Interwoven Into Missional Community
- davidwperk
- Jul 18
- 6 min read
Devotional Reflection, Friday, July 18, 2025
Proper 10, the week of the fifth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s reading:
13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons.
(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.)
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 974)
AM Psalm 37:1-18; PM Psalm 37:19-42
1 Samuel 20:24-42; Acts 13:1-12; Mark 2:23-3:6
Today we celebrate the Feast of Bartolome de Las Casas. (See below.)
David's Reflections
Jesus called twelve to follow him. Rabbis usually were sedentary, setting up rabbinic schools to which disciples applied for study. Jesus broke that mold as a peripatetic teacher who initiated contacts with his disciples. These twelve, along with a wider community of followers (see Lk 8:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:6) became the foundation of the earliest church with their witness to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The number twelve signifies a new covenant community, modeled on the number of the tribes of Israel. According to Acts, Judas was replaced by Mathias (Acts 1).
The tradition these twelve and the other eyewitnesses passed on lies at the foundation of the four Gospels and the epistles (many of which were written before the first of the Gospels). They were called Apostles, which means ones sent on a mission. Their number seems to have been closed with the calling of Paul and Jesus’ brother, James (See Gal. 1:19; Cor. 9:1-1; 15:1-10). Note that the term apostle with a small “a” was used to designate anyone engaged in mission. (See Acts 14:5-7; Romans 16:7).
Note the reasons for their call. First, they were to be with Jesus. Second, they were to proclaim the message. Third, they were to heal those oppressed by evil spirits by freeing them The Twelve were ordinary people. They were fishers, tax gatherers, merchants--not the aristocracy of their culture. They were something of an odd mix as well. Simon was a Cananean, probably a technical term for an assassin who took out Roman officials. And, Matthew was just such an official, a tax collector. I can imagine some quite interesting interchanges among this rather varied bunch. Ideological conformity was not the organizing principle of that band. Imagine a conservative Republican and a progressive Democrat on the same vestry.
But, Jesus molded this diverse and rather ordinary group into a cohesive and committed community able to take the impact of his brief ministry, his life, his death, his resurrection and to become, under the transforming touch of the Spirit, the foundation of the church universal. They and their successors were able to overcome Roman persecution and paganism Within three hundred years Christianity became the dominant faith of the Roman Empire.
In the creed we say that we believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. We are a sent people. We are to include all types of people, even people with rather widely diverse cultural, theological, and political perspectives. We are called to be with Jesus, to share in his risen life, to keep company with him and with those who love him. We are to carry on the work of proclaiming, of witnessing to our experience of God's saving love, and we are to seek the healing, wholeness, and freedom of those in the grip of evil and suffering and those being oppressed. We are to live and function as an apostolic community, sent out by the risen Christ.
God gathers all sorts of people into a community, folks who had no common bond before other than their faith and some who had no faith before finding the community. A commonly held theology is not central to our sense of unity; rather, our sharing in the Holy Table and our sharing a vision of mission and ministry lie at the heart of our community life. Join me in praying that we will find ourselves so under the sway of the Spirit of Jesus that we will experience ongoing transformed into an apostolic community on mission to those with no faith or with faith shattered and wounded.
You may remember that Gospel chorus “Weave.”
We are many textures,
we are many colours,
Each one different from the other.
But we are entwined with one another
in one great tapestry.
Refrain:
Weave, weave, weave us together,
Weave us together, in unity and love.
Weave, weave, weave us together,
weave us together, together in love.
We are diff’rent instruments,
playing our own melodies,
Each one tuning to a diff’rent key.
But we are all playing in harmony,
in one great symphony.
Refrain:
A moment ago, we did not know
our unity, only diversity,
Now the Christ in me
greets the Christ in thee,
in one great family.
Refrain:
Something Scott Peck once said about community comes to mind.
"When I am with a group of human beings committed to hanging in there through both the agony and the joy of community, I have a dim sense that I am participating in a phenomenon for which there is only one word. I almost hesitate to use it. The word is 'glory.'" *
*M. Scott Peck, The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace, (New York: Touchstone, 1988), p. 106
Collect of the Day, Proper 10, the fifth Sunday after Pentecost
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 231)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Bartolome de Las Casas, missionary priest and defender of the oppressed (died 17 July 1566 CE).
Collect of the Feast of Bartolome de LS Casas
Eternal God, we give you thanks for the witness of Bartolomé de las Casas, whose deep love for your people caused him to refuse absolution to those who would not free their Indian slaves. Help us, inspired by his example, to work and pray for the freeing of all enslaved people of our world, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Fridays
Lord Jesus Christ, by your death you took away the sting of death: Grant to us your servants so to follow in faith where you have led the way, that we may at length fall asleep peacefully in you and wake up in your likeness; for your tender mercies' sake. Amen. (BCP, 123)
In the Evening
O Lord, support us all the day long, until the shadows lengthen, and the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then in thy mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. Amen. (BCP, 833)
A Collect for Mission
O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 280)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 3:7-19
7 Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; 8hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. 9He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; 10for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. 11Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ 12But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.
13 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. 14And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, 15and to have authority to cast out demons. 16So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer
Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer
Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer
Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer
Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer
Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer
Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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