Sometime back a young family left for West Africa. Lee and Becky Prior and their 3 small children packed up and moved to the Ivory Coast.
A carpenter and a homemaker, Lee and Becky have joined a group called the New Tribes Mission. Their task is to translate the Bible into the language of the multiple African tribes who have yet to know the story of Jesus--to bring them the Gospel.
They had made a decision to be missionaries for Christ. They had heard his call first to come to him and receive his love and then to go out and tell others the wonderful Gospel story.
These young people discovered that to be missionaries they were called to "travel light." They left behind a comfortable furnished home and took with them only clothing and 7 barrels of what they believed were the basic necessities of life.
Our text this evening has to do with traveling light.
Jesus calls his disciples together, gives them authority and sends them out...to carry the good news of God's Kingdom...to preach, to teach, to heal, and to confront evil wherever they find it...to be his missionaries. He charges them to carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.
Try to picture with me the typically dressed Jew in Palestine in the time of Jesus. He or she had 5 articles of clothing: 2 tunics; one was an inner garment, the other, an outer one used as a cloak by day and a blanket by night. Then there was a girdle, a kind of waistband worn over the 2 tunics, a head covering, and sandals.
A wallet or travelers bag was carried for food & money & slung over the shoulder. But Jesus told them to leave most of that behind. Missionaries travel light so they can concentrate on their Lord--to feel free to share his love with others.
Isn't there a message here for you and me? We are all called to be missionaries for Christ; called to share the story of our faith in Christ with others. Do we not often find ourselves so bogged down with stuff, with burdens, with activities, we can barely get out of our own way? Dragging so much baggage with us, so preoccupied with such a variety of things, we find it difficult to focus on Jesus and his call on our lives.
The 23rd Psalm, familiar to all of us, offers a helpful image. David writes out of his own knowledge as a shepherd. One line of the Psalm is "He restores my soul." From time to time a shepherd is required to restore his sheep--for sheep have a tendency to get "cast down."
Phillip Keller, in his book
A SHEPHERD LOOKS AT PSALM 23,
describes what happens when a sheep is cast down. It finds itself on its back, all 4 legs straight up in the air, and unable to get back up. The attentive shepherd will set it back on its feet, massaging life back into its limbs. The shepherd restores the sheep.
What causes the sheep to become cast down in the first place? Sometimes it's because it wanders off into soft spots. But most often it's simply a result of having too much wool! The sheep's fleece becomes very long, heavily matted with mud and burrs and other debris so that it is weighed down with its own wool, rendered totally helpless and useless.
Wool in the Scripture is an interesting symbol. No high priest was ever allowed to wear wool when he entered the Holy of Holies. It spoke of self, of pride, of personal preference and the priest believed these things would bog him down.
Sheep do not particularly enjoy being sheared, but it must be done and when it is over, there is a great relief. There is no longer the threat of being cast down and there is pleasure in being set free from the hot, heavy coat. Set free to follow the shepherd once again.
Have you ever moved into a new home? What's the most common complaint in getting ready for such a move? "How did I accumulate so much stuff?" Most of us have too much stuff. Too much stuff can be a problem for missionaries. The more things we accumulate the more our freedom is restricted. The more stuff we have the more it demands our attention. The more attached we get to our stuff the harder it is to hear the call of Jesus.
Jesus' call to travel light may be a call to simplify our lives--to become more carefree--so we can regain a kind of "singleness of eye and heart," as Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it. (THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP)
Summer vacation can be a great teacher about a more carefree life. Ann Morrow Lindberg wrote a marvelous little book that's been read by thousands, GIFT FROM THE SEA. It is a profound work.
In it Ann Lindberg describes her alone time at her beach home. She tells how she experiences God's grace thru the simplicity of the life she finds on summer vacation. Her life in the suburbs involves food, shelter, meals, planning, bills, doctors, dentists, vitamins, school conferences, car pools, extra trips for basketball, tutoring, camps, laundry, cleaning, mending, social arrangements, telephone calls, etc...
Life in our society, she says, is based on the premise of ever-widening circles of contact and communication. It involves family demands, community demands, national demands, and international demands. Our mind reels sometimes. It is not a life of simplicity but a life of multiplicity if we're not careful. It can lead to fragmentation rather than unification. If we're not careful it can destroy our soul.
Lindberg has been given a gift from the sea. It is the gift of simplicity. The sea and her little beach house have taught her the art of shedding; how little one can get along with, not how much. Clothes for instance. Instead of a closet full, a suitcase full.
Shelter--no rugs, no curtains. She found her anxiety about housework slipping away. No one to impress. Pride and hypocrisy in relationships ending.
She can't bring her vacation place back home, of course, but the shell on her desk reminds her of the ideal of a simplified life. To ask how little, not how much. To say, is it necessary?
I encounter so many people and so many families today whose lives seem so complicated. I wonder how they can keep track of all the conflicting schedules. Many seem so "strung out." Everyone's running in different directions. No meals together, no time to communicate, no alone time.
A pastor tells about a woman in his congregation. She is one of those over-committed types, always frantically busy, never stopping to catch her breath. "I'm too busy" is her constant cry. The pastor finally asked the woman, "How do you ever expect God to get hold of you if you never stand still?" It's a good question.
Do you remember a little poem that goes like this:
If I had my life to live over, I'd pick more daisies.
I'd try to make more mistakes next time.
I would be sillier than I have been this trip.
I would relax, I would limber up.
I know very few things I would take seriously.
I would take more trips, travel lighter.
I would be crazier. I would be less hygienic.
I would take more chances.
I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets.
I would eat more ice cream and less beets.
I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones.
You see, I am one of those people who live practically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I have had my mad moments, And if I had it to do over again,
I'd have more of them.
Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many minutes ahead.
I have been one of those people who never go anywhere
Without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat, and road map.
If I had my life to live over,
I would start barefooted earlier in the spring
and stay that way later in the fall.
I would ride more merry-go-rounds, and swing more.
I would do more water and sun-fun things.
I'd turn more somersaults, and roll in the grass, and go barefoot all over.
If I had my life to live over.
I'd spend more time at fun places.
I'd try to be more in touch with God and those I love.
I'd pray aloud more and not care what people think or expect of me.
I'd give more to me, and take more of you.
I'd just be me more and more....
Yes, I'd pick more daisies next time.
Churches can have the same problems as individuals. Churches too are called to be in mission, to be about the business of evangelism, to heed Jesus' instructions to travel light.
Often bogged down with business and concerns for facilities and so many details, a church can miss the voice of her Lord.
I'm reminded of a comedy skit done by a youth group. There is only one character--a pastor on stage answering the telephone. It goes like this:
Pastor: Good morning. Yes, sir, may I help you?
Voice: Good morning, peace be with you.
Pastor: Huh? Oh, sir, if you're looking for assistance the Calvary Mission is just two blocks down on Madison.
Voice: I came to give you something.
Pastor: Oh, I see, sir, didn't you see the sign out front, "No Solicitors?" Now if you don't mind, I'm very busy.
Voice: No one should ever be too busy for me. I've come to speak to your people.
Pastor: Oh, uh, sir, just what group do you represent?
Voice: I've been sent by my Father. I have a message for them.
Pastor: Well, that's very nice, sir, but you see, we do have a rather full schedule of events here at our church. We can't just pop things in at the last minute.
Voice: They must hear me. I have so much to give them.
Pastor: Well, I'm very sorry, sir, but you see, our theme for this month is "God is great in 88." Now, I don't quite see how your subject would fit with ours. As I said, we are a very busy church...why just this week alone...let's see here. Monday we have softball practice and in the evening Sara Plimpton will be showing her wildlife slides. And Tuesday's out. Oh my! The senior citizens will be going roller skating. And then Wednesday, yes, we have the craft class and the men's prayer breakfast. Well, as you see we just don't have a thing; but listen, why don't you have your representative give us a contact later in the fall ...maybe something will have opened up, sir, sir?
Jesus calls us, loves us, but then sends us out, gives us authority to be his missionaries. "No purse, no bag, no sandals," to shed our excess wool, and to travel his journey of faith with him, a journey that calls us to travel light--to uncomplicate, to simplify, to catch a kind of lovely naivete once again.
To move with Jesus means we don't have to take all our provisions with us.
What is bogging you down? What excess baggage or wool might you still be carrying? Too much stuff? Too busy? Life too complicated?
Is the Lord calling you to leave behind the luggage of complaints, grudges, resentments? Healing often has to do with unpacking--shedding all those things that weigh us down and accepting Jesus' invitation to send us out as his missionaries, ...........to fall in love again with our life of faith, to follow Jesus again with a light step and light heart, a little courage for the rough spots, prayers, a skip and a song. Traveling light.
