"Traveling Light"
Rev. Mary Lou Gilbert, June 29, 2008
Mark 6:1-13
I learned of the possibility of my appointment to be your pastor on May 7 at 8:30 am, having arrived at 5:30 am from Tel Aviv after two weeks in Israel. I had quite a homecoming! Moving is no fun, but being in this place is a great honor and delight, well worth the chaos and confusion of these past few weeks, of packing, moving, and unpacking.
One of my husband’s self-appointed roles in our 38 years of marriage, is to constantly evaluate our progress—how many more boxes? How much more time will you need? Why take this? Why not get rid of that? And even offering to pack “my shoes.” But the worst part is threats about taking unneeded items to the dump, so we can travel light. In his opinion, most of what we have is unnecessary clutter.
A few weeks ago, during the thick of our move, we took an evening off to attend a dinner party for a friend who is going to out of the country. It was wonderful to be with friends and not to be packing boxes. I threw myself into the event, and in a moment of reflection before dinner, while sitting on the porch, enjoying a cool breeze and conversation, I commented that moving was difficult and that I wanted to be more like the desert mothers and fathers of the early church and rid my life of so many possessions. I wanted to simplify!
Unfortunately, Jack entered the room exactly at the moment I uttered those words, and I regret what I said. I had no intention of having him hear me. For an educated man who understands philosophy & theology, uses rhetoric & metaphor, is an excellent preacher and writer and tells great stories, he can be such a literalist about things I say. He has a tendency to remind me again and again of my own words of my own promises.
As we have continued packing and moving, threats about getting rid of so much stuff have only intensified, and I retract what I said in my effort to make small time party-talk.
From Jesus’ birth, he was on the move, and although he grew up in the town of Nazareth and may have had several years there, his adult life was spent moving about from village to village, place to place. His Hebrew ancestors had been nomadic, and planted deep in the practice of the Jewish faith is the acknowledgement that God brought them out of Egypt and that what they packed for the trip (gold and not enough food) became a problem for them.
The Hebrews lived in the wilderness and Yahweh led them and
provided for them. Nevertheless, they “murmured” because they had left a more
cushy and comfortable life in Egypt. “We should have stayed in Egypt
where we had plenty to eat. If we were
going to die as slaves, we
could have at least died with our stomachs full.”
The Succoth Festival, held each fall is a Jewish celebration of booths evidenced near Toco Hills when you drive through the neighborhoods and see canvas or plastic tents not usually seen the rest of the year. Succoth is a holiday about remembering how the Hebrew people lived in moveable booths or tents beneath the stars. And it is a holiday of thanksgiving for all that God has done for God’s people. The people remember God’s provision and guidance in the worst of times.
Not only did the people live in tents, but they worshipped in tents, and they had very specific ways of moving their place of worship.What beautiful facilities we have here at Haygood! And what if at 12:00 noon today everyone of us had to help gather and pack to move everything from here to a new location!!! That would be a lot of work, but there would also be excitement and anticipation about going to a new place, with new possibilities.
"PLACE” is important to Jewish people. Place is at the heart of their desire to be in the “Promised Land.” Place is the issue that underlies much of the turmoil in the Middle East.
Place, according to Clay Smith, Director of the Hinton Rural Life Center in NC, is where we accumulate life experience and relationships. I am curious about Jesus’ returning to his place of origin in Nazareth and the rejection of him in his home town. His family was there to hear him teach and preach—his brothers and sisters were there according to Mark's gospel.
Why did they dismiss what he had to say? And what would keep us from hearing a prophet in our midst? Why do we dismiss someone we know well without paying attention to what the person has to say?
A preacher I knew many years ago, was asked to preach the homecoming sermon in his own home church. He worked for weeks, and prepared the most fantastic sermon of his life. He was proud to return to his home church and to proclaim the Word of God. He preached his heart out, and after the service, one of his former elementary school teachers came up to greet him and sweetly said, “Sam, I enjoyed that little talk!”
Sally Field in the movie, “Places in the Heart,” struggles to save her cotton farm during the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The movie ends, and during the credits, there is a last powerful and surprising scene. We see seated side by side in church pews, all the characters from the story (black, white, women, men, the poor, the powerful, the handicapped). Some of the characters at the table had been enemies in the story, and some had been friends, some had died and some were alive when the movie ended.
The first time I saw that scene, I thought, “wait a minute that character died,” and then I realized that the people were sharing bread and wine. The scene gives us a dramatic understanding of Holy Communion and the realization that “real places, the places that really matter, are near the heart of God.” Real places transcend time and space. Real places of remembrance and of lasting value are those places where we have accumulated relationships and life experiences that can never be taken from us. They are not always bound to our geography. And at the table even broken relationships can be mended and redeemed by a merciful and redemptive God.
Jesus’ good news is received as “bad news,” in his home town. It is taken wrong by those we would expect to be most receptive. Jesus did not let his rejection discourage him, instead, he set out from Nazareth with his 12 disciples, instructing them to travel light and to appreciate any hospitality that might be shown them—“don’t look around for a better deal once a family has invited you to stay in their home.” He gave the disciples a symbolic way of moving on when the hearts and minds of the people were closed to them. He taught them to ritualistically shake the dust from their sandals and move on to people who would receive the good news of salvation that they would bring them.
Sometimes when we suffer rejection it gets us down, and we feel that we are worthless and have nothing of value to say or share. We allow our discouragement to silence us. Jesus told his Disciples to move on, trust God, and trust the people who show hospitality.
Five years ago, before I left West GA to come to pastor in Atlanta, I received a letter from someone I had never met, but who knew I was moving. He was honest enough to put his name and return address on the envelope, but I will refer to him as Mr. Doe. He was from a neighboring town about 10 miles away. He addressed the letter to me and his brief message read, “Mrs. Gilbert, Be ye a severed branch, Madame.”
I happened to open the note in the Post Office, and I shared it with the post mistress who was my friend. She was much more concerned about it than I was. She was worried that, not only was it negative she saw it as threatening. You might say she went "postal”. She tried to keep my feelings from being hurt by saying things like, “Oh, why would someone say such a thing to you. That’s not nice. Now don’t let that bother you honey.” I assured the post mistress that it was God who called me to the ordained ministry, and if I had no confidence in my call, I would have been finished long ago.
I spent the next few hours going about my errands, but processing in my heart how to shake the hateful dust of Mr. Doe’s message from my shoes.
As usual my husband helped rid me of some clutter from my life by listening to my letter from Mr. Doe and listening to my troubled heart. He suggested that I hold a contest to determine the best response to Mr. Doe. Afterall, I did have his address. I actually never bothered to mail the winning response to my contest to Mr. Doe, but this was it: “Mr. Doe, the cross of Christ was a severed branch. I have accepted Christ’s call to follow where he leads me.”
Today’s message from Mark’s gospel is not simply a bit of history about Jesus and the Twelve, but a word to Mark’s church and finally to the church wherever this passage is received as Scripture. The work of Jesus is to continue, and for that purpose the church is called and sent. For that work Jesus grants the word and the power that characterized his own ministry. The church is to go trusting this to be true, never contradicting that trust with the excess baggage of prejudice, false security, and wealth that offers the world the image of unbelief. There will be rejection and refusal to listen to be sure, but there will also be those who will welcome both the ministry and the minister. Afterall, we follow the Christ who turned his final rejection into something good. Jesus’ rejection in his last work upon the cross became the source of our great joy today.
I thank you for receiving me as your pastor at Haygood Memorial, and for your hospitality. I pray that we may be in a significant ministry together in the years to come. You are invited to our Gilbert yard sale sometime in the next 12 months. I am only cooperating with the sale to prove to my husband that I can live without so much clutter. After the sale he will take all the leftover “junk” to the land fill and maybe then I will have some peace!
I seriously do pray that as Christian people you will go gently and go lightly, go safe in the spirit, live simply, don’t carry more than you need; go trusting God’s goodness, go spreading God’s kindness, stay centered on Jesus and where he will lead. Go singing, go bringing the gifts of the spirit, go hopefully searching for things that are true; in living, in loving, whatever befalls you, God keep you, God bless you in all that you do (Hope Publishing co., 2003, by Carol Stream.). Amen.
