Karl Barth defines Mission as Actio Dei (that is the action of God). For him, Mission ‘is the obedience to the mandate received from God. Mission as Actio Dei is totally placed in Christ and in His Grace, without any relationship to our will’ this expression shows that Mission is an inherent mandate of man to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. In addition, when we set to embark on the mission of Christ, he will give us the necessary grace. Mission is also from the world mittere or Missio which means to send. 

The Mission Sunday of this year is a call to the universality of this mission of Christ, who sends us into the world; He also gives us grace and His heavenly blessings. The readings of today will draw our attention to how to restore peace in a world that glories in ammunitions. 

The Command to ‘Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation,’ this command is a universal call to everyone to go into the world and proclaim His peace in a world that is ravaged with the terror of war, insecurity and hatred. War in our world goes beyond nation against nation. It starts from home, when parents will set their children against each other, where they will divide and rule. 

In addition, our communities and various societies experience different types of segregation and oppression. Government and political policies continue to marginalize the people that they are supposed to unite and protect. The center does not hold again; things are falling apart. It is time to follow the dictates of St. Paul in the second reading of today, which is, ‘to pray’.

We need to pray for our leaders at different positions. As St. Paul would say “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all men for kings and all who are in high positions”. We need to hope against hope as we are praying for a better Nigeria and a new world. The universality of our prayers is highly necessary now than before, because we are in a global village; we pray for different leaders in Asia, America, Europe and Africa. 

Gone are the days of praying that ‘evil shall not happen here or near’ rather, let us pray for universal peace. Distance in this age is nothing; your closest neighbour may be thousands of miles away while their actions or inactions will have urge and direct impact on you. For example, Nigeria is still feeling the consequence of the war between Russia and Ukraine, a dam that is opened in Cameroon or other neighbouring countries can still cause havoc in Nigeria, hence we need to pray for leaders in general.

As we are praying for our leaders, our world continues to look for visionary leaders who will be devoted to their works. It is possible we point fingers at the various people at the helm of the affairs, we should know that we are also leaders in our various capacities. Our world will be a better place if we learn to complain less and act more, to promote actions that encourage peace than to promote war. It is often said that ‘a nation gets the leader it deserves’. 

We pray that one day the Psalm of today shall be our song “Praise the Lord, all ye nations: Praise him, all ye people, for his merciful kindness is great toward us and the truth of the Lord endures forever. Amen.