A Poem a Sunday
Pentecost 7 - C
July 3, 2016
Commentary: Team ministry is seldom championed by our Seminaries or Bishops. We have created a cult of Senior Pastors of Large Churches who meet regularly [in Florida]. The business model has taken over the church. Mutual ministry will be more effective than divinely sanctioned businessmen. Time to ordain and send our leaders out two by two.
St. Luke 10:1-20 -
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
The Mission of the
Seventy
10
After this the Lord appointed seventy[a] others and sent them on ahead of him
in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 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. 3 Go on your
way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and
greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever
house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace,
your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 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. 8
Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before
you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and
say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’[b] 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do
not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 ‘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.’[c] 12 I tell you, on
that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.
Woes to Unrepentant
Cities
13
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in
you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting
in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the
judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum,
will
you be exalted to heaven?
No, you will be brought down to Hades.
16
“Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and
whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
The Return of the
Seventy
17
The seventy[d] returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons
submit to us!” 18 He said to them, “I
watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. 19 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. 20 Nevertheless, do not
rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names
are written in heaven.”
Footnotes:
a.Luke
10:1 Other ancient authorities read seventy-two
b.Luke
10:9 Or is at hand for you
c.Luke
10:11 Or is at hand
d.Luke
10:17 Other ancient authorities read seventy-two
A Poem a Sunday
Pentecost 7 - July
3, 2016
Take Two
Partnership
is not an option,
senior
pastorates an anomaly.
We’ve
got it wrong
throughout
church history
creating
a hierarchy.
Two
by two the Ark
was
filled
a
metaphor for life.
Mutuality,
not dominance
is
what God’s Kingdom
is
about.
Two
by two the Seventy
are
sent – a catalyst
for
compassion and
justice,
healing and hope.
The
Spirit is set loose
by
mutual consent
of
Christ
and
the Divine.
Never
alone, always in pairs
we
do God’s loving mission.
It
is when pride and domination
take
hold; that then there is division.
Water
and Word
does
the absurd.
Initiation
into
the
Christ way.
Bread
and wine
carry
the Divine
into
our bodies
partners
with Christ.
Partnership
is not an option,
senior
pastorates an anomaly.
We’ve
got it wrong
throughout
church history
creating
a hierarchy.
Copyright @ A Poem
a Sunday
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