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July 5, 2009, 2 Samuel 5: 1-5, 9-10; Mark 6: 1-13

I couldn’t help but wish I had been with the crowd in one of the villages along Jesus’ route as I prepared for this sermon. Maybe then I would have listened more closely to Jesus’ words. This past Wednesday morning, as I boarded the Amtrak train in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I pulled and twisted and lugged my heavy suitcase up the stairs to the second level of the train as the conductor had instructed.

I had just spent five days at the United Church of Christ’s General Synod, as a delegate for the Wisconsin Conference. At General Synod I participated in sacred, and deeply moving, conversations on issues of race. I was assigned to a committee that reviewed a resolution presented to the UCC and listened to debates regarding suggestions for changing the governance structure for the denomination.

As I boarded the train, barely fitting my suitcase up the narrow stairs, a vivid echo of the lesson from today’s Gospel reverberated in my ears. I grinned at myself as I heard Jesus’ commissioning:

“As you leave here to travel to other cities, travel lightly. (I was obviously not traveling lightly!)

Everything will be provided for you along the way. All you will need is your walking stick and a pair of comfortable sandals (I, on the other hand, had packed three pairs of shoes).

Don’t even take a change of clothes with you (I had taken along enough clothes so I wouldn’t need to do laundry during the week!).

There are many people eager to hear the word of God, and they will open up their homes to you. Go in peace. God is with you.”

Wow - Can you imagine the reaction of the first two disciples sent out by Jesus on this mission? Here they had been spending day after day in village after village with Jesus. There were days spent in synagogues, long walks on dangerous roadways between towns, lessons taught along the shore, and of course, those wild nights sailing across the sea in boats. Yet these men and women were so eager to hear the New Word directly from Jesus. There was so much to learn! And now Jesus was turning to them.

Jesus had determined that it was time for them to become the teachers. How did those first two disciples, singled out by Jesus, respond? Did they sit there, across from Jesus and think to themselves, “it’s about time!” Were they two of the disciples who had an ambition to “make it;” were they born leaders who had already demonstrated to Jesus that they would be successful in their ability to share God’s Word? Had they completed their internship with Jesus?

Or, were they more like us? Did they shudder at the idea of becoming evangelists? Did the thought of going into to new towns and villages, of entering unfamiliar synagogues as fishermen turned rabbis, of talking to others about this amazing, new, upside-down Message from God, lead to a restless night’s sleep? How did they feel about potentially stirring up a little dust?

And why do we in the UCC find it so uncomfortable to embrace this call from Christ to talk to others about our faith? Is it the dust?  

Here we are, and Jesus tells us to go out and tell the story of God’s good work in our lives. We have each found the Good News, we have come together around Christ’s table and been nourished, we have reached out to our sisters and brothers who are homeless and poor, but there is an uncomfortable response, a visceral “I don’t think so,” when we hear from Jesus that we, yes we in the UCC, have our own amazing, still speaking, upside-down story of God to share. We grow more uncomfortable as we acknowledge that Jesus is sending us out to talk to others - to evangelize.  

Was it the same for those first two disciples? Did they wonder who in the world was going to be inviting them into their homes, these two dusty strangers wearing soiled clothes, with the smells of the road hovering around their bodies, and not even a debit card or a few dollars to help pay for their meals?

Did this mission sound crazy to them?

Did they shake their heads in disbelief and think, “O.K., so there is hospitality, and then there is Jesus’ idea of this crazy, extravagant, unquestioning welcome.

Who in the world would be crazy enough to offer the two of us such an open invitation?”

Last Sunday night, members of Memorial’s confirmation class returned from their outreach work in Biloxi, Mississippi, at Back Bay Mission. Several of you sitting here today have also traveled to Back Bay, and worked at the mission house, and you know firsthand the impact Jesus’ commission to us - the call to leave this place and to travel to other cities to spread the gospel.

You also know that many homes were opened to you along the way, and that God was with you on the journey as you worked to build and repair homes.

You know that you met many people that were eager to hear the word of God, and that you heard God’s word spoken to you in the midst of a community of all God’s children.

You know that there were places where you were welcomed with open arms, and places in which you felt uneasy, as dust was stirred up in your presence.  

From all accounts, the confirmation class received an extravagant welcome in Biloxi. If you had an opportunity to follow Pastor Phil’s blog as the group traveled, you read about this city of 50,000 people. And in this city, Back Bay Mission is the only social service agency that is open to provide emergency assistance to people on a daily basis. If you haven’t already checked it out, I invite you to visit Memorial’s website and view the pictures and videos of the youth working in Mississippi.

I also encourage you to talk to the members of the confirmation class about their mission and, yes evangelism, experience. The youth that traveled to Biloxi are Adam and Phillip Bessemer, Elliot Schad, Kirsten Scheller-Suitor and Austin Young. We will be inviting them to share their stories with us in worship later this month, but as I read about the extravagant welcomes that they encountered each day, I wanted to give you a glimpse into their journey this morning. I will avoid the stories I read that described minor injuries and cockroaches (sorry Phillip), but I want to tell you about the circle of heat, dust, sweat, and healing.

At the beginning of the week, Kirsten had an experience one-on-one as she extended an extravagant welcome to a stranger. In the midst of temperatures over 100 degrees, in high humidity, Kirsten spent time talking to one of the men who often came to the mission. According to the blog, Kirsten “loved this part of the trip because she was actually getting time with the people who live [there].”

Kirsten noticed that the gentleman was sweating heavily, but that would be expected in the middle of the Mississippi summer. Shortly after his conversation with Kirsten, the man met with his caseworker. He mentioned to her that he was experiencing chest pain. After asking him about additional symptoms, the caseworker dialed 911 as she realized that he was having a heart attack.

Not everyone finds such an extravagant welcome and medical attention in Biloxi. Did those of you who have traveled to Biloxi meet Rosa, a registered nurse who works with Back Bay Mission?

At General Synod, the resolution that I was assigned to work on addressed issues regarding the trafficking of persons for commercial and/or sexual exploitation. We learned that in the United States, it is estimated that over 14,000 people are trafficked in this country each year. The resolution, encouraging UCC congregations to become more aware of the problem and to begin to address the issue in our local communities, was approved at General Synod. Rosa’s story was told, because Back Bay Mission is raising awareness in their community that there are many people not yet recognized who have no voice, no jobs, no healthcare – and it is not just those whose homes were destroyed or damaged by natural disasters in Mississippi.

For example, around Biloxi, there are individuals who paid their life savings to traffickers in the Dominican Republic to come to the U.S. to work. These people were told that there was a need for casino workers, and that they would be given jobs upon their arrival. However, once they arrived in the states, they were left on the streets with nothing. These are people who come from a country where they had little, and were fearful of law enforcement.

Now, in a foreign country and foreign culture, they assume that they have no recourse. Most of them don’t have any identification papers and no money to get housing in Biloxi or to pay to return to the Dominican Republic. They become vulnerable to forced labor and sexual exploitation. Here, in a city with glitzy restaurants and casinos, recovering from recent natural disasters, is a dusty world of human suffering that exists in our country which has so much.  

Closer to home, in February of 2008, the Wisconsin Office of Justice Assistance (OJA) reported that “human trafficking happens in both urban and rural areas of Wisconsin” and that overall the level of awareness in our communities was low. This was an issue that I had heard about now and then in the media, but it seemed to be a distant concern, something that happened in large cities, or in other countries.

Yet as new places arise, Jesus tells us to travel there; even those other places that might be close to home. Where are we being called to share God’s still speaking message in our neighborhoods today? What will we say? Christ calls us not to stay in this safe center, gathered at this table of life-giving bread and wine, but to be refreshed this morning and experience the unexpected.

To enter new communities. To knock on new doors. To expect that some doors will be slammed shut and that dust will rise. But we will also find places with crazy, extravagant welcomes.  

The “light suitcases” that Jesus tells us to take along might not be the physical, zippered suitcases packed away in our closets, waiting for that next vacation. “Packing lightly” might just mean that we need to leave our life experiences open, not closed, and leave some space available in our hearts and minds to learn from one another in communion with God.

So…pack lightly this morning. Hear God’s teaching in our midst with a new heart, and not old experiences. Be re-commissioned by Christ at the table today as you savor the bread and taste the juice of the grapes. And remember Jesus’ words, as he sends you forth from this place this morning.

May his words echo loudly in your voices for “there are many people eager to hear the word of God, and they will open up their homes to you. God is with you. Go in peace.”