Abounding Opportunities

July 08, 2007

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Kings 5:1-14; Galatians 6:7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
The Reverend Cathy S. Gilliard

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We have just witnessed our Gospel lesson being played out before our eyes. In the text, we find Jesus commissioning a group of people and sending them on their way in much the same way that we just commissioned our own group to Ghana. He summoned them and sent them out to do the work that he himself had been engaged in: to heal the sick, extend peace, and announce that the kingdom of God has come near.

And so, we get a clearer understanding of the purpose of the church and the real business to which we are engaged. It reminds us that what we do here at 60th & Park is not an entity unto itself. It does not stand alone. Week after week we gather as a community and then are sent on our way, out into the world, the real world outside these walls. The world of authentic engagement where our faith is put to test – we practice what we have heard and claim to believe. A world that all too often seems to care less about God, any God, let alone loving neighbor as ourselves. Out into that world we go.

Thank God for a place of refuge. Thank God for a few hours of refreshment and renewal. Thank God for the company of others who share a common bond; though we may differ in perspective, there is something that ties us, knits us together unlike any other experience.

Here, in the safe cloister of "home," we find forgiveness and restoration. In the ordinary practices of babies and baptism, weddings and funerals, worship and sacraments, fellowship and hospitality, God reminds us that he is alive and present. We support one another and hold each other accountable. We find courage to hear and speak truth in love. We bear each other’s sorrows and we see each other through struggles. Blest be the tie that binds us. And then, out we go out into the world, to do the best we can. Some weeks we do better than others, but God does not forsake us – rather God continues to welcome us back and allows us to start all over again! Thanks be to God!

Early in Luke’s gospel, we find Jesus walking along the seashore calling the twelve to come follow him. And men, one after the other, left their jobs and families and followed. Now he expands the team and the ministry is multiplied. They will do the same work that he has been doing: heal the sick, extend peace, announce the kingdom of God is near. They are to go into every town and place. Consistent with Luke’s writing, they are to find themselves among those who have been marginalized by society. They are to comfort all, regardless of their cultural status. They are to challenge those in power to see God at work in their midst. They are to exercise compassion, healing, and forgiveness, the very things that Jesus had embodied.

Jesus calls them and his instructions are not very comforting, really. Instead of promising acceptance and positions of grandeur, Jesus tells them in so many words, “Well, it is likely that you will be treated like dirt. Sometimes you will be welcomed and sometimes you won’t. And sometimes people will listen to you and sometimes they won’t. And sometimes you will be accepted and sometimes you will be downright rejected.” I mean, it makes you want to shake your fist and say: what is up with this Jesus? But Jesus doesn’t hold any punches and he doesn’t paint a rosy picture.

Instead, Jesus says, “I am sending you out like lambs before wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ And if anyone is there who shares in your peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide. Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick and announce the kingdom of God is near. But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into the streets and shake the dust.”

And so the disciples went out and, much to their delight, and I suspect, to their surprise, they discover that it worked! They were successful and returned with joy to report what they had done. "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" And Jesus, realizing the temptation, issues a warning: Don’t make this about you. It’s not about you. You’re doing well – but don’t get stuck. And don’t be filled with pride. Go! And as you go; as you are faithful, I will do something wonderful beyond your imagination.

I think the heart of our lesson today is all about these opportunities that surround us. And they are many – more than we can ever acknowledge or accomplish. Opportunities to go, and do, and be, and receive. The harvest is indeed plentiful.

Opportunities to change a life. To offer forgiveness. To right a wrong. Opportunities to let go of some past wounds; just let it go. Opportunities to take the high road and not the low road. Opportunities to show humility and other gifts of the Spirit. Opportunities are all around. The world is ripe, pregnant, waiting to give birth to all sorts of possibilities and Jesus is looking build the team!

In a few days our group will be going to West Africa. Thanks be to God! Your going is a praise for the church. We send you out in Christ’s name to represent all of our hopes and beliefs. We send you out as a reminder to the world that all is not lost – regardless of how dire, good things are still happening.

I encourage you to dig your heels deep into the soil. Plant seeds of change that will produce a good harvest that will spring up into new life. Let your healing hands strengthen those who need it most. In the process be still long enough and allow yourselves to breathe in the new thing that God might do. See it. Hear it. Smell, taste, touch it.

And that is all of our work. We are tempted to isolate it – to put it over there – to assign it to the work in Africa or New Orleans or Appalacia, but the truth is, we are all invited to enter the dance and, as we go along, seize the opportunities before us everyday in small ways and great ways.

The whole church is being commissioned. To go out: make peace, heal the broken, and with truth and love announce that God is near.

I recently came across a true life story about a man named Soni, who had dreams of flying. "It was always a beautiful dream. His crib cage flew open and Soni with his red and purple wings flew up to the clouds and perched on the highest branch of the highest tree in all of Haiti. At last, he was free. He was able to be part of the great world that existed outside the room. Yet, he knew he would always awake to find himself trapped in a body that didn’t work and a room that didn’t love." [1]

Soni was born with cerebral palsy and the first five years of his life were lived in a crib in an orphanage for the physically and mentally challenged in Port-au-Prince, Haiti – one of the poorest nations in the Western Hemisphere – a nation fraught with starvation, malnutrition, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, violence, chaos.

In 1985, Michael Geilenfeld, a former “brother” for Mother Theresa, founded St. Joseph’s Home for orphaned boys with his own dream of providing them with a Christian home and family.

When French missionaries announced they were leaving Haiti and needed to find care for the disabled children under their supervision, Michael took some of the older boys from St. Joseph's to choose a child to bring home and care for. But the boys surprised Michael and instead of wanting to adopt a single child, they chose to adopt all the children, reminding him that he had taught them that with God, all things are possible.

These street children knew what it was like to be treated like garbage. They knew what it was like to feel unloved. They had never been called a living piece of “anything” so they could understand how Soni and the other disabled children would feel.

Father Michael had always hoped that his boys would be given a dream beyond themselves where God was at the center. And so the boys began to pray the Prayer of Abandonment: "Father, I abandon myself into your hands. Do with me what you will. Whatever you may do, I thank you. I am ready for all. I accept all. Let only your will be done in me and in all your creatures. I wish no more than this, O Lord."

These orphaned boys became agents of grace and their youthful enthusiasm was transformative for disabled children like Soni. Prior to their arrival, Soni spent his days confined to his crib. And every day when the older boys would come to take him outside he would growl and grumble. Two of them would hold him up – one on each arm – and drag him around the room while a third boy made his feet touch the ground and round and round the garden they would go. And everyday this ritual would continue and the stimulation from this kind of daily exercise, from this kind of youthful care and attention, from this kind of simply being valued as a living human being, gave Soni and all the others a greater determination to make improvements in their lives.

And as you might imagine, in spite of cerebral palsy, Soni did walk. Then the boys decided that Soni might as well learn how to dance. And so Soni learned how to dance. And his verbal skills have improved so immensely that this child who once responded in grunts and groans can now converse in three languages.
These young orphaned boys had nothing. Yet out of their generosity the lifeless were resurrected. The lame walked, the dumb talked. And out of the grace that they had been given they realized that they too could make a difference. And what a difference they made!

Soni himself has become an ambassador. Years later, while on vacation in Haiti, Peter Eyvindson, a Canadian writer met Soni and, being unable to divorce himself of the images he saw, wrote a book called Soni’s Mended Wings. It is Soni’s story.

Now author and subject, Eyvindson and Soni, travel all over the world to raise funds to continue the work that has begun. And the story is told that while Eyvindson is signing books, Soni is seen flying across the stage - in a bright purple costume dancing with a group of other boys to a different drum beat. His dream has come true.

And when we seize the opportunities that are available to us, dreams come true. The harvest is plentiful! The time is now!

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[1] Peter Eyrindson, Soni’s Mended Wings, Broken Wings Missions Inc.

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