Scripture Reading: Luke 10:1-11
1After this 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. 2 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. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 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. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘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.’
Sermon #3 in Weird Church Series: “From Settled Camp to Shalom on the Move”
Did anyone hear or read the story in the news this week about Michael Packard, the lobsterman who was swallowed by a whale? (All I could think of was--this is the Bible Story of Jonah the prophet come to life!) I read about Michael’s adventure in the Boston Globe. And when I say a read about it, I mean I devoured the article and enjoyed it immensely. In case you didn’t read or hear about it, let me summarize it in one sentence: A lobsterman was scuba-diving off the coast of Provincetown, when a humpback whale swallows him whole, scuba-equipment and all, and then brings him up to the surface of the water, spits him out, and, long story short, the man survives the whole thing unscathed with just some torn ligaments in his left leg. And one heck of a fish story. Amazing! (Boston Globe story by David Abel, June 17, 2021.)
As I was reading along, questions surfaced in my head, like they always do when I read anything. My first question was, if the guy was a lobsterman, why didn’t he stay in the boat like all of the other lobstermen I’ve ever met? What kind of lobsterman scuba-dives for his catch? Isn’t that a little extreme? But as I read the story, I got answers to my questions. Michael Packard isn’t your run-of-the-mill lobsterman. He’s a real character who loves the ocean and lives life to the full. He sees his work as an opportunity for joy and adventure and interaction with nature. It’s clear from what he told the Globe reporter, David Abel, that living any kind of conventional life--even the conventional life of a lobsterman who stays inside a boat, would severely dampen his spirit. Michael Packard finds joy and fulfillment in getting out of the boat and into the sea to look for his catch, despite any dangers he might encounter there, like whales looking for their next meal--or great white sharks, which he’d run into a time or two!!
When reading this story, my mind kept flashing back to today’s Scripture reading where Jesus sends out 70 of his followers into the towns of Samaria, the foreign land north of Judea. Up until this point, most of his followers had been sticking close to Jesus--staying in the boat, if you will, and Jesus was the one doing the outreach. But in this chapter Jesus changes tacks and sends his followers out instead. Commentators speculate that this group of 70 may actually have been ALL of his followers--both men and women, including the 12 disciples. If you’re wondering about the number “70”, scholars suggest that this alludes to a passage in Genesis chapter 10 where the number of nations in the world is listed as 70. So Jesus sending out 70 of his followers symbolizes his command for the church to go out into the whole world--to all nations, no one excluded-- with the message of God’s love.
And, thankfully, Jesus gives them some instructions. He tells them to begin with prayer. And he tells them it’s not always going to be easy. Yes, some people will receive the message with joy and acceptance. BUT, others will reject it. Alluding to this mixed reaction, in verse 3 Jesus says, “…I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” (Or, if he was speaking to us today, he might say, “like lobstermen into the sea with sharks.”) Jesus was letting the followers of his day know that getting out with his message of love carries some risks, so they should be aware of those risks and do things to mitigate them, but they were not called to play it safe. Similarly, Jesus’ followers today--we--are not called to play it safe and just stay inside our church buildings. We are called to get out of our buildings and go out into the world, starting with the neighborhoods right around us. And not just a few of us are called, not just those who are extroverts or those who want to be missionaries. ALL of us are called to get out of our buildings and into the communities around us.
The Greek word for church used in the Bible is “ec-clee-sia,” and it means “a called-out people of God.” Or, as this book describes it, the word ecclesia refers to “a community of believers called out of the mainstream to a weird enterprise…for the sake of sacrificial love...” (Weird Church, p. 14) One of this book’s main points is reminding us of what we sometimes forget--that the main definition of “church” is the people, not the building. In fact, when the word ecclesia was first used in the Bible, there were no church buildings. Churches--that is, ecclesia, communities-- met outside or in people’s houses for the first few centuries after Jesus’ death. Churches only began to have designated buildings after Christianity became institutionalized as the State Religion of the Roman Empire following the conversion of the Emperor Constantine in the year 312. That’s when temples that had previously housed Roman gods were given to communities of Jesus’ followers and began to be used as places of worship for Christians.
But having buildings for churches to meet in--wonderful though it was in many ways, brought its own set of challenges. Particularly in our day and age, church buildings are often old and in need of repair and were designed to meet the needs that congregations had a hundred years ago, not needs that the church has today. Further, church buildings are often expensive to maintain--not just in terms of money but also in terms of time and energy. (I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know.)
However, church buildings, if designed and built--or retrofit-- with a current community’s Vision in mind, can be great assets! Buildings can serve as launching pads for ministry. Church buildings can be places where the community of Christ can meet to re-charge their batteries through worship and prayer, education, support and planning for mission. Church buildings can also be places open to the wider community where people can gather to engage in activities that are in line with a church’s Vision and values. So church buildings aren’t bad in and of themselves, as long as the people of the church--the ecclesia-- recognize that the buildings are tools to be used to serve Christ’s mission of going out into the world.
But let me get back to our Scripture reading. Jesus sends out all of his followers 2 by 2 into the surrounding towns to interact with people who share God’s Peace: to eat with them, heal their sick, and share the good news of God’s Kingdom of Love. In other words, Jesus’ followers are directed to build relationships with those who are open to it, to take care of people’s physical needs, and proclaim the Gospel. And he had to send them all out into the surrounding towns to do that, because that’s where the people were.
Because, when it comes right down to it, building relationships with the people around us is what Jesus calls us to do. That is what church should be all about. Because it is is within the mutual give and take of relationships-- where people grow to trust each other enough to share their stories of hope and disappointment, pain and celebration-- it is in relationship that God’s Love comes near to us and transforms our lives.
You know what I’m talking about. I know that many of you listening to me have found those kind of trusting relationships here at Franklin Federated Church. You have found people with whom you can share your stories of hope and disappointment, pain and celebration--and with whom you can lift all of those up in prayer to God. And that is wonderful! Relationships like that are what make life worth living. Relationships like that--real community--are what people are longing for and may not have found. May not even know exist.
So, we need to continue what we/you have been doing--using the church building as a launching pad for ministry. Grounding ourselves in worship and prayer and THEN going out as Jesus calls us to. Getting outside the church building. Striking up conversations with people on sidewalks, out by the little library, on the common, at town events like the Farmers Market, in the grocery store. Everywhere we go, we need to look for opportunities to get to know the people around us, people whom God loves. And as we get to know people, as we listen to their stories of hope and disappointment, pain and celebration, and as we share our stories with them, we build the kind of community that Jesus calls us to, a community that is not bound by the 4 walls of any building but shines brightly out in the world.
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Let us pray
Loving God, we thank you that you call us to be the church, the ecclesia, the called-out people of God. We recognize that it is both a wonderful privilege and a challenging opportunity for growth. Renew us with your Spirit so that we have the strength and enthusiasm to live out this calling. Gently nudge us out into the world to build relationships with people who are seeking the same things we are: your peace, fellowship, healing, and good news. Give us courage to strike up conversations with the people that we meet. Increase our awareness and our ability to listen. And grant us joy and grace as we share together our stories of hope and disappointment, pain and celebration.
And, God, Hear now our prayers for our community and our world…
[LOOK AT PHONE]
- Moment of silence…lifting up in prayer those we hold in our hearts.. others in this room and in our livestream… [PAUSE]
- O God, bless the sick… those who are struggling… those who are grieving…caregivers… Give them strength and healing…. In Jesus name we pray…
PLEASE JOIN ME IN THE LORD’S PRAYER
- Our Father, who art in heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven
- Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors`
- And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. AMEN
Rev. Dr. Marlayna Schmidt
Franklin Federated Church
Franklin, MA