Proper 10 B – 2006, Amos 7:7-15, Psalm 85:7-13, Ephesians 1:1-14, Mark 6:7-13 The Rev. J. Brian Ponder Church of the Resurrection Starkville, Mississippi July 16, 2006 In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. In a couple of days, I’ll be headed out from this place on my annual pilgrimage to Camp Bratton-Green. This will be my third year as director of a junior high session and the 21st year of my association with summer camps there. If you know anything about Bratton-Green, or any summer camp for that matter—or even vacation planning—you know that there’s a whole laundry list of “stuff” you’ve gotta pack and take with you, stuff that you’ve somehow got to get into an increasingly larger and larger duffle bag or suitcase or footlocker, or whatever it is that’s gonna get your “stuff” there! … Stuff … and lots of it. It’s is junior high, after all! In this year’s camper application and in my letters to campers, parents and staff there were some specifics outlined. … You’ll need multiple changes of clothes, because we will get messy. You’ll need sandals with straps or tennis shoes to wear at the ropes course or in the lake—a fan, towels (bath towel and beach towel), a pillow, sheets or a bed roll, toiletries and please don’t forget to bring soap and deodorant, toothpaste AND a toothbrush—a flashlight, a t-shirt if they want to tie dye one, even A/C window units for those staff “wilters” (but if they bring it, to also bring 20 bucks to cover more than enough electricity) and of course SUNSCREEN AND BUG SPRAY! Those are two absolute “musts” for camp! … At the same time, I’m finding that the list of things NOT to bring to camp is also getting longer—not only to leave behind items so that we can create a safer space for camp, but things that will free kids to become un-plugged and, hopefully, blissfully out of touch with the day-to-day world, if only for a few fleeting days while at camp. … I never cease to be amazed by a particular camp phenomenon. At the end of camp, those things—those precious things that just couldn’t be lived without for a week at camp—time and again, get left on the clothes line, or abandoned slung over the pool gate, or spread around the boat house, or forgotten, shoved way up under a bed somewhere. And the other aspect to this phenomenon, is that those campers who aren’t so plugged in from the get-go—those whose families can’t necessarily afford all the contraptions and extras, the gadgets and “new” camp clothes—yes, you heard it right NEW camp clothes—they usually realize somewhere in the midst of it all, that they didn’t really need it anyway, that they’re no less a part of the camp experience because they’re without or with less. Today's Gospel lesson continues where we left off last week. If you remember, Jesus wasn’t having one of his best days ever. People who knew him best, his friends and neighbors, his relatives and those who had watched him as a child run through the marketplace, others who had maybe even known him as he worked as an apprentice alongside his father, heard him preaching in the synagogue. Rather than being moved by what he had to say, or even proud of him, they said things like: "Isn't this only …?” Isn’t this man only the son of the carpenter and a carpenter himself?” “How can this be—his teaching? Who is he to teach in the synagogue?” And it was Jesus—not those who heard him—who was amazed. The crowd, the ones who knew him, took offense at him. Jesus was amazed at their disbelief. In fact, he was so amazed, and perhaps even disheartened, that he wasn't able to do much with them, let alone for them. He left them with a kind of proverb, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their own hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." … And we, too, have heard proverbs like this in our own day. Maybe you’ve heard people say, "You can never go home again," or "In my parents’ eyes, I'm still 10 years old." or maybe you’ve said to yourself “My degree’s not from such and such.” or “I’m only [and you fill in the blank with some perceived shortcoming.” … If any of us really listened to that, we might be tempted to just sit back and let a lot of opportunities pass us by—frustrated with trying to do anything new or make a needed change. … Today’s Gospel lesson, shows us that Jesus didn't let that happen. Jesus did what he could, and kept on going—maybe in a different direction, but he kept on going. He continued moving through villages and teaching, and in today's Gospel we hear that he had even begun sending out the apostles to proclaim the same message about the kingdom of God that he had already begun preaching. This alone might just tell us something about the confidence—the assuredness—with which, we too, are called to share the Christian message of hope. … I know it … I’ve done it again … I’m standing here—every ounce of Episcopalian that I am—talking about the big “E” word—not the Big Easy, New Orleans, but “Evangelism.” … Good news. Perhaps one of the largest lessons the church has learned from this Gospel story is that, like the apostles, we're given the charge—through Baptism—to share what we believe about God, and to live a certain way because we are Christians, and to share that way with others. And it's not always easy for us. … We meet people who don't necessarily believe the things we do, who might care less, and maybe they make us feel foolish. Or maybe, they can’t fully grasp the understanding that Christian life is what motivates our actions, not that our actions have motives. Or, maybe we get discouraged, even a little afraid that—when it comes down to it—we don't really know enough to talk about the message we're challenged to share. … We should always keep learning, and if we remember what it is that we do together here each Sunday and that we're made in God's image and are loved and forgiven by God, then we’re already at a pretty good starting place. … Now don’t hear me saying that we should necessarily go out and wage nor wield Christianity, and if so, certainly not lightly, but I think the Gospel compels us to live our lives in such a way each and every day that just might afford us and those we meet—both through our daily routines and even our chance encounters—opportunity upon opportunity to see the risen Christ, alive and working in that world of ours. … To be as Christ for one another … One of the most significant things for us to realize is that Jesus sent the apostles out together. They went out by twos, and like them, we share the life of a "community." We aren't expected, nor are we called, to live a Christian life on our own. Christian life is lived in community, because it involves community—the one being created here in this place as an example for that world out there. Jesus tells the apostles not to take anything extra with them—no extra tunic or bread, no bag or briefcase, no money or credit cards. … Oftentimes, we hear this, leading us to rely on God for all we need, and in many ways that's true. But maybe there’s more to the message. … We should and we can rely on God, but we also learn that we don't have to have a whole lot of "stuff" or we don’t have to have our whole act together before we can begin to share the joy of Christ. … Maybe the Apostles didn't have two tunics to begin with, and maybe they didn't have extra money they could put in a bag, but they didn’t need it. … These were fishermen for the most part. They were laborers and family men, not the high priests or scribes of the day. They weren’t theologians, or professional “God” talkers. They certainly hadn't spent years in school, and most of them, I’m sure, knew they didn’t have all the answers in life. They probably struggled with everyday living the same way that many of us do today. … Jesus sends them out with what they have, and the interesting thing is that the Gospel says it’s then that they’re given more than they need. It’s then that Jesus "gave them authority….” He called them. He sent them. He gave to them—nothing more, and nothing less. And, so off they went and found out that they actually did have something to share—as little or as large as it was. They found out more about themselves in so doing. They could speak their faith. They could proclaim Good News. They could be as examples in their own day and time of transformation—the power of ever-changed-ness. We might not see ourselves doing the same sorts of things today—calling people to repent, casting out demons, curing the sick. "That was then, this is now." What was relevant then is often very different from what is relevant now; but we are given authority to do things that are relevant to our own lives and circumstances—sharing a simple smile or handshake, holding a door, offering a word of thanks or encouragement, looking at someone from whom in the past we’ve intentionally looked away, showing compassion and mercy to those in need, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and visiting the confined, comforting those in sorrow, providing shelter and safe-haven for those in danger, naming injustice and oppression not only when they stare us in the face, but even more so when they compromise the dignity of others, truly feeding God’s sheep—both literally and figuratively—so that others might know of the righteousness which yet may be—not a Christian self-righteousness (because that’s an oxymoron), but a God-righteousness and an eternal peace—nothing easy about any of it … but that’s why we must lighten our loads. … … May we travel lightly in the days ahead, sustained by the One who guides us. Amen. Creative acknowledgement is given to the Rev. Susanna Metz for large portions of this sermon which have been taken from her original work found at http://arc.episcopalchurch.org/sermons-that-work/000716sr.html.