Proper 9 (C) + The harvest is plentiful + 7.3.16

(http://cctv-africa.com/2016/02/22/
despite-the-drought-grape-harvest-is-bountiful-in-south-africa/)

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

Proper 9 (C) + 7.3.16

(2 Kings 5:1–14; Ps. 30; Galatians 6:(1–6), 7–16; Luke 10:1–11, 16–20)

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

How true this is today.

And it is not easy. We are sent as lambs among wolves. There are forces in this world that simply do not want the truth to out. But we are called to be wise and brave, even in environments in which we feel like the lamb among the wolves.
This is not meant to make us feel enmity to our fellow human beings. Note that Jesus says that even as these seventy go out unprepared, they are to proclaim Peace and the Nearness of the Kingdom of God, no matter whether they are accepted or not. It is very interesting here that they go out before Jesus. Jesus, who in the cosmic sense has been with us from the beginning, sometimes lets us present him to others before he comes into their lives officially. How true that is.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Note that no one would have felt more like lambs among wolves than these very first followers of the way. They weren’t even called Christians yet! What, you are worshipping one God, but you are not a Jew, and you talk about loving each other, in this climate! Sheesh, what are you, nuts?
It is interesting to note that many Christians in our country right now feel very much like lambs among wolves. With the changes in acceptance of gay marriage and other shifts that they see as the secularization of US culture, many evangelicals feel left behind by the US culture. Ignored.

One author described it thus: “We have to accept that we really are living in a culturally post-Christian nation. The fundamental norms Christians have long been able to depend on no longer exist.”[1] These Christians have felt themselves in a corner, and now feel they need to participate in a culture war to reclaim what they see as Christian values.

And yet we as Christians, whether we identify with this embattled group, or whether we have found that the cultural shifts do make sense with our faith and our reading of the Bible, and in fact lead to a better way of living out our faith; whatever kind of Christian we are---we are sent.

We are sent to be guests. To treat each other with gentleness, not judgement. Note even when Paul is talking about correcting each other in this passage from Galatians, he emphasizes gentleness. Gentleness. Gentleness. Even when at times, he struggled with this very thing.

Now, in this moment, we Christians have a call. We are sent to this hurting world. To look past differences—whether they be differences within our group or without. At the time of Paul the stumbling block that presented itself was circumcision. Today it is about gay or straight. It is about Muslim or Christian or Jew or agnostic or a host of other options. It is about white, black and brown and all the rainbow of God’s beautifully created children. We must not ignore how these things affect our values and our lives. But we cannot let them be a mark that distinguishes and silos us. We cannot afford to be petty or small-minded.

Because there are things that need healing in this world.

The families of the dead in the airport in Turkey can tell us something about this. The Puerto Rican and Floridian and other parents of largely Latino young gay adults in Orlando can tell us something about this. Because in big love or big grief, and often in both, you realize, very few distinctions matter. God’s love and peace, and being about the business of spreading it, those things matter.

This is what we are about as the kingdom of God. All the time I look for signs of the kingdom of God. One I read about recently was written by a man who lived in a slum in India. This unlikely setting for the Kingdom of God told me a bit of what it is like to truly care for each other in gentleness. He describes how his neighbors, at great relative financial cost and inconvenience, brought him hot water to bathe after a long day. Reflecting on that act, he said:

In a sense, the ghetto existed on a foundation of those anonymous unthankable deeds; insignificant and almost trivial in themselves, but collectively essential to the survival of the slum. We soothed our neighbours’ children as if they were our own when they cried. We tightened a loose rope on someone else’s hut when we noticed it sagging, and adjusted the lay of a plastic roof as we passed by. We helped one another, without being asked, as if we were all members of one huge tribe, or family, and the thousand huts were simply rooms in our mansion home.[2]

As if the thousand huts were simply rooms in our mansion home. What if we lived that way? Caring for each other in that way? It may be about material needs as it was in the aforementioned slum. But often in our world I see it as something more intangible. Small acts like when I see someone slowing to check in with a stranded motorist, not just assuming that he or she has a cell phone and is self- sufficient. Or even things like spending a minute or a half an hour longer to talk with someone in need even if there are things on your to-do list. When we act as if people matter and not just technology. When we see each other as more than a means to an end.

The kingdom of God is near. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Go, and be fore-runners for Jesus in other’s lives. Go and spread peace. Go, and do not hold onto resentments if you are rejected. Go, and help other Christians live into their true Christian call. Go, even if you feel unprepared.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Go and spread peace. You are called. Peace precedes you and peace will follow you. The kingdom of God is near. Amen.

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[1] David Brooks, “The Next Culture War,” NY Times, June 30, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/opinion/david-brooks-the-next-culture-war.html?_r=0.

[2] Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2003), 316. (Note: while this book has some beautiful insights, should you decide to read it, do so with caution, as it has many violent and adult scenes.)