In my reading today I read Luke 9:1-6. This is the portion about Jesus sending out the twelve. He sends them out to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God and to heal. I am struck by several ideas from this.

First, the news of the Kingdom of God is good news – it is great news. The news of the Kingdom is not news about what will happen to you one day when you die – it is about the good news that the Kingdom of God is here – it is in us – it is among us. It transforms us as we live out the grace, love, mercy, holiness and justice that our Lord lived out and gave witness to in His life.

What would it look like if God were truly in charge of our lives – our churches?

But in order to fulfill the mission Christ gave them, they had to pack light. That is something my wife and I are not always good at. It seems like we always come home from a trip with clothes we never wore and I vow to pack lighter the next time. Pack light…

We need to “pack light” if we are to be free to do mission. We need to rid ourselves of unnecessary baggage and focus on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom. That may be baggage of unnecessary opinions and ideas – it may be baggage of toxic relationships – it may be baggage of ancillary theological opinions, it may be the baggage of treasured political opinions. Pack light…

What do I need to pack in order to be laser-focused on proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom?