Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time
In the summer after her junior year in high school, our daughter (Anna) went on something of a study abroad trip to Paris that was organized by her French teacher. She was to stay with a French family that would show her around a bit and then she would engage in other activities and take trips here and there with her school group. All of that sounded great, and Bill and I were very supportive of Anna’s desire to go on this trip.
Still. I’ll never forget standing on the upper level of the main concourse at the Cincinnati airport watching her descend down the escalator with her school mates. There she goes, I thought. All the way across the Atlantic to stay with a family I’ve never even met! Here’s hoping it all goes well.
The summer after Anna’s first year at UD, she signed up for a trip to Spain that the Core program organized. The students would take courses with the three faculty who were along on the trip. They would spend a few days in Madrid and then make their way to Grenada where they would be for most of their time in Spain. The faculty on the trip are all wonderful colleagues of ours. It would be a terrific experience for Anna.
Still. Once again, there I am at the airport (this time in Dayton) watching Anna move through security. And then she was gone. Over the Atlantic she goes again. Once again, here’s hoping it all goes well.
In the readings today from 1 Kings and Mark, we encounter sendings. David knows that he is dying. He says, “I am going the way of all flesh.” What a wise way to put it. But before he goes, he wants to tell his son how to be in this world. He tells him to be faithful to God. And he implores his son to raise his own sons to be the same. Similarly, in the text from Mark’s Gospel, Jesus is sending his disciples out into the world. They are to step out into the world without his protection and share the Good News to people (some of whom at least) would be hostile to their message. Like David, Jesus gives them some wisdom before they depart: take nothing but a walking stick. Take no food, no snacks, no money. Sandals, yes. Second tunic, no. They were to make themselves vulnerable—like Jesus. And then he gives them this really wise instruction: if you arrive at a house that can’t hear the Gospel, go. Oh, and shake the dust off your feet. You don’t need their dust or anything else, for that matter.
We are obliged now and again to send. Whether it is our children as they become adults or a parent who is dying. How do we do that? The only way I can see is by faith. Faith that our children will return to us safe and sound (and likely much better for the experience) and faith that those who leave us will be in God’s loving care.
As for Anna, on the whole, both trips went well. Anna loved her time in France . Her host family were so kind and generous to her. But there was also a terrorist attack at Notre Dame while Anna’s group was standing in line to tour the cathedral.
Likewise, Anna had an incredible experience in Spain. It was on that trip that she really started to come into herself. And there were real challenges. On the flight to Madrid, she contracted strep. And that meant a trip to the hospital and many missed opportunities to experience a great city and begin to get to know her fellow students on the trip. And then some miles out into the Atlantic on the way home, the pilots were forced to turn the plane around because a woman just a few rows behind Anna was dying. That in itself was very hard. And, as you can imagine, getting booked on another flight home was not easy.
Sendings. We’re obliged to do them. And they are never easy. Sending a loved one whether on a trip or to a new home or into a new marriage or into Jesus’ arms is never easy. Yet David and Jesus tell us how to do it—in faith. Our faith for the one we send. And their faith as they venture forth. There really isn’t another way.
Sue Trollinger