PROPER 9C - Isaiah 66:10-16; Psalm 66:1-8; Galatians 6:1-10, 14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 16-20 -

8 July 2007 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

Thinking and Ministering in Pairs

 

INTRODUCTION - iPod routine

 

(Listening to an iPod by myself - then inviting someone else to come up and share the headphones with me)

 

I’m a little behind the times. I don’t have my own iPod yet. This one belongs to my son, Zach. And now Apple has come out with the iPhone. (For a mere what - $500 or $600? - you could have one.) Being a preacher, perhaps I think about cultural stuff more than some folks, but when the iPod first came out, I thought to myself, “They’ve finally done it. They aren’t hiding it anymore. They’re just putting it right out there with no excuses, no subtlety at all - how much the individual reigns supreme in our culture. Sure, it’s a lower case “I”. But nevertheless, the “I” is right there in the name - iPod. What will be next?” Well, it turns out, it’s the iPhone. And, if they had some sort of special computer technology in them, we would have the iPencil, the iPen, the iGuitar.. The iBible, perhaps? As obsessed as we are with the automobile, it makes you wonder why no one has thought of the iCar.

 

The saving grace is that there are two ear pieces on the headphones. I saw it with a young, happy couple on the New York City subway system. I’ve seen it more than once with my daughter and one of her friends in the back seat of our car, or at the kitchen table. (I don’t see it with guys quite so often, but then again, does that surprise you?) There is that moment - in my mind, that grace-filled moment - when the invitation comes. “Do you want to listen?” In fact, sometimes no words are necessary. You just hold out one of the earpieces, and point. And the next thing you know, two are enjoying the same song. The iPod, in that moment, has become what we might call the “wePod”.

 

MINISTRY IN PAIRS

 

Which brings me, naturally, to today’s Gospel lesson.

 

“The Lord appointed seventy others and sent then on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’...” (Luke 10:1-5)

 

We sometimes look at this passage and we focus on how Jesus told them to travel lightly. But I think the most significant part of this passage is the very beginning of it, the choice Jesus made before he started giving them the instructions. He “sent then on ahead of him in pairs...”

 

When you see two young men walking or bicycling around your neighborhood, perhaps in a white dress shirt, dark pants, and a dark tie, what do you immediately think? Don’t you think, “The Mormons are out today.”? Or perhaps, “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” (You might also think, “Let me go hide in the basement. I just won’t answer the doorbell.”) But do you ever think to yourself, “Jesus and the 70 in Luke 10!” Or do you ever think to yourself, “Jesus was on to something, and so are those Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ministry in pairs - that is the way to go.”

 

It strikes me that in our Lone Ranger society we are often guilty of too much Lone Ranger ministry. And when I say “we”, I am including myself.

 

There is a lot to be done out there! So says Jesus. People are ripe to hear the Good News - that God is with us and for us, wanting to lead us into that full, abundant kind of life that the world - and no amount of iPods and iPhones and iTunes - can offer.

 

Out there in the world is the unfilled, “is this all there is?” person.

 

There is the person who has been turned off by church because the message that he has heard has too often been a message of judgment, and not a message of love and welcome.

 

There is the person who is just flat-out lonely. It may be a kid who has recently moved to your neighborhood and knows no one. It may be an elderly person who has some dementia and hardly ever gets out of his/her home.

 

There is another person in the harvest who has just lost someone very close to them, due to an illness or a automobile accident or to war, and they are totally grief-stricken.

 

There is someone else who is estranged from their family and, truth be told, seems rather estranged from the world. They are hurt and angry, and wondering if there is any hope.

 

There is someone else out there who you know personally. He or she has hurt you - spoken ill of you in some way, made fun of you, or ignored you. Despite your hurt, you know enough to know that this person is lost, and desperately needing an experience of grace.

 

All these people are part of the plentiful harvest that Jesus talked about. They are all folks who are on God’s heart, people whom he longs to have back home, in the same way that the father in the Prodigal Son story was out watching, waiting for that moment when his son would finally appear in the distance, as he headed back home.

 

Jesus appoints you and me and sends us out into the harvest - this plentiful, ripe, ready-to-hear-the-Good-News harvest. And sometimes, when we hear that Jesus is calling us to go out into this harvest, we get anxious. We get anxious, because we’ve missed a key point.

 

NOT SENT OUT ALONE

 

Let me say it again - as much as for me as for you. Jesus didn’t send them out alone. He sent them out in pairs. Oh yeah, sometimes he invited James and John and Peter to go out with him, and they did things together - the four of them. It was not an “I” ministry. It was very definitely a “we” ministry.

 

Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes you and I think, “I can’t do that, Lord. I don’t know enough. I’m not sure what I’m doing.” And in churches, we are often guilty of identifying one person for a particular ministry, and pinning all our hopes on that person to carry things along. And sometimes the implicit message is: “We’re really glad you are doing this, because none of the rest of us knows how to do it. And we can breathe a sigh of relief, now, because you have this covered.”

 

Youth Ministry comes to mind. How many churches think, “Oh, if we just identify and hire that one person who is absolutely great with youth, all our problems will be solved.” And then a church hires someone, and the temptation is to abandon that person. “Oh, Garrett is here. We can move on to other things.” But Jesus sent them out in pairs. In other words, at our various youth activities that are coming up, which one of you is going to be the “assistant” Youth Minister for the day (or the weekend, or the week)?

 

We don’t do nearly enough of this pairing thing, it seems to me. We still “Lone Ranger” it too often. I must confess. I’m as guilty as anyone. When I think of a new ministry that is getting started, I don’t always think, “What two people could we get to co-lead that group or that class or that ministry?” In fact, sometimes I think, “How am I going to do this all by myself?”

 

Think for a minute of what you know of the benefits of two people, rather than one. More creative ideas. More wisdom. Mutual support built in to the process from the very beginning. Different gifts offered. One can fill in if the other is not available, and already knows what is going on. Less exhaustion and less burnout. Deeper friendships can develop. And if Jesus says that this work is not all “easy street”, that he is sending us out “like lambs into the midst of wolves” - yikes! - don’t you want some company, someone to strategize with?

 

PAIRS AT ST. AMBROSE

 

I see versions of paired ministry here and there around St. Ambrose. I see teachers sharing Sunday School classes, Chris Walther and Colleen Norwine both making announcements about the Homeless Shelter ministry. I see Altar Guild directors picking someone to be their assistant, and that person takes over the next year, and picks a new assistant. We have three people co-leading the Vision Committee right now. Sometimes we have two people lead a class together. We have brought together twelve or thirteen people to try to stay in contact with all our members, through the Community Builders ministry.

PROPER 9C, 8 July 2007

Page 4

 

But if I were to modify that, I think I’d try to find enough people so that two people could lead each sub-group. We have nine on the Vestry. But perhaps the Vestry would be more effective if we had Vestry members pair up, and lead a particular ministry or new initiative. And what about going out into the world, beyond these walls? Don’t you want a partner for that?

 

Here’s what I notice. Where we have co-leaders, we are usually more effective, and people often have a lot more fun! Things start to happen synergistically, and all heaven breaks forth! I also notice that sometimes we adopt a scarcity model rather than an abundance model. It sounds sort of like this: “Oh, we’re a small church. We don’t have enough members for there to be two leaders for every group.” But God is not into scarcity, and neither was Jesus. Jesus was always trying to point out the abundance of God.

 

Yes, the harvest is plentiful, but there are plenty of harvesters, if we just look around and see the need, and ask, “Who wants to go out into the harvest... if you can go in pairs?” Perhaps we have a leadership vacuum at times because we don’t invite you to go in pairs.

 

A NEW WAY

So, I’d like us to begin thinking more about shared ministry and shared leadership. You think you might want to take something on, but you’re feeling a little bit timid? Why not ask for someone - someone you’ve been wanting to get to know better, perhaps - to be your co-leader? Yes, it takes a little more coordinated planning to get two people together, but on the other hand, “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20)

 

The story of the Bible is that God calls to himself a people, and then sends them out to be a light to others. He does not call just one person. He does not send just one person. God is a “we’re all in this together” kind of God. We sow together. We harvest together. We celebrate together. It’s a “we-pod” enterprise.

 

What happened after he sent the seventy out in pairs? They returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” Jesus was excited for them, too. And he said, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

 

Notice that he didn’t say, “Rejoice that your name” - singular - “is written in heaven.” He said, “Rejoice that your names” - plural - “are written in heaven.”

 

Which begs the question: “What if your name was written in heaven, and you arrived and saw that you were the only one there? Would you go in?” I know what my answer would be.

 

Ministry in pairs - it’s much more fun. Let’s keep this passage before us, and keep asking ourselves, “Who else can I do this with?” I’m telling you, Jesus was on to something. Just as it is a saving grace that iPods have two ear pieces.