When I was in college, I worked in Residence Life. Every summer, I sat through trainings about how to handle resident crises, how to communicate maintenance issues, and how to mediate roommate conflicts, among many other things. This last one was especially difficult because for students who have often never had to share a small room with anyone in their life, sharing a room with a random stranger comes with a unique set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges that we had to address was that there is a difference between unsafe and uncomfortable, even though we often conflate the two. I often think back to those mediating experiences when I hear today’s Gospel story because I imagine that the disciples encountered both unsafe and uncomfortable situations, but they needed to distinguish between the two.
Despite how things are often interpreted, I don’t think that God intentionally asks us to go into unsafe situations, but I do think that we encounter them anyway because we live in a pained and broken world. When Jesus tells the disciples that he is “sending [them] as lambs in the midst of wolves,” (Luke 10: 3) I don’t think he is telling them that he is sending them into intentionally harmful situations, but Jesus is acknowledging the reality in which the disciples live. I keep thinking that this is one of the beautiful things about Jesus sending the disciples out in pairs. So that, even when they encounter unsafe situations, they do not remain alone in them. Just as I do not think God abandons us in the midst of unsafe conditions, even if the world makes it feel that way. Yet, I do believe that God calls us into uncomfortable situations.
Uncomfortable situations are how we grow, as we encounter and interact with people and places that we have never interacted with before. Uncomfortable situations tell us a lot. Where our boundaries are, how our thinking and beliefs interact with those around us, etc. Our bodies immediately tell us something when we are uncomfortable. And, uncomfortable doesn’t have to be dramatic. It can be the feeling of nervousness before a new experience, or it can be a conversation with someone who has a different viewpoint from you. In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends the disciples out into the uncomfortable. “Don’t carry a walking stick or knapsack; wear no sandals and greet no one along the way… Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you…” (Luke 10: 4, 7). Jesus tells them to bring nothing and rely solely on the good will of strangers along the way. That sounds pretty uncomfortable to me!
I often wonder what the disciples were thinking when they heard what Jesus said. As a introverted person who can be shy when meeting new people, and who also has a lot of random dietary restrictions, this definitely has always sounded uncomfortable to me when I have heard this story. Yet, I also realize that this still has so many similarities to how pastors receive their calls today. We are sent off to different places around the world, and if the people welcome us, we stay! We share meals together, we get to know one another, we get to live life together. And, that is actually a really beautiful gift when you think about it! It’s not necessarily how other people get to choose their jobs, and it definitely comes with its stressful moments as it’s hard to plan where we are moving to and when, etc. But, it is a process that is full of so much trust. Trust in one another, and trust that the Spirit is working something within us, even when we cannot always see what that is right away.
It is this trust piece that sticks out to me so much in the disciples’ behavior in today’s Gospel. They trust that Jesus knows what he is doing when he sends them out. They trust the people that they are sent out with. They trust the people that they are sent out to. They trust that God knows what God is doing, as they go out to share the Good News with others. And, I have to admit that there were many times when I was embracing this call that I was envious of that trust, especially as I think back to what it was like when I first moved to Seattle.
When I found out that I was assigned to Seattle for internship, we had just started the first COVID lockdown. We had been on lockdown for about a week, and it happened to be one of the weeks that we were hearing about how the first known cases in the country were diagnosed in Washington State. I had my mom to drive across the country with me, but then I was left on my own. In a new apartment, in a new city, only knowing maybe one or two other people. I had no internet for the first three weeks I was here, so it was even more difficult to contact my friends and family. And, Seattle still had really tight COVID precautions in place. That is something that I was really grateful for after moving from Iowa where there were none, but it also meant that I could not go to peoples’ houses for dinner or really even safely gather with anyone. I spent my first Thanksgiving and Christmas here alone in my apartment, video chatting with some family, but otherwise just watching movies and doing puzzles. And, while I love doing those activities normally, it didn’t feel like how I should be spending those relational holidays. That experience helped me realize how helpful it is to have another person with you in the uncomfortable and difficult situations. To hear again that God doesn’t abandon us in the midst of loneliness and isolation. And, it helped me understand more why it is so important that Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs. It is yet another reminder that they are not alone.
While at first I was uncomfortable reading that the disciples just stayed with people, eating what was set before them, these last two years of ministry have helped me understand the importance of the staying. It is about developing relationships and building trust in one another. They come to get to know and care for one another, instead of the disciples just showing up and leaving again right away after they have eaten a meal. It has taught me that the uncomfortable can be a time when the Spirit is at work within us, preparing us in ways that we didn’t expect. I cannot imagine being a pastor and not building relationships with you all, the people that I get to live, and work, and grow beside. And, it is this beautiful, visible imagery of the relationship that we have in and with our Triune God. We get to be disciples together in this journey and I couldn’t be more excited to keep sharing meals and learning what is in store for us. So, thank you for trusting in God and me enough to call me as your Pastor, as we embark on this unknown journey together.
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Sunday June 26th, 2022 Worship