more interested in destroying their culture so they could adopt our western values.

Sometimes I wonder if this is part of the resistance so many Americans in main line denominations have with anything appearing to be evangelism. Perhaps we cower at the word evangelism because of the aggressive approach that many often use in their outreach in our own country. They seem to be unaware that the root word of evangelism is “good news.” I was part of a group of many campus ministries at ASU that had one such group removed from the campus ministry association (CORA) at ASU due to their very aggressive methods often with painful results.

Yet mission work is heart and soul of who we are as followers of Christian. On the road to Emmaus the travelers asked one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us as he was talking to us on the road?” Too often we let that fire burn within us but are afraid that others might see a sign of smoke from us and we work to disguise it. Missionary work is good work when done by sharing good news. Years ago a company called Amway thought they had a unique way to grow a business. Those recruited were to recruit others into the business. They failed to realize the church had been using that method throughout its 2,000 years.

Now many from Africa and other continents new to the Christian faith are sending missionaries here to the US. One time at an Arizona Cardinal event I sat with a player, Sam Acho, from Nigeria. His father is a pastor and came to the US to evangelize Americans. As a more recent recruit himself he thought maybe he could reach out better than those of us uncomfortable with doing so.

You and I in the church surrounded by other churches often fail to see what a life might be like not only without our own faith and church, but without any. We have become a bit comfortable in our Christian privilege. Don’t be afraid. We don’t go alone. And over time good mission efforts work. We also have to be secure enough to face rejection as that often is the most common response. Is the Good News of Jesus worth this? What good news do you have to share?