This past Sunday I was asked to give the sermon at the Kumamoto Lutheran international worship service. The Gospel reading was John 3:13-21.
If there’s one
thing that I’ve learned, it’s this: life happens. Life is always moving, moving forward, moving on. Things are always going on, new things
are always happening. As with life
in general, people also are always moving, moving forward, moving on. There’s constant movement. People come and people go. This movement can be within the
boundaries of one’s own town or city.
It can also be a bigger movement, maybe within the boarders of one’s own
country. Or maybe it’s even
broader, with fewer limitations, to many different places around the
world. No matter where it happens,
the movement is constantly occuring.
Focusing now on
coming and going, to me it seems to be quite a funny thing. It’s all movement, however it can
happen in different ways. Maybe it’s
geared toward you: coming, arriving, approaching. Or maybe it’s the opposite, geared away from you: going,
leaving, sending. How you see the
movement depends on your perspective.
The same movement can evoke different feelings and emotions depending on
the perspective. The connotation
of words like ‘coming’ and ‘arriving’ often involve hope, excitement, or
anticipation. On the flip side,
maybe the connotation of the word ‘leaving’ involves feelings of sadness or
loss, or signifies an end. Words
of movement can be happy or sad words; they can also be indifferent. Again, it depends on the perspective. Are you the one that things or people
are coming toward? Are you the one
that things or people are leaving behind?
In the Fall of
2005, I had a grand movement of my own, one that many of you have had or will
have in the future: I went to college.
Yes, I moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to go to Augsburg College. Maybe this wasn’t as big of a move as
others had to make, but it was the first of its kind for me. I left Owatonna, a town of 25,000
people, and moved 1 hour North to a sprawling metropolis and sat myself down
right in the middle of it. This
one action entailed many different kinds of movements. To me, I was GOING to Augsburg
College. It was new and
exciting. To my family, I was
LEAVING home, exciting, but sad.
To my new friends, I was COMING to Minneapolis, to start a new life in a
new community – also exciting and filled with expectation. However, there was one other type of
movement that I didn’t anticipate in its entirety, that of returning.
For me, I was
RETURNING. For my new friends, I
was LEAVING. To my family, I was
COMING home. However, for me, I
returned home only to feel left behind.
I got home and nobody was there.
My parents were at work and my sister and brother were still at
school. I waited until they
arrived home only to discover that the movement didn’t stop there. Every member of my family was leaving,
again, whether for church meetings, bowling league, part-time jobs, or time
with friends. Life here had gone
on without me. I was surprised by
this fact and also lonely. My
family kept going, whether I was there or gone. This movement I didn’t like.
Moving to Japan
involved more actions, more movement.
From my perspective, I was GOING to Japan. From my family’s perspective I was LEAVING home and from my
friends’ perspective I was LEAVING for Japan. From the perspective of those waiting in Japan, I was
COMING. However, in all this
movement, the leaving behind also happened: for family and friends, but also
for me. It has become painfully
obvious that I’m being left behind or left out of many important things that
are happening at home: missing weddings and graduations of friends and family
members, missing happenings at church, performances of my brother’s band,
friends moving to new cities or starting families. I’m missing a lot.
Maybe you are missing these things, too.
However, there’s
a flip side to all these movements, to all these changes. For me, maybe I do feel left
behind. But for those doing the
moving, they’re moving forward.
For me, sadness is the predominating emotion because I’m missing so
much; it seems like everyone waited until I left to do anything. But for them, the predominating emotion
is that of happiness and anticipation as they begin the next chapter in their
lives. We all have many movements
in our lives. Many of these
movements are physical movements: moving from one place to another, moving to
the next chapter in life, or moving forward in age. However, there are also many mental and emotional
movements. Moving from despair to
hope, excitement to boredom, frustration to relief, happiness to sadness. Jesus also had these kinds of
movements: physical, mental, and emotional.
Jesus’ ministry
physically moved him to and from many different places; he came, he went, he
arrived, he left. At each place,
he did and taught many things. At
the Jordan River he was baptized.
He then was tempted in the desert.
He went to Cana a couple times, performing his first miracle and later
healing an official’s son. In
Judea, he spent some time with Nicodemus before leaving to chat with the woman
in Samaria. He returned to
Nazareth only to have people plot to kill him. That stay didn’t last long. Jesus went to Galilee many times. There he called 4 fishermen, eventually chose his 12
disciples, calmed the sea, walked on water, fed 4,000, and it was also from
there that he sent out his disciples.
He healed Peter’s mother-in-law and brought Jairus’s daughter back to
life in Capernaum and also fed 5,000 in Bethsaida. He went to Mount Hermon, where he was transfigured and
eventually made his way to Bethany to visit Mary and Martha and later to raise
Lazarus. His journey ended in
Jerusalem, a place where he healed, celebrated, and died. Needless to say, Jesus moved around a
lot. There was a lot of movement,
both physically and spiritually, in his ministry.
However, there is
something very important and distinct about his movement, something that sets
it apart from other types of coming and going. This distinction is found in John chapter 3 verse 17; we
find that Jesus was SENT. God SENT
his Son. This verb makes all the
difference: the meaning and significance behind the comings and goings changes. People can come and go, arrive and
leave, having a purpose or not having one. You can come and go without having a particular goal or
objective. But being SENT, that’s
another thing altogether. Being
SENT often infers that there is a mission, a strong purpose, or a goal; that
you’ve got something specific in mind, something to accomplish. Jesus was SENT to all of these different
places during his ministry. At
each place, he did something important or something significant happened. We can learn something new and valuable
with every stop that he made along the way, at each town he visited. He didn’t stay in one place for the
entirety of his ministry. He didn’t
wait for people to come to him, he went out. He was sent, re-sent, and re-re-sent; each time with a
purpose, a divine purpose. He had
to come and go, arrive and leave, return and leave again. But behind all this movement there is
reason, a purpose for his every movement, and a purpose for every action. This purpose, this reason: to save.
Jesus was sent,
sent by God, sent with a purpose, and sent with a plan. He was also re-sent, not staying in one
location. Jesus also sent his
disciples. He sent them with a
purpose, a mission, and a plan.
The disciples, also, were re-sent, going to many different places on
their journey to spread the Good News.
Jesus also sends us. We are
sent with a purpose, sent with a plan.
Like Jesus and the disciples, we are re-sent as well. Like Jesus, we don’t tend to stay in
one place. We move around,
travelling to different places whether for short visits or long stays. In these different places, we teach and
learn many things. What we teach
and what we learn varies. It
varies by location, by who surrounds us, by what we need to be teaching or
learning at that specific place, but it’s always for a purpose. When we are re-sent, maybe that means
going to a new place, moving on so to speak. However, re-sending doesn’t have to be exploring a new
place, it can also be returning.
Jesus returned to many places during his ministry, always with a plan or
goal. When we are re-sent, we may
go to a new place or return to an old place but we are always changed as a
result of the previous place and time.
However, we are sent none-the-less.
For those of you
who will be leaving Kumamoto soon, whether you have lived here your entire life
or for just a short time, you have been changed, formed, by this city. The experiences, the people, the
places, all of them have shaped you or changed you into who you are now. You may leave a changed person, but you
have also changed the lives of others, all those with whom you have come into
contact. You have had a profound
effect on your family, your friends, your students, your teachers, anyone and
everyone. As you leave this place,
the change that you encourage and nurture in others will be brought to wherever
you are next. You will continue to
change lives, those of new friends, new students or youth, new teachers or
co-workers, and everyone else you meet.
You are being
sent. Sent to the next
destination, or returning to a previous one. Either way, knowing that you all are being sent will maybe
make it easier for those who will remain here. It all depends on the perspective. I know for me, it’ll be hard. It’s hard to say good-bye to people who have had such a
profound and lasting effect on me.
I’ve grown as a person, I’ve learned a lot, and I know it’s all thanks
to the people that I’ve spent time with here. When you leave, it’ll suck, there’s no way around it;
however, I know you’re not leaving us behind, just being sent, or re-sent.
If you are one of
those being sent, I pray God’s blessings upon you as you move forward; for
protection while travelling and on the road ahead, for support emotionally,
mentally, and physically, for strength to handle the changes in your life and
the new situations that you will encounter, and for courage to face these
situations head on.
