Perfectly Imperfect- This Beautiful Mess

This past weekend we were at the North American FMC Summit in Saltillo, Mexico.  In FMC there are three regional Summits a year, usually in Mexico for North America.   The South American Summit is normally in Peru, and in the Philippines host the Asian Summit.  We were joined by four other Mexican missionary families, a Mexican single, two missionary families from Costa Rica, two singles from the US and the directors of FMC, Joseph and Brooke Summers, and their four boys.   It was a blessed time of fellowship, prayer and formation.

We were reminded through this year’s theme Como nos ama, or “How he loves,” that Jesus loves us because we are perfect.   Because we never sin; we never make mistakes; we never hurt others.   Because we are completely and totally qualified for the tasks and vocations to which He has called us.  That is also why He has called us to become missionaries.  We are perfect!   Perfect for the job!  

NO!

If there is any perfection in my life, it is that I am perfectly imperfect.   It is nice to know that I am in the good company of a long list of imperfect people called by God… Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets, Peter, Paul.   All of them screwed up and were unqualified yet God called them nevertheless for some mission.   The nation of Israel was “nothing special.”   Not only were they NOT (sorry for the double negative) the greatest of nations, but they were a nation of slaves!   And yet God saw them in their oppression and brokenness, in their physical and spiritual bondage, and He chose them.

Last Friday’s first reading from mass captures so this beautifully…

Moses said to the people:
"Ask now of the days of old, before your time,
ever since God created man upon the earth;
ask from one end of the sky to the other:
Did anything so great ever happen before?
Was it ever heard of?
Did a people ever hear the voice of God
speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?
Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself
from the midst of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
with his strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors,
all of which the LORD, your God,
did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
All this you were allowed to see
that you might know the LORD is God and there is no other.
Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you;
on earth he let you see his great fire,
and you heard him speaking out of the fire.
For love of your fathers he chose their descendants
and personally led you out of Egypt by his great power,
driving out of your way nations greater and mightier than you,
so as to bring you in
and to make their land your heritage, as it is today.
This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart,
that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below,
and that there is no other.
You must keep his statutes and commandments which I enjoin on you today,
that you and your children after you may prosper,
and that you may have long life on the land
which the LORD, your God, is giving you forever."

                                                            Deuteronomy 4:32-40

He loves us because we are so capable of making a mess!   Often we don’t know what we are doing, yet we are called.   We have to rely entirely on the Lord.   And in this way we can take none of the glory for ourselves, the glory is entirely and completely God’s.   A good missionary friend, Thomas Ogas, recently reminded me of Pope Francis’ message when he gave us and the church permission to try and not to be afraid to make a mess of things.

“If you make a mistake in your life, if you should fall, if you should do something wrong, don’t be afraid. Jesus, look at what I have done, what must I now do? Speak continually with Jesus, in the good times and in the bad, when you do right, and when you do wrong. Do not fear him! This is prayer. And through this, you train yourselves in dialogue with Jesus, in this path of being missionary disciples.”  Pope Francis World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro.

A beautiful purple marker mess.

As missionaries, as disciples, as missionary disciples, we all need to try, to breakout of our molds, our perceived limitations and comforts, we need to make a mess and sometime fail all for the sake of being faithful to what God is calling us.   We need to be willing to be foolish for Christ.

Shortly after the Summit, Pepito, a good friend and aspiring missionary who also attended the Summit sent us a message.   His mother and younger sister were in a car accident on the expressway in Saltillo.   Their car rolled four times over the distance of about twenty to thirty yards.   Please pray for them.   Doctors say that they will be all right, but they are very sore and his mom is wearing a neck brace and will be in the hospital for a while.   When I first saw Pepito and before we knew the status, he was obviously upset, scared, and nervous.   My initial response and in my weakness, I was so aware of my inability to say and give any verbal comfort.   I felt as if my hands were chopped off.   I knew that best thing to say was, “I’m sorry.  I don’t know what to say.”   And I didn’t even know how to really say that in Spanish.   In my feelings of inadequacy, all I could do was be there with him, let him cry, place my hand on his shoulder, and silently pray.   Of course, anyone that has ever grieved or taken a course in counseling or pastoral care would say that ironically that is exactly what Pepito needed.   I had to step aside and let God work.  In my feelings of emptiness, God was able to use me to give what was required.

Our friend Pepito with Josh and Naomi.

 

I am perfectly imperfect for this job and mission.   I am going to make a mess and make mistakes in my ministries, friendship, family and community.  But this is where God is calling me, for His greater glory.