Sermon: Year B, Pentecost 6, Proper 9 Text: Mark 6:1 13

[Pages:2]Sermon: Year B, Pentecost 6, Proper 9 Text: Mark 6:1?13

Preached: July 8, 2012 at CTL

Grace and peace to you from the One who calls us in, and sends us out. AMEN

It's vacation season, so I'm sure many of you have been faced recently, or will soon face, the question of what to pack for your journey. I am the world's most notorious overpacker. I once packed 52 pounds of stuff for a three-day business trip. Even though I spent two full years on the road for business, traveling virtually every week, and though I've traveled all over the world, I have never learned to travel light. I have a tendency to stand in front of the suitcase and think, "Hmmm....what might I encounter during the trip?" Well, I probably should take my business clothes. In my corporate days, that meant suits...and for a week, I would often take three suits, and then throw in a sports coat for good measure...and then, of course, if I took a sportscoat, I needed slacks...better take two or three pair--might spill something on them. And then of course, dress shirts...and ties...always extras on the ties, in case of spills. But what if we're going to a casual dinner place? Better take other shirts...woven ones, maybe some polos, just in case. And then of course that requires khakis instead of suitpants. And what if there's a health club at the hotel? Better take some gym clothes...which means gym shoes, as well. And a pool...better throw in a bathing suit...let's make it two, so there's time to dry one. And if it's winter, then a sweater or two...then of course underwear, lots of underwear, just because, and undershirts...and two different pair of dress shoes, one black, one brown...and maybe some flipflops for the pool...and belts...and socks...by that point, there usually is no time left to match socks to the wardrobes in all their permutations, so I just grab stacks of them from the drawer in various colors and figure I'll match them up when I need them. I find myself challenged by the airlines' recent policies of charging for overweight bags. There have been a couple of instances where I've had to take things out at the baggage counter in order to lighten the load. I hate to feel unprepared for the eventualities that may arise.

So when I hear today's gospel story about Jesus sending the twelve disciples out to travel around to the villages of Galilee, I get very anxious. Here they are, being sent out on a weeks- or months-long journey, and Jesus says to them, "Don't take anything but a walking stick and a pair of sandals. Don't take any food. Don't take a suitcase, no money or even credit cards in your wallet...in fact, don't even take a change of underwear--that was basically the purpose of the tunic. Nothing but a stick, some sandals, and a companion." They have no hotel or restaurant reservations, no map, no addresses...they are simply to show up in a town, meet the folks who live there, talk to them, and seek their hospitality. Wow. Talk about being unprepared and vulnerable.

They had one single assignment: To announce to people that God's reign is breaking in, to tell people that as part of that they should turn their thoughts around to think God's way, and then to heal people of the things that were oppressing them and keeping them from health and wholeness. And Jesus really hadn't even fully prepared them for that task. They had been trotting behind him for a matter of months, at best. They had watched him healing people, they had listened to his teaching, but they surely didn't think that they themselves were ready for the big leagues. A couple of days before that, they had seen Jesus heal the woman with 12 years of hemorrhaging, and a few of them had witnessed Jesus raising Jairus's twelve year-old daughter from the dead. But they had also just witnessed Jesus being hindered in demonstrating healing power by the hostile reception he met in Nazareth, his hometown. If the Master was so poorly received, and if even he didn't succeed in healing everyone who needed it, what could they possibly do?

We like knowing that things are "sure things," don't we? We like knowing exactly what to expect, and how to prepare for it. We plan and plan, thinking that we can plan for every eventuality, that we've got it all covered. We love feeling secure and in control at all times. We like feeling like we have all the facts, we like feeling as though we're completely equipped for whatever we are going to run into. We love feeling like we've packed everything we're going to need for life's journey, and then some.

And then, BAM! Along comes something that we are completely unprepared for. An illness or injury that suddenly saps our strength and our finances, and that forces us to reroute. A divorce that changes everything in our homelife. The loss of a loved one that leaves us bewildered and lonely and disoriented. The loss of a job that throws us into fear and uncertainty. A devastating accident...an economy that suddenly sours, wiping out our retirement savings and the value of our houses....the list goes on and on. The reality is that our journeys cannot always be planned for and prepared for...sometimes they're going to take us places we don't expect to go, without the resources we think we need for going there.

But Jesus' message to us is that we need to stop worrying about having all our plans perfect, all of our resources lined up, all of our path charted out. Jesus says that we need to strip down to what matters, and journey forth. We don't need all the things that we think prepare us, all the things that we think will make us feel secure. All we need is confidence that God is leading us to where we need to be, that God will provide for our needs along the way...and that God will provide companions for the journey. God's grace is sufficient for all our needs.

This is true for us not only in our personal lives, but in our lives together here as disciples, as the people of Christ the Lord Lutheran Church. We would love to have the entire future of this congregation planned out, wouldn't we? We simply do X, Y, and Z, and by following the formula, we will grow. We would love to have a balanced budget every year, with no surprises like air conditioners that go out, or roofs that start to leak, or computers that blow up, as mine did on Thursday. Everything planned for and paid for, and we always know exactly how much money we have to do mission with. A surplus would be nice. Let's forget about the journey altogether, why don't we, because that makes it much simpler to plan. We would really love to just gather here week after week, communing with Jesus, and watching him do all the work of healing and restoring--healing and restoring us, that is. That would be sweet, wouldn't it? No worries.

But Jesus stands among us today, saying to us as disciples that we can't sit here in comfort and security. Jesus stands among us today calling us together, and sending us out beyond these doors to tell people that God's reign is breaking into this world, and that we've experienced it. Jesus sends us out on a journey to show people that there is a different way to live, a way of life that has one foot in the world as it is and one foot in the world as it will be. Jesus sends us out to cast out the evil forces that oppress people, speaking out against injustice and speaking peace where there is no peace. Jesus sends us out of these doors to help bring about healing for all the brokenness that we will encounter in the folks we meet along the road. This discipleship thing is not about being settled in one place...it's about setting out on a journey that we've not planned, going places we never would have dreamed of going to, encountering people and situations that may or may not be receptive to what we have to offer, trying things that may or may not work. It means letting go of the baggage that is going to slow us down...and that baggage is not only material things, it's also the things we cling to that aren't really necessary for the journey. We go out, like the twelve disciples, not knowing or understanding everything about this Jesus we follow, not having done these things ourselves before, and feeling inadequate to the task. But in our weakness, Christ's power shines even brighter.

Sisters and brothers, we don't get to stay in one place. We don't get to gather in this room and forget about the world outside. We come to this room only to be sent out into that world, because that's where our work lies. We come here to find companions for the journey, and encouragement for the path ahead. But the Master is here every single time telling us to hit the road, taking only the bare necessities, trusting in God's leading and providing, and bringing healing and wholeness everywhere that we can.

I want to end with one of the prayers from the Morning Prayer Service that sums this up. Let's pray. "O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN"

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