Preached by the Rev. Tammy Martens on Sunday, June 28, 2009
I had the great fortune in the summer of 1996 to take a group of elementary age children from Wisconsin to a church camp in Iowa called Camp Quaker Heights. Some of the kids had never traveled very far and so leaving Sauk County in Wisconsin was breaking new ground for them. Our journey took us to north/central Iowa where the camp was located. When we got there, the kids had some free time to move into their cabins and simply get acclimated to the camp. One boy, Cory, who was a second grader, enjoyed this new opportunity to explore and meet new kids. But not long after he got there, he came back to the main lodge to find me. He looked white as a ghost and I was really worried that something bad had happened to him. When I asked him what was wrong, he said to me in a very serious and troubled voice, “Tammy, no one here likes the Packers.” This little boy was stunned! He had gone around to meet new kids, had asked them about football, and was shocked to find out that in this strange place called Iowa, children grow up having no interest in the Packers. This definitely was a foreign land and Cory did not feel comfortable, he did not feel welcome.
As an adult I can chuckle at Cory’s experience because it’s cute and funny and I know that as the week of camp progressed Cory did find his way and did make friends. But I also know that Cory’s experience of feeling unwelcome was very real to him. It was a very teachable moment for me. I have come back to this story time and again because it makes me think a lot about the power of feeling welcome and the power of feeling unwelcome.
As we look at this passage from Luke, we see that it is also deals with the act of being welcomed. Here we see Jesus gathering up some people, 72 to be exact, and sending them out to share the message with others that God’s kingdom is near. Jesus wants to get the message out and he alone can’t do it. His instructions are pretty minimal but the most important direction he gives has to do with the concept of being welcomed. If the followers feel welcome in a place, they are to stay there, eat there, heal the sick and share the news that God’s kingdom is near. If they don’t feel welcome, they are to wipe the dust from their feet and move on. So a lot hinges on the act of being welcomed.
Now often this passage has been used as a sort of launching pad for evangelism, and has been used a lot to commission missionaries as they go out and share the good news of God’s kingdom. But as I thought about this passage and how we try and share faith, love and God’s peace with others, it occurred to me that perhaps this scripture passage gives us directions for something I call reverse evangelism.
I would like to do a fun exercise that will help in expanding our imagination in how we share God’s love and peace with others. We are fortunate as a community of faith Sunday after Sunday to have many visitors walk through the doorway of this church building. All come with a rich and unique history; some come with a positive church experience, some come with indifference or no church experience, some come with lots of suspicion and hurt but still are not ready to give up on church. What does it feel like to come and visit a church for the first time?
Let’s imagine then that this particular Scripture passage was not written for people who are going out to share the good news of God but was written for people who are coming into church for the first time. The words might go something like this: “Go, I am sending you in like lambs among wolves…when you enter a church first say, ‘Peace to this church.’ If someone there shares in peace, your peace will remain on them. If not, it will return to you…stay in that church eating and drinking whatever they give you…do not move around from place to place.”
Wow, the first sentence is really almost a warning—watch out! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. It can be tough out there in those churches. For someone who comes with deep mistrust and suspicion towards the church, he or she may indeed feel a bit like a lamb among wolves. I am amazed at the strength and courage some people have to try the church again after being hurt or rejected.
Others who come may not feel so much like a lamb among wolves but may feel awkward and uncomfortable trying to figure out the order of worship and where to sit and how to jump over people to get to an empty seat. They may want to go to the fellowship time afterwards but are scared to death that no one will invite them to sit down and talk with them. It can feel quite intimidating to navigate this new terrain called church with all its funny terms and acronyms. For instance, how many of you know what AFF stands for? Or YFF? Or OWL? Or NGI? Or ORUCC? This is my third year here and I’m still learning.
And so words of advice to persons who are seeking a faith community; be careful out there, it’s tricky, it’s sometimes hard to find your way. It’s sometimes hard to find a good welcome.
Continuing with this concept then of reverse evangelism, as people come into the church what’s the first thing they are to look for? Not good music (but that helps), not a good facility (but that’s nice), not a good children’s program (but that doesn’t hurt), not good preaching (but that could be a real advantage). If we look at this text as if Jesus was telling us how to be the church and how to welcome folks into the church the first thing visitors are to look for is peace; a shared peace; a peace that breathes life and goodness and wholeness. If this peace is felt and shared; the welcome is real. Stay and keep staying.
I love this idea of a “shared peace.” When Jesus shared these words with his disciples, he was instructing them to pay attention to where they find peace. They were to stay as a guest only if there was already a certain level of peace experienced in the house. The followers of Jesus didn’t have sole ownership of peace; the Spirit of Peace was already at work in the world. The followers of Jesus were to find where the pockets of peace were and then build on that peace with the message that God’s kingdom was near.
For those who come and visit this community of faith, what we can offer them is peace; not a warm, fuzzy feeling of peace. But a peace that is lived out from the center of our beings; a peace that is felt and experienced because we have been touched deeply by the love, grace, and forgiveness of God; a peace that springs up out of the realization that we are deeply loved and accepted by God; a peace that penetrates our ways of life and moves us to work for a more just and stable world. This is the peace of Christ we share; it oozes out of everything we do.
The welcome then we offer springs forth from the Spirit of Peace. It is a quality of being; our way of life. This is the power of the welcome that we share.
And as we live in this peace and share this peace, we announce to all the good news that the kingdom of God has come near.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
