When I lived in Alaska, some friends of mine had an expression I always liked. When something was happening, or some trip was planned and they didn’t go along on it, they had FOMO or Fear Of Missing Out – missing out on the social experience, the gossip, the time outside, whatever.

This term I’ve been going to Morning Prayer virtually every day. That means I have to get up earlier than I’d like and sometimes, especially now that it’s cold, there are many mornings when waking up in the dark to bike 10 minutes through the cold to get to the service isn’t entirely appealing. But I keep going anyway.

I was trying to figure out recently why it is that I keep going and realized I have FOMO. I’m afraid that at some service God is going to do something or act in my life in such a way that if I’m not there I’ll miss out on it. This might sound kind of silly but I routinely have several silly thoughts in a day (and they still let me into Yale!).

After a semester of doing this, I can’t say that God has utterly transformed my life while reciting the Venite for the umpteenth time. But I do think my daily attendance at Morning Prayer has helped me make some friends I wouldn’t otherwise and helped me feel like I’m a real part of the community and that’s an important transformation in its own way.

A friend of mine said a while back that the key to being a successful priest was “just keep showing up.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that. If you just keep showing up places and being a part of the community where you are, then good things start happening. It may not be the transform-in-a-moment I’m looking for but maybe that’s not what I need. Sometimes my attendance at Morning Prayer is “justified” simply by a brief hello with someone as we put on our coats at the end of the service. That’s perhaps as important as anything else.

Anyway, I’ll keep going to Morning Prayer next term but maybe it won’t be because of FOMO. Maybe it’ll be because I see the value of “just showing up.”

Here’s a sign that I’m no longer in South Africa.

There, when I ordered contact lenses, it took me easily six weeks to get them due to a variety of reasons.

On Monday, I went to the eye doctor for a new prescription. I asked how long it would take to get the contacts. “Tomorrow,” he replied.

“You mean, I can order them tomorrow?” I asked.

“No, if you order them before 4 o’clock today, we can have them by 10 o’clock tomorrow morning.”

I sat back, more than a little stunned. So this is how things are supposed to work! Efficiency can be a great thing.

(Speaking of efficiency, I am procrastinating by writing this post instead of studying for my history exam tomorrow. Efficiency isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.)

One of the things you learn almost as soon as you start taking an interest in contemporary mission theology is that mission belongs not to any individual or organization or church but to God. God’s mission is one of reconciliation and it is our job, as baptized Christians, to discern what role we are privileged to play in that mission.

This mission of God language is a shift away from earlier language of the mission of the church. For instance, the catechism in the 1979 prayer book refers to the mission of the church and not the mission of God.

In the last few months at divinity school (!), I’ve heard people talk about the mission of the church. On a few occasions, I’ve gently challenged them or corrected them. Sometimes people look at me as if to say, “What’s the big deal? Isn’t it all the same?”

One way it would be the same is the extent to which the church is seen as the body of Christ and not as an institution. But how often do we really think like that? When I hear the word “church,” I think of institutions, institutions that were created and are operated by sinful human beings and that are easily drawn away from the mission of reconciliation.

I feel about this issue the same way that some people feel about using non-masculine pronouns to refer to God, e.g. “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord” rather than “Blessed in he who comes in the name of the Lord.” I could say, “Isn’t it all the same?” but I know many people who think the distinction is vitally important and I respect their views.

It’s the same with the “mission of God” versus the “mission of the church” and so I’m going to keep picking on people to think about what they say and what they mean.