“Shake off the dust that is on your feet…” --Mark 6:11
It was late. I was headed across Chicago to my hotel on the west side of the city when I came to a place marked with orange cones, flashing lights and barricades. I turned right as the detour sign suggested. The road split. There was no sign so I had no idea which way to go. I picked the right path and soon ran into another set of barricades, orange cones and flashing lights. Cursing under my breath, I turned again and worked my way through a dimly lit neighborhood, guessing which way to go. More cones. I turned again and wound up right back where I started! More grumbling. This time around I took the left path. Same result. After running up against more barriers I wound up back at the beginning. I thought I had fallen into the Twilight Zone.
In the course of his ministry, Jesus regularly ran into barriers that got in the way of his mission. In this week’s Gospel it is his own hometown crowd that can’t see past the boy they remembered running around the carpenter’s shop to believe in him. He warns the disciples that they too would run into barriers as they continued Jesus’ work of calling people back to God and healing and freeing them from the demons that possessed them.
Ministry is not always easy work. (That’s an understatement.) Barriers abound. Sometimes those barriers come from the outside, but sometimes our own human foibles block our best intentions. Within the life of the church, our biggest barriers often seem to be of our own making. Fear, finances, fatigue and fondness can keep us from stepping out in faith. A sense of scarcity can shackle us and keep us from taking risks, and trying new things. Our fondness for the way things are can keep us from making necessary changes. Grief and sadness over a perceived loss of the past can leave us with little energy to engage the present or step into an unknown future. In the end, we can feel like I felt that night in Chicago: going round and round and always winding up back in the same place.
In his hometown, Jesus persevered and managed to heal a few sick people in spite of the barriers. He suggested that, when barriers arose, the disciples should knock the dust from their rejected feet and carry on. They did and returned to report all that they accomplished. In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will help us work over, through, around and maybe even sometimes with the barriers that get in the way of ministry. That promise is still ours today.
I managed to escape that barricade maze in Chicago on my third try. Not sure exactly how. Somewhere along the line I must have made a left instead of a right or maybe it was the other way around. But, when I finally got back to the main street, I breathed a huge sigh of relief and continued on my way. That is, until a few blocks later when the next set of orange cones, flashing lights and barriers got in my way.
Peace,
Bishop Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment