Completion?

Philippians 1:6New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.

This is a passage I need to remind myself of frequently.

I'm someone who likes to get something done and be able to sit back, look at it and be satisfied with the fruits of my labors. I'm guessing you might have the same inclination. It's a common one in our culture.

Yet Paul reminds us here of the part we play in the whole puzzle of God's plan for the Kin-dom.

We might not get to finish things.

Each of us has a role to play - a calling - in service and in ministry to help further the Kin-dom of God.

And yet for many of us, as much as we might not like the idea, we won't get to see our labors come to fruition.

We might not live to see what the church will become.

We might not see hunger ended in our lifetime.

Or poverty.

Or justice.

Or an end to all violence.

And yet on we go. On we serve. On we pray and worship and love and hope.

And know that God will ultimately bring all things to completion even though it most likely won't be in our lifetime.

This concept I think was most beautifully stated in a prayer attributed to Bishop Oscar Romero, which I'll conclude with:

"The kingdom is not only beyond our own efforts, it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s word.

Nothing that we do is complete.

The kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No confession brings perfection.

No pastoral visit brings wholeness.

No program accomplishes the church’s mission.

No set of goals includes everything that we are about.

We all plant the seed that one day will grow.

We water the seeds already planted, knowing that they hold promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces efforts far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything.

Knowing this enables us to do something, and to do it well.

Our work may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way.

Our actions present an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are the workers, not master builders.

We are ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Amen."