Find Your Place: From Presence to Proclamation

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Let me start.

We’re going to read this scripture once more. And we’ve been in this passage for the last three or four weeks. Well, Matthew 10 and Luke 10, which are parallel passages. But we’re really looking at what does it look like to share the good news of God’s kingdom that is breaking into this world, and this beautiful opportunity we have, calling invitation, as Jesus sends us.

So let’s read together.

After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.

Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals, and do not greet anyone on the road. When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them. If not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.”

Now, some of the best news is that the Bible is full of just eating and drinking. I love it. I love it that eating and drinking is part of this kingdom of God arriving. The first miracle that Jesus proclaims to give, like, bear witness to the goodness of his kingdom is water turned into wine at a wedding.

So awesome, right? That was not intended to be shared right now, but it hits me on this church picnic day.

But what we are being invited to is into the midst of the celebration. In the midst of this breaking in of God’s kingdom, he’s inviting us to find our place, to be present where sad things are becoming untrue.

I don’t know if that phrase rings a bell. There’s a moment in The Lord of the Rings—the books and the movies, which I love. Frodo’s really good friend, traveling companion, Sam, has gone the distance with Frodo all the way up to Mount Doom. They have thrown the ring—spoiler alert—they’ve thrown the ring into the lava pit, and it’s been destroyed. All chaos breaks loose, and Sam and Frodo are unconscious.

Then the scene shifts to Sam waking up after all of this has happened, kind of stunned, disoriented, stunned to be alive. He sees Gandalf, kind of a Christ figure, sitting beside him. And Sam asks this question. He says, “Gandalf, is everything sad going to come untrue?”

Now, that’s not the same as asking whether good things will come true. It’s something even deeper. It’s asking whether sad things, broken things, painful things will be undone, right? Will be unraveled, disentangled. If their power over us will be broken. If we’ll be healed from our journey in this world.

It’s a question in Christian eschatology in miniature. Eschatology is the study of the last things.

What is the Christian hope? What are we hoping God will do, and what are we hoping God is doing?

There is something deeply wrong in the world. We can all feel it. We all experience it. We live under sin, death, the powers we didn’t choose—a world groaning, waiting, longing for redemption and healing.

And this is the good news, right?

When Jesus returns, every sad thing will become untrue.

The curse will be reversed. The world will be made right. Every human heart will be healed.

And here’s the really, really good news for today. We don’t have to wait to see sad things become untrue. It’s happening now. The kingdom of God is breaking in.

Jesus says the kingdom of God is near. Sad things are becoming untrue. The story has begun.

We are headed toward the healing, renewal, restoration, freedom, liberation of God’s presence in our world right now.

Isn’t that good news?

Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the good news.”

Repent. Reorient your life around the reality that God’s kingdom is here, is near, is arriving, is happening.

And believe. Join it. Cooperate with it. Get on board.

Jesus teaches us to pray and to expect, “God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Right now, in this place, in your home, in your marriage, with your parenting, at your workplace, in the park, in just 45 minutes—or shorter, probably—sad things, unjust things, traumatic things, they are becoming untrue.

The Spirit of God is hovering over all that is dead and dying and bringing life, healing, and hope. It’s happening.

And for those of us with eyes to see, we get to watch it happen. We get to see it, and we get to name it, and we get to bear witness to it.

We see those who mourn comforted. We see those isolated brought home into belonging. We see those far from God, unaware of God’s love, finding themselves already embraced by his presence.

So God is inviting us. Jesus, in this passage, is inviting his followers to find their place and be present there. Be present in a place where sad things are becoming untrue.

So let’s recap real quick.

Week number one in this series, we looked at Jesus seeing the crowds with his disciples, hurting, harassed, helpless. Instead of just observing their pain, he’s moved with compassion—physically moved, like sick to his stomach. And he sends his disciples with good news.

Week two, what is the good news? We looked at the message that he gives: the kingdom of God. It’s a promise. All the promises to Israel fulfilled. A king who won’t fail. Blessing and belonging for everyone, everywhere. A return from exile and the gift of God’s good presence.

Then week three, last week, we looked at what is our posture? How do we carry this message of the kingdom? Because this message of the kingdom has been carried in some really unhelpful, bad-news ways.

So we looked at how we go with the posture of Jesus. We go with a posture that doesn’t force the kingdom anywhere but realizes God’s kingdom is already everywhere. God’s presence is already at work ahead of us.

So we don’t bring and we don’t force the kingdom anywhere. We show up to a place recognizing that the presence of God is already at work ahead of us, and we go alive and alert and awake to how God is working.

Today I want to talk about finding your place.

We said presence precedes proclamation. God’s presence precedes our proclamation, and our presence precedes our proclamation.

If we’re going to be present in a place—curious and humble and dependent on the people and places we go—we need to find that place where we will be present, where we wait for God’s kingdom to be revealed.

I recently read a book by two pastors and professors whom I actually know, and I didn’t know they wrote this book. As we were doing this series, I was looking for something practical. I wanted to get practical with folks on how we are present and proclaim in ways that are healthy and whole and truly good news.

My two buddies—well, I don’t know if I’d call them buddies. I don’t know if they’d call me a buddy. I call them buddies. Gino Geraci and David Fitch wrote a book called Presence-Based Witness. I spent time with both of these men, more with Gino, and we’ve had discussions on how the church can bear witness to the gospel in new and changing contexts.

I didn’t know they had written a book on it, but they did. It’s called Presence-Based Witness, and it’s based on Luke 10 and Matthew 10, the very texts we’ve been studying.

So, over the next couple of weeks, we’re going to be going through how they break down this passage. It’s very practical.

They say there are six practices of presence-based witness.

The first is know the presence. Know the presence of God is already at work. Know the signs of his work. Know where we’re in a place.

Then find your place. We’ll talk about that in a minute.

Find your place to be attentive. Pay attention to the presence of God.

Then wait for the reveal. Wait. Listen. Learn. Be curious. How is God at work? How is the harvest ripe here? What is God doing to reconcile people and this place to himself?

Then, when we see it, we bear witness to it. We start proclaiming, “Look! God’s at work.”

See how presence is first, and then our words come?

“Whoa, look! God’s at work.”

And then we invite: “Hey, do you see it? Do you see it? Do you want to be a part of it?”

God’s at work in your life, and we testify to a different power. We testify that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is making the world a place where sad things become untrue. And we invite people to be a part of it.

So last week we did presence. This week: find your place.

We’re called to bear witness to the kingdom of God. It’s present. It’s at work.

Remember our posture in all of this. We don’t come with all of the answers. We don’t come knowing what people need. We don’t come knowing exactly how they need to hear it.

We come with the assumption that God is at work ahead of us, and we are sheep going to other sheep, right?

We are not shepherds going to sheep. We are sheep among wolves.

The only difference between us and the people we are among is that maybe we’ve gotten a glimpse of the Shepherd. Maybe we know that the Shepherd has arrived and is providing and protecting and restoring and healing.

And we are pointing other harassed, hurting, helpless sheep:

“Hey, come. I found the Shepherd.”

That’s our posture. Humility.

So Jesus says, in verses 1 and 3, he sends the disciples into every town, every place he’s about to go. He says, “Go. Be present in this place. Find a place. Be present there in the ordinary rhythms of life.”

I think we need to slow this passage down and put it into a real-life context.

Go to a place. It’s not like, “Go to a home, speak peace.” It’s: go to a place, be present, engage in the ordinary rhythms of that place.

Find a place you can return to. Find a place where you can become known and where you can know the people.

He says, “Remain in that house. Don’t go from place to place to place. Remain there. Eat there. Drink there. Stay there.”

Stay there long enough to notice how God is present and at work.

I’ve been watching the World Cup.

Who’s been watching the World Cup at all?

I’ll admit, I’ve gotten hooked.

Before this, I would have called soccer lame, all right? Because I thought, “It’s boring. There’s no scoring.”

I know—you gave your life to coaching soccer.

There’s no scoring!

But you’re going to like this. It’s getting better.

You know, then, all of a sudden, it’s just like, “Wow! This is exciting.”

But I realized that the low scoring is actually what makes it so gripping.

Goals are so rare that you have to be locked in and paying attention and watching everything.

The first couple of games I was watching, and I’m like, “Okay. Zero-zero. Pass, pass, dribble, fall on the floor, cry, whine, pass…”

I’m going to go get a snack.

Then I hear, “Yay!”

I’m like, “Oh no! What happened?”

I go back, and I missed it, right?

I missed the goal because I went to get a snack.

The first couple of games, every single time I’m looking away, you know, in the Doritos bag, and then it happens.

I missed the goal.

I missed the goal.

This is what actually makes soccer so engaging and so intriguing, right?

We’re watching.

You have to have your eyes fixed and glued every moment.

It’s so hard to get a goal. It looks like it’ll never happen. Then, when it finally does, it doesn’t look like it’s going to—and it does.

You’re like, “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!”

Everyone’s jumping around, waving. Grown men weeping, embracing each other, faces painted, scarves waving, making noise.

It’s just crazy.

Kids embracing strangers.

It’s crazy.

I was listening to an NPR story a couple of weeks ago about Argentinian fans.

Argentina is in the finals today, and they won last year.

Their fans are famous for traveling everywhere and showing up in massive numbers.

The story was about these Argentinians—not all of them wealthy—who save for the four years between World Cups.

Save. Save. Save. Save.

Many of them will quit their jobs because they can’t just take three weeks off.

They quit their jobs and travel to wherever the World Cup is.

They go to the place to see their team and to have their eyes fixed on this game called soccer, waiting, watching every play.

They reorient their lives. They reprioritize their whole lives to find the place, to go to the place where they can bear witness to a goal, to a miracle.

I think this is what finding our place looks like, except it’s way, way, way better.

We find a place where we know God is at work.

We know his kingdom is going to break in.

It doesn’t look like it.

It doesn’t look like there’s going to be any score.

But our eyes are fixed.

We’re waiting.

We’re waiting.

We’re waiting with this great cloud of witnesses waiting with us.

We’re watching.

How is God going to break in?

We’re attentive.

We’re expectant.

And when it does, we go crazy.

We celebrate it.

We bear witness.

We don’t just see it, but we bear witness with our voices, our bodies.

We hug each other.

We high-five each other.

“Did you see that? Did you see that? Did you see that goal? Did you see that move?”

We watch the replay, and we point it out to other people.

This is kind of how we find our place.

This is bearing witness to how God is at work.

Find our place.

The presence of God is at work.

Be attentive in a place and with the people.

And when it happens, when you see the kingdom break through, point it out.

Proclaim it.

Celebrate it.

Invite people to celebrate with you.

Invite people to join you.

I will confess, in my life, there was a time where I was very committed to this presence-based witness and to finding a place and being there in our neighborhood, the International District.

There’s been seasons in our life and in our church’s life where we were intentionally present, and beautiful things happened.

I would walk the same route at the same time through my neighborhood very often.

I would sit in my front yard on the porch that I made, this brick patio that I made, and at this picnic bench that we bought so that I could intentionally sit outside at the same time every day.

Beautiful things happened.

People would walk by our neighborhood on their way to get food, on their way to work. They’re walking their dogs. They’re getting exercise. They’re looking for drugs. Whatever is happening.

And I’m there.

We had conversations, and God was at work.

One of those walks, several years ago, I nearly ran into a man—like, physically ran into him—named Robert.

He’s become a good friend.

We ended up at Arturo’s, this restaurant down the street, and we were eating a meal together.

I was asking him about his life, listening, and we were having a great time.

Toward the end of our meal, I said, “I would love for you to come to our house sometime.”

You know, I wanted to be the host. I wanted to be the provider.

“Come on over.”

He said—and I’ll never forget it—”That sounds good, but I want you to come to my house first. I want you to see how I live.”

That’s exactly what he said.

So from that restaurant, we walked to his one-bedroom apartment, which is right across the street from my house.

He began to show me pictures.

Pictures of his ex-wife.

Pictures of his time in the Navy.

Pictures of his parents as they grew up in California.

He told me the things he was proud of, and he told me the things he wasn’t proud of in his life.

I just listened in his home.

Then came the most beautiful moment.

He told me about when he was in California and he was homeless, and he was addicted to alcohol and couldn’t get his life on track.

But he loved his little girl.

He was committed to walk her to school every single day.

So he would sleep at a park near the apartment where she was living with her mom, and he would show up and walk her to school.

That’s the kingdom of God, right?

That’s the good news of the kingdom at work.

That’s God restoring and reconciling and renewing.

I could point it out.

I was able to name it.

“Do you see it? Do you see God’s work in your life? Do you see where God’s brought you? Do you see that God planted that love for your little girl? It is in your heart. Do you see that this is God’s heart for you? Do you see this?”

We continued to share life.

So I am in this series, and I’m preaching to myself here because I am rediscovering the beauty of God’s plan for how we bear witness: presence-based witness.

Be aware that God’s presence goes ahead of you.

Pick a place to watch and look and listen.

Then be ready to proclaim:

“God is at work.”

God’s inviting us to pick our place.

What is your place?

What’s your place?

I think every one of us should take this seriously and say, “Where am I to plant myself? Where is the place God has invited me to be present?”

It could be a shelter you volunteer at.

It could be a hospital as a chaplain.

It could be a youth sports league.

It could be a zoning committee.

It could be the PTA.

It could be a prison ministry.

It could be a bar you visit at the same time each week.

I’m not joking.

In fact, across the street there are a whole collection of places to hang out.

There’s a brewery.

There’s a nail salon.

There’s a hair place.

There’s a barbecue place.

There’s all kinds of fun stuff.

There’s a bike place.

That’s a place.

Is that your place to be present?

It could be your work.

Here’s the thing.

Many of you probably already have a place.

It just hasn’t been filled with the purpose of being present to the presence of God.

There are people you’re around daily.

There are places you inhabit weekly.

The same folks.

What if you began to repent and believe that the kingdom of God is near?

What if you began to reorient your life and say, “That’s my place, and I’m going to be present on purpose. I’m going to be paying attention because I believe God’s presence is at work ahead of me—at work in the lives and in the space.”

What would it look like to be present there?

I would love for you—I invite you—to ask God to give you a vision for a place.

It might be a place you’re already there, and it might be a place yet to have you there.

When you find it, I ask you to commit to it.

Go regularly.

Same time.

Same place.

Let this become a place where you are attentive to the presence of God.

Keep your eyes fixed, watching for that goal, watching for that breakthrough.

Help when you’re asked, and only if you’re asked.

Go humbly.

Also, Jesus says, when you find that place, maybe invite someone else to go with you.

Another one whose eyes—another sheep whose eyes have been awakened to the Shepherd.

Sometimes our witness is not just with our words.

It’s show and tell.

Our witness is show and tell.

We tell it.

We also show it.

The power of a community going two or three together, the power of a community of shared life, is that we bear witness to the good news of the kingdom at work among us.

Jesus says, “They will know you by your love.”

They will know you by how you forgive one another.

They will know you by how you argue with one another and how you have conflict with one another.

They will know you.

So you go.

Wherever two or three are gathered, the Lord is present in their midst.

Find a place.

Bring someone with you.

Be ready for that moment when the kingdom breaks through.

Next week, we’ll talk more about what it looks like when the reveal happens.

How do we proclaim?

How do we invite folks to be a part of it?

But this week, I want you to think about and pray about:

Where is your place?

Where’s that place that God invites you to reorient, reprioritize, and say, “I’m going to spend some time here, attentive and alert”?

I want to end with this prayer.

This prayer has actually been prayed in the church for many years now—this church in particular, but the church more broadly.

It’s a prayer often prayed over the Lord’s Supper. It’s called the Prayer of Epiclesis. It’s a prayer to keep us attentive to the presence of God, and that we would be present to the presence.

So we are about to celebrate communion, and I want this prayer to be prayed over this table and also over this community.

In some sense, with every communion meal, we’re invited to the table where Jesus is host.

At every table he says, “Go and eat. Stay in a place and eat what’s given to you.”

I imagine this table extending into every home, into every restaurant, into every vehicle, and every park.

This table is an extension of God’s presence and invitation to all people to sit and dine with him, to receive and learn from him, and to experience the goodness of his kingdom.

I don’t know if that makes sense, but from this place, with Christ as our host, at this table, being nurtured and nourished by what God has given us, we go forward into the world inviting others to come and be nourished by Christ.

So if you would stand, let’s say this prayer and come forward to receive this meal.

I’d invite the elders to come forward and be ready to serve the Lord’s Supper.

Let’s pray this prayer together.

Lord, be present in this place. Help me to be present to your presence. Amen.