United by God

Lectionary reflections for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (C)

By Timothy Nakayama

Readings for Pentecost 5, Year C, July 4, 2004 (Independence Day, USA)

2 Kings 5:1-14 or Isaiah 66:10-14
Psalm 30 or Psalm 66:1-8
Galatians 6:(1-6), 7-16
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

What is the Good News of the God of Justice in our world today? Let us consider the appointed readings for this Sunday.

The Collect (Proper 9, Book of Common Prayer, p. 179)

Themes that are highly relevant to Independence Day are contained in this Collect. With our lives centered in love to God, we are called to express that love by being genuinely “united to one another.” As citizens we are called to eradicate racism, sexism, ageism, and promote economic justice in our generation. We are called to live our lives in today's transitory world while holding to God's promise of eternity. May we aspire to these ideals, with God's help.

Scenes of the Iraq war have raised the possibility of rediscovering the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient Persia. . . So as we continue this earthly pilgrimage, let it not be the sweet “by and by” to which we aspire, but rather the re-doubling of our efforts for social and economic justice.

The Hebrew Scripture (Isaiah 66)

Scenes of the Iraq war have raised the possibility of rediscovering the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in ancient Persia. In this final chapter of Isaiah, Jerusalem is close at hand. Do the blessings we enjoy and the land where we live give us glimpses of the “New Jerusalem,” and point us well beyond our transitory life? So as we continue this earthly pilgrimage, let it not be the sweet “by and by” to which we aspire, but rather the re-doubling of our efforts for social and economic justice. May “sacramental” understandings bring the meaning of eternity out of the specific needs and solutions of our daily lives. May the “Body and Blood of Christ” sustain us to live as loyal citizens of our land and faithful “Citizens of Heaven.”

The Psalm

Psalm 66 calls us to celebrate our God in the midst of trial and conflict. We read the psalm and exclaim: May it be a time of great singing! May joy in our land well up in us so that we sing to the praise and glory of God! May we have grateful hearts and deep adoration to God the Almighty One – bow down and sing out God's name! May God's praise be on our tongue!

The Epistle

In the letter to the Galatians, loyalty on earth and heaven means to “carry the marks of Jesus branded on my body.” It has become fashionable these days to wear a broach, necklace or bracelet with a cross. I met a priest who had a way of entering easily and naturally into conversation with almost any stranger by asking, “Is that cross you are wearing a piece of jewelry or a significant sign or symbol?”

The Gospel

Today's gospel is one of the scriptural passages that has been quoted most frequently with the "Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry" community over the past three decades, ever since our foundation as a ministry network. In this lesson, Jesus speaks to seventy disciples who he sent out 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.”

This Lukan verse was often quoted by groups and individuals in the missionary movements that began in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were the ones who had caught the vision of sharing God's “Good News” revealed in Jesus the Messiah. It was also the cry of mission for missionary-evangelists of several denominations around the beginning of the 20th century among people of Japanese ancestry in western North America.

Those “laborers,” and those who followed in their footsteps, brought into being the Japanese Christian community. Many of the earliest Christians had converted in Japan under the guidance of missionaries serving in Asia. Then, Japanese Christians were among those who immigrated to North America, and they introduced their newfound faith to their fellow immigrants in this new land.

The labors of these early Asian Christians, and those who followed them, introduced and nurtured me and others to embrace faith in God as revealed in Christ. We were thus helped to avoid and set free from being drawn down the confusing, slippery slope of civil religion that leads to an “unknown god.”

The Rev. Timothy Makoto Nakayama has served diverse racial/ethnic communities in three countries. He was born, raised, and ordained in Canada, then emigrated to Seattle, Wash., and later was a missionary in Okinawa. Tim's ministry of over 40 years of social change includes regional community organizing, assisting in the formation of the national Episcopal Asiamerica Ministry, and welcoming refugees from around the world. He now lives in Seattle, and may be reached by email at frtim@yahoo.com .