Text: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two
10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”
18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
Today’s keyword is “ministry.”
What, exactly, is “ministry”? How do we do it? How do we know when it’s being done? How do we know we’re doing it right?
“Ministry” is what happens when people minister. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary puts it this way: “to attend to the needs of (someone).” The example they use is “the doctor was busy ministering to the injured.”
What’s the most significant thing about this definition? It is that the words “church” or “pastor” are not even mentioned. Every time you meet the needs of someone else, you are doing ministry. That’s how we do it. It doesn’t matter what your education is, or your job is, or your age or status – none of that matters at all. If you, by some action you take, make another person’s life better, you’re ministering to that person, and that’s how you know you’re doing it right. And with that, you are, by definition, a minister.
We think of ministry as something that begins and ends in the church, or as something that is part of a church’s life, and which doesn’t extend beyond its doors. Worse yet, we often restrict ministry to something that only pastors do – and there are legions of pastors out there who foster that impression. (I struggle with that tendency, too. It’s how we “clergy types” justify our existence.) The phrase I hear again and again from clergy types is “my ministry.” Every time I hear it, it jars me. It makes me wince. “My ministry?” I think to myself. It sounds so possessive. “That’s my ministry, not yours! That’s my turf, my little corner of the Kingdom.” It sounds like something that belongs to that pastor and to no one else. It sounds like a commodity that that person doles out to others when he or she feels like it; like something you might pull out of a goody bag.
But the worst thing about that notion is that it lets people in congregations think that they do not have a part to play in ministry. I had a church member say to me some years ago that, “I come to church on Sunday to sit and hear the sermon, and that’s all I’m required to do.” I couldn’t blame him for saying that, because that’s how he had been conditioned throughout his lifetime.
At least in part, I believe that’s because he had heard probably more than one minister say those words “my ministry.” Well! If it’s his ministry, or her ministry, I don’t have to do anything but come and sit for an hour a week!
“My ministry.” I hate that phrase. I reject it totally. If you ask yourself on any given Sunday “why am I here?” and answer that question with “so Pastor Bill can have something to do,” then we are in big trouble!
Your answer to the question “Why am I here?” goes – hopefully – something like this: “I am here because St. John’s has changed my life. I am a supporting member of St. John’s so that it can also change and transform the lives of others. I am here because I want to do my part to make that happen.”
So, let me say, here and now, that I do not have a ministry. We have a ministry. Yes, there are certain specific things I do. Presiding at Holy Communion is, for me, the most significant one. Preaching the Gospel on Sunday mornings follows close behind. But even these things are done as part of the larger ministry that we share, because neither one can happen if there’s no congregation.
As I’ve mentioned at least once or twice before in a couple sermons, there are no sidelines in the Christian life. We’re either in it fully, or we’re not in it at all. We’re well aware that God has given us the gift of free will; but maybe we’re not so aware that with that gift comes the awesome responsibility to either say “yes” to God and live accordingly, or to say “no.”
And, as almost always happens, today I am preaching to those of you who have made the choice and have said “yes.” You wouldn’t be here otherwise (and neither would I).
On Wednesday, I had a very pleasant conversation with the Rev. Chris Myers, the pastor of the UCC church in River Falls. He’s on the Association Church and Ministry Committee, and he and the other members are visiting all the churches in the Association to get a feel for what’s going with them and their pastors. He asked me to fill out a survey, which I did.
There were two big questions in that survey. The first one was, “What in your current ministry setting gives you joy?” Here’s my response to that question:
“I derive great joy and satisfaction from being among the people of St. John’s. They are remarkable in so many ways – I like to call St. John’s ‘the little church that could, can, and does’ – whenever there’s a need, they respond with generosity and love. I have found them to be unfailingly gracious and kind. I see in the membership and in the leadership of St. John’s a deep and abiding faith and an unflagging willingness to ‘do ministry.’”
Now, note that I did nothing to create the atmosphere at St. John’s I just described. That was in full force the day I got here. You all deserve tons of credit for it.
The second question on that survey was, “Ministry is a challenge. What are the struggles in your current ministry setting?” My response to that question was a bit longer:
“Our struggles are mostly the same as those most churches have to deal with today – changing demographics, a society increasingly indifferent to what we as Christians and as the Church stand for, and limited resources of time and treasure. Additionally, though, our members have occasionally expressed a feeling of being disconnected from the wider UCC. A particular issue is that we are a country church, which poses another set of challenges, at least as far as growing our membership is concerned. We are taking steps to address the issues we can, but would appreciate any insights and wisdom other rural congregations and denominational leaders may have.
“Finally, St. John’s has faithfully served its rural community since 1865; however, times have changed, and St. John’s would benefit from any assistance the Association or Conference leadership might provide regarding just how to discern what our mission might be today. I truly believe that there is a vast untapped reservoir of potential at St. John’s, which only needs a catalyst to be released.”
Then I got a call on Friday from the Rev. Rob MacDougall, who is our new Associate Conference Minister for the Northwest Wisconsin Association, in response to the survey. Another pleasant and fruitful conversation – and he will be visiting us on Sunday, September 11th, to meet us and hopefully provide us with some insights. Part of his portfolio is to help smaller congregations just like ours. So bring your questions on September 11th!
In the meantime, though, we have to ask ourselves just what it means when we say “we have a ministry.” What can we do to release that “vast untapped reservoir of potential” that we do indeed have here? What might our mission be today?
The Gospel lesson for this morning gives us several clues. First, we read about Jesus appointing seventy-two others – note the text does not say “seventy-two men,” but seventy-two others – and sends them ahead, two by two, to every town and village he was going to visit. He doesn’t say, “Hang back here while I go and visit all these places, and I’ll send for you later;” no, he commissions them, he empowers them, he sends them.
Right off the bat, this tells us a couple very important things: 1. There’s safety in numbers, and 2. He doesn’t expect any one person to do it all alone. Because no one single person can.
Being a Christian is not a one-person show. There’s too much to do for one, or two, or ten, or fifty people. To do what Jesus commands us, it’s a matter of “all hands on deck.” So, for us, the motto might be these simple words: “Let me help.”
One thing I have heard a lot during the last few decades is that, if you want to grow your church, give new members something to do. Whatever that “something” is, large or small, it allows them to quickly become part of the group.
The second clue is the sense of urgency Jesus imparts to these seventy-two unnamed disciples. This is not meant to be some leisurely tour of the countryside. They are to remain focused on the task at hand. They aren’t even allowed to bring along an extra pair of sandals! Nothing is allowed that might distract them or slow them down.
The take-away for us here might be: “Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Many of us, myself included, let a lot of extraneous things get in our way sometimes. We feel as though we can’t act on a need, or do something for another person, until the time is right, or we’re ready, or until we have “all our ducks in a row.” But – based on his charge to those seventy-two people – Jesus says that if we wait, we lose the momentum. Those ducks will never be in a row. There will never be an absolutely right time. When we are faced with an opportunity to show others the kind of love and caring that Jesus showed, the time to act is now.
One thing that comes to mind as to the urgency of what we do has to do with our children. They are our greatest treasure. If we do not install in them, at an early age, a love of Jesus and the habit to go to church on Sunday mornings, we risk losing them to the faith and to the church – forever. So anything we can do for our children needs to be the highest priority. It’s just that simple.
Finally, there’s this: Jesus commissioned and sent seventy-two people. Seventy-two. That’s just about the same number as the members at St. John’s. Our old friend, Professor David Lose, tells us that “the last time I checked, the average worshiping attendance of an ELCA [Lutheran] congregation was – you guessed it – 70.”[1] And look what these seventy-two people accomplished: “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’” Wow! What an incredible result!
What might be the “demons” of our day? Loneliness? Injustice? Alienation? Whatever these “demons” might be, Jesus calls on us to address them – and, even better, he gives us the power to beat them. If seventy-two people, two thousand years ago, could do what Luke tells us they did, imagine what we can do today! “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.”
With that going for us, what do we have to lose?
So, Sisters and Brothers, let us embrace our ministry!
In the Name of God, the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Amen.
[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2016/06/pentecost-7-c-the-ongoing-mission-of-the-70/