Proper 9 C Go as You Are

 Proper 9 C Go as You Are
July 8, 2007
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

In today’s Gospel Our Lord sends out 35 teams to every town and city that He intended to visit himself. His instructions to this group are short, and neat. They are to be themselves. They are to simply let God happen through them to others. To enter people’s lives and “let God happen” on behalf of anyone willing to show them hospitality….and who are willing to listen. 

Go, go as you are. Just……go! Greet everyone with God’s shalom. Be yourselves and see what happens.

Jesus must be kidding…. Right?

If this plan to make people aware of the positive difference God’s love makes in people’s lives…. if this low-budget mission sounds naively idealistic, it’s because it is!

We all know that if you hope to have any success with evangelism, you have to start with a mission statement. This of course will mean committee meetings, setting a budget, recruiting, and training personal and then establishing a support system to keep the teams on track, and from losing heart. 

Jesus, however, provides no such training and certification. He just sends them off…. off into their surrounding communities…. without so much as a phone number to call if the going gets tough. There is no offer of a company Visa card; no mention of a travel allowance and no honoraria is contracted. There is no overseeing board of missions. Thirty-five teams are sent out, and off they go. 

I want to ask a gentle question: could any of you speak to the National Episcopal Church’s program called 20/20? The idea was to double the churches membership by the year 2020. I would be wiling to bet that many of our congregations either don’t remember hearing the idea, or have carefully filed the “mission statement” in a manila folder filed under “E” for evangelism. As I recall, St. Paul’s Vestry waved off the evangelism training offered by the Diocese in an earlier program called “Decade of Evangelism.” Let’s face it; evangelism is not the strong suit of the Episcopal church. 

But here in today’s Gospel Our Lord simply said go! As if bringing “Christ’s way” to life was loves imperative. Go…. and don’t allow yourself to be distracted by those you meet along the way. There will always be detractors; some will say, “We’ve never done anything like this before,” or, “I’d like to see the statistics on this form of outreach.” or, “We need these people right here!” or, “Maybe in a few years, when we have some money in reserve,” and the clincher, “Certainly more training!” 

Could it be that all Jesus wanted His disciples to experience for themselves was the power and joy of God that comes through human agents. God’s love is communicated through people who themselves have fallen in love with God. I think you would agree that when we encounter someone who knows that Lord’s love, something of the power and joy of that love happens to us. 

Example) A friend, Dick Steidel, shared with me that a friend of his found himself taken into the circle of God’s love through Dick’s witness. He said, “It was simply a believable encounter with one of God’s friends that put my life on a different and joyful track.” All Dick had to do was to show up and be himself.

Example) My friend Bill Coy invited me to bible study while at university. Did Bill try to convert me? No, he simply shared himself (as a man who believed and trusted in the Lord’s care) and that believable encounter with one of God’s friends put my life on a different track. All Bill had to do was to show up….and be himself. 

Nowhere in today’s Gospel does Jesus tell the seventy to fret about results. He knows that when people find themselves in the circle of God’s love, the results will be evident. In our weekly Clergy Bible Study all of the participants have said at one time or another, “This is my church! Love accepts, and love is accepting.”

Right now, I wouldn’t blame you if you were still thinking…. this is too naïve. How could being in love with God, and simply being yourself, make any difference? It simply doesn’t work that way. And, Our Lord would say, sometimes you would be right. He tells His friends flat out that some will to be interested; some will not make time or provide a place. There is no 100% success rate in proclaiming the message of God’s love. Never was, and never will be. So, Our Lord tells them that rather than internalizing the rejection, just shake it off (emotionally as much as literally) like the dust on your feet, and move on. 

Example) When we were at the Cathedral of Our Merciful Savior in Faribault, Minnesota, it seemed like the only variable in our ministry was how fast we were moving when we “hit the wall” of indifference. That is the place where I discovered that the weight of “NO’S” is cumulative. It was to say the least, depressing. But there are always parts of the story that you can’t see…. because they haven’t happened yet. Years after we left Faribault, I received a letter from my old Senior Warden. The man’s approach to religion was frankly…. on the grim side. If you can picture that. He always attended the 8:00 o’clock service, but when I looked at him sitting in his pew, he always looked angry. You would have thought that “passing the peace” was going to kill him. After I left, he got involved in the Cursillo movement, and things changed. A letter he sent me had a smile written all over it. “Can you imagine me,” He wrote, “Singing and dancing in the Cathedral?” Then he wrote, “I can see now how much you loved the Lord, and how much you loved us.” Talk about delayed action, but what good news! Both he and his wife became ordained Deacons. 

Someone once wrote, “We are not required to complete the work, but we are not at liberty to neglect it.” 

Have you ever really thought about what the Lord’s love has accomplished over the years through His disciples? It is like a flash of lightning across the sky. Love’s accomplishments have a compelling attraction. Just look at the works of love that are instruments of healing, deliverance, and discovery;

Church funded hospitals…. FLASH!

Church funded schools…. FLASH!

Programs to alleviate hunger…. FLASH!

Ministry to the handicapped…. FLASH!

Family counseling and support…. FLASH!

And so on……FLASH!

And so on…...FLASH!

And so on……FLASH!

In dollar figures alone, all other philanthropic institutions pale by comparison. Would thirty-five teams of Christians make a difference in a community? Would billions of Christians make a difference in the world? The answer to that question is, oh YES! We have, and we DO! What can we say to our doubting friends? We can say, “If you don’t accept what we believe…. then believe what we do in the name of Jesus Christ.”

St. Paul concludes his inspiring letter to the Galatians with these words: (From the Message)

“So, let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigues doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.”

 

Jesus sent seventy people who loved him to different communities to be themselves. Wonderful, FLASH, things, FLASH took place, and wonderful, FLASH things continue to happen all around us, as we continue to find ways to expand the circle of God’s love.

P.S.

The only Christian responsibility is to believe in God’s love through Jesus, and to live in that belief in service to human needs.