The deeply formed mission

“Deeply formed mission is first about who we are becoming before what we are doing.  Our most effective strategy in reaching a world for Christ is grounded in the kind of people who are being formed into.  The quality of our presence is our mission.”- Rich Villodas

“As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’. . .  But I ask.  Did they not hear?  Of course they did: ‘Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the end of the world.’ “- Romans 10:15, 18 (NIV)

Impeccable service.  Gracious spirit.  Beautiful feet.  Three phrases that epitomize David’s deeply formed mission to transform dining from a meal to a memory.  A life of doing that flows from being.  In addition, David’s thorough knowledge of the menu facilitates informed and healthful choices.  And he patiently answers any questions you present about The Drake Oak Brook in general or the Colonial Room in particular.

On one of the many occasions Vicki and I dined in the Colonial Room, we asked David about the traditional British afternoon tea The Drake hosts.  While we finished our meal, David brought out a chest with all the teas offered at the event.  Then David proceeded to explain the nuances of each tea and how the tea was steeped.  To paraphrase an old US Navy slogan, for David waitstaffing is not just a job it’s an adventure!

Writing in The Deeply Formed Life, (2020), Rich Villodas underscores that one’s engagement in the world must begin, not with activity, but with a life in God.  Hence, what matters more is the quality of life out of which our doing flows.  Thus, we must join our lives with God in love, contemplation, surrender, and obedience.  And that connection to God births loving service and mission to the world.  So, deeply formed mission fundamentally centers on becoming a particular person and offering that to the world.

Consequently, Pastor Villodas notes, to say yes to Jesus’ call to mission requires surrender.  A surrender to a way of being on mission that compartmentalizes doing from being.  In other words, doing must never exist at the expense of being.  Nor must being exist at the expense of doing.  Therefore, Rich asserts, we need a life of doing, a deeply formed mission that flows from being.

As a result, the author counsels:

“Any doing on our part will only be as deep as our being.  To do without being might look the same to an outsider, but the quality of our lives is drastically different.  To do without being disconnects our activity from the source of life and love: God’s life and love.”

Thus, rather than joyful participation, such engagement in the world becomes marked by a kind of sterile obligation.  For in the soul-creating moments of being with God and others, the quality of our lives overflows to reach others.  Rather than total withdrawal, Rich advocation creative withdrawal. Simply put, Pastor Villodas observes, it’s impossible to give what you haven’t received.

In conclusion, Rich sees our calling from God in terms of being active contemplatives or contemplative activists.  Through either calling we hold together the invitation to be and to do.  Because we see this with the God of Scripture, our calling starts with this liberating understanding.  God’s always on a mission, but His mission flows from a place of being.  God acts from the quality of His life.

Finally, Rich exhorts:

“Any sense of mission that is faithful to Jesus begins with the presence of God.  God’s grace is lovingly present to the world at every moment. . . .  Although we have limits, God does not.  He is with us.  Any notion of mission in this world must confess that God moves first. . . . Long before we arrive, God is present.”