Before Jesus ascended, he laid out the job description for the Christian Church. John records part of our Lord’s incredibly moving prayer to his Heavenly Father, wherein Jesus said: “As you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (17:18; see also 20:21).

Obviously, this requires a second reading on our knees. Could he possibly mean what he said?

This past August, I left home. Actually, I left college, but it sure felt like leaving home. I went to Europe with the resolution not to return until I had found some new direction, had settled a theological quandary or two, and had found the courage to begin a new chapter in my life.