I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

And another thing!

Isaiah 49:5-6

 5 And now the Lord says,

  who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

 to bring Jacob back to him,

  and that Israel might be gathered to him,

 for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

  and my God has become my strength—

 6 he says,

 “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

  to raise up the tribes of Jacob

  and to restore the survivors of Israel;

 I will give you as a light to the nations,

  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

The Servant Songs in Isaiah describe a Messiah-figure. And it’s a good thing, too. This is a high and holy calling. “Now,” God says, “it’s not enough that you should restore Israel. I’ll make you a witness to the entire Earth.”

As if restoring Israel weren’t a full-time job already, God calls his servant to more. God calls Jesus—and calls us—to bear witness to the whole world about what God is doing.

Before we even get to how we go about that, let’s sit a minute in wonder that God trusts us with being ambassadors to the whole world. This is no small thing.

We can’t do that as one congregation. To bear God’s creative and redeeming word to all the world requires us to work together. Over the years, we have. The Japan Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded by missionaries who left from South Carolina. Our synod has partner relationships with Lutherans in Colombia and Tanzania. The new bishop of the Lutheran Church in Jerusalem and the Holy Land, Imad Haddad, did a year of theological training at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia. Lutheran Bible Translators continues to translate the Bible into new languages, spreading the gospel where it has not gone before. You and I share the word to the world through the partnerships we have with ELCA missionaries, Young Adults in Global Mission, and Lutheran World Relief.

God’s call for us is too much for one person to achieve in one lifetime. But together, we can do the work of God in this place and across the world. Together, we can shine God’s light to the nations, that salvation may reach to the end of the earth.