Proper 9 Year C, July 7, 2013

So here is my question. How do you post a sermon on your sermon blog if you only preach from notes? Do you have any thoughts? I suppose that what would make most sense would be to use an audio recording. Below I have posted my notes. I am trying to move away from the manuscript for the summer. It began as an experiement for this week, but I feel like it is an experiment worth trying for the summer. We'll see if I have the courage to keep it up. I am not sure. Here is what I like about the notes only sermon: it is a lot more in the present, it feels a lot more connected, I feel a little more like myself. Here is what I don't like: the panic-y feeling of it. So this summer I will see if I can loose the panic a little bit.

 Here are the readings.

As a preacher, looking at this Gospel passage, this is a very straight forward sermon.
            -Jesus is speaking very plainly
            -it suggest what kind of ministry and lives Jesus wants his followers to have
            -it is full of instructions, go light, travel in pairs, don’t accumulate wealth
           
In a previous chapter Jesus sends his 12 disciples out. In this chapter, the use of the number 70 is supposed to suggest the expansion of Jesus’ sending to all humanity.

And so a simple and true interpretation of this text calls on me as a preacher to remind us all of what Jesus asks of us, to serve as willing laborers, to go out and tell people about the kingdom of God, to do healing work.
            -even though this is simple and clear it is not easy work.

-Jesus knows it isn’t easy. He says that sending those 70 out is like sending sheep out in the midst of wolves.

-To be able to do this sort of work would almost require us to be like perfected Christians, or maybe master Christians.

I wonder what some small steps we might take to being able to do the sort of work that Jesus calls us to do.

As I was thinking about perfection this week, I watched a documentary film called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi”
            -Its about Jiro (Tokyo restaurant, 85 years old, two sons)
-At first the film seems filled with images of Jiro’s hands creating perfect works of art
            -ritualized hand motions
                        -perfectly right
                        -each piece of sushi in the meal is perfectly planned, and perfectly timed. If you are eating with a group at Jiro’s restaurant he says he makes slightly smaller pieces for women, so that the whole group is done at the same time.
            -thinks of the meal as a symphony with different movements.
-But later in the movie we move away from Jiro as master artist, and see the way in which his perfection is entirely dependent on perfection of his kitchen staff, of his rice dealer, of the fish market, of his son to buy the right fish, of the assistant who slices the fish, of the staff who massage the eel for 45 minutes as it marinates.
            -Jiro talks about how every day he is hoping to strive towards making better sushi, making a more perfect meal for his customers.
                        -For Jiro to be a perfect sushi maker, he is totally dependent on every other person in his restaurant to also be striving towards perfection in their craft as well.
            -“Jiro dreams of sushi” reminds me of the way that mutual striving towards perfection is what leads to mastery of craft.

Looking back towards the passage then, I want to focus on one word: Peace
“Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.”

There is an overall arch and movement to peace.
-looking at this one verse we see that Peace beings with language.
            -calling attention to the importance of words
            -a place where the relationship begins
            -our exchange of peace in church
                        -goes from greeting and then we make it physical by shaking hands, and

sometimes even hugging here.

-Next peace is something that is shared.
            -peace is about relationships. It is something that exists between people.
            -word shared indicates a moment of community.
                        -what might shared peace look like in a relationship: a place where there would not be jealousy or competitiveness, a place of respect and support.

-Peace is then described as resting on the person you have greeted.

-after all this physicality of peace, this embodiment, this place of community, now peace settles in.

-perhaps one of the keys to becoming master peace makers is learning to see when peace is resting, and simply being fully present in that moment.

-And finally Jesus explains (with out much judgment) that if your peace filled greeting is not received, that your peace comes back to you.
            -so we see the full movement of peace here, it is something that you send forth, and either it rests with others, or it bounces right back.

I don’t think we can expect to become master Christians, or master peace makers all at once.
            -in this passage there is some time compression, at the beginning of it Jesus is sending them out and by the end they have come back and are happy with all they have done, and all the power to heal they have.

            -But this work is not yet completed for us.

-Jesus reminds his 70 that the message that they are proclaiming whether their peace is received or not is “The kingdom of God has come near.”
            -they might be saying this as the knock the dust off their feet
-When we look at that sentiment, the kingdom of God has come near, it also shows where that feeling of peace comes from,
            -it comes from knowing the nearness of God in our lives—our peace emanates from the peace at the joy and excitement of this new thing that is coming.
            -because of the new thing we are expected to begin to cultivate the feeling of peace in our relationships, to talk about it, to share it, and to let peace rest.