Yahweh makes water in the wilderness, and where there is water there is a city (Psalm 107:33-38).

Water may not seem a very stable foundation for urbanization, but it is the necessary basis for the life of any human community. Without water, people can’t live, their livestock won’t survive, nothing will grow. Hydraulics is the first science of civilization. By giving water in the wilderness, Yahweh gives an oasis in a dry place, and an oasis is the promise of a city.

And then, many centuries later, John comes baptizing in the wilderness, making pools in the desert, promising a new city.

And then Jesus sends out His disciples to baptize and make disciples, a mission to establish the city of God in the wastes of the world.

Mission begins with baptism, which means that all mission is urban mission.

(Thoughts inspired by a lecture by Rev. Wes Baker of Peru Mission, currently teaching at Trinity House.)