July 8 2007

This is just an experiment.I am going to post my sermon notes from Sunday. It still has the typos and the odd spacing and phrasing that I use for my oral delivery but if you are determined enough, you might be able to make sense of it.
PUMC JULY 8, 2007 Luke 10 sending of the 70 Field Ed and the Art of Burglary

Once upon a time, far away , there was a family. This family was very well cared for by their father ; but their father was a burglar..a thief, by trade.
He was very good at what he did .Some people say he was the one of the best.
And so the family had every thing they needed. As the years went by, the older children all grew up and went off on their own ways.But one of the younger children watched his father with fascination and with sorrow. He could see that his father was slowing down. He couldn’t do the things that he used to do with such grace and ease. But there were younger children still to be raised in this family and he wondered who would be able to take care of them. Finally ,after thinking about this for a long time, this young son decided that he would be the one to follow in his father's footsteps.And so , respectfully ,he went to his father and said,
“Father... will you teach me the family trade?”
The father was delighted . At last there would be someone to follow him!
And so one night he took his son out on a raid. Before they left the father told the son what they were going to do that evening.
He went over the plans with him...told him the layout of the house and the grounds.
He told him the general steps for how they would steal the kind of things they wanted. So the father and the son were silent as they slipped into the grounds, past the fences and the dogs; past the servants and into the great house. The people were rich and the place was well guarded.But the father,leading his son, was so skilled.
Once inside,they tiptoed up stairs and they found huge wardrobes and chests full clothes,kimonos..and jewels.
After pointing to his son to go into one of these huge wardrobe closets
and telling him to take only the best,The father went on to look elsewhere.
The son of course obeyed. But as soon as he was inside the wardrobe,the father turned around,closed the door, slid the bolt over the latch and locked his son inside!
Then the father slipped back downstairs and went out the front door.
Then he started yelling and banging on the windows....
He was yelling "thief... thief..thief! Right away,chaos broke loose
dogs were barking,everyone was up and running around;looking for the intruders.
The father slipped away without being seen.
Now back inside the wardrobe closet that poor young men was sweating
and thinking of his father.He had no idea that his father could be so cruel .
This was a dangerous thing to do
It was a side of his father that he had never seen before; a man who could be so heartless to leave his son alone and in such jeopardy;
not only deserting him but setting him up to be caught
The son was desperate and about to panic. This was hopeless!

Mean while,the residents of the house realized that the thieves had already left.
There was no sign of them and nothing seemed to be broken or missing.

Yet, inside the closet the young man was trying to figure out how to get out without getting caught. He calmed himself down. And he made himself think carefully
Then this idea came to him.. He got up and made this scratching sound or the sound of a rat that was trapped. A young women heard the sound and carefully opened th latch bolt from the door. And as soon as the young man heard the bolt slide away he pushed open the door and ran. He remembered instinctively, the way he and his father had come in. He ran for his life , out of the house ,across the grounds of the estate. But he was spotted. The moon was full that night. The servants were after him in a flash. Suddenly while he was running, he remembered a large well...more like a cistern, just off the path. He picked up a large stone and dumped it into the well and then he kept on running. The servants chasing him heard the sound of the splash and thought the thief had fallen in.
So they gathered around the well,looking down into the dark,
looking to find this bugler thrashing in the water or trying to get out.

Meanwhile,the young man went running all the way home to the safety of his house.

He ran in, slammed the door and turned to see his father facing him.

The father had this huge grin. His arms were open wide and waiting to hug him.
The boy was fuming at his father.... blaming him for this trick,this deception,
when he heard the father say to him. “Congratulations.... you have learned the art of burglary....you are truly worthy to follow in my footsteps.

That is the end of the story. Well I know it’s a strange parable. It’s a story from the Buddhist teaching tradition.
Of course you know the story is not about stealing and deception at all.
(so don’t get hung up on that part of the story)

It is the deeper lesson about learning and its about figuring out things,
facing things that you didn’t plan to deal with;it's about being a problem solver
...its about leaning to discover new insights and new kinds of power when you are in new territory and under pressure. Maybe its about facing your fears and being pushed way out of your comfort zone.
And the father knows that somehow,this is how his son is going to learn how to be his follower and learn the art,and to survive and to grow.


Now take that story and put it along side the gospel lesson in Luke 10
I hear something like that story in the way that Jesus sends out these followers.
Go on ,he said..Out on your own ...go on ahead of me..

But I m sending you,(Now get this!)....like sheep among wolves...actually its like lambs out in the wolf pack.Eugene Peterson has the words.. "Be careful.. this is hazardous work."
But you notice that Jesus also said that the harvest is ready
In one sense he is telling them that the place is rich with what we are looking for and the time is right,its going to be good picking. The harvest is ready.
But it is hazardous...dangerous...pray for help,Jesus says..

And then.listen to the other words in here: travel light,
no extra luggage,not even a purse or a begging bag or shoes,
Don’t stop and get all wrapped up In the usual formalities and customs that might slow you down.
NOW...What does all of this mean for us...?

I hear a sense of living in a new way,a new level of trust.
What if Jesus is saying to us United Methodists today ..."stop hauling around your old baggage,lighten your load for the sake of ministry...Get rid of the things that you don’t need any more;anything that will slow you down or keep you from your effectiveness.
Go out front and move ahead..out of the ordinary routines and practices.
What if Jesus is also sending those 70 disciples..and sending us...out to learn different ways of living and serving...Not with the usual baggage with your begging bags and shoes and social customs that you think you just have to have.

....
I cant imagine all the questions those 7o must have had:

"Jesus,how could you do this to us, you are not even coming with us and now you won't even let us even take a back pack. We can't do it that way!
And we are supposed to go into places that may or may not welcome us !
And we are supposed to heal the sick,and we are supposed to preach the presence
and the nearness....the power of God ...the kingdom of God has come near to you..

Jesus,how do we know.. we can do any of this ?

But then starting in verse 17,we hear about the return of the 70 ...and they come back ...amazed! I think they surprised themselves.

Even the demons obeyed us when we gave a command in your name. They came back saying “,this works.. this is possible...this is real;we can do this.!
Now they are believers...

Here is the question : Would they have figured that out if they had just been watching Jesus do those things ? “Oh we know Jesus can do it..”
But now its their first hand experience.They have gone solo so to speak..

Kind of Like the young son having to figure his own way out
of that locked cabinet.They discover something about their resources and possibilities. They can face the demons.

Or as Jesus adds;the snakes and the scorpions and everything else that the enemy has...But they needed to figure that out.
This is field education. And I'm convinced that ultimately ministry becomes field education and first hand experience..or it becomes not that much at all!

And then Jesus says in verse 20...well ....the thing to be celebrating
is not your authority but the factthat God has authority and God's power is with you

But again..it was something they had to discover and experience on their own.
They needed to go out and walk the talk and get off the sidelines;
Just as the son in that burglary story had to learn.

Let my try to bring all of this closer to the church today.We have had 36 years of continuous membership decline for the united Methodist church here in the United States.When I started as a pastor 26 years ago we had 9 million members.Now its about 8 million. (I didn't personally lose a million members..but I have felt it.)

This kind of decline is also true try for Lutherans, Presbyterians, UCC and Episcopal and a lot of other mainline churches. A big part of that is plain old demographics.. ...And several factors are involved but what it also means is
that we can not just keep doing the same old thing. New efforts have to be made;
new ideas have to be tried;new ground has to get covered.

We can't just do business as usual and say "that's who we are and that isthe only way we do it." So maybe we need to strip down and drop some baggage. Old institutions behaviors,and traditions have to be examined.
The Annual conference did some pruning this year. We are going to have one less district...from 6 to 5; kind of like leaving some baggage I suppose. Don’t misunderstand me...I am not saying that District superintendents are just baggage!)

But that’s not enough. My experience is that we united Methodists are too passive and too dependent and to much in our comfort zones. We don't go out enough with our own local initiative and creativity.
Sometimes we wait for the conference to come and tell us what to do and we expect the conference to give us a program and so on. We stay on the sidelines.
"They" have to solve the problem. And soemtimes as a denomiantion we do have some wonderful programs and resources...such as the Igniting Ministry materials.
But the gospel lesson this morning gives us a different model:
"You go ahead and do it"..figure it out..learn to be a problem solver.Learn to be a problem solver

The fields is ready; the wolves are out there too. You may be afraid. But go face the unknown.Get out there and live by God!
Don’t just live by your institutional labels and the old baggage of this “is how we do it.”
I know, the wolves of habit and custom and resistance to change are going to be there..and they bite hard....maybe you have been bit a few times already.
But the language of United Methodist leadership today is now telling us
to be bold ...take a risk; be willing to experiment-face the wolves.

Are you willing do that? In a deeper way, that’s who we really are as United Methodists. The genius of the early Methodist movement was that it started something different ...and they got out of the Church buildings;
they went to the streets and the prisons and the marketplaces and to the poor
and they had to leave behind some of the high church trappings...and John and Charles Wesley both struggled with this.They had to do some things..that for them seemed religiously improper or not formal enough
Still..they invented new music... and new organizations and rules.
They had to live and learn by prayer.... and the creativity of the holy spirit
They had to rely on their spiritual wits.
It was controversial.It was unsettling. They often had disagreements...but it was alive; it was field education. How do we do that today?

Here in the Minnesota conference we have set two imperatives;
Hear that?
Imperatives..not options or suggestions or nice ideas.
Things that must done.... they are so important.. Its urgent:
reach new people...young people...unchurched people...
People of new cultural and ethnic presence in our communities...

And also cultivate spiritual vitality.
What will it take for us to reach new people?
You gotta see them..go to them,,invite them ..include them.....be willing to adapt for them. And its up to you

What does it take to cultivate spiritual vitality? I'm looking at some new spiritual formation study groups this fall. I hope you will be there.Not just hear about it; But try it.
What it will it take for you to grow?
for you to learn the art of discipleship..unless you do it.
the art of prayer ...unless you do it
the art of compassion and sacrifice or forgiveness or service;
unless you do it.
What will it take for you to learn the art of true community?
Don’t we have to just try and do it,,,
even it if seems to be going to far?
How do you think you will learn the art of trust and patience unless you let yourself be stretched beyond your comfort..your trust and your patience
unless you just get put out there to do it..

Is Jesus sending you? Is Jesus commissioning Park United Methodist Church to go out into the field?

*The art of Burglary is a Buddhist teaching story that I found in Megan McKennas book Blessings and Woes