Day #2009

July 2, 2019 

Tuesday’s Thoughts on Scripture comes from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, verse 1: After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. (NRSV)

Jesus sending out folks, two by two, to share the message of God’s love, grace, healing and invitation reminds me of the congregation I was first involved with many years ago. This was a relatively new congregation and some of the effort to help make it grow was to go into the neighborhood to invite folks to come, worship and get involved (not something many Lutheran folks have experience with today, perhaps unfortunately). Anyway, a group of us would meet to go out about once a month to literally knock on the doors of our neighbors and invite them to the congregation. After, we would gather once again to share what happened. 

One of the most memorable stories came when two of the folks rang a doorbell, but when there was no response, one of them looked into the door’s side window to see if they could see anyone. They left, but as they were about two doors down, the police showed up with some questions for them. It seems the person inside who had not responded was concerned there were “peeping Toms” in the neighborhood and called the authorities. We learned a good lesson, and had a good chuckle when they shared their story.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the kind of response we often received. Sometimes we would have good conversations with folks who answered. Sometimes folks would answer and politely send us away. Very seldom were we totally rejected and I don’t ever remember meeting anger or adversity. Sadly, however, only occasionally would someone actually visit the congregation in response to our “door knocking.”

Which reminds me that relationship really makes the difference when inviting people to worship. More people come into a congregation because someone they know and trust invites them personally than any other way. Spending time together, being friends and committing our lives to theirs is the authenticity folks desire.

Jesus certainly had a purpose in sending out the folks in pairs to random towns and villages. And they returned excited over the response (I invite you to read the rest of Chapter 10). But perhaps the basic message isn’t the going out, but the need to leave our “baggage” behind us so that we aren’t distracted, and that we stay with one person until the message is given and received. Then let God do the “saving” work. 

Blessings.