By Traci Hubbard
Exodus 13:21; Luke 9:1-6
A man was rushing through an airport was worried about missing his plane. He didn’t have a wristwatch and couldn’t find a clock. So, he walked up to a total stranger and said, “Excuse me, sir. Could you give me the correct time, please?”
The stranger smiled and said, “Sure thing!” He set down two large, heavy suitcases he was carrying and looked at his watch.
“It’s precisely 5:09 p.m., the outside temperature is 93 degrees Fahrenheit or 33.8 Celsius, and the barometer is falling so rapidly that it is surely going to rain tonight,” he said. “In London, the sky is overcast and 64 degrees Fahrenheit, 17.7 Celsius. In Nairobi, it is clear and 72 degrees Fahrenheit, 22.2 Celsius. By the way, the moon will be full here in Lake Country tonight, and . . .”
The man interrupted and said, “Your watch tells you all that?”
“Oh, yes,” he said, “and much more as well. I invented this watch myself, you see, and there is no other like it in all the world.”
No longer worried about his plane, the man who had started the conversation said, “I’d like to buy that watch! I’ll give you a thousand dollars.”
“Oh, no,” said the man with the wonderful watch. “I’m afraid it’s not for sale.” And he reached for his suitcases to leave.
“Wait,” said the man. “I’ll give you $5,000 in cash for that watch.”
“No, I couldn’t do that,” came the reply. “I invented this for my son and plan to give it to him when he graduates from Georgia Tech.”
“I understand,” said the persistent would-be buyer, “but I’ll pay you $10,000! I’ve got the money on me, and it’s all yours for that watch.”
“Umm,” the stranger paused. “Did you say $10,000? All right, it’s a deal!”
Delighted beyond words, the man counted out the money as a crowd gathered around. He took the watch, put it on his wrist, and shook hands with the stranger. “Thanks,” he said, as he turned to leave.
“Hold on!” Said the stranger, handing the man with the watch his two heavy suitcases. “You were about to leave without the batteries.”
Our context today is Jesus has delivered his infamous sermon on the mount, healed a centurion, many scholars believe was a gay eunuch, He has raised a widow’s son, healed a mentally ill man, taught in metaphors of seeds and lamps on a stand, he calmed a storm, spoke to his family about co-dependency, spiritually cauterized a woman’s hemorrhaging problem, and raised Jarius’ daughter from the dead. As folks say today, it’s been a minute and social media is exploding with images and video clips that have pissed off the denominational and civic leaders. Word of “The Way” is spreading faster than offering plates and tax collectors. Canadian Tire has sold out of all their folding chairs and Coleman coolers – the crowd’s numbers have the casinos in Vegas posting odds for all the religious leaders turned gamblers. In Luke chapter 8, we see that Jesus’ ministry is financially backed by Mary, a former sex worker, Joanna, the manager of Herod’s household, Susanna, and many others. The women have underwritten the beginning of the movement called “The Way” and together, they are creating new roads of grace vs. the law, of being love, vs. doing this and that for approval. The acts, the ministries of “The Way”, were born out of gratitude and love, not obedience to a creed or institution. These early hippies became a community of faith who traveled lightly with full hearts that were spilling over for the highest good of those who crossed their path.
The history of the Christian community is a story of roads. The first followers of Jesus called themselves “the Way,” a name that echoes Jewish halakha, the “way of life” enshrined in the Torah, as well as the disciples’ belief that Jesus was “the way” to God. In today’s reading, Exhausted Jesus sends approximately seventy people out ahead of him on a mission and he tells them to travel lightly. There is a sense of urgency and expediency to the task at hand. Whatever they are holding onto internally or externally, the journey ahead requires them to let it go so they will have the energy and freedom they need to execute the spreading of good news, to meet the needs of the people, simply put, to be empty so they may be filled with love.
The Greek root of the word, evangelion (AY-van-gell-ee-uhn), simply means “good news” or “gospel.” So, our identification as a church means that we believe in evangelism – which means - we have something important, some sweet, good news, our stories and love to share as we lean in and listen to the needs around us. Do we believe that the message of Christ is still relevant today, that there are real needs here that require attention and hope? I believe we do. Jesus provides two phrases for the seventy to declare: “Peace to this house” and “God is near.” There is no salvation formula, no value judgments, no coercion tactics, just words of belonging and comfort, just love, just good news.
What do we need to leave behind and what do we need to carry?
We carry our vulnerability. Researcher and author Brené Brown says vulnerability is “having the courage to show up, be seen, and be heard when you can't control the outcome.” Remember when it was your turn to do “Show & Tell” – bringing something to school that meant the world to you and telling the class why that thing meant so much, why it was so deeply important to you? That is vulnerability and courage at its best. Imagine holding that object that meant so much. Now, imagine carrying a bag of rocks in each hand and trying to hold the story you brought with you – hold it in a way that anyone listening would hear, feel, and understand your experience with it and why it matters in your life.
Walking, living, and loving like Jesus requires us to lay aside, put away childish ways of thinking, seeing and being in the world, so we are free to receive and offer healing words, unconditional love, and calm amidst the storm. Carrying gratitude for what has been, what we learned in the good times and in the dark night of our souls – folks, gratitude isn’t heavy. But carrying resentment, unhealed wounds, inner work on the back burner of our hearts, unforgiveness, jealousy, greed, shame or fear, these intangible pieces of luggage are monster trucks – U-Haul’s that lie to us, tell us we need them to survive, lugging this kind of baggage around keep us from living and loving in the present.
Folks, we are beginning a new chapter in our lives together. Four months ago today, I landed in B.C., a beautiful wilderness where I am grieving the way things were, just as you are grieving the way things were, especially when it comes to being the church. One of the things I know for sure, is that every minute we live is telling us that the present moment is not like the last one. It can’t be. That’s impossible. My brother Britt chased his first high with meth for 30 years and he allowed it to steal his life and eventually kill him. Carrying luggage that doesn’t belong in the present is like being an addict to control– a slave to the way things were, the things we enjoyed, or to the way we wanted things to be.
We are here…right here…together in this moment, in this place, together called to be love and offer messages and ministries that speak into the listening of today, not yesterday…that’s impossible. Yesterday, and yesterday’s ways, are gone, they are in the past. We are here now…right now, thanks be to God calling us to minister in new ways together. Our lives, our stories, have equipped us with healing stories that leak – overflow with the Sacred’s love and faithfulness to us.
Today, may we become acutely aware that Spirit is carrying us and the only thing we need to carry is inclusive love and gratitude. Today, our Pancake Sunday, the Spirit is reminding us that we have been invited to a life changing Show & Tell – we are alive to show our faith through how we live our lives and tell why it is we do what we do, and why we are the way we are. Our vulnerability and courage allow us to exchange hospitality, form mutually loving and healthy relationships, and ultimately experience powerful change, wrapped up in laughter, exploration, imagining and doing wonder.
Today as we gather at the table, we share food for our journey, we equip and affirm one another in our shared vocation forward. We received the bread and cup of joy for our journey communicating our need and desire for what Jesus offers us. We have been strengthened and renewed. May we carry this lightness into the world, and release all that would weight us down, so we may travel lightly with the good news. The good news being that living into the ways of Jesus really does free us, in other words, Jesus saves. What time is it? It’s always time to travel lightly. May it be so, amen.
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