HELLO!

I look forward to seeing some of you at 10 am this Sunday (June 14^th). In our Gospel text Jesus tells the disciples to go to the lost sheep…the helpless ones…the ones without a shepherd and give them good news. It starts with compassion – feeling another’s pain – and responding with hope. It’s the essence of doing ministry. But doing ministry the way Jesus tells us to do ministry is challenging, because these “lost sheep” are the ones who expose the evil of the world we have created. The harassed and helpless ones remind us how cruel people can be to one another. Their hurt reveals the consequences of injustice. That is why they remain so invisible to us. So then, we “found sheep” could go on living in the deceptive comfort of our illusions. But Jesus says, go to them.

Go to them and confront their pain with them. Tell the unclean spirits that torment their minds and distort their self-image, “You have NO power!” Tell the religious elite and scripture shouters who are quick to judge and slow to serve, “You have NO power!” Tell the politicians who ignore the sin of poverty in a land of plenty, “You have NO power!” Tell those who preach a message of fear and hate, “You have NO power!”

Renowned Preacher and writer Barbara Brown Taylor says, “What keeps nagging at me, though, is the way he sent them out—no money, no shoes, not even a walking stick. Why send them out with so much power and so few accessories? The way Jesus set it up, they could not provide for others out of their own abundance. There is a Buddhist custom that seems to have something to do with this story. Buddhist seekers of the truth in Cambodia spend a year living as beggars. They go from village to village wearing nothing but a robe and owning nothing but a begging bowl, asking strangers to supply their most basic needs. After the year is over, they are free to return to their former ways of life, but none return the same person. They learn whatever others gave them came from what others had been given. What must it be like not only to talk dependence on God but to live it for a year, understanding that reliance on God equals reliance on the hospitality of others? That kind of knowledge can change a person for good. After a year like that, you could hardly take your turn at a soup kitchen and hold “others” separate from yourself?

Perhaps we are tempted to believe passages such as this have absolutely nothing to do with us. If even these twelve very complicated disciples (Matthew was a tax collector, Peter was a hothead, Thomas was a doubter) can be called to do Jesus’ work, so can people like us. The truth is: this passage, that may seem strange and outdated on the surface, has everything in the world to do with us. “The harvest is plentiful and the labourers are few” says Jesus. God is calling every one of us to heal the sick, cast out demons and raise the dead. What will be our response?

Peace, Kevin

PS When I was at St. Luke’s United Church in Tantallon to preside at my friend Mike’s funeral last week I happened to see this painting on the office wall. I had left the print there in 2013 and forgotten all about it. The print rested on our living room wall, from my birth in 1963, until my father sold the house in 2007. When I mentioned this to Elaine, the Office Manager, she immediately said, “take it”. I did and it now hangs where an old JFK print once did (I have given it away). I note the artist is Lola Mould. I Googled her, she was born in Cape Breton in 1908. There is very little info to be found. I did see a Facebook post, but I could not open it. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1381655195181298&id=262100000470162&set=a.305817282765100 If there is any more bio on her, please cut and paste it, and send it my way. I am not on Facebook.