Missio Dei Communities

Last Saturday morning I went for a 4-mile run.  In reality, my 10-minute miles are less a “run” and more of an “Old Man Shuffle.”  It felt great to get out there and knock out a few miles.  But the next day I was wiped out.  It is Wednesday now, and I still haven’t ventured back out on the road.

This brings me to Ragnar.  Ragnar is about peeople who are excited and actually paying money to run as a team from Prescott to Tempe Marketplace.  The Ragnar website describes it this way, “Saguaro cactus, red rock cliffs, live bands, and biker bars. Your team of 12 maniacs will run around the clock in this springtime relay through the Arizona desert. While this 202-miler only runs from Prescott to Tempe, the inside jokes may last forever.”

They will start in Prescott on Friday morning and end up at TMP on Saturday night.  That means that you might run a 4-mile leg on Friday morning, a 7-mile leg uphill on Friday afternoon, and a 6-mile leg at 3:00AM!  

For those of you hitting the pavement this weekend, here were some thoughts I had for you about Ragnar and the Gospel.

1. The _________ Declare the Glory of God.  Psalm 119 tells us how the heavens delcare the glory of God. As you run, soak in the majesty of the mountains and the vastness of the desert.  Soak in the glory of your God

2. God created image bearers with amazing potential.  As you watch Nathan Holzinger run sub-7 minute miles uphill, be in awe.  As you watch yourself finish out your 3rd leg, be in awe.  But don’t let that awe simply end on Nathan or yourself.  Take your awe deeper to the God who created humans beings with such unspeakable potential to do and make amazing things.  It is God who created your body to be able to achieve such amazing feats.  It is God who created this world with the hidden potential to make the van you are riding in.  

3. Discipline and training yield results.  I am going on a limb and saying that no one who is running the Ragnar has spent the last 3 months sitting on the couch eating Cheetos.  No, you have disciplined and trained your body and mind to do this great task of running the Ragnar.  How much more will we discipline and train our bodies and minds to do the great task of being God’s missionary people brining the great news of Jesus to a crying world?

4.  Community and Fellowship are knit into Creation.  These aren’t just churchy ideas.  A huge part of the success of a Ragnar team is the encouragement of your teammates.  Do you cheer your brothers and sisters on in their walk with Christ as hard as you cheer your teamates on their run?

5.  Communitas not Community.  Most of us see community as a group of people who get together to encourage each other and hang out.  Alan Hirsch says there is something called Communitas that takes that to a whole new level.  Communitas happens when a group of people share a common experience, journey or mission together.  You have the mission to complete together of running 202 miles.  It will take a group effort to complete this mission (Not even Holzinger could pull off the whole thing alone).  And on Sunday morning at Thew, you will have a unique bond with your teammates that you don’t have with others there, because you have been on the journey together.

6.  The Rest and Joy at the End.  Relish that sense of completion, victory, accomplishment, joy, and rest as the last member of your team crosses the finish line.  Enjoy the victory.  Savor it as a sweet foretaste of the victory celebration we will one day enjoy with our Victor Jesus.