Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. – 1 John 3:2a (NRSVue)
Behind one of the campuses of the church I serve sits a five-acre field. It looks like any other field you might drive by on the side of the road: thick patches of overgrown grass and weeds, a blank expanse absent of any markers of ownership or identity.
A few years back the field was purchased by our church as an investment in the future, a site of anticipated development awaiting a vision to reveal its purpose. It is a meadow of “what ifs” where we dream aloud. What if we build affordable housing? What if the space is transformed into a community center? What about a hub for justice to feed our neighbors?
Meanwhile, the field has quietly claimed its own purpose. Most days it is a walking path for folks who live in the neighborhood behind it. Some evenings it’s an exercise yard for a goofy golden doodle who does two sweeping laps before jumping back in their human’s waiting car. Occasionally it’s a pasture of hospitality, providing parking for mourners at a memorial service, an assurance that there is room for anyone called to gather and grieve in community.
The field is just a field, but the field is also the “already and not yet” of God’s realm. When we shift our gaze from a future vision to the ministry of right now, it is clear God is very much alive in this tiny corner of creation, not waiting for us to declare what we need from God or from the field. Her work has already begun.
May our dreams of the future emerge from noticing God in our midst today.
