The Dreaded "E" Word - Sermon for July 7

The Dreaded "E” Word

July 7/12    7th After Pentecost      Luke 10:1-20

A few years ago – actually it was when I was in my second or third year of seminary – so about 18 or 19 years ago – maybe I should say – a long time ago – I was at home one day with my son Ethan while his brothers were in school – and there was a knock at my door – it was two young woman in their late teens – they asked me if I had some time and would I be willing to speak with them.  I though sure – why not –Ethan was napping, and I was avoiding writing an essay.   I had a big hunch that they had come to speak with me about Jesus and I thought that because I was in Seminary I could hold my own and possibly impress them with my knowledge – my ego was thinking it was going to shine.  The two girls came into the dining room and set up some flash cards and began their spiel – do I know about the first people on earth (that was easy – Adam and Eve)  do know about how God speaks to us (prayer and the bible) – do I know what a prophet is ( I said – like Moses and Elijah)  they said yes – I was on a roll – and for the next five minutes or so, all was well and I knew the answers to their questions and feeling like I had this in the bag - and then something happened – or something shifted or – I don’t know, the next thing I knew I was on shaky ground, and feeling uneasy about where this conversation was heading, and the questions no longer seemed straight forward, or open ended – the questions became closed ended questions such as “if you heard of another prophet wouldn’t you want to know what he said – I mean how could you say “no” to that question, but as soon as you said yes – it felt like I was committing to something that I did not want to commit to and the next thing you know – I am getting defensive and shutting down and getting snippy – and wishing that these two lovely girls would hurry up and drink their tea and get out of my house.  And what had started out with good intentions ended up leaving a bad taste in my mouth – I felt bad, like I had done something wrong – or thought something wrong, or believed something wrong – yuck – I do not like evangelists’ disguised as lovely young ladies knocking on my door.

I imagine all of us at some time or another have had to face that knock on the door –and to know when you answered that there were evangelists on the other side.  We then had to make a decision about whether you will answer the knock, cause you can hide and pretend that you are not home, or politely ask them to go away or rudely ask them to go away or sit and listen.  We all also have been witness to exploitive evangelist – you know the ones – the ones that use the name of Jesus to sell you something, to raise lots of money for their cause, to practice elaborate healings and spectacular events all in God’s name where again  you come away with a bad taste in your mouth.

And then there are the evangelist that frighten me more than that – they are the ones that use fear as a motivation for conversion.  One summer the Anglican priest in the community I was serving sent his nieces to the local evangelical summer camp, because it was convenient and affordable and had a pretty decent reputation.  Mid-week the camp called and asked him to pick up his nieces as they were refusing to participate in any activities and insisted that they go home.  He shared that they left camp early because they were afraid, afraid that they would die and go to hell – they had learned in their bible study time that unless they accepted Jesus in their hearts, if they would descend into the fiery depths of hell if they happened to die before they did this,  they were afraid to sleep in case they died in the night.

It is no wonder that we squirm when we hear the word evangelist, and yet there is no getting around today’s gospel story – it is all about evangelism –

Jesus says to 70 people –okay folks – here is what you are going to do – first find a partner because this is not something you can do on your own – and now you and your partner are going out and away from me to the local villages, towns and farms and you are going to knock on doors and asked to be invited in.  David Lose at Working preacher reflects: “ And so Jesus sends them out in pairs. Thus, when one falters, the other can help. When one is lost, the other can seek the way. When one is discouraged, the other can hold faith for both for a while. That’s what the company of believers does – we hold on to each other, console each other, encourage and embolden each other, and even believe for each other.”

And Jesus sends them out without anything but each other – no extras, no  backpacks filled with water bottles and granola bars and there are no spare socks or an extra pair of shoes – they don’t have a list of instructions to go to if things aren’t turning out they way they expected.   They don’t have a sleeping bag in case no one in the villages will open their doors and extend hospitality to them. And they do not have any money to grab a motel or something to eat in the local diner. They are going out empty handed with nothing but what they are wearing.   David Lose again:  “Jesus also commands that they take nothing with them. This means that the disciples – …, – must depend on the generosity of others. For their meals … for a place to stay … for, well, just about everything.”  I don’t know about you – but we just spent two days at a campsite in the middle of summer and we had the car packed so full that you could not see out the back window and a tully box full on top – it is a big deal going out empty handed.  Takes a whole lot of trust, takes a whole lot of faith, and it takes a whole lot of courage.

 And so they go – 70 or them or 35 pairs of people into the surrounding country side to share the good news – to heal and proclaim the kingdom of God.  I wonder what that looks like – I am pretty sure it is not flip card with pictures of prophets of old on it or using fear as an incentive for people to open their doors to them. I also imagine that they took seriously Jesus command and did not ask for money to continue the ministry or charge for the healings that they were undertaking.  No, they were to share peace and proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near – to share this with anyone who wished to hear –only with those who opened their doors and extended hospitality. I think this is one example of what makes this so very different from what we experience today with evangelists, Jesus’ sent out disciples offered an invitation, an invitation to receive peace – what do you think that feels like – receiving peace – would it be able to let go of our burdens, or possibly not having to worry so much, or maybe feeling calm in times when you used to feel anxious.  I think the gift of peace is profound, and life changing.  Because as the disciples say ‘the kingdom of God has come near’ and what I love about this passage is it does not matter whether the disciples are received or not – the kingdom of God comes near if they are not welcome in the village as well. The kingdom of God is near whether we want to acknowledge it or not, whether we want to accept it or not.

So the seventy go off and do as Jesus asks and come back full of wonderful tales of success and acceptance and power and joy like they had never experienced before – they were able to heal and to share and to be disciples just as Jesus had asked them to. And Jesus reminds them that it is not about the deeds  that was important it was about them, how they became different and were transformed as they shared the peace and proclaimed the kingdom.  The point of the journey was for them, although they were the givers of the good news they were the ones who received the gift. So ultimately evangelism in this sense of the word is about the ones who are evangelizing not the number of converted or how many souls were saved or the number of people that accepted Jesus into their hearts –

So what does this look like for us today – What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus in 2013?  To be sent out , to share peace, to wait for and receive hospitality…David Lose writes:   I believe( two of) the gifts Jesus gives his disciples, …are teamwork and trusting obedience. Because when we work together, when we recall that God said it is not good for us to be alone, when we see our hope and welfare as inextricably linked to that of those around us, then we not only can accomplish so much more than we possibly could alone, but we also discover that our names, along with those first disciples, are written in the book of heaven.

So what might it mean, if we were to remember Jesus’ counsel and command and work and dream together of a more vibrant witness to the Christian faith? What might it mean to think about those things that we can do for our communities? Of things we assuredly cannot accomplish alone but might venture together?”  What does it look like share peace with another, - perhaps it means taking a casserole and sharing a meal with someone who is lonely, or maybe it would look like participating in the school’s breakfast program, or feeding someone at Golden Dawn who no longer can do it for themselves. What if sharing peace is about planting a garden, or reading a story to child, or maybe it is writing a letter to the prime minister requesting fair governance. Maybe sharing peace is being talking about your faith in normal everyday conversations – letting folks know why you go to church, what you receive here and why it is important to you.  It is time to embrace the dreaded “e” word and become the evangelists that Jesus calls us to be. It is time for us to lay aside our fear and learn to trust that we will be fine, not only fine – more than fine – joyful even.

We are sent out from this place to proclaim the kingdom of God, to share peace with our brothers and sisters in the world. These are incredible gifts and promises Jesus gives – they are ours to share with the world.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.