The Rev Mark Pendleton (click here for sermon text)

July 3, 2022 4 Pentecost, Year C The Rev. Mark Pendleton Christ Church, Exeter Wanted: Laborers for the Vineyard After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.' "Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me." The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 We hear a familiar charge of Jesus while sending out the 70 out into the world, when he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few," The laborers are few. Where have we heard or seen this lately? The signs are up everywhere. One cannot miss them. "Help wanted." "Hiring." "Positions Open." I even saw a sign outside our favorite BBQ place: "Surely someone out there needs a job." It is the great labor shortage brought on, in part, by the Pandemic. At first, what we were seeing was called the 'Great Resignation' with the latest count by the Federal Reserve as 3.3 million workers leaving their jobs for good. The Great Resignation quickly spread to the Great Retirement as more people are retiring than demographics would predict. I have compared Covid-19 to the ancient Passover event in Egypt, in that the health, social and financial impact largely passed over large groups of people around the world - the better insured, the better well off, and those able to work from home - but it raged communities of color and many households who could not log-in and work remotely. For three Sundays in June, I left shortly after services and drove an hour south to Chelsea, just outside of Boston, to preach and preside at the Spanish service while the rector was away on vacation. I've done with before in Lawrence and in Salem as well. This experience certainly helps keep up my Spanish and it allows their clergy to get away. And it is quite an experience going from Exeter to Chelsea in the course of a Sunday morning. San Lucas, St. Luke's, is largely made up from immigrants from Central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. During worship masks are still required, as the vaccination rate - for many reasons - is not universal. Most of the congregation works in construction and service jobs in the Boston area. Covid hit this community hard, many of whom had no other option but to continue working in warehouses and grocery stores and cleaning hospitals. Their soup kitchen feeds many hungry people every week - an outreach that we were able to support financially in 2020. Jesus was onto something with his plentiful harvest and few laborers. And less we think this is only happening to us on the Seacoast, the sluggish return to the labor force is happening around the world. News reports of chaotic summer travel in Europe prove that is there something larger going on. In this climate, how are employers trying to lure workers back? (www.kornferry.com) Experts say that those who want to lure back recently resigned or retired employees will have to determine the root reason they left in the first place. There is a concept! Before we assume and even blame people for not wanting to work, what might be going on deeper that is impacting these decisions? For some not coming back it was a financial decision: they had enough money saved up. They could ride it out. Some liked working from home, having more time with their families. To those who think the best way out of this is for employers to pay more, even that may not be enough. (Mark Royal, senior director for Korn Ferry Advisory). Instead, he says, stores and companies and governments will have to appeal to a worker's sense of purpose. Many do not want to go back to the same jobs. Workers are looking for a better balance between work and life. And in a society still shaped by a Protestant work-ethic centuries old, this is a new turn. Purpose and balance. Those are words that speak to the spiritual side of laborers and vineyards. Harvests, like sheep herding and fish catching, tree pruning and seed spreading, were the go-to images and examples for Jesus when he taught and gathered followers. The people lived as farmers, shepherds, and fisherman. As always Jesus meets people where they are. It was always about God's kingdom for Jesus. He never sought his own power, riches, status, control, or domain. It was always about joining in the unfished work that God had already begun. I return often to Stephen Mitchell's way of understanding this Kingdom (The Gospel According to Jesus). Jesus spoke of people "entering" it, said that children were already inside it, told one ardent scribe that he was not far from it. He said it was right beneath our feet, right under our noses. And yet Jesus clearly knew that his followers would encounter rough terrain and a big tough room. There is always acceptance and rejection to negotiate. "Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves." Living in yesterday and today's world, it is not a stretch for us to feel like lambs in the midst of wolves - at least when it comes to the heaviness in the air and the stress lines growing on many faces. A friend this past week sent me a recent article (June 28, 2022) in the NYTimes with the title: "How I Build a Good Day When I'm Full of Despair at the World." The author of the article, Mary Pipher, a clinical psychologist, says it plainly: "Of course, America isn't eastern Ukraine, Afghanistan, or Yemen, but nonetheless, we are a lonely, frightened people who have lost hope in the future. Any psychologist knows that is a dangerous place to be. We risk losing our ability to think clearly or experience life completely. We lose our vitality and sense of direction. We cannot help others. We cannot fix anything. In times like these, we need world-class coping skills just to stay fully awake, enjoy our lives and be of service to others. Pipher reflected one evening sitting on her porch watching a storm and lightening, an owl flying overhead and listening to frogs croaking and dogs barking: "I thought: Life is so terrible and beautiful at the same time. Do I have the capacity to hold it all in my heart?" Our work as followers of Jesus Christ today, as laborers in this vineyard still growing, is to find that capacity. To hold the joy and the pain of the world because we believe in a God known to us through the life of a one who knew the joy and pain of the world. That is always our connecting point. This God above and beyond became one of us. It is the heart of our faith. Our work is to build up that capacity to walk and work in the light and the shadows. To find in these ancient gospel words week after week some coping skills to help and guide us along the way. We need not be producers of the light, only faithful followers, and reflectors of that promise. And when it gets too hard holding the terrible and beautiful - remember that balance thing today's workers are looking for -- we remember what Jesus said: "Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 Remember that Jesus sent out the seventy in pairs - not unlike modern day Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses. Not alone, but with someone to accompany them along the way. "Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals." Travel lightly. Rely on the good will of those you meet along the way. "Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person." This to me translates to something I try, try to practice even imperfectly: assume best intentions of another person. I know by life experience that most encounters with others are shaped by how I begin and approach them. If I come in hot, the walls come up instantly. There are "Help Wanted" signs all around this vineyard God still so clearly cares about because you and I are here together trying to figure it out and live it out. There is good gospel advise today. How might we sum it up? Don't go alone. There is a lot to do. The world is terrible and beautiful. As we move about, lead with peace. Be aware of the baggage we all carry and consider lightening the load a bit when it gets too heavy. 2