Church of the Epiphany

Proper 11C
Colossians 1:21-29

Did anyone wait in line all night to get the new Harry Potter book? Anyone that would wait in line at midnight for something like that is crazy…oh and Star Wars doesn’t count. Ha ha.

Last week we started our series on the book of Colossians. We learned that Colossians is a letter written by Paul and Timothy to a church of Gentiles. This was a newly planted church, and the content is for new believers and the newly baptized. It was a church that Paul did not found and it was a church that was destroyed in an earthquake just two short years after Paul and Timothy wrote the letter.

Key to the book is found in the verse: “He [God] has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

Paul is admonishing them to live the life of the baptized, transferred from the power or dominion of darkness, to the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

The key question is, how is that done? We talked last week about turning from the darkness and turning to Jesus Christ, who is not only man but God and King. ‘All things were created through him (or by him) and for him.’

When we think of things created for him, we think the world, the universe, the sky and the sun. What has also been created for him? Us. You and me. We are created for him so we live for him and walk in his steps.

Today’s lesson gives us some reflections on how to get there. Once we have turned to Jesus, then what? Paul gives us three examples. Continue on. Embrace suffering. And live in the mystery of Christ dwelling within.

Paul first bit of advice is simple. Continue on. He says, “You who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him– provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard…”

He is telling the Collosian church that they have been united with Christ, reconciled through his death–there’s some baptismal imagery there, dying and rising to life. They have been reconciled to be presented holy before God–provided they continue, without shifting or looking to the left or to the right. They must continue on.

What does it look like to ‘continue on?’ We often see our relationship with Christ as a one time thing. We make a commitment to Jesus and we move on to the next thing. Now we are not saved by works. We in no way bring anything to the table that earns our way to heaven. But our relationship to Jesus is continuous and, like all other relationships, it takes perseverance and steadfastness. There are no shortcuts. What were the early Christians first called in the book of Acts? They were called the ‘Way.’ Jesus called himself, the ‘way.’ That implies a pilgrimage, a journey. I remember a young man who was baptized whose last Sunday in church was his baptism. He was so fired up about everything–or so I thought.

Ugandan theologian Emmanuel Katongole says, “We have settled in too easily. Instead of living out that story of journey toward a new creation, we tend to live out the stories of nationality. And then we forget what it is like to journey.” In other words, the cares of ourselves and the ways of the world dictate us too much.

What makes a good marriage? Saying ‘I do,’ and then putting in cruise control? No, there are layers of communication and work and love and romance and self giving. There are no ‘hurry up’ fixes for marital health. Why would our relationship with Jesus be any different? When is the last time you waited in line?

I read a portion of a book recently, that observed that you know when someone is off kilter spiritually when waiting in any kind of line is extremely painful. We all do this. We scan the lines at the grocery store and say, which line is the shortest. We scan everyone’s items and measure the distance and time that we will be waiting in line based on that. Then, if someone gets the spot we missed out on and gets through the line first, we think to ourselves, ‘that’s where I should be right now.’

A good spiritual discipline is to choose the longest line and reconnect somehow in prayer with God. This goes against our grain because we want results as soon as possible. 5 minutes is unbearably long to wait for anything. I challenge you this week to go against the grain. Choose the longest line and get it in. Then quiet yourself and pray.

But the kingdom is different. God plays by different rules. He could care less about our busyness. His desire is that we continue on the way at his pace. We walk with him, we journey with him. Like the travelers on the road to Emmaus, our hearts burn in his presence.

Next, Paul says some strange things about suffering. He says, “I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. “

This sounds ambiguous. It sounds like Paul is saying that he is adding to an inadequate sacrifice of Christ on the cross. But what he is saying is that the church itself is a body that suffers similarly to Christ. There is a pattern of suffering that marks Paul and ought to mark Christ’s followers. This is not just random suffering that Paul is talking about–why bad things happen to good people, but a suffering that is tied directly to suffering in the name of Jesus. The suffering that Paul refers to is a suffering on behalf of the name of Christ and on behalf of his body, the church. If the church does not suffer because of the name of Christ, then there is something missing.

I can tell you something horribly wrong that some American preachers have done to some African Christians. Some tel-evangelists have gone over there to preach to them, and have said that following Jesus means that health and wealth will follow. There is an article in the recent Christianity Today on this. I remember hearing one preacher say that the apostles were business men and that they had houses and wealth.

Paul would disagree with these evangelists. Suffering, he says is part of the discipleship process. As our own scholar NT Wright has said, “Just as the messiah was to be known by the path of suffering he freely chose–and is recognized in his risen body by the marks of the nails…–so his people are to be recognized by the suffering they endure.” For Paul, persecution was the imprint of Christ on his life.

There is also a subtle but important lesson here. Paul says that somehow his suffering benefit other believers. Paul’s suffering was tied into his struggle to bring Gentiles into the church. This is not some weird indulgence thing but Paul is saying that his picture of suffering benefits the church–it increases her witness. In other words, it is when the church is weak and picked on that it most clearly reflects the gospel than when it is big and bad, powerful and monied? What more reflects the gospel, the martyrs of the first three centuries or the Inquisition? The church in Africa, or the church in America? Televangelists or Mother Teresa?

Lastly, Paul’s advice for living for the Kingdom of Jesus and not the kingdom of darkness is to realize, “the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

‘Christ in you, the hope of glory.’ If you remember nothing of the book of Colossians, remember this verse. Paul says it is a mystery. What is a mystery? Something we don’t know. Something that is hidden from our sight. But something that can be revealed if we have eyes to see and ears to hear.

If the presence of Christ was ever hidden to us, it is hidden in our age. We like to understand the way things work and the ‘answers’ to everything. Mystery is for kids and the superstitious.

But the word ‘mystery’ in biblical language is actually where we get the word, ‘sacrament.’ What is a sacrament? An outward sign of an inward grace? A sacrament is when something is set apart for special use. It is kind of like a doorway. A window to heaven. The ancient Celtic Christians used the term for a sacred space, a ‘thin place’ where heaven and earth collide.

Christ in you the hope of glory. We are a thin place. Our hearts can become, as Frederica Mathews-Green says, an ‘oil lamp of his presence.’

I like the story of Martha and Mary. Martha is so much like our world. It’s not so much that she is busy that she is busy with an attitude. Serving the Son of God is great work, but busyness with anger is not.

Mary just listened. The joy of being in the presence of Christ was enough, it was sufficient.

“Christ in you the hope of glory.” If this is true then are we listening? Everything else wants us to listen, there is noise and visuals and calendars and information and so on and so on. Christ in you… Can we hear him?

Richard Foster says, “God spoke to [biblical folks] not because they had special abilities, but because they were willing to listen.”

Well, God doesn’t really do much, prayer, listening, that’s for introverts and monks. I’m a doer. Christ speaks to doers too.

Richard Foster again says, ‘Jesus has not stopped acting and speaking. He is resurrected and at work in our world. He is not idle, nor has he developed laryngitis. He is alive and among us as our Priest to forgive us, our Prophet to teach us, our King to rule us, our Shepherd to guide us.’

I’m going to leave you with a wonderful image I gained from a book called Listening for the Heartbeat of God, by Philip Newell (another one of our own).

In his book he brings out the ability of the ancient Christian Celts to see Jesus present everywhere and within. You remember the Hymn of St. Patrick:

Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort
and restore me.
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of
all that love me,
Christ in mouth of
friend and stranger.

In Newell’s book, he points out that the model for these ancient Celts was the apostle John. Besides the cross, where is the most poignant place that you remember John being during holy week? That’s right, leaning against Christ’s breast at the last supper.

Newell says by John’s proximity to Jesus, at his breast, he was ‘listening to the heartbeat of God.’ The ancient Celts used this image as the way they looked at the world. Constantly in the presence of Jesus. Christ in you the hope of glory. Christ among us, Christ with us.

I close with one of Newell’s stories. “There is a story of a woman from the Island of Harris who suffered from a type of skin disease and was exiled from the community to live alone on the seashore. There she collected plants and shellfish and, having boiled them for eating, washed her sores with the remaining liquid. In time she was cured. She saw the grace of healing come to her through [God and] creation and so she prayed:

There is no plant in the ground
But is full of his virtue,
There is no form in the strand
But is full of His blessing.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesus who ought to be praised.
There is no life in the sea,
There is no creature in the river,
There is naught in the firmament,
But proclaims His goodness.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesus who ought to be praised.

There is no bird on the wing,
There is no star in the sky,
There is nothing beneath the sun,
But proclaims His goodness.
Jesu! Jesu! Jesu!
Jesus who ought to be praised.

Christ in you the hope of glory? The question is, do we have eyes to see and ears to hear?
My challenge is for you to simply take that phrase: ‘Christ in you the hope of glory,’ and use it every time you have a moment’s pause. You can even say, ‘Christ in me, the hope of glory.’

Turning from darkness to light. Continue on. Persevere. Rejoice when you suffer for Jesus and for his body. And remember Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Proper 10
Colossians 1:1-24

We are looking at the book of Colossians, both in our Christian Ed hour and the sermon. Colossians is a unique book. When we studied Ephesians last summer, we learned that Ephesians was a book written by Paul to new Christians or to those in baptismal training. The same can be said for Colossians. The church in Colossae were Gentiles –a brand new church with brand new Christians. In fact, if you put Colossians and Ephesians side by side, you would find them to be almost mirror images of each other. Colossians 1:13-14 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.” Ephesians 5:8 says, ‘For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true).’

Colossians, like Ephesians, is a book of contrasts. Once you were in darkness, live in the light.
While in Ephesians the darkness was paganism and idolatry, in Colossians, the darkness is similar but rather than leading to sensuality, the error was to live too much in legalism. That is, whatever false teaching there was influencing the church in Colossae, it drove people not to license but to over emphasis on externals and strict asceticism. Both, in Paul’s mind were demonic and of the kingdom of darkness.

What I’d like to do this morning is go through our passage from Colossians and look at its practical implications. What does it mean to go from one kingdom to the next? And what does it look like to be a citizen of the kingdom of Christ?
I quote again from Colossians chapter 1: Colossians 1:13-14 says, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin.”

Whenever you see the word ‘deliver’ in the New Testament you are looking at a loaded term. It is a word that means to save, or to have salvation–deliverance, safety. It is the primary word used not only of salvation in Jesus but also to the Exodus of Israel from Egypt.

For Paul, salvation in Jesus is very much like the children of Israel being delivered by the hand of Moses from the land of darkness in Egypt. As much as the Israelites were enslaved by the Egyptians in a physically dark place full of idolatry, so was the Christian enslaved by sin and death and the kingdom of the devil. And as the Israelites were rescued from Egypt by Moses, so the Christian is delivered from sin and death by Jesus Christ. Christians have been ‘delivered’ and ‘transferred’ from one realm to another, from one kingdom to another from spiritual Egypt to the promised land of Christ’s kingdom.

What does that look like in our world? What is the darkness we are to be transferred away from? I don’t think we struggle with asceticism in our culture. Here’s an encapsulation of our kingdom from the band Nickelback in their song, “I want to be a rockstar”

I’m through with standin’ in line
to clubs I’ll never get in
It’s like the bottom of the ninth
and I’m never gonna win
this life hasn’t turned out
quite the way I want it to be
(Tell me what you want)

I’m gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I’d even cut my hair
And change my name

‘Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
And live in Hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We’ll all stay skinny ’cause we just won’t eat
And we’ll hang out in the coolest bars
in the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger’s
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny
With her bleach blond hair
And we’ll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary of
today’s who’s who
They’ll get you anything
with that evil smile
Everybody’s got a
drug dealer on speed dial,well

Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar
Hey, hey, I wanna be a rockstar

I know that all of you want to be rock stars, right? Maybe that is not exactly what we would articulate but we might look for a cleaner, more respectable version. Money and popularity drive our culture whether we want to admit it or not. We all want to be cool, good looking and very very comfortable in the process. This is the kingdom of darkness.

We are helping a little guy from the Sudan learn English this summer and he spends several hours a week in Sarah’s academy of learning on Leyden street. (That’s our house by the way) I love that our kids are being exposed to life outside of the ‘gimmies.’

When I picked up Emmanuel last week to bring him over to our house, I began to try to see things from his perspective. What does he see in our world? How big and big and big everything is. Perfect streets and perfect houses. Lots of stuff. Lots of food. Is it paradise? Or is it something else?

Perhaps you’ve seen the new ‘sport’ that even ESPN covers once and a while? The hot dog eating contest? Nathan’s hot dogs at Coney Island puts it on every July 4. Listen to their press release:

Joey Chestnut of San Jose, Calif., today won the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, beating former champion Takeru Kobayashi and setting a new world record by downing 66 Nathan’s Famous hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes.

Kobayashi, the six-time hot dog-eating world champion, arrived at the 2007 event with a jaw injury. He reportedly received therapy on the jaw until two hours before the contest and appeared to compete at 100 percent — he ate 63 HDBs, eight more than his personal best.

Many thought Kobayashi would be unable to compete, or that he would compete at a lower level of intensity. In fact, he and Joey were neck and neck until the final moments of the contest.

The Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest has been held each year since 1916, according to archives. This year’s contest may have been the most highly anticipated match-up in the event’s storied 92-year history. Police reported that nearly 50,000 people attended the event in Coney Island.

“Nothing represents summer and the Fourth of July like the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog-Eating Contest,” said Wayne Norbitz, president and COO of Nathan’s Famous. “This year our nation has new hope for glory.”

I’ll let that stand on its own. The kingdom of darkness. Did you know that during Katrina two things stayed open and active in New Orleans. The bars and the strip joints. The kingdom of darkness.

How do we go from one kingdom to the next? First we have to acknowledge that the transfer is necessary. We have to acknowledge the twisted side of the world around us and see its lure as a very dangerous thing. We all know that the ‘twistedness’ has become a part of us. We all want to be rock stars and we are all spoiled consumers and we teach our kids to be spoiled consumers, too. The first step is to acknowledge that there is a problem.

The next step is to follow Jesus and turn away from the darkness. How do we do this? I’ve mentioned quite a bit the pattern of our baptismal covenant when we have baptisms here at the church. The first step is to renounce and turn. Renounce and turn. I renounce the devil, the evil in the world and my own evil desires and I turn to Jesus and accept him as Lord and savior.

How do we do this? In Paul’s mind, making more rules doesn’t cut it. Going back to try to earn God’s favor by externals is not enough. Paul’s solution is to drink from the well of Christ and to put him over and against anything else in our lives. You cannot stop one thing with out starting another. You cannot stop filling yourself with darkness if there is no light to replace it.

Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is to be filled with the knowledge of Christ and to drink from the well of his sufficiency.

We are so intimidated as Anglican Christians to talk about our faith, in part because we are not immersed enough in it. We don’t know the Bible or the Creeds. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians ought to be our prayer as well. That we know the Jesus whom we talk about.

Paul is pretty clear about who this is. For Paul, Jesus is not a mere prophet or sage. He is ‘the image of the invisible God’ which means he is an exact representation of the God that cannot be seen. The girls like to ask me theological questions before bedtime in part, to stall, but there question are pretty profound. Just the other night I told them that we were all created in the image of God. They asked what that meant and I said that it means that we have his fingerprints on us. For us, we have traces of his presence inherent in us.

But for Jesus, he is God in the flesh. ‘For by him, all things were created, in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.’

Paul is clear that Jesus does not just have God’s ‘fingerprints,’ but that to see Jesus is to see the face of God. As the Father is Creator, so is Christ. As the Father has authority, so does Christ. When Paul says that Jesus is the ‘firstborn over all creation,’ he does not mean that Jesus was the first created being but that Jesus has the birthright of the universe. He is the heir of the universe and all that is ‘all things are held together by him.’ Jesus is Lord.

To be transferred to the kingdom of heaven is to acknowledge that Jesus is the one to whom we owe our allegiance and the one to whom we answer to and are responsible to. To be transferred into the kingdom is to live for the king.

Who do we live for? We get into a pattern that, though we would not acknowledge it, it is a pattern that says we should live for the approval and applause of everyone else. We are afraid that what we have or what profession we are in is not ‘cool’ enough for the world around us. Another way to put it is to ask the question, ‘who is our audience?’ Os Guinness asks this question in his book The Call. He says that our task is live for the audience of only One, the only One who matters. He says this: “When asked why he was not stung by a vicious attack from a fellow member of Parliament, Winston Churchill replied, ‘if I respected him, I would care about his opinion. But I don’t, so I don’t.’ Similarly [says Guinness] we who live before the audience of One can say to the world: ‘I have only one audience. Before you I have nothing to prove, nothing to gain, nothing to lose.’”

The audience of One is the only audience that matters. He is Lord, he is the one we answer to and the one we draw our strength from.

Lastly, something that gets missed when we study Colossians is what happened to that church. Can you find Colossae on the map? Do you know why it is not there? Because it was wiped out by an earthquake probably within two years of Paul’s letter. The city was destroyed and the church (or churches) with it.

When Paul referred to the transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light they would find out quickly what the implications of what that would be. They would understand the transient nature of the life we live. They would soon understand the kingdom they left behind wasn’t all that.

Those who survived had to take seriously the kingdom principles that Paul laid out. There was only one kingdom that mattered and even losing the church itself didn’t matter as much as the kingdom of heaven.

Who is your audience? Where is your kingdom?

Proper 9
Luke 10:1-19

Sarah and I returned from a marriage Sabbath retreat last weekend that was spectacular. We had an opportunity to meet other clergy couples and commiserate on our similar challenges as couples in ministry. This Wednesday is our anniversary of 9 years. I’ve counseled a few couples this spring who are set to get married or who did early in the summer. So I’ve had marriage on my mind a bit recently. I’ve also had the country on my mind, too with the war and the celebration of Independence Day.

Marriage and social life is different to say the least in our day than in the recent and previous history of our country.

A Pew Research poll was taken recently as to what people’s definitions are of a good marriage. Under the heading of “What Makes a Good Marriage?” those polled said the following elements were considered important:
Faithfulness: 93%; happy sexual relationship: 70%; sharing household chores: 62%; adequate income: 53%; good housing: 51%; shared religious belief: 49%; shared interest: 46%; children: 41%; (the same survey in 1990 had children at 65%); agreement on politics: 12%.

‘The survey also found that, by a margin of 3 to 1, Americans say the main purpose of marriage is a “mutual happiness and fulfillment” of adults rather than the “bearing and raising of children.”

Just a few decades ago, Americans would have talked more about ‘building a household’ rather than ‘personal fulfillment’ or ‘sharing household chores.’ Now there are many reasons for all of this much of which is an economic shift and the propensity of dual household income. But it also reflects a change of values. Family (and increasingly even marriage) is seen as an ‘alternative lifestyle’ rather than the materialistic driven lifestyles we are all supposed to have.

Speaking of cultural change, you heard that the ACLU is suing a courthouse and the city of Slidell for an icon of Jesus that is displayed in the courthouse. I could go on and on about these kinds of values changes and the redefinition of morality in our country, in Canada and in Europe, but I won’t. I could go on about our media driven culture–just look at the iPhone thing last week.
As author Frederica Matthews-Green has said we are ‘a generation discipled by advertising’ where we are told we are wonderful and can choose whatever we want on the basis of our selfish needs.

This is not a sermon on marriage or on the state of morality in America. But these kinds of changes ought to make us realize that things are radically different now than they were just a few decades ago. Therefore, Jesus’ words today are very important. Since we increasingly moving towards more and more secularism we can fret and wring our hands or we can say, ‘the harvest is plentiful…’

Turning to our gospel, what is going on in Luke 10? When Jesus summoned the 72, it was clear that he was paralleling the ministry of Moses did the Old Testament. When God gave the law on Sinai, the tablets were presented to Moses, Nahab, Abihu, and the seventy elders. The elders represented what Moses’ true desire was, ‘that everyone had the Spirit of the Lord and was a prophet.’ The number 7 or 70 represents completion–the elders represented the receiving of the law, not only for the Israelites, but for everyone.

The seventy elders in our gospel represent not only those in the first century but the whole church, not only in Judea and Samaria, but to the uttermost parts of the world. The command to heal and to proclaim the Kingdom was and is the mission and message of the church. The missionary sending out of the seventy two represents the task of all who call themselves Christian. It was a mini-test run of what the church catholic would do.

There is a sense of urgency in the 72 and a sense of mission. They are armed with nothing but the message of Jesus.

Let’s go with a few key points from our gospel. Jesus’ words are very important for us today. ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.’ I have heard many preachers use this to get more volunteers in the church. I won’t go there now but I will say that if we are going to be a healthier parish, we increasingly need more folks committed to the mission and ministry of Epiphany. But that is a slightly different sermon.

The harvest that Jesus refers to is the lost people who are in need of Jesus love and forgiveness. The ‘unchurched’ if you will.

Some of you might think that the gospel is impenetrable to the white collar world you live in. My guess is they are desperate for meaning and purpose–for real relationship. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

One thing that is a reality in our culture that we rarely think about is that the multi-culturalism of the world is no longer overseas but at our doorsteps. My world is pretty small but it is likely that I will hear four to six languages every day just being out and about. War and economic hardship has brought people to our doorstep, refugees and immigrants who need help and the saving power of Jesus Christ. Rather than being completely unbiblical and saying, ‘get them out of here,’ we should see it as an opportunity for our church.

We saw a movie last week that I wholeheartedly recommend called ‘Ushpizin.’ It is an Israeli film about a hasidic couple in Jerusalem trying to make ends meet and be faithful to God. In the movie they are celebrating the feast of Succouth, or the Feast of Booths. Succouth is the feast in which the children of Israel were commanded by the Law to make a booth or dwelling outside of their homes to remind them of two things, the wandering in the wilderness and that their true home is in the kingdom of heaven. So in the film, the couple literally build a min-house outside of their apartment. Tradition said, that during Succouth, when you have visitors you treat them like God himself. None of this is unlike Jesus words, ‘what you have done for the least of these, you have done for me.’

I won’t spoil the movie for you but what is most moving about the film is the way this couple treats two visitors. These visitors take advantage of them–feasting on their food and breaking things. They deserve to be kicked out but they are treated with amazing hospitality.

We have those opportunities to show the love of Christ to the world that is suddenly upon us, be they from the Latin American cultures or from Africa. We have an opportunity.
The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

What I find fascinating about this passage is the technique that Jesus gives the 72. Nothing about marketing or being cool. Nothing even about trying to sell the message. Two simple things and one that often gets overlooked. One: heal the sick. Two: proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven. Three: make relationships.

It is clear that the task Jesus gives is not an easy one. They are taking on Satan’s territory and they are like ‘lambs among wolves.’ He also creates a sense of urgency by telling them not to bring anything–to rely on good people in the towns to give them food and drink. Let’s look at those three commands.

Heal the sick. We know based on the end of this passage that this healing was more than just physical healing. The 72 also encountered the Kingdom of darkness and those possessed by demons. Those in bondage to evil.

Do we encounter people possessed by demons? Not usually. Do we encounter people in bondage to evil? You bet. Every day. We live in a world that is so addicted and alone, some to chemicals and others to ‘fulfillment.’ Some to parties others to building starter castles. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. The command to heal doesn’t stop with the apostolic age. Heal the sick. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

They were told to heal the sick and to proclaim , ‘the Kingdom of God is near you.’ That phrase literally means, the ‘kingdom is suddenly upon you.’ It is not as if the kingdom is on its way, it is here, suddenly, even among you and within you as Jesus says elsewhere. The harvest and the defeat of evil are signs of the Kingdom.

Fr. Don said last week that we all have choices to make. We have a choice to live in the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of man. This is not a choice that we make on our deathbeds it is a choice we make every day. Every time we choose to live by our own choices rather than God’s we are making a choice. Every time we succumb to anger or hatred, or to vileness or to lust we are making a choice. Every time we crack the Bible we are making a choice. Every time we show love to our kids we are making a choice of which Kingdom we want to be a part of.

I have a great list of ideas that you gave me for summer sermons and I hope to address some of them in part by preaching on the book of Colossians, beginning next week which really shows the contrast between living for God’s Kingdom or the kingdoms of this world.

Rather than seeing ourselves to much at home in this world we ought to see ourselves like the Jews during succoth–nomads, wanderers looking for the Promised Land. More on that next week.

Lastly, the 72 were told to proclaim, but interestingly also to build relationships. I don’t think it is by chance that Jesus commands them to stay in houses as they minister. ‘When you enter a house, first say, “Peace to this house”…Stay in that house, eating a drinking whatever they give you…Do not move around from house to house.’

When they entered the house, they gave the Jewish prayer peace and wholeness and blessing, then they were to share meals–the most intimate experience of the ancient world. It was a ministry not only of going out but of staying in and sharing what God had done for them. An intense preaching experience but also an intimate encounter. They were to go to places that the Lord had already prepared for them where hearts were open. They were to encounter rejection from hearts that were closed for sure, but God had already moved hearts to receive as well.

Evangelism is not only about proclamation but the sharing of hearts and relationships. It is not about being slick but being open about our relationship with Jesus. As one writer says, ‘Missions is not a matter of marketing but of the Lord’s directing his people to share faithfully the grace they have experienced.’

Right now, at Epiphany, we can do things that bigger churches cannot. We can have better space for relationships to form.

We did our family night at our house last month and it was great. Here’s an opportunity to invite folks who may be intimidated by the church building. The 20th of July is our next chance. Friday the 20th at 6PM bring a dish to share and someone who might be scared of the church and let’s share a meal and have fun at our house. The harvest is plentiful and the workers are few.

Lastly, we have a choice to make about how we see the world around us. We can see it, as one pastor has said, as a time of ‘friction or a time of traction.’ In other words, we can fret about the secularization and plurality of America, or we can see it as a gospel opportunity.

We watched the ‘Bridge to Terabithia’ with the kids the other night. It is about two kids in their early teens, Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke who are both kind of melancholy and both misfits who get picked on. Leslie creates for Jess a whole world in the woods where their imaginations create a kind of Narnia, called Terabithia where there are giants and monsters and where they rule.

In one scene, Leslie goes to church with Jess. I’m sure the dialog in the book is much different from the movie, but when Leslie looks around the church, she sees it much like their land of Terabithia. Later they talk and she asks them about the cross and the suffering of Jesus. They talk about it for awhile and she says something very interesting. She says, ‘Do you believe all of that? I’m sure it does not mean much to you because you have to believe it. I don’t have to believe it, but you know what? I think it is beautiful. And just something that God would do.’

We have heard the message so much that maybe it is too commonplace. But we ought to never tire of telling the story of God becoming man, of his teachings and his miracles. Of his suffering on the cross and his resurrection.

The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few…