blue cloud abbey

I have been out of town the last two days at a retreat for leaders who are involved in new mission development and redevelopment of existing congregations. We were at a Benedictine abbey in Marvin, South Dakota. It was an interesting place, set up on a hill in the middle of SD prairie. If you have ever spent time on the prairie you know that there is a unique spiritual energy on the prairie; quiet, expansive, sometimes powerfully windswept and other times remarkably still. I spent ten days last January at a retreat center housed on a farm in SW Minnesota and this experience harkened me back to that time on the prairie.

The retreat itself was a good opportunity to check in with some other folks about what is going on in their particular contexts. But we had a great time riding to and from the retreat. I rode out with the mission director for our area, a woman who is in the process of developing a new Christian community in the basement of a bar in the Crystal/Robbinsdale area, and a man who is working to develop two faith communities in the larger Hispanic communities in West St. Paul and on the Eastside.

On our way out to the monastery, we stopped at the mission director’s mother-in-law’s home in a small rural community along the way. Her hospitality was genuine and warm and she made sure to write down all our names so that she could share our visit with the local newspaper. On our way home, we stopped in Willmar and visited a ministry partner who has done Hispanic ministry in the Willmar area and is now a chaplain at a senior center.

Both stops really got me thinking about the connectedness of the Body of Christ in the world and the power of hospitality. I think we often limit the scope of our reach in our own minds as we self limit our sphere of influence to our own congregation, community, or personal relationships. The potential to reach deeply into other communities is profound if we loose the notion of our ministry and mission and instead embrace the notion of God’s ministry and mission into which we are called to participate.

As we were saying our goodbyes on arriving back to the Twin Cities; Juan said to me “Remember now, your new church already has a Hispanic ministry in St. Paul.” Welcomed as a co-worker in mission by a man I did not know 48 hours earlier. Or did I already know him? Do you already know him?