Let Love Float

So you know that I’m getting ready for a long-awaited summer vacation with my family…any envy that you may have that I’m traveling to Europe for my sister-in-law’s wedding, please remember I’m flying with a, turned 6, 10 days-ago-old and 20-month-old toddler. 

The toddler just learned to scream for whatever she wants…and the 6-year-old daydreams a lot; not listening, until he remembers where he is and starts asking questions nonstop. 

In all honesty I am looking forward to this trip; even if I’m not looking forward to presiding at the wedding. 

My trepidation isn’t because of the usual difficulty of corralling  the emotions of others: jealousy, generational expectations; and micromanaging family members; rather, it’s managing my own emotions. 

This is my little sister. This is the girl I have known since the month she turned 8 years old. I was sad years ago when I realized I should no longer hold her hand in public….which I think was the day I took her to an upper Manhattan park to play in the sprinklers and realized that though I was her brother taking pictures of her having fun. Other people saw a middle-aged white guy taking pictures of a young Black girl in a swimsuit…

I’m even more sad now that she has graduated from college…is beginning law school in the fall and getting married this summer. 

I’m sad…and I’m proud. 

I’m sad that one era has ended fully and finally; and I’m proud of my sister and her decisions and her hard work and I’m excited about the new era she’s about to begin with a partner. 

Is this, full of emotions, and not quite sure how to express them, a fair place to begin the story of Jesus commissioning his disciples to stop just being with him and start sharing with people in need—good news—that Heaven has come near to them? 

This is the son of God we are talking about. It’s Jesus’ followers being sent, 2x2 into villages, to share presumably, versions of Jesus first sermon. You know the one where Jesus is in the temple and he stands up and reads from the scroll of the Prophet Isaiah: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

There are some scholars who are historians who want to describe the scene and offer a best short hand of people and institutions.

The expectation of the Messiah is that he would fulfill the scriptures (as Jesus says has happened when he sits down and says, “today in your hearing the scripture is fulfilled.”) However, the prevailing thinking of the time of Jesus is that fulfillment of the Prophets would be political. Because the fulfillment would be political it would probably be accompanied by a military campaign—some kind of revolution—which would leave a lot of people as collateral damage. 

There are some contemporary social theorists who aren’t historians. They talk about the story of Jesus as an allegory. They agree that Jesus example of the power of cooperation is powerful. Many reference the well-known proverb “if you want to go fast go alone, and if you want to go far go together…”

But what if…and this is an outlandish guess. 

It really is. 

What if the historians and theorists use too many words to talk about Jesus and his mission—proclaim that, “the Kingdom of God has come near?” Jesus didn’t give his followers, who he sent out in teams, much to say. Take a look for yourself. We don’t have much in the text of the Gospel of Luke. 

What does it say?

“Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.”

Seriously, that’s not much guidance for earth-changing evangelism efforts. 

Even when Jesus is specific, it’s vague, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ and “If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person…”

That wedding I’m presiding next week; I have written a draft of my sermon. 

It’s exactly 7 minutes long. 

Not too short. 

Blessedly, not too long…and though I’m going to ask my wife and brother-in-law to listen and offer suggestions, one thing I already know is; it doesn’t really say anything. 

There’s no introduction; organizing story; or words of profound spiritual or life advice. 

It is kind of funny in some places. 

It is earnest. 

But mostly, it’s a bunch of feelings. Which is what I think those sent out by Jesus into villages also have, feelings. Feelings of awe, wonder, gratitude…

The feeling I name in my wedding sermon, over and over is: “Love.”

I wonder where love comes from. 

I say love comes from God.

I wonder where love leads.

I say love leads to faith.

And I promise love will transform us completely…

But I actually talk about love in far less than specific ways a future attorney might hope for.  I talk about love in almost the same way that prayer sometimes works for many of us…kind of conjuring love, as a spirit, that is out-there.

I invite love, like a spirit, like a feeling, to rest on the couple…and true to the example of Jesus giving his first sermon about the poor, the oppressed, and the prisoners; I invite love to rest on all who hear my words.

That’s the good news of this story of Jesus…maybe.

The way in which faith is shared is vague…it’s closer to wishing people peace…. according to the thing we say at our house of prayer, wishing people grace and peace…so that when their lives are falling apart or they’re overwhelmed, something good (the Holy Spirit) just shows up and makes everything ok. 

That’s maybe an incredibly naive idea of faith; or it may be exactly how faith works…

I’m counting on this is exactly how faith works in my wedding sermon—a sermon that doesn’t really say anything…

The sermon is for a little girl who isn’t little anymore. My words are filled with love. Love is a prayer that God’s love will be enough for everything that comes in the days ahead. 

May it be so for us. Amen.