CDSP, Berkeley
3/3/11
John & Charles Wesley/ERD
Isaiah 49:5-6
Romans 12:11-17
Luke 9:2-6
Gracious God, take our minds and think through them;
take our hands and work through them;
take our hearts and set them on fire.
Amen.
Jesus sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal.
And then he told them that they weren’t supposed to bring anything with them, and where they should stay, and what they should do if they were not welcomed.
We don’t know exactly where they went, or exactly what they did. But they went somewhere and they did something, because the next part of the story tells us simply yet declaratively, “They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.” And so it was done.
As if it was that simple. As if walking out your front door and setting course for places unknown one day, with nothing more than the clothes on your back and the conviction of your beliefs, could change the world.
Only Jesus gave the twelve more than that, didn’t he? This wasn’t some half thought through plan, a neat idea to see what might happen if his followers began to spread his message further. No, this was another incalculable step in expanding God’s mission of justice, compassion and reconciliation in a broken and divided world.
Jesus had a strategy when he sent his friends out, and it was both missional and incarnational – two complementary pieces that were both essential for the success of the work they sent out to do - proclaim the kingdom of God and heal.
The strategy to have the disciples proclaim the kingdom of God was missional because it wasn’t about bringing people in, it was about preaching the good news out in the world – beyond the paths they travelled as a group, and certainly beyond the walls of a building.
This was missionary work in the best way possible – an honest offering of God’s love through proclamation and healing.
In a recent post on the Episcopal Relief and Development blog, The Rev. Luke Fodor offered thoughts on the idea of mission and rightly pointed out that the words mission and missionaries can conjure either negative images such as Colonialism, smallpox and cultural imperialism, or they can offer romantic and simplistic ideas of exotic locales and pioneering work. [blog.er-d.org]
But in the end they both distort the essential partnership inherent in true mission.
Jesus knew this. He knew that increasing God’s mission involved more than just the missional work of proclaiming the kingdom of God – no matter how important that was.
And so the strategy he offered those being sent was also incarnational.
Incarnational because it wasn’t about convincing people about a doctrine, a truth, a belief. It was about sharing the story and then demonstrating, in the flesh, the truth that God’s reign had come – through the power of offering healing. And not only offering healing, but doing just that.
I love thinking about what might have actually happened on those travels of the disciples. What kinds of stories did they tell around the dinner table with people they just met? Did they laugh? Did they argue? Were their hearts on fire?
And how exactly did they heal? Who? What? There is a part of me, that I hope never dies, that holds on dearly to a theology of the Jesus Action Figure. You know, that part that believes in Jesus like he’s some sort of divine superhero.
And when I think about the power he conferred on those he sent, I can’t help but hope that they gave some people back their sight, or their hearing. That they healed a little boy who had fallen out of a tree and broken his leg. That they healed the heart of a woman who had known plenty of the bitterness of life and not enough of the sweetness that God’s love brings.
Proclaim the kingdom of God and heal. This is our mission too.
And there are as many ways to do this work as there are people gathered here today. Each of us has different gifts and talents that are unique but essential pieces of God’s mission. And the world certainly needs what each of us has to offer.
But this is a case of both/and. God’s mission needs both our individual efforts and the work that only be accomplished when we band together to proclaim and heal.
This is why the work of Episcopal Relief and Development is so important. The programs they support reach farther, in essence are sent out farther, than you or I could ever do on our own (or together if you want to think about the time Jesus sent them out two by two J).
But even more important than that, Episcopal Relief and Development is essential because, using the lens of the Millennium Development Goals and their goal of reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty, its work – its programs, its strategies – are both missional and incarnational.
Taken directly from the Episcopal Relief and Development website, these facts clearly illustrate this:
· In 2009, Episcopal Relief & Development reached more than 2.5 million people in over 40 countries around the world.
· Rather than imposing “one size fits all” solutions, Episcopal Relief & Development supports unique local, long-term initiatives that address poverty, hunger, disease, economic development and disaster response.
· Our partnership with the worldwide Church creates opportunities to serve communities in some of the most remote areas of the world, as well as in urban environments where extreme poverty persists.
· In many of these places, the Church is often one of the few institutions people trust and turn to for help. Episcopal Relief & Development leverages existing Church relationships to reach those whose need is greatest
The work of Episcopal Relief and Development heals a hurting world. Maybe not in the miraculous ways I like to imagine the disciples healed, but…
But in the equally miraculous way they were able to amass supplies and help on the ground nearly immediately after the devastating earthquakes in both Haiti and Chistchurch. And the miracle of the gift of a cow or a goat to provide ongoing nutrition to a family.
Or the way savings and credit circles allow individuals and groups to start or expand small businesses and cooperatives that work miracles in ever expanding circles of relationship. Or protecting the miracle that is life, preventing malaria through the distribution long-lasting insecticide-treated nets through the Nets for Life program.
And what is our part in the miraculous? How can we support their mission? It is four-fold: to pray, learn, give and act.
Pray. Standing here in a seminary chapel and looking out at the gathered crowd I’m not going to even attempt to elucidate the practice of prayer. I’m simply going to say DO IT. It’s important. I think it should always be the first response to any situation and certainly to the important work of God’s mission of justice, compassion and reconciliation.
Learn. Learn more about the issues you are passionate about. Dig deeper into the factors that cause global poverty and disease. And visit the Episcopal Relief and Development website to learn more about their programs.
Give. Episcopal Relief and Development, like all non-profit organizations, needs you to give money in order for their programs to reach those in need. Don’t think of it as charity, think of it as living from a place of abundance and answering the call of those being sent out.
Act. Whether it’s connecting and volunteering with the Episcopal Relief and Development Network or getting connected to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation or the Episcopal Public Policy Network, there are plenty of ways to get involved.
My prayer for all of us is that we will accept the missional and incarnational call of Jesus, and that we will participate with Episcopal Relief and Development in healing a hurting word.
~ AMEN ~
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