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“Good Enough”
Do you travel lightly? Many of us have or will be going places for summer vacation. Many of us have already gone and returned from mission trips and many of us are preparing to leave for the GenOn Youth Summit. Do you pack light for your trips?
I don’t know if I can say so for myself.
Let’s imagine you are packing for a trip. The night before the trip you have your suitcase or duffel bag out. You count the number of days you’ll be gone and pack appropriate outfits accordingly. But then, you wonder if you’ve picked out the right clothes for the weather. You grab your phone, pull up the weather app and peruse the 10 day forecast for highs and lows. It’s summer, but there are cool nights so a sweatshirt or two is needed. There is no rain in sight, but it’s best to pack the rain jacket anyway. The trip includes a mix of work and play, so you pack a few extra items for various occasions. But what if you don’t want to wear this or that? Better throw in a few options. And what if the return home is delayed and there is absolutely no opportunity to launder? After jamming shirts and shorts in every corner, you sit on the suitcase to make sure it all zips in.
You assume there is ample downtime in your travels, even though precedent pleads the contrary. So, you place a novel in another bag. But then you better put in another novel, in case you finish the first. And what if you don’t want to read fiction? So you stuff in something self-helpy in there. But who are you to bring three books and not your Bible? You begin to shove that hefty thing in a front pocket and suddenly think, “Ah, isn’t there a Bible app?” You set the weighty thing aside. As you download the app, you download a few podcasts, and make sure you have your music playlists prepped. Then, you stuff all the wires to all your gadgets in another pocket.
You move on to the right shoes, you double check your packing list, you bundle up the toiletries, you throw in some snacks (‘cause you never know about the food), and you throw yourself onto the bag wrestling it all into submission. You put the smaller backpack over your shoulder and wheel the suitcase to the stairwell. As the big bag pummels every step, you wonder if you packed too much. You wonder, “Do I really need all this stuff? Will I get through all these books? Do I really need two pairs of sneakers? Is the board gameSettlers of Catan really necessary?” The trip information packet says, “Come as you are.” The friends and family you will visit want to see you, not your stuff. You are so used to having all this stuff and as you try to pack it up you wonder what you would be without it. So under all the luggage lies the question, “Am I good enough? Am I enough?”
Our capitalistic, consumerist culture thrives on the anxiety of whether or not you have what you need no matter where you go. Given that the travel industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of our global economy, it should come as no surprise that airlines collect well over 3 billion dollars in baggage fees.[1]3 billion dollars—just to haul the stuff you need. But you don’t really need all of it, do you? We have been made to believe two anxiety-producing lies. The first is that there is not enough—that wherever you go in the world there will not be enough to share. So you need all the extra stuff, just in case. The second is that you are not enough—that wherever you go you will have to dress to impress, to entertain and be entertained, or to be prepared for anything. It is because of these twin lies of scarcity and insufficiency that Jesus tells his people that when they travel they are to take nothing for the journey.
Our gospel lesson for today tells us that Jesus sends out 70 apostles to go into towns telling of God’s kingdom. “Go on your way,” he says. “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals.” These 70 are commissioned to proclaim the coming kingdom as they are. They are not to take a purse in order for them to keep extra cash on the chance they might need something. They are not to take a bag in order to carry an extra tunic or other article of clothing. And they are not to carry spare sandals in case the strap on their current pair snaps. They are not even to take snacks for the road. They are to trust that wherever they go, they will be fed—for there is enough.
Here, Jesus puts his followers’ faith to the test. Will God provide for their needs as they answer the call to proclaim God’s kingdom of peace in homes near and far? Are they really enough to do what Jesus has called them to do? Is there enough? Are they enough? These seventy are called to ministry and in their ministry they are to rely on the promises of Jesus—that the poor will be blessed, that the hungry will be satisfied, that the rejected will rejoice. They are also to remember that they are sufficient for the calling simply because they are God’s beloved. Will they lack what is needed for their travels? Will they lack what is needed to preach God’s peace with body, mind, and spirit? When Jesus meets back up with them later in Luke’s gospel, he asks, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They say, “No, not a thing.”
Packing for the day’s work, or for vacations or church trips can serve as moments to reflect on what we believe. Do we believe there is really enough? Do we really believe that we are enough? You may quip that there is a qualitative difference between what Jesus called the 70 to do and what we do when go about our work, vacation, or mission trips. But we too are called to bring the good news of God’s peace, justice, and love to whatever place we enter. And we too are called to trust that there is enough to do this well. We are called to trust that we are enough to do this well.
There is enough. I am sure you have heard it said that there is enough to feed every single person on this God made globe. Surely we can clothe everyone in need of good clothing—and not just withthe memorabilia of 2016 NFL and NBA championship losers. Never mind an extra pair of sandals, a corporation like TOMS continues to promise a pair of shoes to a person in need for every new pair you purchase. And forget about pinching pennies for the money purse, it is said that the top earners in North America average over 38 times more than what the bottom 90 percent make in a year.[2] There is enough to share. Sometimes packing all your things into a bag puts this plainly. So what do we do about our anxiety that we won’t have what we need? Maybe we just need to travel lightly as we follow after Jesus trusting in the provisions of God and God’s people.
As we travel lightly in pursuit of Jesus’ calling to proclaim God’s kingdom with hands and feet—and occasional words, we must trust that we are sufficient for the calling. We must trust that we are enough. As God’s beloved, you are enough to proclaim God’s peace wherever there is crisis. As God’s beloved, you are enough to proclaim God’s love in Summer Sunday school, VBS, or Godly Play. As God’s beloved, you are enough to proclaim God’s justice by working for the good of all in this family of faith and throughout the world. There is enough, you are enough to bring about the kingdom of God wherever you are and wherever you go.
So, sometimes we just need to rid ourselves of the physical, emotional, and spiritual luggage that bears the lies “there is not enough” and “you are not enough.”Author and preacher Sarah Bessey says that we actually need to “detox” from all that contributes to these twin lies. (See her video “Detoxing” on theworkofthepeople.com.) Bessey asks us, “What do we need to lay down?” Well, we need to lay down the luggage that bears the lies “there is not enough” and “you are not enough.” I repeat with Sarah Bessey: there is enough, you are enough. There is enough for all of us on this globe to share in beloved communion. You are enough to show that this communion kingdom is as near as your neighbor next to you. We are called to go out in the world to proclaim that there is a whole other kingdom at hand—and it is not at all like the ones that we know. For people to participate fully in the kinds of kingdoms we know, you need the money purse, the power, and the prestige. But not in God’s kingdom. To play a part in God’s kingdom you just need to know that God has claimed and called you as God’s beloved. That is good enough. And that is something we learn time and time again in baptism. So lighten the load. Lay down the luggage you think you can’t live without. And lean into Jesus’ calling to show the kingdom of God in whatever house you enter. Trust that there is enough to carry you onward. Trust that you are enough for the calling.
[1] Estimates vary. Here is one estimation from 3 years ago:
[2] Again, estimates vary.