Scripture for July 6, 2025: Luke 10: 1-11, 16-20

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ² He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ ⁶ And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’

 

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷ The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” ¹⁸ He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹ Indeed, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

June 29, 2025 Sermon: “We’ve Heard of Hellfire? How About Heaven Fire?” Luke 9: 51-62

           As we consider the next portion of our Sending Statement, it says “God changes ordinary life into abundant living, through our participation…”  There are some specifics mentioned that we can participate with, but I want to pause here.

            When the faith is rolling well in the love of Christ, its easy to see the many examples of life going from the ordinary to the abundant.  But sometimes life is not just about the positive examples.  Sometimes we have the negative.  Like that show “What NOT to wear…”  For every “After” picture where things are amazing, there is always the “Before” picture that are, well, not. Maybe like yours truly in a weight loss ad?

            That is the first part of our Scripture this morning.  Jesus is beginning to head to Jerusalem for his death and resurrection.  He’s in Galilee, and chooses to go back through Samaria.  Sends a messenger ahead to check in with the village he has in mind.  And these folks reply “no thank you” and Jesus goes elsewhere. 

            So, James and John step into the picture with a suggestion that is the definitive way of NOT changing ordinary life into abundant living.  It is NOT by offering to call down the fire of heaven to consume the villagers who’ve turned Jesus away.

            Luke is deliberate in describing how Jesus reacts.  Luke says that Jesus rebukes his disciples.  The term ‘rebuke’, in the gospel, is reserved almost exclusively for Jesus confronting demons in his command for them to leave the people they possess.  Think about that, Jesus speaks to two of his closest disciples the way he speaks to evil spirits about to be cast out of the people they possess. 

            Later however, Jesus does not seem to hold this against them.  The storyteller in me would like to think this incident is why Jesus calls the brother the Sons of Thunder elsewhere in the gospels.

            In the disciple’s defense, heaven fire is something of a typical God response in ‘their’ bible, the Old Testament.  Sodom and Gomorrah, Elijah’s sacrifice versus those of the 400 prophets of Baal, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron bringing ‘unholy fire’ before the Lord.  Fire from heaven.  Of course, killing people with fire because they said ‘we think not’ when Jesus sought to come to them, maybe overkill.

            Still, James and John appear to be deliberately missing the point of Jesus’ ministry.  They were at the Transfiguration, the feeding of the 5000, the Sermon on the mount, how many healings, parables, teachings, and, on the verses leading up to this story, verses 16-27, Jesus explicitly lays out the reality of his coming death and resurrection.

            My study bible labels these verses as “Samaritan opposition”.  I think “Disciple Correction” might be the better label.  Jesus has come to do something completely different from what came before.  Because that did not work.  Humans have proven across the history of the bible that punishment on us for what we do does not work, even via the purifying fire of heaven. 

            But all of that, whether heaven fire or the flood that killed all the evil people at the time of Noah, to all the ways God punished in the Old Testament, they all point to how God truly changes ordinary life into abundant living.  Punishment for sin is laid across His Only Begotten Son instead.  We do not learn by punishment and the infliction of justice, we learn by the application of mercy.  God is love, not the tough love of punishment, but the merciful love of forgiveness, the free gift of salvation.  God does it all for us. 

            Next to that, the next piece of the passage is tough to sort through:

⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

            First guy says he’ll follow, Jesus seems to blow him off, as I read it.  Second guy gets called, but asks to bury his father.  Jesus comments on the dead burying the dead, but gives him a sending to proclaim the gospel.  Third guy just seems to be a condemnation.  If he is going to turn from the plow, even to say goodbye to family, he’s not fit for the Kingdom of God?

            What is Jesus doing?  If I said this, I would be an obnoxious blowhard.  But Jesus sees into the hearts of every person and every response he gives here is tailored to the one he’s talking to.  Seems like guy one won’t have follow through.  Guy two may not become one of the twelve, but will be a witness.  Guy three won’t do the job.  We do not have the heart sight of our Lord to know people.

            What we do have is in the second part of our Sending statement for today.  “God changes ordinary life into abundant living, through participation in worship, Christian education, fellowship, and service.”  This is where we, as the church, develop and grow in our faith.  I truly believe that the first hour any church member needs to invest Jesus is right here, in the worship of the living God.  Keeps our eyes on the prize.  From there we grow as we learn, as we come into community with each other, as we serve others. 

            These three that Jesus speaks to, examples of enthusiastic individuals, with no nurture in the joy of abundant living.  Jesus can pick them cleanly.  For the church, being organized on these principles, these teams led from Session is our alternative.  The journey of faith is not simply one that travels across our lives, it travels ever deeper into the very souls of who we are.  There is always something more to know and celebrate in what Jesus has accomplished for us by his death and resurrection.  He’s given us eternal life, which, because this is God-level, I believe includes eternal possibility. The abundance never runs dry.

            What is the importance of having places where we aim to grow intentionally in our faith?  Maybe that’s what brings us back to the beginning of our passage.  Some Samaritans said “no”.  Two thirds of Jesus’ leadership team took that as a reason to offer to pull down the fires of heaven to destroy them.  I cannot help but envision Jesus taking them aside and telling them, “It looks like we have some refresher courses on being a disciple of Jesus and what that means to go over again.”

            We celebrate our lives in Christ, as did the man freed from the Legion of demons.  We celebrate that God changes ordinary life into more.  We prepare for that, intentionally.  We participate in a structured community based in the worship, teaching, community and service of and to our Lord Jesus Christ.  And we have the examples in the gospel of Jesus’ reads on the hearts of those who are not so fully invested.  Heavens, we have the example in the gospel of two of Jesus’ closest who needed some clear refreshers.  Abundant living is not a one off.  It’s from Jesus.  There is always more we can invest into Christ, and there is always more abundance that we shall receive, in Him. 

Amen.

Raining Down The Fires of Heaven…in Jesus’ Name?

Was it hyperbole (were the boys just talking a big talk?) or were the Sons of Thunder prepared to invoke God-level destruction?  (See Luke 9:54).

I found myself wondering about why the term ‘hellfire’ seemed to resonate in my knowledge-base while ‘heaven fire’ seems excessive and contradictive.  It is not to do with the infamous ‘Hellfire’ club of the X-men comics (and also, apparently, of British and Irish origins).  No, in my knowledge base, the Hellfire missile is a mainstay of US military forces (making appearances in military-based video games as well). 

Hellfire carries a 'Sodom and Gomorrah' connection too, the bringing of fire and brimstone (but a mixed connection, fires of hell sent from heaven...that is another post...).

Fire from heaven as a thing occurs as well (but it’s ‘branding’ is not as pervasive as ‘hellfire’).  Maybe the best known example is the fire of heaven descending to consume the sacrifice of Elijah when he was engaged in worship battles with the 400 priests of Baal. 

Its not always a good thing.  In Leviticus 10, the two eldest sons of Aaron, newly minted high priest, are consumed by heavenly fire when they offered something translated as “unholy fire” before the Lord. 

Heaven fire was certainly on the mind of John.  This Son of Thunder we believe wrote significant portions of the New Testament, the gospel, the three letters, and the book of Revelation.  In a couple of places in Revelation, specifically 13:13 and 20:9, he talks about the fires of heaven coming down to consume the evil.

If there is any consistency in these expressions of heaven fire, it seems to be in how it purifies.  It burns away the evil to leave what is good.  Directly, as in the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, or indirectly, as in the slaughter of the priests of Baal that follow the fire coming down to show God’s acceptance of Elijah’s sacrifice.  But it is violent, elemental, and consuming.

Given their Biblical understanding (their bible being our Old Testament), given John’s return to this theme in the Book of the Apocalypse of John (another name for Revelation), I do not think the Sons of Thunder were just talking in exaggeration.  Especially in light of Jesus claiming that anything asked for in faith would be granted to the disciples. 

And Jesus rebuked them.  That’s an interesting word choice.  Did a quick concordance check of the word rebuke.  When Jesus uses it elsewhere, it is almost exclusively when he rebukes evil spirits-demons-before casting them out. 

Sidebar-when it came to Legion in last week’s Scripture, ‘rebuke’ is not recorded.

For Jesus to rebuke is for Jesus to invoke God-level interjection to say, in less polite terms, “Shut up and knock it off!”

I believe Jesus did it because what the Sons of Thunder were offering to do was exactly what Jesus had come to put an end to.  Jesus came to put an end to heavenly punishment for our sins.  Jesus came to take the punishment for sins upon himself.  Heaven fire would NOT fall upon Jesus because heaven fire is purifying, and Jesus is the Pure, Perfect one to be sacrificed on our behalf.  In other words, no need for fire.

He is without sin, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world.  In fact, in our passage, Jesus is beginning His journey to Jerusalem, to do exactly that, to take on our punishment that would relegate the fires of heaven to punish and purify to the divine dustbin of history of how God works to bring us to obedience of God's will.    

Peace,

pastor pete

Then the Disciples said TO JESUS, and I quote, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

And these are not just any disciples.  This isn’t Judas Iscariot, the traitor and betrayer of the Lord.  He is biding his time to do his damage.  It isn’t Thomas the Doubter, misplacing his doubt about what to do with unbelievers.  It isn’t Simon the Zealot, who we know only from the disciple lists in the gospels.  Calling him a “Zealot” is to indicate he is part of a terrorist faction operating at the time of Jesus.  These folks were known to hide blades on their persons and assassinate fellow Jews they judged were collaborating with the enemies.  If there is a person of violence in the disciples, it would be him.

No, these two are James and John, brothers who were among the first Jesus called as disciples.  They, along with Peter, were called from their fishing boats along the Sea of Galilee.  And, along with Peter,  form something of an inner circle in the midst of the larger crew of Twelve disciples.  For example, it was only these three present at the Transfiguration.  

We know a couple more things about them.  We know their mom sought to get Jesus to do her a favor without explaining what it was.  This was for her boys to sit at the right and left of Jesus in the Hall of the King in heaven.  That caused a stir.  They were also called “Boanerges”, the “Sons of Thunder” by Jesus himself.  As the Google brain tries to put it politely, “(it)…likely reflects their passionate, sometimes fiery personalities.”  Or it could be because they did stuff like this, threatening heaven-fire?  

Yes, and Jesus kept them on. 

This has me reflecting on powerful feelings I see in the church today.  On the one hand, calling down the fires of heaven to consume someone, this sentiment of punishment and exclusion is all too common.  Why don’t people come to church?  One big reason is that this vengeful anger has become associated with the entire church, not only in one moment when they were rejected.

The reality is that Jesus took punishment for sins upon himself for our forgiveness, not for us to threaten people about what will happen if they do not accept Him.

On the other hand, someone who speaks out with what is considered extreme passion and vehemence garners backlash.  Can you picture James or John coming before a church board and trying to explain why, in the course of their ministry, they sought to misuse the destructive powers of heaven for their own purposes?  Cancel culture is a real thing, their ministry, in today’s terms, could have been buried for this.

The reality is that Jesus forgives us our sins and gives us a second chance and more.  He said something about forgiving seven times seventy times.

Of course, there is the cliché that "it is easier to ask forgiveness than it is to ask permission."  I am very glad they asked permission.

In terms of understanding the gospel, this appears to be an outlier when it comes to the behavior of the disciples.  And, given that the parable of the Good Samaritan is coming in the next chapter of Luke, their threat could be a reflection not so much of their faith perspective as it is a biased perspective against Samaritans in general.  Which would mean that even those closest to Jesus had a few things to learn about what it means that God is love.

Peace

pastor pete

When Jesus is Not on a Winning Streak?

 It feels too heavy to suggest Jesus was ever on a losing streak.

First impression of Sunday’s text, Luke 9: 51-62: it feels like a string of losses for the Lord (feels like Canadian Hockey teams and the Stanley Cup…its been awhile…1993, Montreal Canadiens, not that I am keeping track or anything).

Context:  Jesus is beginning a journey to Jerusalem, well, his final journey to Jerusalem.  “When the days drew near for Him to be taken up, He set His face to go to Jerusalem…” vs. 51.  He is in Galilee, vs. 10 reports Him at Bethsaida.  Apparently, Jesus is not taking the usual way to Jerusalem.  That is to follow the Jordon River south to Jericho, then uphill and west to Jerusalem.  No, he is headed through the hill country of Samaria. 

He begins by sending messengers into a village in Samaria to ‘prepare the way’.  But the Samaritans did not receive him, apparently because Jesus was headed through to Jerusalem.  I do not know exactly what that means, but the result is Jesus ends up in another village.  But Jesus' disciples take this rejection personally.  James and John offer to torch the place, literally.  For this, Jesus rebukes them and they move on.

Sidebar:  In the middle of chapter 10, we have the story of the Good Samaritan.  Did Jesus have these events with His fire-happy disciples, ready to destroy Samaritans, in mind? 

So, strike one, Samaritans are like “thanks but no thanks” to Jesus on His way through.

Then Jesus gets a volunteer!  Vs. 57.  “I will go with you wherever you go.”  While Jesus does not come out and tell the individual ‘thanks but no thanks’, He is firm that to make this commitment means that there is no nest, no base, “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”  This is generally interpreted as a rejection.

Then Jesus calls someone else, “Follow me!”  This individual has a compelling reason to ask for a delay.  He needs to bury his father.  Again, Jesus’ response is curiously mixed.  On the one hand, “let the dead bury their own dead”, seems a strong reaction against a legitimate concern?  But then Jesus tells him, “Go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”  Maybe this one becomes one of the Seventy in the next chapter that Jesus will send ahead.  Again, interpreted as a rejection generally, but the language is not so definitive.

Then we have the volunteer who steps up, asking only for the opportunity to bid his family ‘farewell’.  Not an unreasonable request, at least not to my ears.  But Jesus’ response again is heavy.  “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  Again, apparent rejection, but there is still some wiggle room in the language.  The volunteer has not yet put his hand to the plow.

If Luke were sending this to his publishers with a note that ‘in this section, we have church recruitment techniques as taught by the Savior himself’, I can see the publishers pausing, considering, maybe gently pushing back with ‘what else you got to show us’?

But if this is, rather, a litany of ‘typical’ human response to church recruitment, we have something very different.  We have what I think is an amazing insight into human nature.  So, maybe not a discourse on recruitment, but rather an introduction to the nature of human response when we reach out in the Name of the Lord?

Peace,

pastor pete

“From Hell’s Sway to Celebrating The Day" Sermon for the Lord's Day, Sunday, June 22, 2025

 Our Scripture for Sunday's Sermon is Luke 8:26-29

            Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?   

            But before we even get to this man and his situation, the whole set up for this gospel story is rather unique.  Were Jesus and company were washed ashore here by “accident”?  In the verses leading up to this, verses 22-25, Jesus silences a windstorm that had the disciples in fear for their lives.  The storm was quieted by the Lord, and perhaps they landed here to check for damage?  

            In addition, the crowds are absent.  Elsewhere, the gospel records Jesus getting into a boat to escape the crowds and the crowds walking around the lakeshore to follow him.  And after this encounter, the gospel records “Now when Jesus returned, the crowds welcomed him…”

This time, it’s a naked man who lives among the tombs came out to meet him, a man possessed of demons.  And he is not welcoming, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?”  Sounds like Legion is talking through the man’s voice. 

            That makes this man a highly dangerous individual, as Luke goes on to record that, when Legion took control, his strength became preternatural, that he was able to break chains and shackles, that he would flee into the wild. 

            We are also not in Jewish territory anymore.  The swineherd is the most obvious clue.  Pigs are forbidden in the law of Moses.  What we know is that the land of the Gerasenes is part of the Decapolis, a Greek region known as the ‘ten cities’ that existed in what is now the border region between Israel and Syria, focused in the area of we now call the Golan Heights.

            So, it’s a Greek region, where the only one who seems to be able to identify Jesus on sight is the demon, and, what does this Holy Guy from the other side of the lake do?  He does not banish demons into the abyss but allows them to transfer residence into the pigs.  Then the entire herd destroys itself, running headlong into the lake.  And if this were modern times, the owner of the herd would probably have insurance.  But would this not invoke the ‘act of God’ clause to invalidate the claim?    

            Is it any wonder that the people of the region reacted with fear?  At best, they might have heard of this Holy Guy surrounded by crowds on the other side of the lake.  But they have no history with Jesus or his ministry, they have no history with Jesus’ bible, no common religious and educational links to place Jesus into the context of redemptive history.  And the evidence of their own senses?

1.     The demon reacted with anguish and torment at the appearance of this Holy Guy.  The supernatural tormentor is now being tormented!

2.     The demon named this Holy Guy who is NOT connected to any of the gods that are worshipped by the Greeks in the time of Christ.

3.     The demon names the Most High God, naming this God as more powerful than theirs.

4.     The Holy Guy demonstrates some pretty specific powers:

a.     He can order the demonic beings back to the abyss.

b.     He can be bargained with by demonic beings.

                                               i.     That’s a flip from the typical bargain a human makes with a demon at the cost of their soul.

c.     He can apparently destroy their sources of food and livelihood in this exchange.

5.     There is the crazy guy, the dangerous guy, the demon possessed guy, the guy they could not tie down, the guy who’d once been just like them (so who might be possessed next?)

So all the people gather together, bound by their fear of this unknown Holy Guy, so afraid of Jesus as some new God-level force outside their experience, that their panicked response to His miracle is a meek, “Please go.”  Which Jesus does.

 And this man, despite his pleas, is given his marching orders by Jesus.  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  Which, according to verse 39, is precisely what he did.

He’s got his marching orders, we have ours.  We call it our Sending Statement.  It’s on the bulletin.  A Statement of Sending is an interpretation from Jesus’ words in John, “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send you.”  This Sending statement, that we have been calling the Mission Statement, also often called a Vision Statement, it is the product of the work that a congregation does between pastors.  Who knows this community better than its residents?  Who are those working and worshipping in Christ in this place? 

A Sending Statement essentially fulfills the command from Jesus.  “Peace be with you, as the Father has sent me so I send you…so we, as FPC Merchantville, establish that this is how we shape our ministry in this time and in this place as those sent by Jesus. 

The opening words of our Sending Statement are “We are a people who encourage one another to celebrate our life in Christ.”  And in today’s Scripture, it is illustrated in the life of a formerly demon possessed man who “happened”-and I put that in quotes, because nothing ever just happens with God-he just “happened” to see boat blown off course arrive on his side of the Sea of Galilee.   

            In the end, the man celebrates.  There is a deep truth to understand that celebration is the appropriate response to our Lord Jesus when He sends us out into the world.  What we see in the renewed life of this man freed from the legion of demons is only an illustration of the whole plan of God set in motion for the renewal of all creation.  We have come through the seasons of celebrating all that Jesus has done for us.  The cornerstone event is that Jesus died for us and rose again for us, our sins forgiven and a new life in salvation there, literally, for the asking.  It is eternal life, offered freely.  What greater celebration might we seek?

            I believe it is especially appropriate that we are sharing the installation and ordination of our members of Session and the Board of Deacons today.  This is a celebration in the life of the church, looking forward to the gifts and stories and love that the new classes of elders and deacons are bringing to the leadership of the church. 

            But while we have reason to celebrate as we live into the whole Plan of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ, while we have reason to celebrate in the raising up of leaders to help us set the path and reach forward to do the Lord’s work as a congregation, there is another, more personal, level that is our cause to celebrate.  It is what Jesus has done for each of us, in our own lives.  Our bible story is illustrative of that.

            This is one event that happened in the life of this man.  Just one.  For him, it was a huge display of Jesus’ power.  But for Jesus, it is almost an afterthought that Luke tells us Jesus was in the process of evicting Legion.  It is an act of creation, Jesus speaks and it happens.  Such is the power of Jesus at any level, in any moment of our lives.  This loving power overcomes everything.  When we are attentive, we can see Jesus’ loving power intervening for us again and again and again all through our lives.  In our eyes, it can be as big as a demon hoard being exorcised.  But it can be as “small”, and I put that word in quotes, as a new insight into God’s Holy Word.  It can be as small as the right word spoken in a moment of despair. 

            Here’s an example from disaster response.  A Chaplain moves through emergency housing for disaster victims, shocked and barely able to function.  They have words, but they also have bottles of water.  Put a bottle of water into somebody’s hands.  Seems tiny, maybe insignificant.  But accepting a bottle of water may be the first decision in the power of the victim since the disaster.  Maybe it’s a tiny sign that ‘normal’ actually exists.  It can be the first in the chain of decisions that need to be made to move from victim to survivor, from survivor to someone who can thrive once again, someone who can even celebrate once again?

            The language of encouraging one another to celebrate our life in Christ is inspired.  Because how soon do we forget?  Or how easy is it to miss the active hand of God in our daily lives?  Or how often do we find out that the cogs of life out of our sight and beyond our capacity have somehow come together (somehow…yah, Jesus) to accomplish something we were convinced was impossible (despite that Scripture teaches otherwise).      

I opened this sermon with the question, “Who will celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more than a man who has been liberated from not just one but from an entire legion of demons?”  But if we are encouraging one another to celebrate.  If the place where our heart is set to touch the lives of people in this community is in celebration.  If we have responded to Jesus when he says, “I am sending you” by turning our eyes to the light of Christ in joyful celebration, maybe the question should be asked, “Who won’t celebrate their faith in Christ Jesus more?”

Amen

Rev. Peter Hofstra

What Bugs Me: The Strategy of Distraction, as demonic in origin as Legion

In Luke 8:26-38, Jesus lays down a Sending Statement for the man freed of the demons collectively named Legion.  “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”  The terminology of a Sending Statement is drawn from John 21:8, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  It is a deliberate shift in vocabulary from “Mission” to “Sending”. 

To me, this shift takes our eyes back to Jesus.  Because distraction is a power tool of the devil.  Take our passage for Sunday.  It is easy (for me anyway) to get distracted, to go down the rabbit hole, of trying to figure out what scared Legion into bargaining with Jesus (something no other demon has done) about not returning to the Abyss.  It is not a stretch to sideline the magnificent power of Jesus expressed here to chase down these apparent ‘ethics of hell'.

Distraction, it speaks to another question bopping around this pastor’s skull.  Why is it such a big deal to change the phrasing from “Our Mission” to “Our Sending”?  Because of distraction.  “Missions” is a Christian technical term that is encumbered with so many meanings that a new term,  “Missional”, has been coined to try and recapture its focus. 

Consider our own church.  We have our Mission Statement (our Sending Statement) and we have a Mission Committee.  However, the Mission Committee’s responsibility is not the oversight and implementation of our Mission Statement.  Rather, it is the focal point for our church missions, whether they be ‘hands on’, in partnership, or through financial support.  Which in turn links us to our Presbytery Mission Committee, where we are exploring the possibility of ‘mission micro-communities’, churches that together work with the same mission partners.  This is NOT to imply that there is 'error' in either the Statement or the Committee.  There is not, but distraction and confusion from trying to parse the meaning of the over-burdened term "missions" dampens our energy or, even worse, has us dismissing it as a vague notion that this is 'just something churches do'.   

We are not dumping the word 'mission', we are simply going to clarify what it means FOR US (follow here for more details).

In our passage, contemplating Legion and the Abyss took my eyes off the Lord.  In our church life, wrapping our head around what ‘mission’ means invests our energies elsewhere than into our Lord.  I think that is why Jesus offers us Peace first, before He Sends us.  There is peace when things are clear.  Jesus said, "I send you" and our Sending Statement is a clear declaration of how FPC Merchantville responds.   

To begin, we encourage one another to celebrate our life in Christ.  As our example this week, we look to our Scripture and follow the example of a man freed of a legion of demons.  

Peace,

pastor pete

 

PS-As someone who loves language and enjoys playing with it, I offer the following. We have A Sending Statement that speaks of who we are as we carry Christ forward, that will lead to our Ascending Statement when Jesus calls us home.  : )