N.O.D.S.?

While I was growing up, our family took wilderness hiking trips almost every summer. You may know that, especially out west, there are areas of public land specifically, legally designated as "wilderness areas" where no motorized transport of any kind is permitted. For a week or so, we would walk. Walk with packs on our backs. Walk, often up around timberline, in the high mountains of the Wind Rivers or the Big Horns or the Beartooths. We went mostly, I think, because my father loved the country. As a girl, I didn’t care too much for carrying a pack, but it is wonderful country.

We didn’t usually see many other people, but from time to time we would come across small groups of young people who weren’t just hiking. They would be scraping among the rocks searching for the meager edible plants in that region… or earnestly discussing where they should look to find the rare, intermittent trickle of water. They were participants in N.O.L.S., the National Outdoor Leadership School. NOLS runs wilderness learning programs. The programs are part fun and adventure, but they also aim to instill maturity and teach the leadership skills necessary to survive, and help others survive, in the wilderness. NOLS is not boot camp or survival camp for troubled teens. That’s another whole world of sometimes helpful, sometimes very questionable programs. Kids are eager to attend NOLS. Because they want to push themselves. Because they want to see spectacular country they wouldn’t otherwise see and experience. Because they want an "extreme" experience. Because they are drawn to the harshness of the wilderness.

It was this morning’s gospel that got me thinking about NOLS and those kids we used to see scrounging amid the glacial scree for stonecrop to eat. Jesus sends the disciples off on what sounds like a test of their wilderness skills. In Mark they get to take a staff. In Matthew and Luke, they don’t even get that. No bread, no bag, no money… only sandals and one tunic. Jesus sends them off, and won’t let them take any food or money, no extra clothes for chilly nights or rainy days, no boots… Is it meant to be a trial? Is the point that hardship and challenge will make them better people, stronger disciples? It doesn’t have quite the same ring, but is this supposed to be N.O.D.S., National Outdoor Discipleship School?

Other places in Scripture encourage us to think that the NOLS (or NODS) model is, in fact, the preferred model for discipleship training. Just a few chapters earlier in Mark, Jesus says the well-known words, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." Or in Romans Paul really lays it on: "we boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." In many places in Scripture, the wilderness is a place of testing and formation. It is a long standing assumption in the Christian tradition that only through hardship can we really develop true Christian character. Only through great personal deprivation can we become real disciples.

So is that what’s going on in today’s Gospel? Are the disciples being sent out upon a wilderness learning experience involving deprivation and great personal challenge so that they may gain the character and leadership necessary to be disciples? Is that the model we are to follow if we truly wish to be Jesus’ disciples? There’s no doubt this approach can work; personal challenge and struggle often do bring us closer to God. Perhaps for some people, that is the only way to find their Christian vocation. But I do not think that is what this particular passage in Mark’s gospel is about. Jesus is not sending the disciples to National Outdoor Discipleship School.

Jesus does not want the disciples to starve or freeze. He is not intentionally setting challenges before them so that they may acquire character. He is not testing them with harsh demands. He is not forcing deprivation upon them with the expectation that blisters or hunger or frostbite will somehow make them better Christians.

He’s just giving them instructions. Like a supervisor might take a few moments to orient a new employee, Jesus is teaching the disciples… teaching them how to fulfill this new calling of theirs. He’s telling them how it’s done, making sure they do have what they will need, and that they don’t worry about things they don’t need. Like a good supervisor, he is helping them focus on the point and the purpose of what they are doing.

Jesus and his disciples were in the Galilee. He was sending them out on short journeys among the local villages, not on a great trek into the wilderness. Among faithful Jews of that place and time, hospitality was a sacred responsibility and a privilege. They did not need food or bedding or extra clothing. The point was not for the disciples to experience hardship or lack. They did not need to carry anything except their message. And carrying that message was the whole point of the journey.

Note also that Mark tells us that as he sent them out, Jesus gave the disciples "authority over the unclean spirits." Jesus gave them his power. Jesus gave the disciples the power to bring God’s healing and wholeness to people who repented. Jesus empowered them to carry on his own ministry. What more could they possibly need? They were given everything they needed for the journey and task of discipleship.

So. We are the people called to be Jesus’ disciples today. This Gospel speaks to us.

And the most important piece of this message to us is in the first line of this morning’s Gospel: Jesus called the twelve, the disciples, and then began to send them out. Jesus called the disciples. They were drawn to Jesus by his words, by his ministry. And then he sent them out. To be a follower of Jesus is also to be someone who is sent, sent to carry Jesus’ message and ministry to others. Called to Jesus. Sent by Jesus. Coming and going. This cycle defines the life of a disciple. Both elements are absolutely essential.

Called and sent. Coming and going. We are called to Jesus when we gather here for worship on Sundays. We come to God here. Our souls are nurtured, healed and strengthened. We are given God’s gifts of peace and forgiveness. We renew fellowship and Christian companionship here when we gather. Remember Jesus sent the twelve out, not alone, but in pairs. As we come together, we strengthen the bonds of Christian friendship with those who are our companions on the road of discipleship. We hear God’s living word here. We share Christ’s very presence in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. We come to Christ in our regular worship here.

And then we are sent by Christ out into the world. We say the words every Sunday. "Send us now into the world in peace to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart." In the closing words of the Eucharist, our own journeys of discipleship begin. It is not always easy being a disciple. It requires dedication and a certain amount of perseverance. But it is not as difficult as we might imagine either. We are not being sent on a month long trek into the wilderness. Most of us, at least, are not being sent to Africa or Indonesia. We are being sent across town to our own homes and neighbors and communities. We do not need National Outdoor Discipleship School training to equip us for this journey.

Jesus does remind us though, that for the journey of discipleship, we also don’t need most of the baggage we tend to carry with us through life. We tend to be like children packing for summer camp at the lake. All they really need are a few clothes and some sunscreen. But they try to take their Game Boy, cell phone, MP3 player, and half the stuff in their rooms. "But I need it," they say. "I can’t live without it." Jesus’ instructions to the disciples and to us are not meant to impose arbitrary conditions of hardship or deprivation. They are not meant to intimidate us. They are not meant to set an extreme standard for discipleship that only the hardiest and most faithful can meet. In fact, Jesus reminds us that it is easier to be a disciple than we might imagine. It is easier than we usually imagine. We don’t need most of what we think we need to be disciples. We don’t really need any particular skills or training. We certainly don’t need money or possessions. We don’t need the right clothes or the right vehicle. We don’t need to be strong or articulate. We don’t need to be certified or licensed or even ordained.

"So the disciples went out," Mark says, "and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them." Evidently they had everything they needed. It sounds like they did a pretty good job of being disciples.

We, too, have been called to be Jesus’ disciples and we, too, have been given authority to carry his power into the world. We are called to come to Jesus here and sent by Jesus to carry his message to the world. We have come. Here we have heard God’s living word. We will soon be fed at the Lord’s own table. Then we are to go. And we may go in the confidence that we have been given everything that we really need to be disciples.

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