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Word and Deed

Are you working your Personal Mission Field - like Patrick?

And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

  - Matthew 4.23

A faithful minister of God, and a splendid messenger,
he gave to the good the example and form of an apostle,
preaching to the people of God with both words and deeds
so that he might with a good act inspire the one whom his words did not move.


  - Domnach Sechnall, Audite Omnes Amantes, Irish, 5th century

Sechnall was writing about Patrick, giving an explanation for the widespread success of his ministry. Patrick went to Ireland as Jesus had been sent to the earth – to bring the saving mercy and Kingdom of Christ to lost souls.

Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you” (Jn. 20.21). Jesus was sent to a particular time, place, and people, with the mission of bringing the Kingdom of God and His righteousness to a sad and weary world.

We have been sent into our own Personal Mission Fields to live as Jesus did – as Patrick did. The people we see each day, day-in and day-out, need the grace of God. They need to know His love and forgiveness, and His power to bring new life into even their most mundane experiences.

And God has sent us to them to embody and proclaim His grace and truth. We have been sent by Jesus like Jesus to bring the Kingdom of God near to them by good words and good works.

Patrick’s mission to Ireland succeeded in large part because he kept such a good balance between these two forms of witness. He taught people literacy, advised rulers, cared for the sick and outcast, showed mercy to the downtrodden, purchased slaves out of captivity, made disciples, ordained pastors, and always – always – brought the message of grace and truth through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In other words, He did what Jesus did, because he understood that he had been sent to Ireland in the same way Jesus was sent to earth.

If we have mapped out our Personal Mission Field, we’ve made a good start. From here we can begin to know and care for the people we encounter there, and to make the most of every opportunity to show them that Jesus is alive.

Working your Personal Mission Field, like Patrick, is a matter of prayer, waiting on the Lord, looking for open doors of opportunity, and being wise as serpents and harmless as doves as you speak and do for others what grace and truth require.

But if we aren’t even thinking about this, preparing for it, planning for it, and having others to encourage and support us in our mission, how will we ever follow in the steps of Jesus?

We are The Ailbe Community. What distinguishes us as such, other than that many of us read this thrice-weekly newsletter? Should we not strive together for something more lasting?

We have an opportunity to recover a mission like Patrick’s, like the mission of Jesus. Each of us is a Patrick to the people around us.

Let each one of us strive to be “a faithful minister” of the grace and truth of our Lord.

Psalm 2.7-10 (Agincourt: “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High”)
Proclaim the message far and wide, that God has exalted the Crucified!
From heav’n He sent us His only Son, Who has for us salvation won.

To Christ the Lord be given all who humbly embrace Him and on Him call.
Be wise, be warned: His judgment comes to break the prideful, sinful ones.

Help me each day to go as You went, O Lord, and to speak and do for others what You Yourself would.

A Field Guide to Mission
Either we’re working our Personal Mission Field – to which Christ has sent us – or we aren’t. But how to take on this high and holy calling? We’ve prepared a set of materials to help you get started or to accelerate your work as one sent like Patrick to the people around you. For your gift in any amount to The Fellowship of Ailbe, we’ll send you A Field Guide to Mission. Help us make The Ailbe Community a community that makes a difference. Use the donate button here or at the website, or send your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.

T. M. Moore, Principal
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T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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