DESERT PALMS PRESBTERIAN CHURCH

Sun City West, Arizona

Traveling Light

A Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. David S. Hodgson

June 13, 2010

Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes. 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

 MARK 6:6b-13

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

            I love the way you sing your faith during our hymn sings. Thank you. My text this morning is taken from the Gospel According to St. Mark, Chapter 6, Verse 8: Jesus charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag and no money in their pockets. Let us pray. Lord of the journey and of the destination, we thank you for both: for the privilege of journeying with you and the incredible celebration of arriving home. We offer to you, O Lord, the memories of the journeys of a lifetime, and we thank you for your presence in our midst this day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

            So Brother Stan … Stan: Yes? David: We knew this day was coming. Time to say goodbye. Haven’t really wanted to talk about it before; we’ll talk about it now. You’re off on a journey. Stan: We are. I’ve shared with some here that Bev and I are traveling with another couple, taking off this next Sunday, passing through the wine country on the our way to Lake Tahoe where we will work as volunteers at the Zephyr Point Conference Center in South Lake Tahoe for a period of about five and a half weeks. Then, at the end of July we will return here for a few days, finish the packing, then off to Europe we go, where we will spend about nine weeks traveling parts of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, parts of France, northern Italy, down into Corsica, and then have the privilege of getting on a cruise liner out of Venice and sort of sequeing over into some of the Greek Isles. Then we’ll come back and fly home from there. What a trip!

            You know, when Jesus instructed you to take a staff, he didn’t mean that one, he meant the pastoral staff … Stan: You know, I would love to take the rest of the pastoral staff, but that would mean we would have ‘way too much fun. I’m sorry. David: And if you don’t arrive in Tahoe you’re stuck in the wine country. Is that it? Stan: We’re only stuck there for a few days. David: How about before you leave we sit and chat a spell? Stan: Oh, would love to. It would be a pleasure. You’re going to surprise me … David: Of course. 

Jesus instructed us all to travel light; told his disciples to do that for all kinds of reasons and I think, tells us the same. You apparently have taken that very seriously, or at least Bev has. Stan: I give total credit to my wife, Bev. She is the greatest packer. She could have been a parachute packer. David: You’re taking no checked luggage I hear. Stan: That’s the rumor and because historically, as many of us do you know, we travel with far more than we need, then at the end of the day we ask, why in the world did we take all that stuff? We didn’t wear a quarter of it. So this year we thought we would do something novel. We would pack light. But you know what we’ve learned from this? Packing light? We have learned that it takes a lot longer to plan packing light than it does to pack everything you own. So …

David: How long has it taken to pack? Stan: It’s taken a year of careful planning. My dear wife has compartmentalized things in drawers and periodically she will take me into the back bedroom and show me: this is what’s going in the backpack; this is what is going in the legal-size limit carryon, and I sort of shudder, but being a man of prayer … No, actually we’re looking forward to this fact of traveling light. David: So you’re traveling with just a backpack and a carryon bag? That’s correct. David: No checked luggage? Stan: No checked luggage. David: I think Jesus would be very proud of you. Stan: Thank you. You know, I think he would, I hope. 

You know, when Jesus encouraged the disciples to travel light, one of the reasons was that he didn’t want them to go out being self-sufficient. He wanted them, I think, to discover the fundamental goodness of strangers and to rely on them. When we travel as self-sufficient travelers we have a way of saying to people we meet along the way, I have no need of you. I can buy my own way, provide for my own shelter and pay for my meals. Jesus sent them out so they couldn’t do that. No bread, so they would have to experience the hospitality of another’s table and experience the goodness of total strangers. He sent them out without a bag because he wanted them to depend on others providing shelter for them. He sent them out with no money in their pockets because he didn’t want them to buy their way. 

I just know you’re going to travel with no money in your pockets. Stan: David, how do you know that? David: Because every time you invite me out to lunch you never have any. [Laughter again.] Stan: That did it. I’m going. David: Come back. Come back. Stan: I was doing so well ‘til you laid that on me. David: They apparently know you quite well. Stan: Yeah, they do, unfortunately. David: He still owes you about three dollars and forty … ? Stan: No, no, I paid her back. David: Oh, you paid her back? Stan: I always pay my debts—the small ones at least. 

There was another reason I think Jesus sent them out that way. I think he wanted them to discover that the journey was every bit as important as the destination. I had a dad who was the other way. He thought the destination was the important part. I really had to the value of the journey. Every summer we’d go to Vermont from New Jersey. Dad would get in the car and he’d say, “Well, it’s 5:26 a.m. At fifty-five miles an hour we’ll be there at such-and-such in the afternoon,” and he would be right on the nose. I had to realize, as part of my maturity, that getting there was every bit as important as arriving and since then have enjoyed the journey.

I think Jesus was saying something like that to his disciples, that the important part is how we travel from day to day. So I wanted to ask you, you’ve traveled a lot? Stan: Yes. David: You’ve probably found it’s so, that people you meet along the way make the journey worthwhile. Stan: For us the sense of adventure is really meeting other people as we journey along, encountering new faces and new situations, that give us the serendipity experiences that are so memorable. David: So thinking back over all of your journeys, could you give one example of somebody you met along the way that made a lasting impression on the way you travel through life.

Stan: That’s not easy, but I think it would be, as I reflect back, the time when I was finishing up my sophomore year of college. A friend and I wanted to take off to Europe and spend the entire summer; in essence bumming around and literally not having very much money or very much to take with us. We wound up taking a cruise liner out of Montreal. It was sort of a rust bucket that had been a German pocket battleship during WWII and was converted into a quasi luxury liner. Because of limited funds my friend and I were thrown into a stateroom with an Englishman and a German. Immediately the German and the Englishman did not get along, but we decided we needed to find … Either I was going to bond with the German or the Englishman—so I chose the German. 

The German had been forced into the Hitler Youth during the end of WWII, and the Englishman had been bombed out during the blitzkrieg over London, so there was bad blood between them. They got along but … anyway, that’s another story. However, during the course of our trip over to England the German asked me if we would take a message to his mother up in northern Germany, a small town, to let her know he was well, because he hadn’t seen her in a long time—he was working in the mines in Canada—and wanted her to know he was well and that he loved her. In effect, as I think about it, we really went as emissaries of her son. That was so cool. Even though we had a language barrier, she couldn’t speak English, I knew about three words of German, we had a great time communicating in silence. We were able to get the message across that her son was well, that he loved her, and that he had sent us to see her. That is something that really sticks in my mind.

The neat part about that story is that as you went to his mother as emissaries of her son, [Both] in many ways, as disciples in life, we go out as emissaries of God’s son. David: Among the things we discover when we travel is the mutuality of the adventure: that others discover great things in us even as we discover great things in them. 

There is one story that I’d like to share that demonstrates that kind of mutuality and why it is so important, and I think why it was so important to Jesus. Back during the golden age of Islam in the 1300’s, there was a famous, world-renowned Sufi mystic called Rumi. People would come from all over the world to experience, what they said, was his oneness with God and his spirituality and his reverence. The story is told, and I believe it’s true, that there was a young Catholic priest from Egypt who wanted to meet Rumi and traveled all the way to the little village in what is today Turkey to meet him. As he was approaching the village where Rumi was alleged to be living, he was walking along a narrow path and saw the great mystic coming toward him. He knew that the paths of their lives were about to cross, a young Catholic priest and a wise Sufi mystic. As they came together the Catholic priest fell on the ground on his knees, put his forehead to the ground and paid homage to this great man. When he looked up, Rumi was bowing to him with his forehead on the ground.

Totally confused the Catholic priest went down again, only to find that Rumi was bowing again. They say that happened thirty-two times. Finally the Catholic priest declared, “What on earth are you doing? I’m the one who should be bowing to you.” Rumi’s words are priceless and worth remembering. He said, “If I allow you to see only the divinity in me and the humanity in you, then you will never learn to see the humanity in me and the divinity in you.” We are a strange mixture: divine spirit and human flesh and frailties, and something there is about adventuring with other people that helps us to see ourselves through their eyes and to let them see themselves through our eyes. I think what Jesus was talking about was the incredible mystery of discovering how God is present when strangers come together in love and reach out to each other. I think that’s partly why he traveled, not only as emissaries for the son, but to discover the mutuality we have as children of God, all of us.

So tell me about this journey, here. I need to remind you that you may be stopping as—what are they calling you? Parish associate?—but you’re still pastor emeritus. Did you read the fine print in that contract? Stan: You know, I had to go back and read it. David: No, actually as an emeritus you must always hold this church in your prayers. Whenever you’re available to come and worship here, the red carpet—we’d don’t roll it out, but you need to imagine it. You’re always welcome. What’s it been like after an eleven-year pastorate here to retire, then come back, for seven months has it been? Stan: Almost, yes. David: Seems like an age. Stan: It does. But it’s gone very quickly. It’s been a wonderful re-connect for me and for Bev, to come back and participate with all of you in ministry, renewing old friendships and meeting new friends. I never thought, though, to be honest with you, that I would ever have the opportunity to come back to Desert Palms in any capacity. I was always praying for this church, and you know, when you have eleven years with a congregation, there is a love there between the people and the pastor that is so life giving. I feel like coming back here has been one of the highlights of my life. I was getting pretty rusty sitting in my Lazy-Boy chair watching movies all day long, working crossword puzzles, reading books and then, out of the clear blue the opportunity came to work with David and the pastoral team here, as well as the rest of the staff. It has been an absolutely wonderful, delightful, caring relationship that we have shared together and I will take this with me wherever I go. It’s been a blessing to both Bev and me to be with you here, David. It’s been fun. 

There’s been good chemistry. I can sense a little of what that must be like for you because I’ve only been here thirteen months and the journey over those last thirteen months has been incredible for me. Thirteen months ago you were all strangers to me and I to you, with no intimations of coming together, but on the pathways of life it’s been amazing how God arranges for us to be there for each other. In many ways in this journey we’ve discovered as strangers to each other what it means to be emissaries of the son of God to each other; the experience of mutuality. I can tell you what I’ve told you before, that this service feeds me every bit as much as it feeds you. You need to know that. The faith that you bring is a source of energy that blesses my soul. I leave here each time with more energy than I had at the beginning of the service and it’s because of the way you come together. I come here during the week when it’s empty and I know it’s an empty room. If we were here for a congregational meeting or some other function, even though it be full of people it would still seem empty. But when you come for worship, this room is full, and it’s full of a spirit that is absolutely amazing. And it’s mutual, and it’s feeding us all.

So you’re taking off on a journey. Stan: I am, we are. David: Blessings, brother. Stan: Blessings to you. I am on my way, yes. Now, I’m only going to go so far, but after that, I’m going to get up and go home. Goodbye. David: Hold on. Hold on. Before you go, you can’t just leave. We need to have some kind of a party. We did plan a big, elaborate reception didn’t we? I knew we forgot something. How ‘bout we spruce up the coffee hour a little bit with something fancy? Anybody have any ideas? Yes? Cheap cookies? Oreos? You’ve got some oreos? Wonderful. Here’s what we’ll do then. During the last hymn, you take your cookie people over, we’ll get a table in the middle of the hall. We’ll dump all the cookies on it, we’ll mix ‘em up—save me an oreo. Save me one too—David: and we’ll have a chance to say goodbye. Stan: David, thank you for everything. Blessings. David: You’re welcome.