Vacations are wonderful things. Linda and I have been back from our vacation for a week, but the memories are still fresh, and we still feel rested and renewed by our time away. We need time away in order to rest from our normal routines. Time away also gives us perspective. It’s a very human thing to take our daily lives and the many people with whom we work and play for granted. Dorothy had to travel to the Land of Oz and back before she came to that famous conclusion, “There’s no place like home.”
One of the things we enjoy doing while we’re away is visiting other churches on Sunday. Please forgive me for what I am about to say, because I think there may be an element of pride in it. One thing that always occurs to me when I visit other churches, even though I do appreciate the blessing of being wherever I happen to be, is how blessed we are at Redeemer. It’s not easy to find a lot of young people in churches I visit, and especially young people who serve as acolytes and members of the choir. And speaking of the choir—how blessed we are to have our amazing choir. The whole liturgy here is so alive. You actually appear to enjoy being here. The way you say your prayers and participate in the liturgy communicates that you appreciate being here and that you enjoy the worship of Almighty God. I don’t find these things everywhere I visit. In fact, wherever we go to church when on vacation, even though I appreciate being wherever I am, and always enjoy meeting the people wherever I am, there’s also a little part of me that whispers “There’s no place like home.”
So, whenever you find yourself away on a Sunday, I urge you to find a church, find out when the masses are, and attend. It takes a little effort, but it’s worth the effort. I suspect one of the benefits will be the realization of what a blessing we have as members of the Church of the Redeemer.
St. Luke tells us that Jesus sent out 70 disciples to go ahead of him into the towns and places where he would eventually go himself. These were obviously people who had spent time with him, people who had been taught by him, people whom he knew well enough, and trusted enough, to send them as emissaries for himself. They were to go in pairs, doing a kind of John the Baptist thing, preparing the way of the Lord. And there was urgency in their task. They were to take nothing with them, relying on the hospitality of the people they visited, not even taking time to greet people they saw along the way.
But they were to go with their eyes opened. They might not be received in a positive way. Jesus says he sends them out as “lambs in the midst of wolves.” They are to begin their mission by saying, “Peace be to this house.” If they are received in a positive way, they are to eat what is set before them, heal the sick, and proclaim, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” If they are not accepted, they are to go into the streets, shake the dust off of their feet, stating in effect that these people have rejected Jesus himself, because they represent Jesus.
What was that peace they were to offer in the homes they visited? It didn’t mean the absence of struggle or even conflict. It didn’t even mean an absence of suffering and martyrdom. All of these things would be a part of the life of the disciples at some point. The peace they were speaking of is the very presence of God. When God is present, a person can handle anything. That’s what St. Paul meant when he spoke of that peace of God which passeth all understanding.
It must have been an exciting mission! Here they have spent time with, as Deacon David said last week, the greatest preacher that has ever lived. Without fully realizing it, they have spent time with God himself. This amazing person, for whom they have the greatest respect, has asked them to represent him, to prepare the way for him to come. What an awesome responsibility, and yet, what an honor.
If you have been baptized, you have basically been made a disciple of Jesus. You may not have thought about it in this way, but you spend time with Jesus, hearing his teachings in church, and perhaps even reading his teachings during the week at home. You have an intimate relationship with him, for he enters your life in a very tangible way when you receive his Body and Blood in Holy Communion. You may feel very close to him, or on the other hand, you may not feel that you’re very close to him. Some of you have even experienced miracles through him, having been healed of some malady in body, mind, or spirit. No matter how close or how distant you feel toward our Lord Jesus, you’re here today, and I suspect that somewhere, deep down, each of us has a hope that he or she will be touched by God by being here. I have that hope. In fact, I know that I will be touched by God, and I do experience God touching my life in profound ways through what happens in our worship and in other aspects of our common life.
I believe that God wants each one of us to experience his presence. He wants to touch you and me through our worship. God wants a relationship with each of us. In fact, he has put a need for him in our hearts so that until we respond to him something very basic in life is missing. St. Augustine said it this way: “Thou hast made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
And yet, it doesn’t end with that relationship. God calls each of us to respond by being willing to be sent to be his emissaries in the world, just like the 70 Jesus sent to prepare the way for him. God wants to bring his healing touch to others through you. That’s the way the Gospel is spread, from one person to another.
Let’s imagine that you choose to see yourself as one of the 70 in today’s Gospel. What would happen if you went to a friend’s house and said, “Peace be to this house,” and then said something having to do with your faith, like “You know I’m a Christian, and you and I have never talked about it, but I just wanted you to know that God’s peace is available to you, and I’m available to you if you ever need me.” That might open a door for you to share your faith with a friend.
Some of you might be saying to yourselves, “Well, that’s never going to happen.” One very easy way to bring people to Christ (and to know Christ is to know his peace), is by inviting them to church. Have you ever invited someone to come to church with you? When was the last time you did that? Susanna Metz, who until recently was a professor at Sewanee, University of the South, said, “We try many glitzy, prepackaged, costly programs to try to get folks to join us for church. It’s been proven that a simple word-of-mouth invitation to a neighbor or friend is the most successful way to get people to ‘come and see.’”
Do you know what you have here, at Redeemer? Linda and I have a renewed appreciation for our Redeemer home and we want to share that with others. Don’t you want to share that with others as well? It’s not unique to Redeemer, but what the Church has to offer is eternal life itself. It is a saving relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ.