Stuff

“Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts.”  Mark 6:6b-8

             We have a lot of stuff.  In our home, most of the stuff seems to be incoming and very little seems to be outgoing.  We try to recycle, reuse, repurpose.  And in this day and age, even though there is so much new and wasted packaging material, I think overall we have started to realize how to avoid wasting things that can be reused again in some way.  It makes no sense at all to throw things into a pile in the ground where much of it will never truly decompose or decay.  So, we have become a bit better at trying to find other options for things.  Nevertheless, we still have a lot of stuff.

            If hard pressed I would have to say that very little in our home has a great deal of meaning for me.  There are pictures, pieces of artwork made by my children, maybe a favorite shirt.  But most of it is really just stuff to me.  Now if I had to give something away, I might feel differently about how much it was missed.  The real things of value, though, are my family members.  I could not do without them.  The relationships of people take much higher value than the stuff.

            It’s a far cry from the world we seem to live in today, but Jesus sending out his disciples still has an importance in the priorities:  value people over things.  First, he sends them in pairs.  This was not work that was meant to be done alone.  I’m not sure if this was a safety precaution or not, but Jesus seemed to understand that we can do more effective work toward the proclamation of the gospel when we do so in teams.  There was also this faith element:  don’t take anything with you.  Really?  Really.  How can this be?  There was a need to have faith that God would provide through the people wherever they went.  Maybe there was a practical element as well—less load to bear along the way.

            Our journey to share the good news with others does not require any special gear.  We don’t need all of our stuff.  All we need is the idea of teamwork, the partnerships that are right in front of us.  And we need to rely on God to provide the things we will need in the places we will need them.

            I still don’t know why we have so much stuff.  Most of it we never revisit.  Most of it just takes up space.  It leaves less room for people.  It leaves less room for relationships, too.  Hmm. . . that sounds like another newsletter topic for the future!  For now, as you share the journey with others around you, those you love, those who support you as well, remember that God provides the way ahead.  God will also provide for our needs in the times and places we need Him the most.  As we enter into Lent, let’s reflect on our stuff, but also on our needs—and especially on the people God has placed into our lives.  Many, many blessings. . .