Bible reading
‘Jesus now called the Twelve and gave them authority and power to deal with all the demons and cure diseases. He commissioned them to preach the news of God’s kingdom and heal the sick. He said, “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment. Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns—get a modest place and be content there until you leave. If you’re not welcomed, leave town. Don’t make a scene. Shrug your shoulders and move on.” … Later the Master selected seventy and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he intended to go. He gave them this charge … “Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage. Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way. When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’ … Don’t impose yourself. Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals. Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town. When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’.”’ (Luke 9. 1 – 5 & 10. 1 - 9)
Meditation
Cliff Richard once sang that he had no bags of baggage to slow him down, no comb and no toothbrush, nothing at all to haul. He was travelling light because he just couldn’t wait to be with his baby that night. I wonder whether Eugene Peterson had that song in mind when he translated this reading in ‘The Message’, his version of the Bible in contemporary language. His version of Jesus’ charge to the 72 disciples starts like this: “Travel light. Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.”
Travel light. Jesus was calling the 72 to an itinerant ministry. Their focus was on going ahead of Jesus to prepare people for his coming and his message. So they took nothing unnecessary with them, they weren’t distracted by small talk along the way, they welcomed hospitality when they received it but they simply moved on to the next place and the next person whenever they were not made welcome. No distractions, just a clear focus on their task and their message.
We also need to travel light in our individual lives and our corporate Church life in order that we are focused on our core task of sharing the good news about Jesus in actions and words. But there is a second reason for travelling light which is to do with the footprint that we leave on the world. By sitting light to possessions and by accepting hospitality as it was offered to them they imposed as little as possible on the people, villages and areas through which they travelled. In our society, since the advent of the Industrial Revolution, we have done anything but. Our footprint has been heavy on our world as we have exploited its resources for our own gain and we are only now beginning to realise the consequences.
John V. Taylor's book, Enough is Enough, kickstarted the simple lifestyle movement. ‘Live more simply that others might simply live’ was their slogan and it is one that Eugene Peterson sees as coming out of the instructions that Jesus gave to his disciples before he sent them out on their mission: “Don’t load yourselves up with equipment,” he writes, “Keep it simple; you are the equipment. And no luxury inns – get a modest place and be content there until you leave.” Keep it simple. Travel light. These are the key messages of Jesus’ instructions. Why? To keep us focused on our message and mission and to tread lightly on the earth as we do so.
Prayer
God of love, show us our place in this world as the channels of your love for all creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight.
Let us live more simply that others might simply live. May we keep it simple and travel light.
Pour upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with your peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
Let us live more simply that others might simply live. May we keep it simple and travel light.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognise that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.
Let us live more simply that others might simply live. May we keep it simple and travel light.
Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live.
Let us live more simply that others might simply live. May we keep it simple and travel light.
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Sarah Masen - Give A Little Bit.
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