“Travel Light”
A Sermon by Rev. Patrice Ficken
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Sanbornton Congregational Church, UCC
July 8, 2007
(Please do not re-print or re-use without permission of the author)
“Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage….”
Jesus chooses 70 folk and sends them out with specific instructions: travel light, go only where you are welcomed, stay put wherever hospitality is offered and do God’s work – bringing the message of God’s love and light to all. Heal the sick. Bring wholeness to the tormented. Don’t give a second thought to the ones who reject you. Simply wipe the dust from your feet from such places and move on.
Jesus’ admonition to “travel light” – to just take with us what we really need on the journey has special resonance for me as I reflect upon my recent journey to my parents’ home. Last week, my sisters and I went through a lifetime of possessions: correspondence, pictures, work papers, clothes, glassware, furniture. I focused particular effort on pictures and correspondence. Mom saved everything. As I went through pictures I reviewed my parents’ life journey in a flash. And as we found the treasures mom so carefully kept aside for special occasions – some things never used at all – I learned what my parents’ valued in a new way.
Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” I learned once more what I already knew, that what my parents’ treasured were their daughters; their family and friends; travel; literature, music, learning. My dad treasured his work life and all that he accomplished as an aeronautical engineer. Going through all their possessions was hard work. We did our best to honor the legacy they left behind. And yet, as things left the house – the kitchen table that we had sat around so many times, other things that none of us wanted – I felt my heart break.
Oh, how we love to feather our nest! Oh how difficult to let things go! It’s human nature - maybe even in the nature of all living things - to want a place of safety, security and comfort. For my parents’ generation – the things they treasured were heirlooms passed down from their families. These were the things carefully packed away and taken care of. In this generation, a different kind of nest feathering is going on – having to do with accumulating the latest gadget, the latest technology.
Recently, the new IPhone – made by the Apple Corporation was unveiled. It is a handheld device that seemingly does it all: you can watch movies, listen to music, store digital photos, surf the web; and use it as a cell phone. As remarkable as it is, apparently in our current consumer-oriented culture, its pizzaz will be short-lived. Consumers are already looking for the next release of a new improved version. The New York Times article reviewing the Iphone’s unveiling called it the “what’s next?” syndrome.
The side effect of this is that the now outdated model is disposed of; discarded, thrown away – having ripple effects on our environment, our relationships. Rather than valuing what we have; we feed our perpetual hunger for more, for better, for the new, improved version – of the computer, the car, the spouse, the friend, the job. The next best thing syndrome is accelerating and its obsession is spreading around the globe with disastrous consequences for our earth.
We’ve heard the expression, “what would Jesus do?” I often wonder, what would Jesus think of all our technology, our frenzied lifestyles, our fast paced, consumer world?
And then I realize that somehow, in all his wisdom he had human nature pegged long ago. The first century may not have had all the bells and whistles; but Jesus and his disciples lived in the shadow of the
So, what does it mean to “travel light?” What is Jesus really saying to us?
I think the teaching really has to do with making a clearing, making space for God to work in our lives. When our focus is all about accumulating stuff, all about feathering our nest, all about making ourselves comfortable – there’s not much room for God to maneuver. And frankly, we like it better this way. We feel more in control; we feel like we know what to do and how to do it.
To travel light is truly about walking in faith and trust with God. I’m sure all of us have experienced a time when we reached a dead end or a brick wall and felt like there was nothing more that we could do about a situation. In this giving up and surrender, then we finally experience a shift because we stopped working so hard to make things go our way. We provide God an opening, a clearing.
We may not have the courage to go out as those 70 brave disciples did – with the clothes on our back and nothing more. But maybe we can take some baby steps in that direction. We can stop working so hard to keep the ground so secure under our feet; we can experiment with living with discomfort on a small scale and see what we learn about ourselves and about God.
Pema Chodron in her book “Awakening Loving Kindness” describes how it is that we create space when we meditate.
She writes…”when there’s a lot of space you can see very clearly: you’ve removed your veils, your shields, your armor, your dark glasses, your earplugs, your layers of mittens, your heavy boots. Finally you’re standing, touching the earth, feeling the sun on your body…hearing all the noises without anything to dull the sound.” (p. 118)
After all, think of what those 70 experienced by traveling light. They experienced the joy of being welcomed into a stranger’s home – the true nature of hospitality. And as they released themselves in growing faith and trust that God was with them – amazing and powerful things happened! By making space – the Spirit worked through them - “…the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you – that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” (Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message)
The fact of the matter is – we can spend a lifetime accumulating, a lifetime feathering our nests, a lifetime making ourselves comfortable – but in the end, we need to ask ourselves – what is it that we have really experienced? How have we really grown? How much greater is our capacity to love?
God calls us to the edge of this loving and living if we dare listen, if we dare answer, if we dare to travel light.
Amen.
