The World Where It Happens, Pt. 1

We're up to something during the month of October. I’ll start with a nod to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s song “The Room Where It Happens,” from his brilliant musical “Hamilton.” (You can listen to it here.) Our theme for October is “The World Where It Happens.” By studying the brief history of a church in Antioch (Acts 11), we will set out each week looking for where the “kin-dom” of God is taking place in the world. While it is good to be ‘the church gathered’ on Saturday or Sunday, to worship, regroup, share our stories, encourage one another, etc., our real focus is what happens when we are ‘the church scattered’ throughout the rest of the week. Our faith proclaims a God who is always redemptively present in the world, transforming life, changing practices, challenging injustice, practicing compassion, and living into the Good News of the Gospel. That’s where we want to be. Much of what we do when we are the church gathered is to prepare us to participate in “the world where it happens.” 

So, come on Saturdays or Sundays during October and re-discover this new church that arose in Antioch and did amazing things. Let’s pray together that God will awaken us to what God is doing in the world. Then, let’s go out together to be active participants in the world, where the kin-dom of God is taking place, the world where it happens. 

And here’s how you can be particularly active for the month of October. Grab your camera, your smartphone, and any other device you have that takes photos. Capture a photo of something that shows the kin-dom of God in the world. It could be two children of different ethnicities playing side-by-side, it could be someone marching with a sign calling attention to climate change, it could be someone caring for a pet or helping a neighbor. Heck, it could even be a sunrise that calls us to worship!  Actions both big and small, presence both radical and supportive – use your theological imagination to see where God is present in our world. Of course, we will have to consider the privacy of others, so please give that consideration before you take someone’s photo.

After you’ve captured the photo, let’s display them. If you send them to stmark@stmarkpresbyterian.org, we will display them on our various forms of social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. (Again, please be sure that you have permission before sending them to us.) We will display them with the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. In addition, you can display them on your Facebook page, tweet it, or put it on your Instagram timeline. When you do, please use the hashtag #TheWorldWhereItHappens. We will use this month to sharpen our vision to see where God is at work, and to sharpen our message to share where God is at work.

Let’s jump in.

Mark of St. Mark