We Are Called

“We are called to love tenderly.

We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.”—We Are Called, hymn by David Haas.

 My view of mission was initially shaped by stories of missionaries such as William Duncan and Marcus Whitman: The white man carrying his Bible into the wilderness, bringing salvation through the Word of God. I was very cynical about this type of mission.

Since I have worked for the Maryknoll Lay Missioners (MKLM), my view of mission has improved considerably.  The organization sends Catholic lay people—single adults, couples, and families with young children—to serve in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Each year, MKLM missioners who have finished their first three-and-a-half-year contract return to our headquarters to reflect on their experiences before either renewing their contract or leaving MKLM.

For me, the best part of this process is hearing their stories of mission.  One missioner, Kim Fischer, who is serving in Brazil with her husband and three children, spoke about how they struggled to find mission work that really fit with their skills and abilities and was meaningful.  A Maryknoll priest in Brazil told her that it was not so important what they did in mission, but rather how they acted in all areas of their life: both there in their mission work and in their private life.  The example they are to others, the relationships they build with the people they serve; that is what really matters in mission work. Kim felt this advice had a profound impact on her, and it has helped direct her mission life.

Another member of this class, Richard Ross, who served in Tanzania, said he was frustrated in his attempts to learn the Kiswahili language.  He shared his feelings with another missioner, Erik Cambier, who had served in Tanzania years before.  Erik told him that he still could make an effective contribution in mission even if he never became fluent in Kiswahili. He said, “You possess the most powerful language of them all. You have the language of love, and that, my friend, overrides everything else.”

Richard spent his entire mission at one location: The Lubango Center in Nyashana. His job title was Maryknoll Lay Missioner Advisor, and he shared his job description with me. He had a lot of duties—but perhaps his two most important duties were to welcome students to the Center and to be a “blessing” for those who came to the Center.  He told us he joined MKLM because he wanted to spend as much time as possible playing with children. This did not seem like much of a mission, but he showed a video of his farewell from the Center. The children lifted him up and carried him like a baseball player who has hit the winning home run.

I asked Erik why he felt Richard had such an impact, and he explained that in Tanzanian culture, childcare is seen as strictly women’s work.  Men have little or nothing to do with their children after they’re born. Richard treated the children of the Center with love and attention, which made Richard a very special man indeed. Perhaps his example will affect the behavior of the male children he worked with when they grow older. Spreading God’s love is what mission is all about.

Janice Fuquay, a missioner I have known for many years, tells a story I find particularly memorable.  She is a veterinarian, and she worked with men and women in the border region of Peru and Bolivia. They were raising llamas and alpacas to supplement their incomes. She would hold regular gatherings where they would share their experiences and give each other advice on how to deal with problems that arose. Janice spoke of how eager she was to read their evaluations at the end of the sessions, looking forward to finding out how successful they were at raising the animals and how much more money they made. What she found, instead, were testimonies about how much better they felt about themselves as persons.  One woman spoke of how her husband had grown to value her opinions and was proud of her accomplishments.  Another man wrote of how people turned to him for the first time as a source of knowledge and wisdom. “Of course,” Janice thought, “That’s what it was all about! It’s not about raising more llamas and alpacas; it’s about making them feel better about themselves and each other.” Janice showed them that they were people who had knowledge and abilities to share. How she behaved toward them would have greater long-term impact on their lives than their success or failure at animal husbandry.

The Book of Common Prayer in the General Thanksgiving, spoken at Morning and Evening Prayer, includes the following, “We pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to your service. . .” Some missioners I know are doctors, lawyers, and engineers who provide desperately needed health care, who help with uncaring justice systems, and who build wells to bring fresh water. Yet Christ calls all of us to mission, no matter what talents we possess. You can’t always change people’s lives, but what you can do is be present with them, share God’s love and accompany them on their journey. That is mission, too.

Originally published in the Episcopal New Yorker.