“Sent By Christ, On The Journey Together” Proper 6 June 15, 2008

(The text for this sermon is Matthew 9:35 – 10:23)

(This is the sermon Pastor Ballentine will preach June 15, 2008 at the Mongai Lutheran Parish, in the Northern Diocese of Tanzania. As he speaks in English, he will have to pause while his words are translated into Swahili! The congregations of St. Stephen in Williamsburg, Virginia and the Mongai Parish have been in partnership since 1998.)

I preach very short sermons! Is that ok?

I am very honored and humbled to be asked to preach this morning. You are so very important to the congregation I serve as pastor, St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Williamsburg Virginia, in America. I have seen pictures of you brought back by Susan Deierling, and by Gene and Martha Clements, from their visits here with you in previous years. I have seen videos of your worship. I have exchanged e-mails with Pastor Minja. But none of that is like being here in person!

Through their generous gifts, my congregation has sent me here. I am so glad to bring you the love and prayers of your brothers and sisters of St. Stephen, face-to-face. Mama Jean Kuhn would most of all have liked to make this trip with me, but did not feel she could. The people of St. Stephen anxiously await my reports of my visit here.

My traveling companions and I have come a long way to be here! We got on one plane in Washington, DC (where our nation’s capital is), and we were on that plane for seven hours. Then we waited in the Amsterdam airport for three hours and then got onto another plane for another 8 hours in the air, to arrive at the Mt. Kilimanjaro airport.

What a long journey – from my home in Williamsburg, in Virginia, and the people of St. Stephen Lutheran Church – to your home here at Mongai. We are literally on opposite sides of the world! And our daily lives are so different. Everything about the way we look, and the way we live our days, are just as different as they can be.

But here’s one thing to remember: despite all of the differences in the realities of our day-to-day lives, we hold the most important thing in common: our common faith in Jesus the Christ who saves us and loves us and fills us with joy. It is through Jesus the Christ that God has made us into sisters and brothers, children of God. (I would love to spend a month here, just following Pastor Minja around from day to day, as he does his work, to see how the Holy Spirit is moving among you. Through all of you, the Spirit would teach me so much!)

The Spirit is always on the move, isn’t it? From Jerusalem, to the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, to Africa, to Europe, to North American, to South America, to Asia – the Holy Spirit has sent the gospel of Jesus the Christ all over the world! The Spirit is always on the move, through missionaries in their own cultures and in others, strengthening and encouraging God’s children with the gospel.

As we do that, we are simply following the model of Jesus, in this morning’s story from the gospel of Matthew. In the ninth chapter we read, Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. How God loves us! In Jesus we see God’s love and compassion, in human flesh!

But even Jesus is not able to do all that’s needed by himself. So what does he do? He calls on his followers to extend his mission of compassion. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." What an image: to think of the Spirit causing faith to grow, as grain or another crop grows in a farmer’s field. When it comes time to harvest the crop, many people are needed to bring in the harvest! And Jesus needs help! He cannot do it on his own!

We read in the story, Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; and the gospel writer names the other eight. All of these are sent out, to be on the move, on the journey, taking the gospel of Jesus’ love and compassion and forgiveness and salvation to people in their day-to-day lives, wherever they live.

In the story, Jesus tells his missionaries: “As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.” Jesus is not telling his missionaries that they are to starve; but that they are to take with them only what they need, and to work in the faith that they will receive what they need.

In this story from the gospel of Matthew, the missionaries sent by Jesus make no advance plans. They have set no strategic objectives. The simply go and do the work God calls them to do. They go out in radical trust that God will provide for them.

You in the Mongai Parish have much to teach us Americans about this kind of radical trust in God. You see, most Americans have more money than they need. Most Americans live in houses larger than they need to be. Most Americans have more clothes than they need. Most Americans eat plenty of food each day. But there’s a dangerous effect of material riches: they cause many of us Americans to trust in ourselves and our own resources, instead of trusting in God! If it’s all up to me, well, I am weak and limited, and all the time worried that it’s all going to fall down around me. There is no joy in that! You all are missionaries to us – with your witness of trust in God, and joy in the faith.

One of the reasons why I wanted to journey all this way to Tanzania was to see you with my own eyes, and to see why the church here is growing so much, and why the church here is so filled with the Spirit! We Americans have much to learn from you! I hope it will be possible, sometime in the future, for Pastor Minja or another leader of the Mongai Parish to journey to America, to be among the people of St. Stephen, teaching us how to be more joyful followers of Jesus. The people of St. Stephen and the people of Mongai – we need each other. That is why the Spirit has brought us together into partnership.

We are sent by Christ. We are on the journey of faith together. Thanks be to God!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia