Pentecost 7 C: The Ongoing Mission of the 70
Dear Partner in Preaching,
Four loosely connected thoughts on this passage that I hope will inspire your preaching this week.
First, and mainly for you: you cannot do this alone. Notice that Jesus sent out the disciples in pairs. Why? With two, there is always someone to be encouraging if one of the pair is discouraged, to keep faith if one is dispirited, and to carry on when one feels tempted to quit. This discipleship thing can be hard, but it’s always easier with a companion. And the same is true with preaching! So if you have a healthy text study group available, go. If you don’t (or even if you do), try out a podcast like Sermon Brainwave or Pulpit Fiction. Or start a Monday or Tuesday bible-study with your parishioners on the coming week’s texts. Actually, don’t call it a Bible study (that may intimidate some folks); call it a book club – after all, you’re reading and talking about one of the greatest books of all time! Again, there is no reason to go through this journey – preaching or faith – alone, Dear Partner. So don’t!
Second, and particularly for your congregation: I’ve heard a lot of folks despair over the decline of the church and then go on to describe their own feelings of helpless. “We’re not big enough to make a difference…” or “We’re not rich enough,” or “we don’t have the resources,” or…well, you get the idea. Notice, however, that Jesus sends out 70 disciples. Not 700 or 7000, but 70. And think of what they accomplish! Not only in this story, with the powers of evil submitting to them, but also and especially in the months and years ahead, as this is the group is the core of the disciples who, after Pentecost, will preach and teach the Gospel and take the good news to the ends of the earth. In later years their descendants will build hospitals and orphanages and refugee centers and all manner of institutions that profoundly touch the lives around them. Just 70 people in the beginning, and with faith and courage they changed the world.
And here’s what I find interesting: the last time I checked, the average worshiping attendance of an ELCA congregation was – you guessed it – 70. And I suspect that’s true of other mainline traditions as well. So perhaps, Dear Partner, we might remind our folks this week that God has this intriguing habit of accomplishing incredible things with the most unlikely folks, even the ordinary people we happen to serve.
Third, and for all of us: what I find particularly amazing about this passage is not the miracles but the willingness to be dependent on others. Think about it: no purse, no bag, no sandals and, importantly, no guarantees about how they will be received. All they have is the promise of Jesus to go with them, to do great things through them, and to bring them home again. I sometimes wonder if we could match the decline of the church to the rise in disposable income in our cultures. There is something about wealth that creates the illusion of independence, that insulates us (at least for a time) from the vicissitudes of life, and that spurs us to image that we don’t really need God or each other.
Our culture consistently and compellingly suggests that security is found through our possessions, encouraging us to spend, consume, and buy to satisfy any impulse or whim we may have, promising that these purchases will secure for us a sense of well-being. But what if these behaviors only draw us further from God and heighten our sense of insecurity by pushing us to value things rather than people and to look to possessions for our a sense of security rather than to turn to God. Which is why I think, Dear Partner, we may want to encourage some faithful dependence this week, inviting our folks to practice relying on each other for help, encouragement and support, and on God through prayer to satisfy their deeper needs. There are few things more satisfying and life giving, it turns out, than sharing with others, giving of our abundance, receiving in our need, all the while being knit more closely together as the Body of Christ.
A congregation I know decided to emphasize several of these thoughts in an exercise they did a few years ago. A number of members decided not to purchase anything (other than the necessities of food, etc.) for six months. They discovered through this exercise how often they were tempted to buy something they really didn’t need, how much they had to give away to others in need from the purchases not made, and how difficult this exercise was to complete absent the fellowship and encouragement of the rest of the group. You might consider something similar in your own context.
Finally, one more thought for all of us: The harvest is still plentiful and the laborers are still few. In a recently published study, for instance, it was reported that in the ELCA alone there are currently 600 open full-time-equivalent pastoral vacancies, and that even when anticipating some congregations will shrink or close, in four years that number will likely grow to 1000. For this reason, I would invite you to actively and consistently keep your eyes out for people with gifts for ministry, encourage them to consider seminary, share the challenges and joys you’ve experienced through your call, and invite them into leadership now, as that experience will help them discern their own path of service.
There are a number of great seminaries for you to tell folks about, and I’d encourage you to lift up the one nearest and dearest to you. I also want you to know that as a result of the reconfiguration the Philadelphia and Gettysburg seminaries are going through to become a unified school, we are now able to help all students attend seminary with full tuition support. We’re doing this in two ways: for full-time, residential, ELCA candidates for rostered ministry, we’re able to offer full tuition scholarships because of the generous support of donors, synods, and the ELCA. For all other students – from all traditions, part time, those participating in our distributed learning program, etc. – we are matching all aid from congregations or church bodies up to 100%. We could not do this without unifying the two schools, making the decision to put students first and therefore maintaining facilities and a faculty that makes this level of student aid the fixed commitment of our new venture. We also could not do this without the generous support of so many donors, partners, and supporters, and for that I am tremendously grateful.
And I am grateful for you as well, Dear Partner, for your life of faith, for your commitment to preaching the Word, for the sacrifices you’ve made to do so, and for your care for our Church that started with these seventy and their trust in the Lord Jesus. Blessings on your proclamation, ministry, and life.
Yours in Christ,
David
PS: It’s not too late for qualified candidates to apply for seminary at LTSP or LTSG and, I suspect, at many other schools, so please if you know of someone thinking about seminary, let them know there’s still time to come and be part of the laborers commissioned to bring in the bountiful harvest our Lord is preparing!
Post image: “Christ Sends Out the Seventy Disciples Two-By-Two,” James Tissot, 1836-1902.
David, Wow, the information you offer about openings in the ELCA is staggering. I am in the Pacific Northwest and we have a glut of clergy in the Episcopal Church and I have been told the situation is similar in the ELCA in the region. Many congregations are moving toward calling part-time clergy, so there are even fewer FTE openings.
I am very impressed by the level of support your church is offering seminarians.
Thanks David for reminding us of the importance of depending on God and one another. Our own local congregation could not continue to exist without active, committed lay ministers. We need to support and celebrate their ministries too.
Absolutely true, Carol. More and more of our congregations will rely on lay ministers and as a church we need to support, equip, and give thanks for them as well. Thank you.
Wonderful news about what’s happening with Gettysburg and Philadelphia – thank you, David, for your visionary leadership to put students first and institutional loyalties second (or third or fourth). I hope our seminaries out West are paying close attention!
Also, thanks for another great reflection on the gospel text. I plan to preach a “listicle” type sermon along similar lines. Having just come back from vacation in Europe I’m going to use the experience of traveling as lens to view the text. With a little help from Rick Steve’s interview in the last Living Lutheran, here’s my top six recommendations for travel (and discipleship.
1. Travel light
2. Expect discomort
3. Travel in pairs
4. Eat the food you’re given
5. Keep an open mind
6. You don’t always have to make reservations
Keep up the good work, Dr. Lose. I read your posts every week, they are almost always helpful and always encouraging.
That’s a great list, Drew, for travel and discipleship! Thank you…all the way around.
Found this information which confirms your suspicion: “The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings, according to the National Congregations Study”(NCS)http://www.soc.duke.edu/natcong/ .