Take nothing; take everything

We are here today because it is not a history lesson but a living invitation; Jesus beckons us close also, and gives us specific things to do, and says for us to get going and do them.

What do we say?

--I need a marketing study;

--I don't know enough about the proposal;

--Who are you anyway, and what is your authority to send anyone?

With that question we have come to the heart of the matter.

Does Jesus have any authority over us, or not?

Is Jesus Lord, or just a nice moral teacher among other nice moral teachers?

When we settle on an answer to that question first, then the other matters will fall into place.

Remember that the Gospel of Mark begins with that very challenging claim: The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In the face of mighty Rome and its emperor who claimed divine status, the gospel writer Mark points to Jesus and acknowledges him as Lord through all of the stories that have been passed down to Mark that he gathers and commits to writing.

This Lord sends people out, he commissions them with tasks to do on his behalf.

And wonderful things happen, even when we think that we are not well-equipped!

Let's explore this through several slices of life:

(1) Early last Sunday morning I met with a woman in trouble, who needed emergency assistance.

I gave her a check toward U Haul to get out of town in order for her to get away from an abusive man who had just been released from prison.

I also walked into the nave and over to the House of Grace and got the anointing oil and made the sign of the cross on her forehead, and prayed for God's blessing of safe travel in the days ahead.

Which did she need more?

She thanked me for the check;

She was tearful for the prayer and blessing.

(2) In planning to go on a trip, one is supposed to lay out all of the things that are assumed to be needed, and then put half of them away.

When one is going on the Camino Santiago, one does that once.... and then does it a second time.

The ideal would be to take the clothes that are being worn and one complete change, and as little more than that as possible.

The weight adds up so very quickly.

Lee, my walking companion on the Camino Santiago, had managed to come up with two wooden walking sticks somewhere along the way.

Whether he made them or bought them I'm not sure.

As we were moving along we met up with a girl who was struggling with a walking stick far too short. “This just doesn't work very well!” she exclaimed.

Without a word, Lee reached over and gave her one of his hard-earned sticks. “Here, try this.” Gratefully, she accepted.

We saw her once more on another day, but that was all; Lee made do with a single walking stick for many days afterward.

(3) It was time to visit a family following a death, but this was a family that was divided by a feud.

I took a deep breath, and prayed for the ability to observe accurately and hear clearly what the grieving family members were saying with words and body language; who was annoyed with whom, and why, and when, and how we could deal with the crisis at hand in a way that did not cause yet more pain.

And all that I had with me was my little service book which I did not open, my eyes and ears, and years of experience, and my trust that the Holy Spirit was beside me.

Not many resources were available in each of those situations, but just enough to do what was needed.

God provided.

We needed to be alert for the commission, the resources, and the opportunity.

It is the same for each follower of Christ here today:

--remember that we are commissioned at Baptism,

--we are to take stock of the resources that are available right now,

--we are to be alert for the opportunities to use them.

And those will be very different if one's age is 8...or 28...or 88.

Perhaps that is not where the question is in your life today.

Let's come at it a different way.

The most frequent approach to evangelism and the Christian life is “marketing”, how to sell the gospel Good News to people who may or may not know that they want it, much like one tries to create a market for a new breakfast cereal or toothpaste, or different kind of floor mop.

So we proudly list our groups and activities on flyers and handouts, with seductive adjectives that we hope will attract people better than the next church down the street...

and use all of the other marketing techniques that we can think to employ.

But this is not quite right.

A better mental picture of what we are to be doing is called “formation” rather than marketing.

Formation, that is...

shaping our lives in a new way,

being conformed to a new pattern of living.

One part of formation is the catechumenate.

Our process called The Way is not a quickie 3-session event, but a whole series of gatherings spread over 9 months since we know that it takes lots of time and thought to begin to change our hearts and minds.

Another part of Christian formation is the marking of life milestones events, both at home and here in the gathered congregation.

We've had a birthday cake, but what about using a baptismal anniversary candle?

We've sent Christmas cards, but what about congratulating persons as they mark First Communion, or Confirmation, wedding anniversaries, or 90^th birthdays, or because of illness, or loneliness, or on days when someone needs encouragement, or on “just because” days?... by card, letter, email, IM, telephone, or visit?

Yet another part of formation is the doing of the things that fulfill the command in Matthew 25..”.as you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do to me,” Jesus says.

And so a week ago we hosted Family Promise .

Last Sunday we included in the bulletin a sheet giving us the opportunity to assist the four families in Blossburg left homeless by fire.

On Wednesday we offered hospitality to anyone who walked past the church on the way to enjoy the evening festivities.

Those are just the things that we have done together recently...and then there are all of the things that we do when we are away from this gathering.

All of these things – catechumenate, milestone events, and acts of mercy – are part of the ongoing process we call “formation” in which all of us are taking part.

We're being shaped into what Christ wants us to be, a little at a time.

We may have come initially for the wrong reasons.

We may have come because of marketing ploys instead of genuine invitations to faith, but

God tends to take our less than perfect reasons and reform them,

redirect our desires,

and give us more than we would ever know how to request.

In the Word read and proclaimed, our presuppositions are challenged and changed.

What we thought were problems are shown to be trivial, and we are given challenges we would ever have had before we met Jesus.

We may have thought we were getting a sort of club with other people, and instead we are astounded to receive community, communication, communion with God.

We're going to be sent out from this gathering with what to some seems like so little in our hand, but it truly is everything.

It is a promise, and an invitation to share.

“And Jesus called the twelve and sent them out, ….and they proclaimed that all should repent.....”

And when it is actually done, they, and we, are astounded at God's result. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.