Incognito God

Last week I was in Newry, Northern Ireland, with the Mastery Foundation School for Leadership.  Mastery is an interfaith organization with one paid employee and hundreds of volunteers and participants.  Their mission is to "empower those who minister and serve others in creating new possibilities for themselves and for their communities."  They do this through workshops in the US, Northern Ireland, and Israel.  Basil Pennington was one of the co-founders, and silent prayer is a key part of our common life.   

I am a graduate of the School, and it transformed my life and ministry.  I continue to volunteer in a variety of ways, because I want others to get what I got.  Elizabeth has also gone through the School, and is preparing to serve others as a coach.

So, what does this have to do with you, dear reader?  Mastery itself is not a "faith-based organization," and we don't "do theology" together.  Yet I see God so vividly there:  in the participants, and in the community gathered around this work.  We are several kinds of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim (seeking breakthroughs in other communities as well).  The generosity and love manifest among us is clearly of God.

The new cohort of participants includes people who are working for the environment, for immigrant families, for an end to sectarian violence, for peace.  They do this as social workers, nurses, lawyers, priests, rabbis, imams.  They give their lives for the love of the world.  I give my time to equip them for the work they do.

I come back from these annual trips exhausted and exhilarated.  I'm part of communities within Mastery that meet monthly to make sure the whole School is available for the participants, and I am renewed in every meeting.  One of our principles is that we each have to receive as much as we give in what we do.  I am sure that I receive much more than I give.

I want you to know of this amazing group, and to notice all the other groups that are making our world better.  God is alive, sometimes incognito, in all these people and places.  If you are part of such a community, make sure to acknowledge your partners - it's a precious gift you share.  If you aren't part of such a community, go looking for one.  Where do you see God at work in the world?  Where do you hear a call to bring God's love?

Blessings on all you do, all you are, all you might become.