Tag Archives: kingdom

Only workers, not master builders

This is a poem/prayer for missionaries by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw. As we continue on the missional journey, may it give us helpful perspective:

It helps now and then to step back and take the long view

The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s Work

Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us

No statement says all that could be said

No prayer fully expresses our faith

No confession brings perfection

No pastoral visit brings wholeness

No program accomplishes the Church’s Mission

No set of goals and objectives includes everything

This is what we’re about–

We plant seeds that one day will grow

We water seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promise

We lay foundations that will need further development

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. It enables us to do something and to do it very well. It may be incomplete but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the workers. We are the workers. We are prophets of a future not our own.