Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows – it is the result of physical forces set in operation by ethical forces.
Jose RizalRead
Mission [is] understood as being derived from the very nature of God. It [is] thus put in the context of the Trinity, not of ecclesiology or soteriology. The classical doctrine of the missio dei as God the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and the Son sending the Spirit [is] expanded to include yet another “movement”: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the divine nature of the mission, rooted in the Trinity and extending to the church's purpose in the world.
David Bosch emphasizes that the concept of mission is fundamentally linked to the essence of God and the relationships within the Trinity. He expands upon the classical understanding of God the Father sending the Son and Spirit by asserting that this divine sending also encompasses the church's role and responsibility to engage with the world, thereby connecting theological principles with practical action.
In practice
In a sermon discussing the role of the church, this quote can illustrate the mission-driven nature of the congregation.
Necessity is the most powerful divinity the world knows – it is the result of physical forces set in operation by ethical forces.
Strictly speaking, there are no such things as good and bad impulses. Think...of a piano. It has not got two kinds of notes on it, the 'right' notes and the 'wrong' ones. Every single note is right at one time and wrong at another. The Moral Law is not any one instinct or set of instincts: it is something which makes a kind of tune (the tune we call goodness or right conduct) by directing the instincts.
I lock my door upon myself, And bar them out; but who shall wall Self from myself, most loathed of all?
Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.
Take not from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.
I have decided not to oppose anyone ever again, since I have noticed that I always end by resembling my latest enemy.
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