Loading...Have you ever been baking and realize you don’t have enough eggs for the recipe? (Or, if you’d prefer -- have you ever been changing the oil in your car and realize you’re one quart short of what you need?)
AHHHHHH! What do you do?
If you’re my friend Nicole, you would probably go out back to the chicken coop and see if there are any eggs that you missed in the morning collection.
But most of us don’t have a chicken coop.
Do you go to your neighbor to borrow an egg?
Or, do you hop into the car to run to the store to get another dozen?
I suspect that in days gone by we would have gone to our neighbor;
but now, we mostly would go to the store.
That’s not just because we may not know our neighbors
but also because, as a society, we’re more independent.
We’re less reliant upon one another for help.
We’re more likely to fix our own problems.
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The story of the seventy that Jesus sends out to towns and villages in order to prepare the way, who are sent out with authority to share the good news, to cure the sick, and to cast out demons (which they do!) is so full of wonderful detail.
It’s hard to narrow a focus down.
But as this text coincides with the long weekend when the nation and her people celebrate nationhood, birthday, and long-ago independence (from Mother Britain),
I think we have something here.
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First of all, the followers are sent out in pairs.
We are made by God to be connected with others.
We are made by God to be in community.
We are made by God to help each other.
Do something alone is often harder than it is when you have a friend helping.
e.g. hanging pictures!
Jesus sends the followers in pairs,
and all the other instructions for them follow from this.
This work which could be difficult (rejection, hunger, danger, the unknown) is done with another.
They are interdependent.
Not only do the followers who are sent out have each other,
they have God with them.
Next, the followers were sent out with the instruction to be willing to receive hospitality, kindness, and help from the villagers and townspeople – the very people that these followers of Jesus were sent to with instruction to cure the sick and to tell the story.
They are to take no bag, no purse, no sandals;
they are to stay in the house that welcomes them and to eat what is offered.
They are to receive the generosity that is given and to recognize it for what it is.
(And not hop from house to house looking for a better meal or a better situation).
Now, in case you’re getting a little bit nervous,
this sermon is not in preparation to pair y’all up and send you into the neighborhoods and villages to – GASP − evangelize!
That will come later. In a different form. Just hide and watch.
Rather, this is an invitation –
even an instruction as Jesus gave his followers –
to be willing to be dependent upon others and upon God.
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We are schooled every day, all the time,
by our society to be independent,
to “do it yourself,”
to rely upon your own resources,
to be the MacGyver or Jason Bourne characters.
“I won’t ask for help, I’ll do it myself.”
“Rather than bother (or meet) the neighbor, I’ll just hop into the car and run to the grocery store and buy another dozen eggs.”
OR,
we think our wealth or possessions will be there for us, and will support us in time of need.
As one thinker (among many) has said:
“There is something about wealth that creates the illusion of independence that insulates us – at least for awhile – from the vicissitude of life that spurs us to imagine that we don’t really need God or each other.” (David Lose)
But, we do.
We need one another.
We need each other –
in family, in community, amongst strangers, in the nation.
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Usually I do not preach on national holidays
not because I’m ignoring them or think they’re unimportant.
Rather, I do not preach about national holidays because I’m preaching about God’s grace and promise as given to us in the Scripture texts for the day: we are God’s first and foremost.
However, today, there’s some overlap, I think.
Independence Day, a.k.a. July 4th,
a day that can get drowned in patriotic fervor and national pride,
a day we remember a bunch of colonies making a bold declaration of independence from an oppressive government with rulers thousands of miles and many weeks (by boat) away.
a day we celebrate the declaration of freedoms and rights,
but also of community and neighborliness,
of service and help to those around us.
This day is not so much an “Independence from England” as it is “Interdependence with One Another” Day.
The Founders knew it.
Good leaders know it.
You know it.
Jesus knew it, and
his followers know it too.
We are better in so many ways when we care about, care for, and help each other.
We are better as people and as a community – as people of God –
when we are dependent (not in a toxic way!) upon one another;
when we trust one another;
and when we trust God rather than our own selves.
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Here’s a 21st century, July 3, 2016 suggestion and invitation for you:
I invite you to show your faithful dependence upon one another (including those who are not worshiping with us this morning) in prayer—
by praying for one another,
by showing and giving encouragement,
by reaching out to help, if that seems needed and appropriate.
I also invite you to live your faithful dependence on God in prayer –
in reaching out in kindness to a stranger,
in trusting your neighbor to help and care for you,
in living deeply in the Good News of God’s love for you and faithfulness to you.
Work together to build a web of connectivity, of kindness, of interdependence, trusting that God is already at work in your life, in your neighborhood, and in the people you encounter (even the strangers!).
Because we need each other; we were made to be together; and we were made to love each other as God loves us!
Amen
