The Rev. Kathleen Liles Christ & Saint Stephen’s Church New York City

July 7, 2013 The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Proper 9, Year C

Isaiah 66:10-14; Psalm 66:1-8; Galatians 6:1-16; Luke 10:1-11,16-20

Unless you have been living in a cave since March 2011, you have heard of the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. It tells the story of two young missionaries who are sent to a remote village in northern Uganda to evangelize people with a book only one of them has read. As you know, the play has received rave reviews, numerous Tony Awards and a Grammy for the original cast recording, which has sold more copies than any Broadway cast album in over four decades. And, while the play is outrageously successful by every measure, even its fans agree it is hands-down the filthiest and most offensive play ever to be staged on Broadway. There is something in it to offend every conceivable group, but it is especially hard on Mormons.

So you can understand my bafflement when I read that after seeing the play, some people have converted to Mormonism. Two missionaries pass out copies of the Book of Mormon in front of the theater at each performance and apparently some people take it home and read it. And a few are attracted to the missionary focus of Mormonism. It appeals, I suppose, to seekers who want a life that connects them to others, because that kind of close connection is at the root of the Mormon way of life.

But it is not just a connection with other Mormons that is at the core of their mission, even more it is with those who might become Mormons. Old fashioned evangelism is part of the raison d’être of that religion.

I was reminded of that when I read this passage from Luke, wherein Jesus sends people out to spread the word ahead of him. It was a sort of an internship program or advance team. And notice he sends out seventy of his followers, not just the twelve disciples who were closest to him. Some scholars think that is meant to remind us of the seventy nations from the Book of Genesis, meaning everyone is meant to be sent.

This type of activity would make the majority Christian folk nowadays uncomfortable, most want nothing to do with traditional missionary work. It is only Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses who still go door-to-door seeking to convert their neighbors and most of us run and hide when we see them approaching. I learned years ago, the worse thing to tell these uninvited visitors is that you are a minister. That seems to inspire them.

But while most of us no longer undertake this traditional type of evangelism – especially in the Episcopal Church, God’s Chosen Frozen – our passage from Luke shows us that Jesus took it very seriously.

And in the early days of Christianity, spreading the word was clearly a priority for the followers of Jesus. But nowadays most of us undertake mission differently.

Today’s mission programs are often global in nature, advocating for those who suffer from economic exploitation, alleviation of disease and hunger, access to health care and education, and assurance of basic human rights.

The mission of the church has not become inactive even though we are not knocking on doors, it has just changed. We have found new ways to be ‘Christ’s hands and feet in the world,’ as Saint Teresa of Ávila once put it.

But those enthusiastic Mormon converts – and this passage from Luke – remind us that we are meant to do this along with others. Simply staying at home and writing a check to a worthy service organization is no substitute for the community that comes from being with others and serving together in the name of Christ. You can see an example of that energy when we pack the bags for our Brown Bag lunch program.

Jesus knew we need each other. He sent his advance team out two by two for a reason. They provided one another support, companionship and encouragement. And he sent them out without basic necessities so they would be forced to depend on those they met along the way. They were meant to learn from others, as well as teach them about Christ.

I remember when I was a child visiting my grandparents’ Baptist Church. This was the 1950s and this congregation supported missionaries in a very remote part of Africa. The missionaries – a husband and wife team – had returned to the U.S. to report on the work they were doing with a certain tribe. They showed slides (we had slides in those days) of the African people with whom they lived and spoke about adjustments they had to make when arriving there. They noticed right away that the women of the village wore no clothes above the waist (it was a warm climate). So the missionaries wrote back to the U.S. and made arrangements to have bras mailed to them, one for each woman in the village. When the garments arrived they handed them out and were amazed by how delighted the village women were to receive them. They had expected resistance to the idea. It was the end of day and so the Baptist missionaries returned to their tent thinking there must be an innate modesty among the African women. The next morning they went to the village well and saw many of the women there. They had taken the bras and fastened them around their waist and were using them as pockets. The missionaries realized they had a lot of things to learn as well as wisdom to deliver.

Interdependence is a hallmark of Christian life.

This stands in stark contrast to our culture which puts a great deal of value on self-reliance. There is a myth in our nation that we are stronger when we are independent. But our founding fathers knew that it was only by working together that we could throw off the yoke of British oppression. Benjamin Franklin famously said, “We must hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately.” 1 When we celebrated the Declaration of Independence a few days ago, we remembered individuals who worked together to form a new nation, a new people.

And this is true of Christian people. Our story from Luke reminds us that we are to labor on behalf of Christ, to bring Good News and basic help and support to others. But to become a Christian people we are also called to allow ourselves to be connected to them – and to learn from them. It is that dependence and vulnerability and the relationships that come from it that forms into the body of Christ for the sake of the world. Amen.

1 Quoted by David Lose in a recent essay, Working Preacher