July 3, 2022 – Pentecost +4C

“After 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. 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. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 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. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ‘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.’ ” “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.” The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Over 15 years ago, author and minster Robert Fulgham wrote the book, All I Ever Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. One of the lines from this book goes like this: “When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.” Now that sounds like good Kindergarten advice, Amen? When I worked at the day care center in Shiremanstown, if we were taking the kids anywhere, we always employed the “buddy system”. Sticking together is one of the things Jesus tells the disciples to do when he sends them out – he sends them in pairs to proclaim the good news — two by two, out into the world — and he tells them to watch out, and stick together — and most importantly, “Travel Light”.

What does it mean to you to travel light? Let me share with you some thoughts from my life as I have struggled to travel light. When I have been planning to go on a backpacking trip, I have always been told to take as little as you need — including clothing, food and other accoutrements — because you do not want your backpack to weigh too much. Or, when I have traveled to Canada to go fishing, the last flight we take is in a float plane. Before you get on board they ask your weight, and they weigh your luggage — all so that they know whether you have exceeded the weight restrictions of the airplane. And seriously, we don’t want the plane to crash due to “too much weight”. Therefore, you learn to travel light. Let me tell you a secret: I have trouble traveling light. But isn’t that the American Way?

Jesus sends his disciples out on a mission, but he gives them one last instruction: don’t bring anything — Jesus tells them to travel light. What the disciples were learning while they were on their journey, was reliance on the kindness of others — but also their own sense of vulnerability. And this is an important lesson that is easy to miss here — the lesson about vulnerability. We don’t like to admit we need help, that we can’t do something, that we cannot do it all by ourselves. Jesus sends us out with a Mission: proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of G-d through the saving Grace of Jesus Christ — which compels us to serve as well as challenges us to be open to be served — To hold hands and stick together, and watch out for traffic — as we receive the hospitality offered by one another, by Jesus Christ, and then respond in serving him.

Pastor Dave

July 2, 2022 — Words of Wisdom, Ernest Hemingway

“Do not lie to one another…”  

“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.” Ernest Hemingway

^“Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient.These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life.But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth.Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practicesand have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!” Colossians 3:5-11

“Do not lie to one another…”  

We are not to lie to one another, to deceive each other – instead we are to speak the truth in all our dealings – and to share our feelings with the honesty of a cat. And that, my friends, is very hard. It is so easy to find contempt for the things we have including our relationships. Learning not to “undervalue” the gifts of our neighbors, of our lives, of our creativity is also hard. Part of appreciating what we have means we should learn to speak the truth – as long as that truth will not destroy or damage.

If we remember Martin Luther’s explanation of the 8^th commandment, “Thou shall not bear false witness against our neighbor”, he writes: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.”

Cats continue to be good models of true honesty. My cats let me know, every day, where I stand – there is no deceit in them. Let us look to the cats in our lives to see what it means to be honest in all things. They are equal in their love, and in their disapproval. But in all things, they are honest.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, you call us to be honest in all things. That is hard, Lord. Give me the courage to speak the truth, and the wisdom to know when to speak. Amen.

Pastor Dave