Pastor’s Pen | August 2022
As of last month, New Journey Lutheran Church has spent nearly six months dwelling in Luke 10:1-11.
Council and ministry teams begin their meetings with the procedure of Dwelling in the Word. So far, our response to the sending of the seventy has been mixed. Some of us are convinced there is good news in this story. Good news related to the nearness of God’s kingdom and the sharing of peace. Others have felt frustrated with this story because it seems filled with contradictions and evokes the violence of colonialism and the church’s complicity in that history.
Whatever our response to this particular story, whether the sending of the seventy comforts or afflicts us, this story from Luke’s Gospel has stirred our curiosity.
We have asked over 30 questions of this passage.
Here are just a few of those questions:
Why does Jesus tell us to greet “no one on the road”? Aren’t we supposed to share the story of Jesus with everyone?
I wonder if this is a parable or did Jesus really send out 70 people? Where did he find 70 people?
How can you tell if someone shares in God’s peace?
When Jesus says: “cure the sick who are there”, does he mean we are supposed to heal people? How do we do that?
Jesus is sending us out into uncertainty and asking us to trust. Is Jesus asking New Journey to go out into uncertainty, too? We are a small church; do we have the gifts to go out and trust?
This is just a sample of the 30 questions that have arisen from our dwelling. The value of questions is that they have a way of cracking us open to possibility. Though it is frustrating to not have answers, the Spirit does her best work when we are uncertain. Why? Because uncertainty leads us to depend upon the Spirit’s leadership in our lives and in our communal life of faith. I am convinced that God is using our questions to open us to new possibilities of sharing the grace and peace of Jesus in our neighborhoods and communities.
So, beloved people of God, keep asking your questions. They will crack us open and lead us trust in God who is at work in and through us.
With gratitude for your inquisitive spirit,
Pastor Beth