"De-Centering Ourselves"--July 8, 2019

De-Centering Ourselves--July 8, 2019

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. He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' And if anyone is there who shares in peace your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you'." [Luke 10:1-9]

Jesus has a way, somehow, of being right in the middle of things without needing to make himself the center of attention.  That right there is some tricky maneuvering.  But it's important for us to pay attention to, because Jesus sends his representatives (us) out to do the same.  Because we are sent as Jesus' witnesses into the world around us, we are called to be the same kind of presence Jesus always was, which pointed beyond itself to the Reign of God and lifted up the people who had been too long left at the margins.

Jesus, in other words, shows us how to de-center ourselves so that, like him, we can attend wholeheartedly to practicing the presence of the Kingdom of God.

We already know how bad things can go when someone doesn't know how to get out of the center of attention, or worse, when they keep shoving others out of the limelight so they can get more of its glow.  

We've all been to the wedding where the father of the bride makes a big deal parading around his new girlfriend as his date to the reception, and we've seen how everyone groans with embarrassment wishing he could just let the day belong to the bride and the groom.  You've been in those times when you wish the parent of the bride would have understood that it would have been better (and less pathetic) not to bring a date at all than to detract the attention away from the couple who should really be the center of the celebration.

Or you've been to the birthday party where the mom (or aunt or grandmother or dad--pick your relative) is just so obsessed with pointing out that she made the cupcakes that none of the kids get to just eat--they all have to take pictures of the dessert for a social media posting, and then they all have to fawn over someone's culinary accomplishment... when it should have been a day for the birthday kid to celebrate.  It would almost have been better just not to have the cupcakes at all if they were just going to be used as props for feeding someone's insecurity.

There's something about needing to make yourself the center of attention that just ruins a moment that should have been joyful. From the father of the bride who wants everyone (especially his ex) to see he brought a date to the wedding, to the helicopter parents at the birthday party, to the relative who commandeers the table conversation every Thanksgiving to the friend who always finds a way to make every conversation about himself, we know how something beautiful becomes soured when someone's insecurity makes them leap into the center of attention, rather than being ok with a spot at the edges so that someone else can be in focus.

So if you have seen and experienced how unpleasant any of those situations can be, let's consider how Jesus models for us an alternative.   This scene from Luke's gospel is a fantastic case study.  Jesus sends out followers of his who will go to towns where Jesus himself is going... and yet these disciples aren't told to drum up interested in a religious product called "Christianity." He doesn't even given them a script with the name "Jesus" in it at all.   These seventy missionaries are sent to point beyond themselves, and even beyond a "brand," simply to "the Kingdom of God"--a reality that is all-encompassing and universal.  When these missionaries get to a town, they aren't supposed to make a big deal about themselves or present a list of demands (like rock stars with their infamous contract rider clauses insisting on bowls of red M&M candies in the dressing room, or outlandish needs for their entourages). They aren't supposed to draw attention to themselves with large suitcases full of supplies or merchandise, and they aren't supposed to bring any weapons to protect themselves or make themselves look more intimidating.  They aren't supposed to fuss over what they are served to eat, so long as someone opens their door and invites them to their tables.  These missionaries aren't supposed to make a spectacle, but simply to heal people who are sick, call out the powers of evil wherever they see them, and then say, "This is what the Kingdom of God looks like."  Jesus doesn't even ask for a name-drop!

Isn't that curious?  You would think of all people, Jesus would have the right and the authority to make this all about himself!  You would think Jesus would want to get as much name recognition for his personal brand as possible--well, we would if Jesus were just another purveyor of Respectable Religion.  But instead, by de-centering himself, Jesus is able to raise up the people who are in need of attention (the sick, those oppressed by evil powers, the hopeless) and also to draw their attention to a reality that lifts them all up: the Kingdom of God.

Jesus goes to his kid's wedding without a new hot date so that he is free to be there wholly and completely for his kid, and so he can find the wallflowers sitting sadly at a table and to let them know he is glad they came to the reception.  Jesus bakes the cupcakes but doesn't need to mention that he spent hours in the kitchen, because he knows not to make the kids' party all about him.  Jesus sends out missionaries without needing to get the credit or positive name recognition out of the healings they perform on his authority, so that it can be clear that their mission is not a stealth-marketing campaign, but really just about bringing people into the presence of God's Reign.

And if Jesus chose this kind of model for his strategy, maybe it would be wise of us to practice it, too.  After all, if we are sent to be reflections of Christ for the world (and we are), maybe we should consider that Jesus was intentional in what he did and the way he did things.  Maybe our calling isn't to draw attention to ourselves, or our congregation, or our denomination, or whatever, when we serve people in our community, because that smacks of hogging the limelight.  Maybe our work in this day is not to dominate conversations by bragging about our own accomplishments, but to leave space for listening to others where they are, so we can attend to their actual needs rather than what we think they should need.  Maybe we can get out of the way of ourselves so that we can be more fully present for the people Jesus is sending us to, and more fully aware of the Kingdom Jesus is calling us to announce.

My goodness, we could be free of so much garbage, so much of our own insecurity, so much of our own need for attention, if we dared to let Jesus teach us how to de-center ourselves.  And maybe, without the need to constantly (and not very subtly) mention the date on our arms or the cupcakes we baked, we can simply say, as Jesus teaches us to say, "The Kingdom of God has come near."

Maybe that's where the attention should be directed in the first place.

Lord Jesus, teach us how to be decentered like you so that we can turn our attention to the Reign of God and the people you are drawing into it.