Listen to the Sermon.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it… Is to go where Jesus would go, to every town and place where people yearn for healing and wholeness. Go in pairs, take nothing with you except your faith and compassion. Proclaim peace. Cure the sick. Live hope. Share joy. And, by the way, not everyone will be glad to hear your message of love and dignity for every human being. That’s OK. Your message to everyone is the same: The kingdom of God has come near.
This message will NOT self-destruct.
This mission will never expire, at least not in any of our lifetimes. Not until the kingdom of God is no longer just near, but here and everywhere.
The kingdom of God we are talking about is akin to the new creation Paul describes in his letter to the Galatians. It’s not actually a place, but a completely different way of understanding our selves, and thus how we relate to other people.
Paul’s concept of new creation is one of complete restart, not just a reset or a transformation of what already exists. The new creation is completely fresh and different from every assumption of this world and human culture. In the new creation all the constructs we use to differentiate ourselves are absent - no longer slave or free, Jew or Gentile, male or female, gay or straight, rich or poor, housed or homeless. Whatever point of difference we use to compare ourselves with other people is gone. The need for competition is gone.
If we think about this for a moment, it is disconcerting. Consciously or not, we often define ourselves in comparison to others. If all those points of comparison are gone, how will we know who is stronger, better, more?
And that’s the Good News of the new creation! In God’s eyes we are all beloved, all amazing, all equally cherished and important. In the new creation we are then to treat one another in the same way - with equal regard and delight for every person. This is the “Kingdom of God has come near” that we are to proclaim - a community of love and justice for all people.
Our mission, should we accept it, is to spread the good news. To go into the world together. To take only what we already have and who we are. To rely on the world’s desire to hear the gospel we have to tell.
The 70 apostles Jesus sent out into the world this way returned to him with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” They had been successful in the mission Jesus gave them - to proclaim peace, heal the sick, and tell everyone that God’s kingdom had come near. And even the evil in the world had taken notice.
We, too, have power to proclaim peace, to heal brokenness, to confront evil.
Our confession this morning calls us to recognize and repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.
Evil is seductive and sly. It feeds our ego, and tells us that no one else could possibly be as important as we are. Evil utilizes all the constructs we have to differentiate ourselves - to make us feel powerful and big. In doing so, evil entices us to make others small, to ignore the pain of those whom we regard as less than ourselves.
Repenting of the evil that enslaves us means confronting the systems of power in our culture that reinforce the differences among us. When we repent of sin and evil, our repentance is complete, our absolution genuine, when we intend to amend our lives, to change how we have been living.
Repenting of the evil that enslaves us means naming the demons. When we name something we have been afraid of, it loses some of its power.
One place we have seen this effect is with the #metoo movement. Naming misogyny, abuse, homophobia, hate of all kinds shines the brightest light on utter darkness. And it disempowers the evil.
When we recognize and repent of the evil that enslaves us, the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf, and receive absolution, we are then sent into the world to proclaim the new creation.
We are sent to call out all the ways our government, our cultural assumptions, our neighbors, and even we in our own hearts, promote and accept ideas that some people are worth less than others. Our mission is to heal the broken, to see and stand with survivors, to offer compassion to the hurting and rejoice with those who are healing. We are to proclaim God’s peace to all we encounter. And, on a practical level, to use our voices, our phone calls, emails, social media to confront evil that dehumanizes any person.
If casting out demons means standing up to evil when we encounter it, renouncing its power over us, and claiming new ways of living into Paul’s new creation, then we too have that power.
We, every one of us, have power to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God has come near, that God’s love knows nothing about human constructs that separate us from one another, that in God’s eyes we are ALL beloved.
‘Who? Me?’ you say. Yes, you. Every one of us. We all have gifts, skills, intuitions, the ability to be present with someone. We are all different, and every one of us is amazing and beautiful and gifted for sharing God’s love. We all know God differently because of our experiences. And those experiences prepare each of us to share God’s love differently with the world. Every moment of our lives has been preparing us for this mission. We have all that we need. We are already all that we need.
And, thank God, we are not sent out alone. Jesus sends the apostles out in pairs. When one falls, 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 onto each other, we console and encourage and embolden each other, and we believe in one another. We go into the world, together.
Jesus also commands the apostles to take nothing with them. No extra shoes, no food, no bag even. Just take themselves, as they are. His apostles, then, are dependent on the generosity of others. For everything – for food, for a safe place to sleep, for medicine and aid if they become sick – for everything.
Most of us find that kind of dependence uncomfortable. It makes us feel like we’re unprepared, maybe unsafe, and definitely vulnerable. Vulnerable. I wonder if that’s the point. We go to great lengths in our lives to not feel vulnerable. Most of us have elaborate structures in our lives to give us the illusions of control, independence, invulnerability. And it takes just one illness, or loss, any disappointment or tragedy to remind us just how vulnerable we are.
Jesus sends his disciples out in pairs, and instructs them to rely solely on the generosity of others. Why? Because as human beings, we are not designed to live life invulnerably or alone. It is our natural state to depend on one another: we are stronger together and our welfare is inextricably linked to that of each other.
And that brings us back to God’s kingdom, and the new creation, where everyone is equally loved and respected. Where the ethos is not competition, but peace.
Because we know the joy of community and interdependence, the peace found in faith and love and forgiveness, the hope of God’s promises, we know with all our hearts that we have a message of good news.
Our mission, should we accept it, is to go where Jesus would go, to every town and place where people yearn for healing and wholeness. To take nothing with us except our wits, our faith and compassion. We will proclaim peace. Cure the sick. Cast out evil. Live hope. Share joy.
It’s a big mission. I’m as ready as I’m going to be. Shall we go together?
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