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I was recently planting a Dogwood tree in my yard. I had carefully cleared a space (which was previously overgrown with brush). As I dug the hole, I immediately ran into roots...lots of roots. Digging a hole wasn't as simple as removing dirt. It required some backbreaking work to get the roots out of the ground to clear a space big enough so the Dogwood could spread out its own roots. Fresh vision is like that. We all have roots under the surface--biases, cultural conditioning and personal preferences which have been growing under the surface for a long, long time. Developing a new way of seeing the world and living out our faith is not easy. It requires some effort.

Jesus addressed the same issue with his disciples. They had a predisposition towards the Samaritans. The roots of their "clash of civilizations" with the Samaritans were deep and strong. Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman and his joyful response to her people was a mighty blow to the roots of Jewish supremacy buried deep in the disciples' psyche. His invitation: "Lift up your eyes," offered them a new perspective...fresh vision.

By removing those roots, the kingdom was planted among the Samaritan people and, oddly enough, it was those same disciples who returned to reap the harvest from that Kingdom tree. You can read about it in Acts 8.

I am suggesting that in order for the church in the West and especially in North America to be meaningfully engaged in the work of Christ's Kingdom, we will have to develop fresh vision for our world. This fresh vision will not follow the lead of our political establishment, our military institutions, our business interests or our social concerns. We must return to the Lord and King of the Kingdom and sit at His feet. Jesus must once again set the agenda for His people.