Reverend Ref +

Sermon
4 Pentecost
Proper 6 A

The beginning of today’s gospel passage, you may recall, was read at my ordination. My friend and NT professor preached at that service and said something to the effect of, "Todd is one of the few who are called to labor in the role of priest."

That same passage was read just over a week ago as SWTS celebrated its 147th commencement. I know most of the people in that class, and some of them have become very close and dear friends. Although I am not part of that class, they are part of my life, and the tears shed were only slightly fewer than a year ago at this time.

They also were admonished to remember that their ranks are few but the harvest is plentiful. They too are being called to labor as priests in a world of great potential, but limited results.
My classmates, my friends, 145 other graduating classes from SWTS, along with others from VTS, General, Nashotah House, Sewanee, CDSP and others are the few of the few. Note, however, that we are not the best of the best, but the few of the few. And this gets back to the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter of two weeks ago when he said that priests are no better or worse than anyone else, and that we are all called to live out our baptismal covenant.

All of us here have been called by God in some capacity. We all have gifts and talents to use in building up the body. For some of us, we are crystal clear as to what that gift is; others may need to spend some time discerning what that gift is. And God will use that gift for the benefit of the harvest.

We are all called. We are all invited. We are all sent. Today’s gospel bears that out. Jesus called the 12 disciples and invited them to participate in his ministry. That group included Peter, the Rock, Judas, the betrayer, and everyone in-between.

All of us who proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior, all who claim to be Christians, have a job to do. What that particular job is, I can’t tell you. But I can tell you that the ultimate goal is to bring in the harvest. That harvest is the people of the world, and the laborers are you and me.

All of this is pretty basic stuff. What’s important here is that we all recognize that we have a share in the labor. It’s not just the bishop, or me, or Jan, or the people who have maintained this place through the lean years. It’s everybody. All of us need to participate in the labor to which God has called us.

But there’s another important point here that may get overlooked, and that is the issue of invitation and place. The disciples are instructed to go from town to town proclaiming the good news. But notice that the onus of acceptance is on the people of the town. "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town."

Jesus is asking us to proclaim the good news and invite other people into the fellowship of the kingdom. We invite people to join us because we know there is a better way than the popular myths of the world. People will rarely join something to which they haven’t been invited; and isn’t it nice to be in a place where people want you?

But remember, we invite others to join us; we don’t kidnap or coerce.

The second part of this point is place. As in, it is not our place to determine the consequences of those who refuse to listen. As in, it is not our place to judge people for ignoring the invitation. As I look around at what’s going on in our society, it seems to me that there is a growing number of fundamental groups who are, for lack of a better term, hell-bent on shaping both this country and Christianity in their image. They have a specific, tightly defined, black and white view of the way things should be, and if you disagree or choose not to follow their path, then you are treated and judged as the scourge of Christianity.

It is not our place to judge others on their own faith walk; that is God’s job.

The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. But this isn’t like any harvest that you’ve seen before. It’s not a matter of simply gathering up the fruit or the grain and placing it in storage. Instead, we need to focus our efforts on inviting people into our midst. And we are the laborers charged with making that happen.

Make no mistake about it, though, this is hard work. It’s hard work because not everybody you meet will believe you. It’s hard work because some people need more than one invitation. It’s hard work because not everybody sees things exactly like you see them. It’s hard work because you have to be willing to accept people where they are. It’s hard work because reaping this harvest is based on love.

It’s easy to threaten, and coerce, and judge, and belittle, and use tightly defined rules, and play to people’s emotions. Love, however, takes a lot of work; just ask anyone who’s been married for awhile.

Our challenge then is to not only be counted among the few laborers, but to work in that harvest with love, compassion and acceptance while letting God determine who’s in and who’s out.