6 Pentecost 2007 Zion, Washington

I understand these readings to be in sequence, except for the psalm. The First Reading is the nurture and comfort of God, in this case, to Israel and Judah at the end of the Babylonian Exile. The Second Reading is St. Paul's encouragement to take responsibility for our actions. And having heard that, the Gospel is the story of Jesus sending us out to do the work that He has given us to do, with the added bonus of discovering that the seventy whom Jesus sent out, returned, amazed that when they did what they were sent out to do, those things actually happened. "Lord," they said, "even the demons are subject to your name!" (As if that might be some kind of news to Him By Whom All Things Were Made.)

But the starting point, today, is the collect, which reminds us that before we can do what God wants us to do, we have to be what God wants us to be; devoted to God with our whole heart and united to one another with pure affection. The whole Judeo-Christian world view is built upon our having a complete and worshipful love for God and a nurturing love for one another. And the only times that you and I really get into trouble are when we confuse creation with the Creator and invest in that which is not God those attributes that rightly pertain only to God. It's called idolatry. It shows itself when we start to define ourselves by a concentrated focus on what is not God. It might be our work or a certain project or some aspect of our way of life. Consider the people who define themselves in terms of their work to the neglect of their family and friends, and when they retire, find themselves rudderless and at sea.

And we've all heard the phrase, "Whoever dies with the most toys wins." Well, the pursuit of toys can end up being a fairly hollow quest. I remember driving through a remote paper mill town, up in Maine, with a local resident, who pointed out that every house, whether modest or not, had a car or two, a pickup truck or two and a snow mobile. My friend then said, "The wages are pretty good at the mill, but you can only buy so many toys out here, and after that, the only things left are alcohol and drugs. And Millinocket has a pretty serious drug and alcohol problem."

I have to say, I've known more than a few folks, over the years, who have had the means to do whatever they want, and all they end up doing are things that are self-destructive, because they hadn't attended to who they were called to be before they got all caught up in doing "stuff". St. Augustine of Hippo wrote, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee." Until we orient ourselves toward "loving God with all our hearts, souls, and minds", our hearts, our souls, and our minds are essentially rudderless and at sea; wandering; fogged in by essential, thick frustrations; and blown about by every wind that blows our way. Emotionally, spiritually and mentally, we are not whom God has called us to be until our hearts, souls, and minds rest in God.

But once we settle into that groove, "Katy bar the door", there is nothing good that we can't do. And our first impulse is to be "devoted to one another with pure affection"; and "to love our neighbors as we love ourselves." And then, with God, all things are possible - all things are possible. "Lord, even the demons are subject to your name!"

 And once we get settled into that groove of "resting our hearts in God", our eyes open and we see the hand of God active in the world about us. We recognize so many of the ways that God nourishes and comforts us, not unlike the way that Isaiah describes Jerusalem, Zion - if you will, as that nourishing mother who feeds us with creamy milk that not only builds up our bones and muscles, but also transfers to us antibodies and a greater ability to fend off diseases - in this case, spiritual diseases.

But God's nourishment isn't just for the sake of nourishment. God's nourishment is for the sake of action, ministry - if you will. To quote St. Paul, "Each person will have to bear his own load." Jesus said, "You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, fruit that shall endure." You have as much of a Christian vocation as I do. We simply go about it in different ways. You have the ability to share the Christian Gospel in ways that I never can - because you're not "an ordained meenister", and I am. You walk up to a conversation group, and the conversation goes on. I walk up to a conversation group and the conversation changes; sometimes more nervously than others. You have the ability to share the Christian Gospel in ways that I never can. You have as much of a calling from God as I do, only different. This is what I take from St. Paul's statement that "Each person will have to bear his own load."

So the second step (the one after "resting our hearts in God") is to accept the truth that each one of us has a God-given vocation, for which we all have unique combinations of God-given gifts and talents. It's a matter not only of seeing the load that God has given us to bear, but also picking up that load and doing those good things that God calls us to do; "bearing good fruit that shall endure". Because, like the seventy, in today's Gospel reading, we are all "appointed" and we are all "sent out"; whether it's to the office or to the golf course. And we will be held accountable, by God, for the difference that we make in the lives of the people with whom we come in contact.

But if our hearts truly rest in God, this isn't scary. This isn't a daunting task. This isn't some heroic quest. Most of us don't face dungeons or dragons or things that transform into monsters as part of our vocation. (OK, I confess, I have encounter a few people who really do transform into monsters; but it's only scary the first time.) God provides. The Good News is that, "Lord, even the demons are subject to your name!" And that's a great and mighty shield from most of the fears and trepidations that haunt people who are living out their God-given vocations, whether they are ordained or not.

Take courage. The Christian life is about both: "being" and it's about "doing". As a child is nourished with its mother's milk and nourished with its mother's love, most children do not remain children for ever. Most children grow to adulthood and are expected to shift from being children and enjoying all those rights and privileges, to taking on the obligations and responsibilities of adulthood and of action. And the obligations and responsibilities to which we are called are described in various ways in various places. One popular Episcopal resource for answering that question is The Baptismal Covenant on page 304 and page 305 of the Book of Common Prayer. But in today's Gospel reading, Jesus describes our vocation as to "heal the sick and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'" And in our Christian context, "healing" is simply the restoration of people to spiritual wholeness and goodness. It's not necessarily physical or intellectual or emotional, but it is always spiritual.

Even the various healing miracles that Jesus performed always had an essential, spiritual implication: the blind not only regained their physical sight, but that gained a new spiritual vision. The lame were healed, not just for the sake of walking, but so that they could go around and proclaim the mighty acts of God. The deaf were healed, not only so that they could hear, but that they could now speak clearly and proclaim clearly the Good News of God in Christ Jesus, by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Our essential obligations and responsibility, as adult baptized Christians, is to bring spiritual healing through acts of forgiveness and pardon and reconciliation; loving one all creation with pure affection.

But each of us has our own way of resting our hearts in God and in bringing spiritual health to the world around us. "One size does not fit all." This is why St. Paul was inspired to describe the Church as the Body of Christ with a variety of parts and functions, all working in harmony and peace. The sure and certain signs of our hearts resting in God and of our successes in bringing spiritual health within our spheres of influence are seen in the "good fruit" we bear at a spiritual level. It's not about our toys. It's not about what we have accomplished physically, intellectually or emotionally. Our God-given successes are not measured by what we accomplish socially or professionally, but only spiritually: Souls touching souls in ways that all are drawn closer into the presence of God.

None of this has anything to do with wealth versus poverty, or with knowledge versus ignorance. Yes. We are committed, as Christians, to things like the Millennium Development Goals and the relief of every aspect of misery that is within our reach and our grasp. But, in and of themselves, they will not give rest to our hearts. They will not give us the deep consolation of God's peace, which passes all understanding. Yes. They are vehicles that can carry us into God's presence; but they are not, in and of themselves, that Divine Presence. Consider all the good work that this parish - young and old and middling - did for the recent Pamlico Deanery Free Dental Clinic. We did some magnificent things, far beyond our small numbers. And a lot of folks got some good attention and were given some important after-care items, because Zion Parish rallied behind our youth for the after-care packets, and rallied as a parish family to provide food and personnel and time and energy and money. It was a good work, well done. But it also left us realizing that what we did was a "drop in the bucket"... and we all want to do more.

But our lasting contribution to all those patients and to all of those other volunteers and to the clinic's various benefactors, was the gift of souls touching souls in the context of the local Episcopal community gathering patients and volunteers and benefactors from the greater community to be visible images of God's love to one another, active in all our lives.

Believe me, "teeth come and teeth go". But the memory of the love of God, in the visible image of a person who truly cares about our well-being, and who is actively working for us to become all that we have in us to be, gives us all a stability and a conversion of our life that will draw us, irresistibly, to be devoted to God with our whole heart and united to one another with pure affection.

God has given each one of us a load to bear. God has given us all that we need to bear that load. Our task is only to recognize that all we have been given and all that we have been given to do - is from God, who calls us to rest in him and love one another with a pure affection, as when souls touch souls. Behold. The kingdom of God has come very