Luke 10:1-11, 16-20a

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. (Read the whole passage)

Churches love “how to” manuals. Church leadership, Bishops, Pastors, Church councils, committees often love the idea that the next “how to” program will be just the perfect thing to solve all our problems. Want more people to get involved? Start an evangelism program. Need to increase giving? Get a stewardship program up and running. Want to make sure kids and teens learn the faith? There are tons of sunday school, youth group, confirmation, faith in the home, discipleship programs on “how to” make these things happen. And we love them as North American Christians. To write them, read them, sell them, buy them, use them… and well eventually give them up for the next “how to insert blank” program that comes along.

Today, Jesus offers us what could very well be the first Christian Evangelism and Discipleship program. Jesus sends the 70 with specific instructions, he is putting into action a discipleship and leadership program, which will result in the 70 carrying out an evangelism program. Two for one deal!

Jesus gives the 70 some very practical advice on how to take the message of the Gospel out into their world. A world were most people did not travel farther than 50 miles from the place where they were born. A world where communities knew everyone who passed through town. A world where you only left your home and your work for select reasons. If you were in the military you might travel more of the world. If you were a landless merchant that had to bring your wares to your customers to make a living.

And so for these 70 disciples who were neither merchants nor soldiers, Jesus gives some instruction. Don’t carry much with you, don’t look like a solider or merchant, don’t be a target for thieves. Accept hospitality, but don’t overstay your welcome. And know when you aren’t welcome, keep moving. Jesus was preparing his followers for specific mission in their time and place.

But the “how to” evangelism and discipleship program that Jesus outlines today seems completely foreign for us. It doesn’t fit for the world that live in. Not because it would be too hard to drop everything and go evangelize, but because it would be too easy. We can’t even begin to imagine leaving all our responsibilities behind. Leave your house and mortgage payments, car and car loan, your job and its’ pressures behind. Let your kids raise themselves. Let your community groups, and churches find other volunteers. Forget about credit card payments, grocery shopping, lawn mowing and unread emails. Leave it all behind for the open road, leave it for a life of simply telling people about Jesus. For us, this is almost like a holiday from every day life and responsibilities.

But we wouldn’t be able to do it. Most of us have lives that we cannot just drop. We have obligations to family, to work, to community, to neighbours. We could not let ourselves drop it all.

And so, instead Jesus’ discipleship program comes to us a modern people heavy laden with burdens and it becomes another thing on our to do list. Take kids to hockey, go for coffee with PTA president, check in on elderly mom and dad, pay property taxes and tell people about Jesus. In that order.

The trouble for the 70 would have been venturing out into the unknown, leaving familiar work, homes and communities for a new world. But our trouble is not the same.

We are relatively good as a society at getting through our “to do” lists. When we are given a “how to” program, we are generally pretty good at pulling it off. We are good at keeping soccer teams busy, at making sure church councils meet monthly, at running school bake sales and chocolate almond fundraisers that almost always raise the required funds. Our problem is slowing down long enough to ask, “why?”.

In fact, most of us would much rather commit to a weekly “how to” program than be forced to gather together together for one afternoon of open ended conversation about why this faith stuff is important to us.

So as people good at “how to”, what would Jesus say to us? How would Jesus send us out? What would our “How to” program look like?

This week the ELCIC will meet in National Convention in Regina to conduct the business and set the next 3 years of priorities for the National Church.

Like local congregations, the National Church has been dealing with declining numbers, and while giving in most congregations has gone up to meet rising expenses, giving to the national church has gone down.

And also like most of us, our larger church structure has been very focused on the “how to” part of being the church, often at the expense of reminding ourselves “why” it is important to be the church in first place. As church committees and leaders search for the next “how to” program that will save us, pastors, synods and Bishops have done the same at synodical and national levels.

If Jesus were at our National Convention or worshipping here with us today, he would probably tell us all the same thing. Jesus would probably start by telling us that programs don’t work. There are no simple steps to sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God come near. And for churches, synods and national structures that have become so good at “how to”, we have forgotten the “why”. The why do we do these programs in the first place.

Jesus would say to us, “Its about the dirt”.

“The dirt that that sticks to your feet.

The dirt that you cannot just shake off after a day of walking.

The dirt that tells the stories of where you have been and what you have done”.

It was into the very dust of the earth that God first breathed the breath of life, into Adam the dirtling that God brought creation to life. And then God came to join us in our dirt, in our dust, in our flesh. God lets our dustiness cling to God’s feet reminding us that God has come to stay. And God clings to us in the flesh of Christ, reminding that we cannot shake God off, no matter how much we protest.

“The Kingdom of God has come near to you, God is sticking to you like dirt that you just cannot shake off or wash away.”

While the 70 are worrying about getting on the open road, and while we are focused on “how to” make sure that we can pay for National Church programs, making sure we have enough people for leadership teams, for worship roles, for setting up chairs and unlocking doors… For making sure our kids learn “how to” dance, sing, play, making sure we tick off our to do lists of paying bills, getting work projects complete, gardens planted and lawns mowed… Jesus is telling us the same why. The same why to be the church, the same why to hit road, the same why to be people of faith.

“The Kingdom of God has come near”. God has come to us in flesh, spoken to us in human voice and sticks to us like dirt that just cannot be shaken from our bodies. God comes to us in the dirtiness of life, the times when the “how to” programs aren’t working, and when the “to do” lists are too long to get done.

The God who meets us in the dirt, and who clings to us, is not concerned with “how” the message gets told. The “how to” program is not the point. The nearness of the Kingdom is. The God of dusty flesh simply wants us to know that Kingdom of God is near. That the King of creation is near and close to us. So near and close, that we can know what God feels like, looks like, sounds like simply by looking at our neighbour, by touching a loved one, by hearing God’s word read aloud, by sharing in the bread and wine that came from the very dust of the earth and becoming one in Christ’s dusty body.

The Why is that God has come to near to us, so that we can know that we are not alone. So that we can know that God is not unmerciful, that God is not unforgiving, and that we are not dead, but alive in Christ. The near and close incarnate Christ, who has given us good news to share.

We are “how to” people, but God is a “why to” God. And even so, Jesus knows that without the occasional “how to” we would be completely lost and so today, he gives one to the 70. And for us, Jesus gives the same how to. Sharing the good news of the kingdom is not an item on a to do list, but a way of being. It is a dirty, dusty life, but a life that is breathed into by the near and close God. By the God who will not be shaken off.

Yes, we love our “how to” programs, our to do lists, and unending lists of obligations and responsibilities. But God loves us, and that is the “why” the Kingdom of God is near to you.