Podcast episode 75 considers Jesus’ observation that the multitudes were like sheep without a shepherd and that the fields were ripe for harvest. Then Jesus commands us to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into the harvest. At least two important topics here; prayer and laboring in the harvest.
Prayer? God urges and invites us to pray as a divine therapy. Praying is a means of coming to honesty about dependence and relief as we remember that God is the One who bears all things and accomplishes what concerns us. Praying is a means of activity on behalf of others when there is nothing else we can do for them. Praying is a means by which God reorients our thinking and inspires our Christ consciousness. What is likely to happen in us as we pray often for God to send laborers into His harvest? What if all those prayers inspired us to adopt the disposition of Isaiah, “Here am I, send me?”
Laboring in the harvest? What if the “sending” into the harvest wasn’t about going to other places but seeing the harvest that is already near us? Knowing the grace and love of God that supports our lives comprehensively enables us to see others sympathetically rather than nervously. Since God has given us a life that no one can take away and made all things ours in heaven and on earth, there is no risk in us inviting others to share their lives with us and sympathizing (“suffering with”) as we begin to build rapport. We share a common human nature that is troubled and makes trouble. We can ask good questions like, “what is ahead for us?” or “is there a happiness that is durable and permanent?” These kinds of questions open the way for discovery of God’s universe, a green pyramid world, and a 3D anthropology. Just as we share a common troubled human nature, so we are also enveloped by God’s redeeming work (remember the good message iceberg model?).
Pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth harvesters indeed!