Finding Hamilton

Proper 9C

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

July 7, 2019

St. Matthias

           Imagine leaving Tuscaloosa – your friends and family – and moving somewhere else to start a new Church in a different town. Say - like Hamilton, Alabama.  I don’t think I have ever been to Hamilton and I don’t think I know anyone who lives there.  There is not an Episcopal Church in Hamilton and it’s over an hour from here to there and just as far to Grace Church in Muscle Shoals.  It would take you at least 45 minutes to drive to St. Michael’s in Fayette or St. Mary’s in Jasper.   So, what if Bishop Sloan asked you to go there and start a new church?

Now picture the 70 new disciples in our reading from the Gospel of Luke how they must have felt when Jesus sent them out.  We are reading from the 10^th chapter of Luke and it was just in the 6^th chapter that Jesus chose Peter, James, John and the rest of the original 12 - so we are still pretty early in Jesus’s ministry.  But already there were at least 70 followers who had heard the Gospel message and believed and were now ready to leave their family and friends and go share the Good News in places they probably had never been before.  And Jesus gives them some pretty interesting instructions.  Now I know that if Phyllis and I were going to move to Hamilton, it would take a whole moving van to get all of our furniture, clothes, books and everything else there.  Her SUV and my car would be packed full and we would probably have to make several more trips back and forth to get everything there.  Yet Jesus tells the disciples – carry no purse, no bag, and no sandals.  Don’t stop to speak to anyone on the road or move from house to house because time is short and there is much work to be done.  Eat whatever food you are given.  If you are welcomed – stay.  If not – just move on.  This does not sound easy.  Why would anyone want to do this?

This is what I thought this week when friends of ours shared that their daughter will be leaving soon to go to Afghanistan as a missionary.  Good Lord – I thought – are there even any Christians in Afghanistan?  It is officially an Islamic republic.  It is against the law to practice any religion other than Islam.  So, of course, I checked Google and there are actually as many as 8,000 Christians in Afghanistan.  8,000 Christians out of a total population of over 34 million people.  Hamilton, Alabama is starting to sound better and better.

And look at the end of our Gospel reading.  The 70 disciples returned with joy.  They went and they shared the Good News and people believed – just like Jesus said they would.  No matter what they ran into whether it was demons, snakes, or scorpions – God would be with them and everything would work out.  About 10 years ago I went to Haiti with a group of folks from our diocese.  We were the first group to go and I had never been there and didn’t know what to expect.  I’d been to Honduras several times on a medical mission from St. Thomas in Huntsville.  But this was different.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.  We had heard the stories of Americans kidnapped by street gangs and held for ransom.  When we visited the Episcopal Cathedral in Port au Prince, my friend Dave Drachlis and I stepped out into the street to take a picture.  Immediately we were surrounded by security guards assigned to protect us and the Dean of the Cathedral rushed out to explain that we had to stay inside the walls of the cathedral grounds for our own protection.  Later we went to a tiny Episcopal Church on top of a mountain.  There they fed us soup and bread.  We knew we were not supposed to eat anything outside the restaurant in our hotel.  But this was Christian hospitality.  We ate and we laughed, and it was wonderful, and the Holy Spirit was there and none of us got sick.  The Haitians had heard that Americans have very weak stomachs, so they boiled everything including the pots and pans. 

Now the good news is that Bishop Sloan has not called about Hamilton and none of us are likely to be called to go to Afghanistan or Haiti.  God has given us plenty to do right here in Tuscaloosa.  If you want to experience some joy – come pass out beans and rice this month.  It takes only a couple of hours on a Saturday morning and I guarantee you will enjoy it.  Contribute school supplies.  Pray for people you know who are sick or in need of God’s special care and then send them a card.  Make it a funny card because everyone likes to share in the joy.  Sometimes the hardest thing for us when it comes to spreading the Good News is just doing it.  We need to get rid of the ideas that we need to stand on street corners and yell or go to far away countries to share what we find here at St. Matthias.  All of us are being called to love our neighbors – right here in Tuscaloosa.  Commit this week to smile – a lot – and if someone asks why – tell them about our parish and invite them to come with you.  Hold open doors – share kind words – call someone and tell them you were thinking about them.  Read the Gospel of Luke and remember all of your blessings – then share from your overflow.  You will – no doubt – return here next Sunday with joy saying The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.  And if you pass through Hamilton this week, share some of the joy with them as well.  AMEN.