Trinity Parish Church - 6th Sunday after Pentecost - July 8, 2007
Luke 10:1-12, 16-20
The Rev. Rachel Endicott

Snakes and scorpions.  Nursing and circumcision.  Sodom and Satan.  All sorts of interesting topics and pairings in the lessons today.  The most intriguing pairing for me, though, are the words starting with p: the pairing of prosperity and peace.

The vision of prosperity is found in both Old and New Testament readings today.  From Isaiah, we find a wonderful poetic imagery about Jerusalem.  We hear that the Lord "will extend prosperity to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream".  In Galatians, in verses just prior to those we read, we find that those who follow Christ "share in all good things with their teacher."

But these images are hard ones as they don't always parallel what we perceive about the world.  We perceive that the world is a place of neediness, of limit, and lack.  Even those of us in this wealthy country tend to see what we don't have, rather than the abundance of what we do have.  We tend to compare ourselves to the Joneses, want to keep up with the Joneses, feel that we aren't up to snuff if we don't have that which the Joneses have.  And it's insidious...because there are always those who are above us on the ladder of belongings and wealth.

Now I have a nephew who I dearly love.  He's 19 and just starting out in the adult world.  This past year, he was living in Bellevue, working full-time, sharing an apartment with his friend.  By many measures he was prospering...he had good health, healthcare coverage, somewhere pleasant to live (well if you don't count the young adult male stinky sock décor), he had a job, and he had a girlfriend.  But guess what...in his mind, he wasn't prosperous...because he didn't have a car.  He needed a car.  He wanted a car.  And of course, in his mind "everyone else has a car!"

As Christians, we're not immune from wanting more.  But I'd like to have us think a bit more about prosperity as we look into what the Scriptures share with us. 

First, there are - in fact - some challenges as we read today's Gospel reading.  It seems to say two different things about money and belongings.  Jesus seems to be giving a mixed message.  To the 70, he commends them to travel light.  He admonishes them not to take too much: no purse, no bag, and no sandals.  But just a few sentences later, he assures them that they can comfortably take sustenance and comfort, food and drink, help and housing from those who welcome them along the way.  He reminds them that the laborer deserves to be paid.

I hear this passage and what it means for us in light of several things.  To start, as those proclaiming the Gospel, we can go without all the baggage - belongings and other things - we often carry with us.  We don't need as much as we think we do.  As we think of our 21st Century US lifestyle, we also realize that if we value creation, the ultimate way to reduce our footprint, carbon and otherwise, is to do with less "stuff."  But Jesus also says that that which we need, food and a place to be along with comfort and fellowship, should be ours.  Time and time again, Jesus works to support those in need and to encourage others to do likewise.

Secondly, biblical discussion of prosperity truly isn't only about money!  Those who prosper are those who rejoice with God.  The Isaiah passage ties prosperity to being comforted, to rejoicing and to peace.  It's about being in a state of delight with God, with your neighbor, and with the world, rather than being in a state of delight about your check book.

As a college student, I had the opportunity to travel to the barrios of Tijuana to take food to the hungry and to meet and worship with those in communities there.  We went over spring break, walking down dirt roads after the pouring rain had turned the roads into impassable tracks for the cars we'd planned to use.  Many of the folks we visited had shacks with dirt floors and no heat.  The only running water was the water which ran in under the walls and across the floors to pool in the lowest spots of the dwellings.  After having been in Mesico for several days, we visited the home of a large family.  This house seemed nicer than most.  It had a cement floor.  There were multiple rooms.  And there was an attached bathroom to the home.  But - as with all but one of the homes we visited - there weren't things that we take for granted.  There was no "proper" flooring or glass windows or a refrigerator.  Yet, through our interpreter, the father of the household told those of us gathered there, students from well-respected private colleges, how blessed he was, how prosperous he was.  He knew Jesus in his heart.  He and several of his family members had jobs.  He was blessed with his wife and children, who were at the cornerstone of what he saw as important.

Now I know there is a strand of Christianity that says that those who do God's will will financially become wealthy.  Unfortunately, overall that doesn't appear to be the message of scripture...if so each of the prophets would have been kings in their own right as opposed to nomads often chased from place to place.  Faithful Christians come in all socio-economic strata.  I've known those who have joined monastic orders, given up the "normal" pattern of earning and acquiring.  I have known faithful people who have indeed earned much or been given much, but have chosen to give it away or use it for furthering the coming of God's kingdom.  And - if we read attentively - we find scripture to say that those who have little money are truly the beloved of God.

Now along with prosperity in today's scriptures, we find discussion of peace.  We find both Paul and Jesus mentioning peace.  Although both use the Greek word which we translate as peace, being Jews they would have kept the understanding of the Hebrew word shalom.

In her recent book, On a Wing and a Prayer, the Presiding Bishop writes about the understanding of Shalom.  She pens,

"People often ask me why an Episcopal bishop would sign e-mails with the Hebrew word "Shalom."  I tell them that for me it is a continuing verbal symbol and a reminder of what it is I'm supposed to be about, and in fact, what all Christians are supposed to be about.

            The word "shalom" is usually translated as "peace," but it's a far richer and deeper understanding of peace than we usually recognize.  It's not just a 1970s era hippie holding up two fingers to greet a friend-"Peace, bro."  It isn't just telling two arguers to get over their differences.  Shalom is a vision of the city of God on earth, a community where people are at peace with each other because each one has enough to eat, adequate shelter, medical care, and meaningful work.  Shalom is a city where justice is the rule of the day, where prejudice has vanished, where the diverse gifts with which we have been so abundantly blessed are equally vanished.

            The biblical image of Jerusalem is a city like that - that's what the "salem" part means.  And that word for peace shows up all over the Middle East.  Islam comes from the same root, and it means submitting one's will to God's in the search for that just community.  The greeting we exchange with each other at the Eucharist is another reminder - "I will be in peace with you, let us be people of peace together.""

Now the implications of what Katharine Jefferts Schori observes in the living into the word shalom are myriad.  It means that peace comes about by valuing our gifts.  Peace comes about by the work we do as partners in feeding, caring for, and welcoming others.  It also means that we must work to form a more just society.  And in another portion of her writings, Katharine isn't shy about reminding us that this Kingdom of God isn't simply a place where Christians take over by stomping on those who come from other cultures and faiths.

Some of you know that for several weeks my children have been attending a summer day camp program jointly sponsored by the French school they attend and the neighboring Jewish Community Center.  In the morning, they speak, read/write and sing in French.  In the afternoon, they join with those at the camp playing outside games, going on field trips, tie-dying shirts and so on.  But on Fridays, they - along with their Jewish fellow campers - prepare for the Friday night meal, the Shabbat meal.  They come home with challah bread.  And at the end of week, they get a sort of report card, a little note written to them by their counselor.  And on the back of each card are the words Shabbat Shalom...Sabbath peace.

Likewise, my friends, I would desire that we enter in God's peace.  I would invite you to participate in a world where we live into the prosperity of God and where we would be facilitators of peace, where we would live into that fullest sense of shalom.