My sermon for 7/8

Hey everybody!

UPDATE!: Here is a link to the "Listen Online" section of the Williamsburg UMC website, which has an audio recording of my sermon. I went off manuscript slightly, so it's not exactly new stuff but if you actually wanted to hear me preach just launch the player and click on "Prophets in a Strange Land" on July 8th. Enjoy! http://www.williamsburgumc.org/#/listen-online

I am posting my sermon for Sunday in here so that those who will not be there on Sunday will be able to read it if they so choose. I do ask that if you are going to be there on Sunday, please just wait until Sunday to hear it, I promise that it'll be ok. Anyway, enjoy!

Prophets in a Strange Land – Willimasburg Sermon 7/8

Hear now the word of the Gospel: “He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” Please pray with me: Lord, may the meditations of my heart and the words of my mouth be pleasing to you. Amen.

Good Morning! In case you have absolutely no idea who I am, I’m Emily, and I am the summer intern here through the Calling 21 program. I have been truly blessed along this journey so far and it’s far from over. Since I was a junior in high school, I’ve known that I am meant to be a music therapist. I am now a rising junior at Shenandoah University studying music therapy and I am also minoring in religion. Since I was little, I have always been involved in the church and I love being in leadership in the church. Recently, I have been feeling a pull toward the order of Deacon. This fits perfectly with my music therapy and will allow me to be in leadership in the church while working in the world. The purpose and duty of a deacon is to be the bridge between the Church and the world. They usually work outside of the church in a profession and are associated with a local church and they usually are in specialized ministry. The deacon also assists elders in the administration of the sacraments. I found the Calling 21 Summer Internship program through the Dean of Spiritual Life at Shenandoah and was accepted to be an intern this summer.

The mission of Calling 21 is to help college students who are discerning God’s call in their lives to experience leadership in a local church setting for a summer. There are seven of us this year and there are six host churches. I could have been sent to any of those churches, but I was sent here. The team that placed the interns knew that each intern placed was the right match for that setting. We all come from different towns and different colleges but we all have the same yearning to discover our call. According to the scripture this week, prophets are not welcomed as much in their hometowns than in foreign lands. The disciples had to be sent out to different villages to proclaim the message of Jesus and so did we. Jesus “ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.” They had complete faith that wherever they went they would find hospitality. Now I got to bring a few more things than a pair of sandals and one tunic, but the message is the same. I come to this experience bare, ready to be molded and shaped into whatever form of ministry I am called to do. I come with only my gifts, talents, weaknesses, and reservations. I have been given hospitality just as the disciples were when they entered a village. I’m hoping that through this experience I may gain a bit clearer image of what I am called to do in the church. I have already met so many people in this congregation who are eager to help me on that path and I am so grateful to have been placed here.

One thing that has always struck me about this gospel is that those in Jesus’s hometown didn’t believe who he was or what he could do or that he had a mission to fulfill. He was essentially cast out of his hometown and instead preached the word in other villages. Now I was never “cast out” of my home church or hometown, but it wasn’t until college that I really began to be in leadership in the church. In my home church, I sang, taught pre-school Sunday school for a year, and helped out where I could, but no one really encouraged me to be liturgist or be involved in worship in ways besides singing. It wasn’t until college that I began to have a very active role in worship leadership and I have thrived in that environment. I had to go away from my home church just like Jesus had to go away from his hometown in order to be encouraged in other aspects of ministry.

In the book “This Odd and Wondrous Calling,” Lillian Daniel writes about her call to the ministry, which follows kind of the same story as Jesus’s. She grew up in the Episcopal Church. Throughout her life, she had lived in many different places and attended many different schools, but the Church had stayed the same. She was very interested in journalism and social justice, and figured that she would start a career in one of those fields. She had applied and been accepted to Yale Divinity School, but she didn’t exactly have a clear idea of why she wanted to go. To help Lillian discern her call, a group of lay members and the priest from her church gathered. They tried to get her to express a clear call to ministry, but she wasn’t exactly saying what they wanted to hear. She wrote in her chapter: “I would talk about social justice and they would talk about the Eucharist. I would talk about the prophets and they would ask me about the prayer book. It was as if we were all having conversations with someone else, not with one another.” (end quote) Eventually, the committee decided that she had (quote) “’No discernable gifts for ordained ministry whatsoever,’ ‘no appreciation for the sacramental ministry of the church,’ was a ‘thrill seeker,’ had ‘issues with authority,’ and was ‘immature.’” She was told to go into non-profit and serve the church as a lay member. Her co-workers at her new job saw her passion for ministry and told her to go to seminary and become a minister. She told them that her church had told her no and her friends suggested that perhaps she had been in the wrong church. With the help of her friends, she went to Yale and found the United Church of Christ. There her gifts for ministry blossomed and now she is an ordained elder in that denomination. Throughout her journey, she learned that (quote) “there are no wrong churches. There is only one church. But sometimes one wing says no so that another might say yes.” She still loved the Episcopal Church but realized that she would not have been a good priest in that denomination. Her call as a minister led her away from the comfort of her home church and into the care of an unfamiliar denomination because she realized that the Church as a whole is working for something so much bigger than any one particular denomination.

Even though you and I are both a part of the same denomination, through Calling 21 I have been sent into the care of a new congregation. Williamsburg is a different location and has different people and different traditions than my church or my campus ministry does, and yet we are all part of the mission of Jesus to serve the world and tell the nations of his grace and mercy. (pause)

The youth of your church have been given an amazing opportunity to travel to Africa this summer. As I understand it, they will be staying at Africa University for most of their stay there and interacting with many different kinds of people like students from the university and children who live in a Children’s home close by. While their trip isn’t 100% centered on a ministerial or missional focus, they are still going as Christ’s presence. The United Methodist Church is growing the fastest in Africa and the team traveling there will witness what the church is doing there firsthand. Right now, they are being called to go out of their comfort zone, experience a different culture, and come back with stories and witness to share with all of you. Africa team (here’s your shout out, are you ready?): when you come back from this trip, you will be transformed. Enjoy every opportunity that is presented to you and when you come home, continue to seek out new experiences and new leadership. Try out traditions that you learn about in Africa in your lives here in the States and share them with your congregation. I think sometimes we get stuck in what we are comfortable with, whether that be traditions of the church or the community or even our daily routine. Church, your youth are taking a leap of faith to travel across the world to bring back experiences to share with you. Don’t think for a minute that everything will be the same when they come back because it won’t be. You see, that’s what the people in Jesus’s hometown thought. They said “‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him.” His hometown still saw him as a child, even though he was the son of God and had come from traveling all over the land preaching and teaching and healing. Jesus had to leave that town and preach elsewhere after that. Even though you are the youth’s “hometown,” be the village that welcomes their message just as you have graciously welcomed mine. (pause)

I was blessed to travel with my choir to England during the summer after my sophomore year of high school and Estonia after my junior year. During each of those times, the UMW of my church asked me to do a presentation describing my journey and my experiences while I was there. I felt so empowered by them because even though I was much younger than most of the members, they were learning from me. I showed them pictures and told them stories. At the end, they asked me questions and I answered them the best I could because neither of my trips lasted more than ten days. Neither of my trips had to do with religion or church, but we were still learning about a different culture and sharing our culture with the people we met and the UMW wanted to hear all about it when I returned home.

“Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.” Through the three stories we have heard today, we can see that we are still being sent out to do God’s will. We are called to not carry much, but to give of ourselves. Go out of your comfort zone, experience new ways of thinking. At the same time, learn from those who have had different experiences than you and be the village hearing the message for the first time. The community of the church should be providing an environment of learning and teaching and I have felt that all throughout my Calling 21 experience. Continue to be that presence for all who come through your doors and for your own. Through the church, we are given friends along the journey, opportunities to bring us to distant lands, and strength by God to follow the missional journey. Amen.