The Season of Pentecost

To be a disciple means to put one’s feet in the footsteps of Jesus and, in the power of his Spirit, to continue in one’s own historical time and place his mission of announcing and signing the coming of the reign of God.

Together as church, the community of disciples is in a unique way called to be the instrument of the reign of God in history. Since peace and justice are among the most powerful signs of the reign God present in this world, it belongs to the essential mission of the church to make these realities more visible in our time, so marked by oppression, violence, injustice and threat of total destruction. Following Jesus on this way may will cost disciples their lives–the servants are not greater than the master. But the community of disciples must go on witnessing throughout the conflicts of history, drawing courage from their memory of Jesus, from their experience of his continuing presence in the Spirit, and for hope in the final victory of the coming reign of God.

—Elizabeth A. Johnson in CONSIDER JESUS: WAVES OF RENEWAL IN CHRISTOLOGY.

(New York: Crossroad, 1990), ISBN 0-8245-0990-0; 0-8245-1161-1 (pbk), page 77.