Preached at OLIVER UNITED CHURCH
The Jesus of my
understanding, is the Word of God made flesh, a person of wisdom and love and
courage who repeatedly broke down social and religious barriers. In his words
about love of neighbour, and his challenge for us to radically expand our
understanding of “neighbour”, Jesus, pushes us to let go of our tendency to
label and limit.
In today’s gospel reading,
Jesus sees so many vulnerable people around him, “sheep without a shepherd”,
and responds by sending out his disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God, and
heal in his name. This, to me, is consistent with the way Jesus usually responds:
he sees the need, he commissions helpers to address the need. But in the midst of the reading is a
troubling question: given his agenda of
breaking down barriers, why did Jesus limit the disciples to only go to Jewish
towns, not to the Gentiles or Samaritans? This seems contrary to the Jesus I
know.
Theologically, the gospel
writers like to hearken to Hebrew prophets like Isaiah (49:6) who made clear
that the mission of the Messiah would be first to the Jewish people, so that’s
part of the reason we see this narrowing of scope in the gospel of Matthew. This shows up again in our communion prayers,
when we trace a continuous “salvation history” from the days of Abraham and
Sarah to the mission of Jesus. But from a practical standpoint, in limiting
where his disciples are to go, I see Jesus’ compassionate recognition of the
personal, spiritual and emotional vulnerability of the twelve disciples he’s
sending out. When the twelve were his supporting cast, they relied on Jesus to
provide the input, but now he needs them to stretch themselves and go to towns and
villages two by two, without him. That
is a big “ask”. But to ask them to do
that AND to do so with people of a different religious or ethnic background
than their own?... well, I think that would be asking a bit much, don’t
you? Hard for them, and probably
ineffective, for I know that I am much more comfortable and effective critiquing
systems I have personally lived with, naming injustices close to home, rather
than guessing at the realities of contexts I do not know as well. We disciples
can be much bolder and more confident in situations where we know the lay of
the land, and people are more likely to respond positively if there is common
ground that we share between us.
So Jesus sends the disciples
only to the Jewish towns, less out of exclusivity, and more because it’s what
they know; I also think that Jesus limits their mission at this point, because
it is still early in their ministry.
They need to build some experience, to get some mistakes out of their
system in familiar territory. Not many
months earlier, some of them spent their days out on fishing boats, talking
little about anything but fish, so it would take a while for them to be
confident, skilled ambassadors of God’s great big love.
As all of them – Jesus
included – gained experience, they started to branch out. Today’s reading is from the 9th
and 10th chapters of Matthew, but by the 15th chapter
they were ministering in Gentile territory, the land of Tyre and Sidon on the
Mediterranean coast. And while Matthew
does not mention it, in the gospel of Luke, there is a second sending out of
disciples – this time, 72 disciples, who went into both Jewish and Gentile
towns, a second wave of disciples whose territory becomes much, much broader.
When we read of the calling,
commissioning and sending of disciples in scripture, that is our mission as
well. Whether we identify with the
twelve disciples in today’s gospel lesson, most connecting with those we are
accustomed to; or if we see ourselves a bit further down the line, more like
the 72 who bring the unconditional love of Jesus into unfamiliar places, we are
the spiritual heirs of those first disciples.
We are the ones commissioned in Jesus’ name to be people of unyielding
love, to embody his love in the Church and in the world.
But what, specifically, is
our calling as a congregation, here and now?
What, specifically, is Oliver United Church being equipped to do as 21st
century disciples of Jesus?
If we flip back the calendar
to September 2024, you will recall that there were three questions that Shannon
and I were brought here to explore with you in our time of Intentional Interim
Ministry: who are we? Who are our neighbours? and, what is God calling us to? With the leadership of Shannon and the
Transition Team, you explored those questions and as you did so, some answers
started to emerge. Eventually, the work you did, with some wordsmithing by
yours truly, created the content for the Final Report of the Osoyoos-Oliver Transition
Team, a document that will be a tremendous help in setting the agenda for your
immediate future.
Now, that document is
fourteen pages long, so I need to be very selective, but from that report, here
is some of the mission that is before Oliver United Church:
A section of the report
entitled, “Where we sensed life, energy, and possibility” says this: the
connection with members from the St. Edward the Confessor Anglican Church, who
frequently worship with the Oliver United Church congregation, is warm, friendly
and authentically hopeful. Much credit goes to Rev. Marie Paul, who as a
student minister at the time developed and furthered this connection.
Once you make the move to St.
Edward’s in 2027, learning how to engage in ministry in a shared space that is
new to you will be a big part of what comes next. It may take a year or two to “live into” this
new relationship, and the pattern of alternating worship services, but there is
a strong sense of being “better together” as you make this move.
It will be so nice to have
kitchen access again, as one means of reaching out to the community. Oliver United has a legacy of opening the
doors to all people, and a kitchen will equip you for increased outreach. And…it will be great to proclaim to the
Oliver community that there is worship happening in the St. Edward’s building
every Sunday! (In my mind’s eye I can see the banner now, on Fairview Drive!)
Your strong commitment to the
residential care facilities in Oliver is a big part of your identity. Three monthly outreach services in Oliver
will continue to be led by the United Church team, lay people supported by
clergy, as part of an ecumenical roster.
Additional members of this worship team will help to carry this
substantial ministry.
It is safe to say that each
congregation – Oliver United and Osoyoos United - is looking forward to having
“their own” half-time minister whose attention is not split between the two
communities. Your new minister will
have the opportunity for extended pastoral connection and community outreach,
as well as supporting the work of settling in to your new Church home.
And just as the disciples
sent out by Jesus to the towns and villages of Galilee had to be careful about
some things, there are a couple of things you will need to watch out for.
· You have excellent lay leadership here, but it’s a
small number of folks often carrying multiple responsibilities, so additional
people will need to step into that work.
As with most United Church congregations these days, we aren’t a huge
group, we aren’t getting any younger, but it is what it is, and many hands make
light work.
· Engaging the grief of leaving a building that had been
home for over 100 years may catch you off-guard in coming months. You have done so well at this already, when
you down-sized in 2022, but it will still be hard and emotional when it is time
to leave.
· And to step outside the report for a moment, I cannot
state too strongly how important it is to have even more folks sign up for
Pre-Authorized Monthly donations so that the givings don’t sag. You still have a nice amount on deposit from
the Church sale, but a predictable source of congregational giving will take a
lot of pressure off everyone concerned.
So back to the good news of
your future calling: The final paragraph of the report says, “from the Interim
Ministers’ standpoint, both of the Ministry Position Descriptions, at Osoyoos
United Church and Oliver United Church, will be much more engaging than the
grind of two-point ministry. These will
be interesting positions for the right candidates! We feel that there is real potential for each
congregation to really “grab hold” of their future and, with consistent
ministry support, find new, enduring ways to serve God in their communities”.
With the ongoing support of
God, whom we know as Creator, Christ and Spirit, with your desire to be the
kind of Church that reaches beyond itself to engage all manner of community
need, with an openness to adapt and adjust to whatever changes may come, I pray
that you will know blessings on your discipleship journey. May this be so, Amen.
Davis, D. Mark. https://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/
Jackson, James. https://jamesjackson.blog/2024/10/16/why-did-jesus-send-the-disciples-only-to-the-lost-sheep-of-israel/
Stoffregen, Brian. https://www.crossmarks.com/brian/matt9x35.htm
© 2026 Rev Greg Wooley,
Osoyoos-Oliver United Church Pastoral charge.
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