"Traveling Light"
Luke 10:1-20
A short story by Tim O’Brien, “The Things They Carried,” has
often been assigned reading for high school or college students. It’s filled with descriptions of the things
the soldiers packed in their gear in combat zones in Vietnam. They carried pocket knives, letters from
girlfriends, cigarettes and C-rations.
They carried diaries, photographs, binoculars, socks, and foot powder. They carried compasses, maps, and
weapons. What they carried was partly
what they thought they needed to survive and partly an expression of their
combat mission. “They carried all they
could bear,” writes O’Brien, “and then some, including a silent awe for the
terrible power of the things they carried.”
More
recently, there have been several exhibits of photographs and artifacts dealing
with this theme. One of them is
currently at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, focusing on the
experience of Iraqi and Syrian refugees, most of whom traveled with little more
than the clothes on their back and some small memento to remind them of home.
To document
their life-changing journey and shed light on the trials and trauma refugees
experience, Jim Lommasson has created a traveling exhibit on what it means to
leave everything behind, “What We Carried: Fragments from the Cradle of
Civilization.” He invited refugees to
share a personal item that was significant on their journey. Some shared a family snapshot, an heirloom
dish, or a childhood toy. The project is
about what’s worth holding onto when you have to travel light.
I don’t
know what kind of a packer you are, but I keep trying to travel lighter when I
go away for a conference or on vacation. My tendency is to try to have all the clothes
I may need—appropriate clothes for each kind of activity and weather
possibility, something to read, groomintg and health supplies, and so on. It all adds up.
But I hear what Jesus said to the seventy: “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals…” In fact, carry nothing, not even what prudent
people would pack for a trip—no money, no extra pairs of shoes—nothing. Disciples are to be utterly dependent upon
God and the hospitality of others.
Disciples are to carry only the gospel and our trust in God.
Jesus has
appointed these seventy or so to go on ahead of him in pairs to every town and
place where he plans to go, as kind of advance teams. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers
are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his
harvest. Go on your way.
“See,” cautions
Jesus, “I am sending you like lambs into the midst of wolves.” This
is important work, with high stakes.
Travel wisely. Travel light.
Hearing and
sharing the gospel require as few distractions as possible in any age, in any
place.
Consider
how much bigger the average size house is today than a generation or two ago. We have bigger houses, with bigger closets,
so we can have more stuff. We have to
pay more to use more energy to heat and cool the bigger houses and to run all
the appliances and electronic gadgets we’ve come to see as necessities. A bigger house with more stuff takes more
time and energy money to maintain and clean and secure.
A wealthy businessman who had grown
up poor said in later years, “Life gets complicated when you own more than two
pair of pants.”
Jesus sent
the seventy disciples out and told them that wherever they were welcomed, they Lukewere to eat what is set before them…to cure the sick…and to tell people “The
kingdom of God has come near to you.”
Wherever they were not welcomed, they were to go out into the streets
and announce that they were protesting the lack of welcome, as they wipe the
dust off of their feet. Yet they were
also to tell those who didn’t welcome them: “The kingdom of God has come
near.”
I believe
that all these details are included in the gospel story to show that something
big, something risky and dangerous was happening.
Like the early disciples, we are also sent out.
Another thing today’s gospel story
tells us is that being sent out in mission requires letting go of a lot of baggage. We need to be able to move quickly, without
unnecessary hindrances or distractions.
We can’t be free of all burdens, but we need to bear the right burdens. It’s a question of priorities.
During the Protestant Reformation,
part of the work was to discern what was essential for Christ’s church and what
needed to be left behind because it got in the way of being faithful for that
time.
John Wesley always insisted that
his Methodist circuit riders have
few possessions. He knew that our
possessions have a way of hindering us.
So the circuit riders were expected to travel light.
Those of us who have been life-long
church members have been spiritually formed by worship, Christian education,
participating in mission, and being a part of the faith community. Some have cherished memories of how things used to
be. Others who came to Littlefield from
another faith community may have memories of what was especially meaningful to
them in another congregation. Others may
have a vision of what church can be in this new
time.
As much as we might want everybody
to be happy and to have all the things they feel would make them comfortable on
the journey, that’s not the life to which Jesus calls us. We’re called to faithful service, and Jesus
tells us we need to travel light. We need
to discern what’s essential for the church’s mission today.
We live in
troubling, sometimes scary times, and it’s easy to be pessimistic and fearful
about our nation and the world, and about the church. We know that in the North American church,
membership has been declining. The
Presbyterian Church and other mainline churches have been downsizing their
national organizations due to financial constraints. Some congregations have left the
denomination, in response to previous General Assembly actions on GLBTQ
ordination and same-gender marriage.
The theme
of the 2016 General Assembly was “The
hope in our calling,” and from what I’ve heard and read, this was a hopeful
assembly. The commissioners worked hard,
studying, listening to testimony, praying, worshipping, struggling with complex
and difficult issues. As always, they
did everything “decently and in order,” because that’s how Presbyterians do things.
I posted
some reports on Facebook during GA, and I recently emailed a summary of what
happened at GA to you. I hope you’ll
read them, and that we can talk about anything you have questions or concerns
about.
There were
several things that made this Assembly both historic and hope-full. First, for the
first time, a co-moderator team was
elected to share the leadership equally:
Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston, both pastors, both women, elected in
the year that marks the 60th anniversary of the ordination of women
to Word and Sacrament and the 85th anniversary of the ordination of
women as ruling elders.
Second, the
Assembly adopted the Confession of Belhar into our Book of Confessions, which is part of the Constitution of the
PC(USA). Belhar emerged in the Dutch Reformed
Mission Church of South Africa, post-Apartheid.
It confronts the sin of racism and calls for reconciliation, unity and
peace. Following the vote, someone from
the Assembly floor began to sing “We Shall Overcome,” and others joined
in. By the second verse, the body had
joined hands, and then lifted them upward as they sang together.
It was
moving to see this in a video, but as I read peoples’ reports of moments like
this, I couldn’t help wishing I could have been in Portland for GA. These moments remind us that when we follow Jesus,
liberation, justice and redemption, peace and joy and hope are all part of the
journey.
South African theologian Alan Boesak
who helped to write the Belhar confession, was in Portland for the vote. He reminded the church that we are called to
more than simply say the words of the confession; we are called to live them, embody them. As Belhar affirms, “We believe . . . that the
church as the possession of God must stand where the Lord stands, namely against injustice and with the wronged.”
On Friday, the Assembly elected J.
Herbert Nelson, a third-generation Presbyterian pastor, an African-American
man, and prophetic voice for justice, to the office of Stated Clerk, which is
our top ecclesiastical and constitutional office, representing the denomination
in interfaith and ecumenical settings.
Rev. Nelson challenged Presbyterians
to stop focusing on internal church disputes, numerical survival, and labeling
each other as progressives or conservatives.
He said, “Nowhere in holy writ do I read the terms ‘liberal, moderate,
or conservative.’”
I believe this is true. These are not biblical categories. They foster conflict narratives about “us”
and “them” with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and should not define our
identity as followers of Jesus Christ.
As
J. Herbert Nelson said, we need to focus on “the impact God can make through
us” in a broken world. He said of the
Presbyterian Church: “We are not dead, we are reforming, we are alive and
we are well.” But
“To only think about the survival of the Church is to set our aim too
low.”
Much of
what happened at General Assembly gives me hope. In the midst of all that’s going on in the
world, God is up to something and
wants to use us to bring about good. As
today’s gospel lesson reminds us, we need to travel light. So we need to leave behind our worries about
survival, our resentment or mistrust of people who aren’t like us or don’t
believe exactly the same things we do.
We need to stop hauling around our nostalgic longings about how we used to
do things, and pack for the mission we have today.
When we
trust that God will provide what we need for the journey, that will free up
room for us to carry the good news of God’s love and freedom out into a world
where God calls us to bring healing and peace and restoration.
Jesus sent
out the seventy in his name, but it became clear that they were part of a
larger mission—a mission that is not yet completely unfolded, a mission whose
final goal is even yet unfolding, a battle against evil, against the powers and
principalities of this world.
There is
still more teaching, more witnessing, more healing, to do. There are still hungry people to be fed. The poor still need to hear good
news…captives and oppressed people who need to be freed…blind who need to
recover their sight.[1]
The GOOD NEWS is that God has
graciously claimed us in your baptism and chosen us and calls us to help to
transform the world.
Somewhere
along the way, we will be called to leave our excess baggage behind. We will be sent out to places we never
imagined we’d go in the name of Christ.
We will carry the one important thing:
a gospel of love and justice and peace. The way
will be hard and the path will be uncertain, but by the grace of God, our work will become a part of God’s work and will help to knock the
powers of evil off the throne, and our
names will be written in heaven.
Thanks be
to God!
Amen!
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