A couple of weeks ago we had some visitors here at the church. Betty Whitehurst, who has spent many years promoting missions in our conference, came to speak to our United Methodist Women about the work of the church around the world. She brought along her husband, Walt, which was a great treat for me. I have known the Whitehursts since I was a youth. They have a son about my age and we went to many youth events together over the years.
The Whitehursts brought another guest with them, however. It just so happened that a pastor from Chile was visiting with them and so she came to share in the program. Flor Rodriguez serves a Methodist congregation in Santiago, Chile, which is where the Whitehursts were for several years as missionaries with the United Methodist Church. She serves a very poor congregation in a very poor section of the city and she talked about a ministry that the church was involved in.
The church is located near a public square where children and youth gather before school. The students come from the surrounding countryside and ride buses into this neighborhood, but because of the bus schedule, they arrive around 8:30 in the morning and the classes don’t start until the afternoon. So for several hours they are sitting in the square. Seven women from Pastor Flor’s church saw what was happening and decided that they had to do something about it.
So they started serving food. They invited the children into the church and fed them. Soon they were serving 75 to 80 meals a day. They got some help from the city government and they asked the families of the children to send in two kilos of grain when they could. When they met each week for their prayer time they all brought a thimbleful of cooking oil that they pooled together for the weekly cooking.
Then they saw that there were other needs. They were close to a local hospital and because of the health care system there, everyday people come to wait in line to be seen. They line up at 8 o’clock in the morning and often stay in line many hours. The ladies said to themselves, “We need to feed them, too.” So they do. This small group of women heard Jesus say, “I was hungry and you fed me,” and they decided to listen. They were going to be a witness to the good news. At a time when many congregations might have said, “We can’t,” Flor Rodriguez’s church said, “We will.”
In the Congo in Africa, Franktown Church has a representative. Jacques Akasa and his wife, Poto Valentine Shutsa, run an aviation ministry there. The Congo is a huge country. If you look at a map of Africa it takes up the whole central part of the continent. But it is one of the most troubled nations in the world. It is difficult to get around because there is no national transportation network. There are vast jungles separating the eastern and western halves of the country. In the west political turmoil and economic disaster have devastated the country. In the east there is open civil war and competing militia groups. Throughout there are people who do not have what they need to survive and do not have much hope.
Jacques has a plane and he goes throughout the country taking doctors and medical teams, medical supplies, missionaries, pastors and church leaders. Jacques and Poto were here not too long ago and they told us about the challenges of just finding enough oil to fly the plane. At the time he told us that it cost about $700 for a barrel of the fuel he needs for a flight – a huge sum in the Congo. But Jacques says, “When I fly sick persons to the hospitals where their lives are saved, when I fly seminary or college professors to teach, I think I am doing God's will. In some places if we don't fly in supplies like salt, soap or matches, there is no other way such supplies will get to the population. Many of our mission stations depend on the aviation ministry for survival. Through aviation, children can get shots for immunization. It's not just a means of transportation, but it is a whole ministry – the Gospel – that is preached in different ways."[i]
We got word this week that Jacques and Poto will be hard to reach for several weeks. They are going to be in the interior for several weeks and will not be near any form of communication. It’s a difficult life, but Jacques and Poto are going to be a witness to the good news. Many of us would look at he overwhelming needs of that nation and might have said, “We can’t.” They said, “We will.”
Jesus got his disciples together and said, “I’m sending you out to be witnesses. Here’s what I want you to do: Tell the people the good news that the kingdom of God is here. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Don’t take any money for what you do. Don’t take any money with you. No bag for your journey, or extra clothes or sandals, or a staff. Just trust that you are going to get what you need.
“It will not be easy. They will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, don’t worry about how you are to speak or what you are going to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
Surely they must have resisted. Surely they must have said, “It’s too much.” Surely they must have been tempted to say, “We can’t.” But even though they didn’t know what they were saying they said, “We will.” It was a crazy thing to do, but they did it.
So what is it that keeps us from being the witnesses that Jesus calls us to be? What is it that keeps us from proclaiming the truth? Why does everybody look to the preacher when it’s time to pray? Why do we turn our heads when we see a need and hope that someone else will respond? Why do we stay silent when injustice runs rampant…when lies masquerade as truth? Why do we believe that we won’t have the words when the time comes for testimony? What is it that we are afraid of?
The truth is that even though we have said that God has made us and this world…even though we have affirmed that Jesus has the power to cleanse us from our sin and redeem us from every infirmity…even though we have called on the Holy Spirit to come and fill us with the power to speak a word of hope…even though Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you to the end of the age”…even though he has commanded us not to worry about what we shall say because the Spirit will speak through us…even though it’s not about us; it’s about God…even though we have given our hearts to Jesus, we’re not so sure we want to give him our tongues and our hands and our feet and our bodies…even though Jesus tells us that all things are possible we…are…not…so…sure. We have a trust problem.
I remember when I was about six years into ministry I made a startling realization. I suddenly realized that I had been conducting my ministry as if the adults would show up some day to set everything straight. It sounds strange, but one day I realized, “Hey. I am the adult I’ve been waiting for. Nobody else is going to show up to be the witness Jesus calls me to be. It’s me.”
It is not the role of the saints to speak for you. It is not the role of the paid professional to speak for you. You can’t wait for the moment to be right because it will never be right. You can’t wait until you arrive at perfection. You can’t wait for the cavalry to show up. You can’t wait for the right program. You can’t look at the needs of this dying world and say, “I can’t,” because Jesus is calling you.
When the United Methodist Church met at our global gathering back in May, the General Conference, they changed our membership vows. Since 1932, Methodists, when they join the church, have pledged to support their congregations with their prayers, their presence, their gifts and their service. Beginning next year the liturgy will add a new word. In addition to those things, new members will also pledge their witness. It’s a way of recognizing that every person, lay and clergy, man and woman, tall and short, Hokie and Cavalier…every person is to be a witness to what God is doing in the world through our Lord Jesus Christ.
There will be times when the world will want to hear that witness…when the world will be dying to hear that witness. This week as we watched the devastation of Ike and saw the financial markets crash…when they started using phrases like “the worst meltdown since the Great Depression”…we were reminded, as if we needed it, that the world is an unstable place with many terrors and many uncertainties. In the midst of all of this, the church has a unique message to give as it testifies to hope in the midst of hopelessness and resurrection in the midst of death.
There will be other times, though when the world will not want to hear that witness…when it will stop its ears and refuse to listen. Once I went on a mission trip to a small town in the high deserts of central Mexico. This village was miles from the nearest paved road and two hours from the nearest city. We were there to help the Methodists build a new sanctuary. They had been meeting for 50 years in the home of one of the families and it was a great testament for them to build a new place of worship.
There were a lot of tensions between the Methodists and Catholics there as there is, unfortunately, throughout Mexico. The village was dominated by the Catholic church and the evangelicos, the other denominations, were often persecuted. In fact, the Methodists had not been able to get any land in the village to build their church. They had a small plot on the edge of a corn field outside of town.
Being there was the first time I had ever really experienced open opposition because of my faith. As we walked through the streets of the town one night around 10, a group of drunks accosted us and jeered at us for helping the evangelicos. On Sunday morning, as we gathered to worship in the new church, an ice cream truck with a very loud speaker on top came and parked outside of the church with music blaring and stayed there for about 30 minutes, even though there were no houses within a quarter-mile. He was trying to disrupt the service. It was small, but a reminder that what we give witness to, though it is good news, is not good news to many who believe that something sinister or threatening is going on under the name of Jesus.
One final story. Back in June floods came and wiped out large parts of Iowa. One of those places was Cedar Rapids where so many people lost everything they had. Salem United Methodist Church has been in downtown Cedar Rapids for over 100 years and it has always been an active place. The congregation is about the size of ours and they have been active in serving the community and in things like the Emmaus movement. Linda Bibb, who was the pastor there during the floods said, “We have housed 134 consecutive Emmaus weekends in this facility since 1987 … (and) 17 Chrysalis flights…There’s been so much ministry that has been poured out.”
When the floods came, they hit Salem Church like they did the rest of the city. While they were helping their neighbors, members of the congregation also put up sandbags around the church, but in the end the waters got in and the church was swamped. The church made a decision though. On June 11 they put the last sandbag in place but they didn’t go back to the building. It’s not clear if they will ever be able to go back. Instead they moved out. Pastor Bibb said, "We discover who needs us most in the community and we go there first because the church is not the building," she said.
The Whitehursts brought another guest with them, however. It just so happened that a pastor from Chile was visiting with them and so she came to share in the program. Flor Rodriguez serves a Methodist congregation in Santiago, Chile, which is where the Whitehursts were for several years as missionaries with the United Methodist Church. She serves a very poor congregation in a very poor section of the city and she talked about a ministry that the church was involved in.
The church is located near a public square where children and youth gather before school. The students come from the surrounding countryside and ride buses into this neighborhood, but because of the bus schedule, they arrive around 8:30 in the morning and the classes don’t start until the afternoon. So for several hours they are sitting in the square. Seven women from Pastor Flor’s church saw what was happening and decided that they had to do something about it.
So they started serving food. They invited the children into the church and fed them. Soon they were serving 75 to 80 meals a day. They got some help from the city government and they asked the families of the children to send in two kilos of grain when they could. When they met each week for their prayer time they all brought a thimbleful of cooking oil that they pooled together for the weekly cooking.
Then they saw that there were other needs. They were close to a local hospital and because of the health care system there, everyday people come to wait in line to be seen. They line up at 8 o’clock in the morning and often stay in line many hours. The ladies said to themselves, “We need to feed them, too.” So they do. This small group of women heard Jesus say, “I was hungry and you fed me,” and they decided to listen. They were going to be a witness to the good news. At a time when many congregations might have said, “We can’t,” Flor Rodriguez’s church said, “We will.”
In the Congo in Africa, Franktown Church has a representative. Jacques Akasa and his wife, Poto Valentine Shutsa, run an aviation ministry there. The Congo is a huge country. If you look at a map of Africa it takes up the whole central part of the continent. But it is one of the most troubled nations in the world. It is difficult to get around because there is no national transportation network. There are vast jungles separating the eastern and western halves of the country. In the west political turmoil and economic disaster have devastated the country. In the east there is open civil war and competing militia groups. Throughout there are people who do not have what they need to survive and do not have much hope.
Jacques has a plane and he goes throughout the country taking doctors and medical teams, medical supplies, missionaries, pastors and church leaders. Jacques and Poto were here not too long ago and they told us about the challenges of just finding enough oil to fly the plane. At the time he told us that it cost about $700 for a barrel of the fuel he needs for a flight – a huge sum in the Congo. But Jacques says, “When I fly sick persons to the hospitals where their lives are saved, when I fly seminary or college professors to teach, I think I am doing God's will. In some places if we don't fly in supplies like salt, soap or matches, there is no other way such supplies will get to the population. Many of our mission stations depend on the aviation ministry for survival. Through aviation, children can get shots for immunization. It's not just a means of transportation, but it is a whole ministry – the Gospel – that is preached in different ways."[i]
We got word this week that Jacques and Poto will be hard to reach for several weeks. They are going to be in the interior for several weeks and will not be near any form of communication. It’s a difficult life, but Jacques and Poto are going to be a witness to the good news. Many of us would look at he overwhelming needs of that nation and might have said, “We can’t.” They said, “We will.”
Jesus got his disciples together and said, “I’m sending you out to be witnesses. Here’s what I want you to do: Tell the people the good news that the kingdom of God is here. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Don’t take any money for what you do. Don’t take any money with you. No bag for your journey, or extra clothes or sandals, or a staff. Just trust that you are going to get what you need.
“It will not be easy. They will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues. You will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, don’t worry about how you are to speak or what you are going to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.”
Surely they must have resisted. Surely they must have said, “It’s too much.” Surely they must have been tempted to say, “We can’t.” But even though they didn’t know what they were saying they said, “We will.” It was a crazy thing to do, but they did it.
So what is it that keeps us from being the witnesses that Jesus calls us to be? What is it that keeps us from proclaiming the truth? Why does everybody look to the preacher when it’s time to pray? Why do we turn our heads when we see a need and hope that someone else will respond? Why do we stay silent when injustice runs rampant…when lies masquerade as truth? Why do we believe that we won’t have the words when the time comes for testimony? What is it that we are afraid of?
The truth is that even though we have said that God has made us and this world…even though we have affirmed that Jesus has the power to cleanse us from our sin and redeem us from every infirmity…even though we have called on the Holy Spirit to come and fill us with the power to speak a word of hope…even though Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you to the end of the age”…even though he has commanded us not to worry about what we shall say because the Spirit will speak through us…even though it’s not about us; it’s about God…even though we have given our hearts to Jesus, we’re not so sure we want to give him our tongues and our hands and our feet and our bodies…even though Jesus tells us that all things are possible we…are…not…so…sure. We have a trust problem.
I remember when I was about six years into ministry I made a startling realization. I suddenly realized that I had been conducting my ministry as if the adults would show up some day to set everything straight. It sounds strange, but one day I realized, “Hey. I am the adult I’ve been waiting for. Nobody else is going to show up to be the witness Jesus calls me to be. It’s me.”
It is not the role of the saints to speak for you. It is not the role of the paid professional to speak for you. You can’t wait for the moment to be right because it will never be right. You can’t wait until you arrive at perfection. You can’t wait for the cavalry to show up. You can’t wait for the right program. You can’t look at the needs of this dying world and say, “I can’t,” because Jesus is calling you.
When the United Methodist Church met at our global gathering back in May, the General Conference, they changed our membership vows. Since 1932, Methodists, when they join the church, have pledged to support their congregations with their prayers, their presence, their gifts and their service. Beginning next year the liturgy will add a new word. In addition to those things, new members will also pledge their witness. It’s a way of recognizing that every person, lay and clergy, man and woman, tall and short, Hokie and Cavalier…every person is to be a witness to what God is doing in the world through our Lord Jesus Christ.
There will be times when the world will want to hear that witness…when the world will be dying to hear that witness. This week as we watched the devastation of Ike and saw the financial markets crash…when they started using phrases like “the worst meltdown since the Great Depression”…we were reminded, as if we needed it, that the world is an unstable place with many terrors and many uncertainties. In the midst of all of this, the church has a unique message to give as it testifies to hope in the midst of hopelessness and resurrection in the midst of death.
There will be other times, though when the world will not want to hear that witness…when it will stop its ears and refuse to listen. Once I went on a mission trip to a small town in the high deserts of central Mexico. This village was miles from the nearest paved road and two hours from the nearest city. We were there to help the Methodists build a new sanctuary. They had been meeting for 50 years in the home of one of the families and it was a great testament for them to build a new place of worship.
There were a lot of tensions between the Methodists and Catholics there as there is, unfortunately, throughout Mexico. The village was dominated by the Catholic church and the evangelicos, the other denominations, were often persecuted. In fact, the Methodists had not been able to get any land in the village to build their church. They had a small plot on the edge of a corn field outside of town.
Being there was the first time I had ever really experienced open opposition because of my faith. As we walked through the streets of the town one night around 10, a group of drunks accosted us and jeered at us for helping the evangelicos. On Sunday morning, as we gathered to worship in the new church, an ice cream truck with a very loud speaker on top came and parked outside of the church with music blaring and stayed there for about 30 minutes, even though there were no houses within a quarter-mile. He was trying to disrupt the service. It was small, but a reminder that what we give witness to, though it is good news, is not good news to many who believe that something sinister or threatening is going on under the name of Jesus.
One final story. Back in June floods came and wiped out large parts of Iowa. One of those places was Cedar Rapids where so many people lost everything they had. Salem United Methodist Church has been in downtown Cedar Rapids for over 100 years and it has always been an active place. The congregation is about the size of ours and they have been active in serving the community and in things like the Emmaus movement. Linda Bibb, who was the pastor there during the floods said, “We have housed 134 consecutive Emmaus weekends in this facility since 1987 … (and) 17 Chrysalis flights…There’s been so much ministry that has been poured out.”
When the floods came, they hit Salem Church like they did the rest of the city. While they were helping their neighbors, members of the congregation also put up sandbags around the church, but in the end the waters got in and the church was swamped. The church made a decision though. On June 11 they put the last sandbag in place but they didn’t go back to the building. It’s not clear if they will ever be able to go back. Instead they moved out. Pastor Bibb said, "We discover who needs us most in the community and we go there first because the church is not the building," she said.
So what happened? The church went on without the building. They had a wedding ceremony in a local hotel. Sunday worship services have shifted to another United Methodist Church. An infant was baptized using water from a dehumidifier, since city officials restricted the use of drinking water in the wake of the floods. The church has gone on even though the building didn’t.[ii] They were going to be a witness to the good news. At a time when many congregations might have said, “We can’t,” Salem Church said, “We will.”
What’s the crazy thing Jesus is calling you to give witness to? What can you do to show how this love we talk about each week makes a difference? When will you stop saying, “I can’t,” and begin to say, “I will”? Thanks be to God.
Matthew 10:5-23 (NRSV)
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food.
Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 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. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
"See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
[i] http://new.gbgm-umc.org/work/missionaries/biographies/index.cfm?action=details&id=8.
[ii] Marta W. Aldrich, United Methodist News Service, July 1, 2008, http://www.umc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=lwL4KnN1LtH&b=4347979&content_id=%7B0432C5A9-5A95-4F6B-B3F9-448785CD8B95%7D¬oc=1
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