Pioneering:
Meditations for Our Transformation
Number
3 August 12, 2012
Packing
for the Trip
These were his
instructions: “Take
nothing for the journey except a staff -- no bread, no bag, no money in your
belts. Wear sandals but
not an extra shirt. Mark 6:
8-9
I was an airlift pilot in the
U. S. Air Force. My job required me to
have bags packed and to be ready to travel anywhere in the world on short
notice. One of those bags was an arctic
bag consisting of thermal underwear, a cold-weather parka, mukluks, and a dozen
other things I absolutely do not need as I write this meditation with the
thermometer melting.
The pioneer journey we’ve
embarked on won’t need those kinds of bags either. In fact, it’s not things we need to take. We
need a kind of Eternal Credit Card, one
that gives us the confidence to completely trust in God to provide what we will
need in any situation.
In the passage from Mark’s
Gospel, and also covered in Matthew and Luke, Jesus gives some unusual packing
instructions. Most of them are what not to take. It’s as if this commission to preach to the
‘lost sheep of Israel’ was only half of the task. Do you think that Jesus had another purpose in
mind when he emphasized what not to pack? I think, besides preaching to and healing
others, Jesus was training the disciples to put their full and absolute trust
in God when God sends them forth. I
believe that’s why they were told to pack light! It was not about who they were, but whose they
were.
Most of the pioneers in our
nation’s history made the westward journey only once. We’re also making this journey only once in
our lifetimes. The pioneers of old took
what they believed to be important for the journey and for the
destination. But they took more than
they could carry, and consequently had to cast off things they thought were
valuable, but were actually irrelevant.
We must also make choices. We are not leaving behind our families and
friends, or even our homes. But the
things we must leave behind are just as difficult to leave. They are precious or valuable now, but they
stand in the way of reaching our destination.
We must leave behind some attitudes that are no longer useful.
We have spent years in our
individual churches in worship, fellowship, and education. We all remember special times– a sermon, a
Sunday School moment, a wedding, a prayer rail confession, a Christmas or
Easter service -- events that helped shape our lives. It is a natural human tendency to link the
event to a particular place -- tangible things to tangible places.
But
for those events and times that have deep spiritual meaning, isn’t it more
vital that we link the experience to a new insight and relationship with
God? Then, no matter what happens to
earthly places, those precious memories and experiences are intertwined
with our journey toward our Master.
St Paul expressed his personal
convictions in his letter to the Philippians, chapter 3: 13b -14:
“…But one thing I do:
Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called
me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Paul knew he had to put aside
all those past things that were so important to his identity, even to the point
of forgetting them to clear his mind for what God had in store for him.
We don’t need to drop
everything this minute, this week, or this month. We have time to take photos or even narrate a
video of those places and things in our home churches that are precious to us
and are part of our stories.
But we do need to start putting
away the tangible things, and changing our attitudes toward them. We need to adopt a new attitude that better
defines whose we are.
We still have almost a year
until we will leave our accustomed sanctuaries and join together in a new
one. It will be a new place that may
look like an old place, but is a new church
to every one of us, regardless of the building.
Until then, carefully look over
the attitude you will need on this pioneer trail. Take these next few months to say goodbye to old
things and hello to our traveling companions, to treasure past memories and to
enjoy the present as it unfolds with new relationships.
We can begin by draining any
anger, frustrations and prejudices that weigh us down. We can give them over to Jesus Christ, the
Divine hazardous waste container. I
don’t
know of anyone better-equipped for
this job than Jesus. He’s on call and
available 24-7, and promises to handle anything we want to seriously drop off.
We can use these next months to
pray out those poisons of Darkness that hold us back, and will surely make our
souls sick on this journey.
So, pack light, put out the
trash, and always carry your Eternal Credit Card. It is honored everywhere you go!! And bring a bucket, because it is going to be
filled to overflowing with blessings every day as long as you hold it up to
God.
Common
Prayer. Our precious Friend and Savior, you traveled
with only the commission of your heavenly Father to heal, to confront, to
proclaim, and to save us by your passion, death and resurrection. Help us to travel to our transformation
destination without any thing or attitude that diminishes our worship of you,
or our service to our sisters and brothers in Christ. Let this journey teach us to trust you always
and for all circumstances. AMEN.
Transformation
Team emphasis for the next two weeks:
Focus Groups in Communications,
New Name, Finances, Incorporation, and Administrative Structure
Please address your feedback
and comments to Charles L. Reynolds at papoo99@comcast.net
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