April 19, 2009
Grace Church
Rev. Robert E. Hensley

Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31

      Let us pray.  Lord, open for us your love. Open for us your presence so that we may find courage for our fears. Open to us your presence so that there may be light for our darkness.  Open to us your Spirit so that we may know your peace in the midst of turmoil. Open us up to you, O God, so that we may know hope for our despair, peace for our souls, joy for our sorrows, health for our illness, strength for our weakness, wisdom for our confusion, forgiveness for our sins, love for our hate, praise for our doubt and insight for our troubles. Lord, open up for us your cross and your love for our lives. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. 
 

      Several years ago, comedians Dan Akroyd and the late John Belushi teamed up to create a memorable bunch of twisted characters. But there were few that could top the absurdity of Jake and Elwood, whom you might better remember as the Blues Brothers. At one point, these two genially corrupt, amiably amoral bozos are sent out on an ill-fated fundraising mission for their old parochial school by a fierce old nun. As they blundered through a series of larcenous schemes and made movie-mayhem, Jake and Elwood established their credibility by quietly proclaiming to all their detractors, "We're on a mission from God."  
 

      In the face of ludicrous and often illegal fundraising attempts, Jake and Elwood's explanation for all their activities is totally absurd. Obviously these two jokers are not on any "mission from God."   They are two perpetual losers trying to run a successful series of scams. 
 

      It is easy for us to laugh at the prospect of such out-of-it lunatics as Ackroyd's and Belushi's Jake and Elwood being on "a mission from God." The whole notion is hilarious. The problem is that when we consider the possibility of someone's really being on a genuine mission from God, we still tend to cringe and giggle. However, is this excessively exalted language for the activities of someone we might actually know? 
 

      For example, it that checkout clerk at Stop and Shop perhaps, on a mission from God?  Maybe someone like the neighbor who feeds your cat when you are away.  Perhaps she is on a mission from God? 
 

      How about that annoying citizen speaking their mind at Town Meeting?  Could they be on a mission from God? 
 

      How about someone with bills to pay kids to shuttle to a soccer game, dinner to cook, a garage to clean out, and 10 pounds to lose.  Are they on a mission from God? 
 

      The short answer to all of these questions is:  Yes!  All of these people may very well be on a mission from God, in the same way that we are ourselves. 
 

      How is it possible that someone make such grandiose claims for others or for ourselves? One of the signs of "delusions of grandeur" on the psychological test called MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) is a positive answer to the question "Do you believe you are a special agent of the Lord?" 
 

      It is possible for us to can answer that question "Yes,” fill in that hole with our number 2 pencil, because we have God's "say-so."  
 

      When Jesus appeared to the disciples hiding in fear, locked away in that secretive upper room, he did more than witness to the miracle of his resurrection. He came to proclaim his "peace." He came to impart the Holy Spirit. He came to pronounce that as God had sent him into the world, so he now sends his disciples out to the world.  
 

      Jesus announces what we have come to know as “The Great Commission” to the disciples despite their obvious shortcomings, their evident self-absorption, their general cluelessness. All of Jesus' disciples – and that includes all of us post-Easter people – from this time forward and forevermore are sent out into the world on his mission from God.  We are called by Christ to go out and minister to the entire world under no less an authority than because God said so. 
 

      When Jesus proclaims "As God sent me, so I send you" to these Upper-Room disciples, he is promising to every bottom-floor generation that will experience Christ's peace and inhale the Holy Spirit that divine forces and energies are at work in all of us, even as they were in Jesus.  
 

      We are each and every one of us on a mission from God, because God, through Christ, has said so! 
 

      In the airheaded hit movie "Clueless," which later became a television series, the mind-free, meaningless world of a trio of teenage "valley girls" is paraded before us. One of the trademark comebacks of these girls' vacuous lingo is to offer an incredulous "As if!" in response to an apparently obvious statement. 
 

      For example, "As if" – they would ever be caught dead in Kmart. 
 

      “As if" they would give up an afternoon at the mall for an afternoon in the library.

      "As if" they would get a ride home with someone in a Volkswagen.

      Sometimes it seems that in our own "clueless" church culture, we have taken Jesus' powerful "As God has sent me, so I send you" declaration and allowed it to degenerate into a faithless, wimpy "As/if" disclaimer.  
 

      Instead of as Jesus went to the tax collectors and sinners, so we must make the poor and the rich, the very young and the very old, the unchurched and the overchurched, the street-scented and the cologne-scented feel welcome to join us in worship – we have disclaimed "As if" when faced with the prospect of sitting next to someone in the pew who makes us the least bit uncomfortable. 
 

      Instead of as the Holy Spirit was breathed into the disciples by the resurrected Jesus, so we must blow that Spirit of life out upon others who are gasping for the fresh air of faith – we have disclaimed "As if" at the prospect of letting the Holy Spirit go and work freely, without fetters, within us.  
 

      Instead of as the Creator loved all creation, so God gave his only begotten Son for our sake and for our salvation – we have disclaimed "As if" at the slightest prospect of sharing any of the wonderful excesses in wealth, natural resources, technology, beauty and freedom that we have been so graciously granted. 
 

      Listen up, Church!  It is time for us to claim the power of God's "say-so." Church, it is time for us to realize that as disciples of the risen Lord, we are on a mission from God. Church, it is time for us to own the fact that each one of us is a special agent of the Lord. 
 

      All of Christ's disciples are called to a special mission of ministry to and for the world. God uses each of us not just according to our individual gifts and graces, not just according to our own strengths and talents, but sometimes according to God's own good pleasure, to define what form our mission may take.  
 

      Being a disciple working under God's "say-so" is probably the first example of a call to a specific and specialized ministry.   Each one of us has a special and specific mission to which God has called us.  
 

      So then, what mission are you on today? 
 

      Are you a teacher, modeling with God's "say-so" power? 
 

      Are you a child or parent, playing with God's "say-so" power? 
 

      As God sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us. Will we willingly go in the Spirit in which we have been sent?  Amen.