The Harvest of Souls
LUKE Ch 10 v 1 – 9 14th October 2007.
I think all mums know the feeling, perhaps some dads!, (a touch of sexist language there!) we have so much to do, we really need all the family to pull their weight and help. When our offspring were still at home they each had a chore to do at the weekend, so that we could function as a family in some degree of tidiness. But we had to rotate the jobs because no-one wanted to empty the bins.
The Christian family is just the same we have each to do something or else nothing gets done and we , no doubt, also have to make sure that one or two people don’t always get doing the jobs no else wants to! But perhaps just importantly we have to make sure the jobs we do, our mission, doesn’t get stuck in a rut, but meets the challenges of today. If we don’t all do something the church will not function, we will not move on, as a parish we will not meet the needs of this, never mind the next generation
For this seems to me to be the message in the Gospel reading. We see that Jesus has given seventy disciples a job to do. In a way like my family story except they seemed to do it more willingly than my offspring! Jesus gave them instructions, he didn’t just send them on their way, he prepared them, he told them what to do and what not to do. But there was an urgency. Last week we gathered together the harvest gifts this week we are being asked to gather in the harvest of souls, for the work is just as urgent now as in Jesus’ lifetime. And as with the food harvest if it is not gathered in in time it will be lost, it will rot and wither where it stands, those souls will be permanently lost.
The Epistle is also to do with reaching out for Timothy is being commanded to preach the Gospel, the Word. What Paul says about Timothy as a minister applies just as much to our church. God wants all churches to be disciples, to go out and show his love to those around them.
Now at the last census, there were about 6,500 people in our parish, of whom 69% call themselves Christian. If we say that between the various churches of all denominations 1,500 attend church and I suspect we are being very optimistic. The harvest waiting for us out there is 3,000 souls.
Can we rise to the challenge, can we do things which make faith seem something which needs commitment. I never fail to be amazed at the strong belief so many people who hardly ever come to church have, what can we do to make church seems a natural home for them, a place where they can deepen their understanding of God, and learn to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
It is interesting that this reading is chosen for St Luke’s Day, - St Luke the physician, on whose day Healing is especially remembered.
But healing in its broadest sense is reaching out, praying for those in need, drawing people into fellowship with God. The only way any of us can find true healing is through developing our relationship with God. And through the healing service, the laying on of hands we can not only bring ourselves to God and ask for his healing grace, but we can bring others through our own presence for healing.
Last Monday Bishop Nick challenged us to look at ourselves, to concentrate on what we can do well, not to keep looking over our shoulders at what other churches do, but just as importantly to see an urgency in what we do, just as Jesus did when he sent the disciples out. Not to be afraid of change, God doesn’t want us to protect St Matthew’s so it never alters, to keep it as it has always been, a bit like a piece of china which is too good to use, he wants us to meet the needs of those around us to adapt to the 21st century. This church must be a living place, not a Victorian monument.
Just as the seventy were sent out to pave the way for Jesus, so are we called upon to go out into the world around us and prepare the world for the second coming
To make Christianity and the church alive and relevant, so that the people in Redhill can see that church is a place which will nourish, support, help them on their journey through life, for each one of us is on the same journey.
The seventy are told not to hang around if the response of those they meet is negative, not to waste time, again this surely shows the need to move on, not to spend time with activities which have outlived their usefulness, activities which no longer draw people in. We have made that decision with our monthly coffee mornings but of course we have to be careful not to forget that we still need to fund mission, we still have to raise the money, there are still people crying out both within our community and the greater world for food and other basic needs. So, stopping doing something must not be an excuse to forget but a great opportunity to find not only a new way of raising mission funds, but a new way of drawing people into the family of the church. And this is where each one of you can be involved. The Mission group needs your ideas, your inspiration as to what we should be doing, how we can do it, and how we can draw others in, for if the Parish won’t support it, it is not part of the mission of the Church.
It must be the mission of each one of us to rejuvenate our mission giving and hopefully through that we can begin to harvest in the souls in our community. Our Church, St Matthew’s, must become a true disciple, together we must reach out and draw in, show God’s love, make worship alive and relevant, something which will get people out of bed on a Sunday morning, or draw them in on a weekday.
The harvest is waiting, it won’t wait while we dither, and more importantly neither will the kingdom, we are being called we must respond, before the harvest has rotted and we miss the opportunity to bring the promise of the kingdom in Redhill one step closer.
Amen