The Magnificent Enterprise

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only
beyond our efforts,
it is 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 another 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 are 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 effects
beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that.
This 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 God’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 worker.
We are workers, not master builders,
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own. Amen.

—Martyred Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980)

Thanks to Rob's A New and Unending Kind of Life for pointing me to this quote and the one from yesterday.