The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "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, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, `Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'
"Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."
The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
This weekend is a special one, but especially last Friday. We celebrate our country, our “one nation under God.” And we are given in the gospel today this story about the disciples going out into the world on a mission of preaching, healing, and teaching. They have from Jesus the authority to cure the sick, exorcise demons, bestow peace and announce that the kingdom of God is near – and all that means. Mercy is near. Compassion is near. Forgiveness is near. Love is near. Healing is near. Peace is near.
Here is a story about how being a citizen of One Nation Under God and the beautiful, exquisite nearness of the Kingdom of God played out for a young man named Harry.
When the United States entered the First World War in 1917, Harry was a 16 year old boy living in a small town. He joined the army. He was too young. But you could get away with things in 1917 that you can’t in the data driven world of today. He was sent to France with the famous Rainbow Division.
Harry had a skill that at that time was considered high tech. He knew how to drive. He worked after school delivering groceries. And a year earlier, the grocer had traded in a horse and cart and bought a delivery truck. And Harry had learned to drive it. The army assigned him to be an ambulance driver.
Now ambulance drivers worked at night. He went to the front, to the battlefield and collected the wounded, loaded them in his ambulance and drove them to a field hospital. He had to do all this by the light of the moon and the stars driving over narrow dirt roads with rocks and potholes. His ambulance had headlights about the equivalent of a couple candles. But even that was a risk of giving away his position. So he made his way mostly in the dark.
The war was being waged in the French countryside. And the local farmers were upset that the nations of the world were making war on their lands, ruining their crops, destroying their homes. One night, as Harry was driving his ambulance, an elderly French farmer came running out onto the road, shouting in anger at him and waving a rake. By the time Harry saw him it was too late. He couldn’t stop. He couldn’t down shift and brake quickly enough. He hit the farmer and he died.
The story gets crazy and complicated here – a swirl of local laws, irate family, American MP’s. Harry found himself being court martialed. He’s now 17 years old. A man is dead. And he’s looking at decades, maybe his whole life, in chains in a military prison. At the end of the presentation of evidence, Harry sat alone in a cell scared or dejected.
A colonel came in with 2 MP’s. This is it, Harry thinks. I’m going to prison. But the colonel says to him, “You’re all done here. This thing is over. Son, the good Lord above did not put you on this earth to spend your life in a cell. You’re going to another unit. Here’s your paperwork. Go with these guys.” Harry was hustled out of the building to a new life. Harry had never seen this colonel before and never saw him again.
At the end of the war, Harry went back home and married Stella, the prettiest girl in town. He managed to buy an old truck and he started a business moving furniture. Stella answered the phone and kept the books while Harry drove, loaded and unloaded the truck.
By the time he died in 1969, his company had 10 offices in 6 states and Canada. He employed about 300 people who were able to make a good living supporting their families. Harry and Stella had a daughter who married and had 2 children. None of that would have been possible if it wasn’t for this unknown colonel.
When I think of the best of America, when I think of One Nation Under God, I think of him – a man who was so reflective of the qualities we know of God. Seeking nothing for himself he embodied God’s mercy, compassion, peace, reconciliation. He was ready and willing to use his authority to bring all those things to bear on behalf of one pitiful little corporal in a world of trouble, to recognize that a great injustice was about to occur and have the courage to step in and use his authority to turn darkness to light, to rescue and redeem, to heal and to teach.
Harry lived up to those same qualities. He was known as a guy who would give you a second chance, who would stand up for the little guy or gal having a problem. He hired folks no one else in town would hire. He gave away almost as much as he made. When a customer couldn’t pay their moving bill he gave them more time or accepted in trade what they had to give. That’s how his granddaughter ended up with a Shetland pony.
He wasn’t perfect. He made mistakes. But he never forgot the values shown him and never forgot to show them to others. It’s those things that we as Americans are called to remember and celebrate this weekend.
In our lives as Christians and citizens we don’t always remember to embody the best of us, the things that make us great as a people. We fall short of showing mercy and compassion. We don’t always look out for the good of the other person. We don’t always do the loving thing as God would have us do. But the Good News is that every day we have a chance to start again. We have a chance to be like the 70 followers of Jesus, to go out into the world peaceably, with the message that the kingdom of God is near.
In a world seemingly filled with vitriolic behavior and language, we who believe that there is a better way to be in the world are called to go out in what often feels like being a lamb among the wolves. Lambs into the midst of wolves: it is a vicious metaphor that conjures up violent acts of being torn limb from limb by a hungry pack.
And I think this is why Jesus asks us to go lightly. The disciples were told to take no purse, no way in which to accumulate wealth. They are not to go among the people seeking or accepting anything from them other than hospitality. They were and we are to be totally reliant on what they know about God.
Jesus said take no purse, bag, or sandals. In order to get the job done, they could not be weighed down the distractions of material possessions. Instead he instructed them to carry only a message of peace. As Jesus described it, peace is more than a good feeling: it is a community created gift of God that requires a reciprocal response. It not only reflects a calmness of spirit but points to reconciliation and healing.
Blogger Shelagh Braley has made it her mission to travel light. She’s seen the same thing at airports among her fellow travelers that we all have – people lugging huge bags that are bulging with possessions, so heavy it’s a wonder the plane can take off. And then on arrival seeing people at baggage claim jockeying for position to get their bags as soon as they fall down the shoot of the carousel, straining to lift them and dragging them to the curb. What heavy burdens they are!
Braley decided this was not for her. She decided to lighten up, to become a travel minimalist. And she has a questionnaire for us to determine if we might be one also:
Do you assign more value to experiences than possessions?
Do you feel more comfortable when your environment is uncluttered?
Do you assess what brings value to your life and make adjustments in your possessions, relationships, time and money, to make room for peace, growth and new practices?
If you answered “Yes” or are thinking “I’d like to answer Yes”, you’re on your way to being a travel minimalist.
Some of what matters most in life is universal: Relationships matter, whether that be family, friends, or a significant other. Taking care of ourselves matters—body, mind, and spirit—and this includes having something that we are passionate about that gets us out of bed in the morning. Cultivating relationship with the God matters, along with caring for others as Jesus did.
So I wonder if Jesus didn’t intend to send out the 70 apostles in the gospel - and us as well – as both material and spiritual minimalists. Belief and minimalism go hand-in-hand. Jesus lived a simple, minimalist lifestyle. He didn’t own many possessions. He spent his time with family and friends. He traveled continually to help others by teaching and healing. And he spent a lot of time in prayer.
If we go at our task following a modern expression of the work of the 70, we set ourselves up for success just as Jesus did for them. We are certain to experience those qualities that are the best of us that reflect God into the world that we celebrate this weekend.
We go lightly – knowing we are forgiven of all our sins and have to power to forgive others.
We go lightly - knowing that just as God’s mercy has been shown to us we can be agents of that same mercy.
We go lightly -- among lambs, wolves and everything in between to assure those we meet that through the love and peace of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has come near.
So as you reflect on the celebrations this weekend of our national life, take just a minute to remember the 70 and their mission of taking the Kingdom of God into the world – starting with a greeting of “peace” offered in the name of the Prince of Peace for all. Remember the colonel who said “no” to injustice. Remember all those lives of courage and commitment to living as one nation “under God.” And resolve that in this coming year we too will all be agents of peace. Amen