How good are you at prepping?

Mark 6:1-13

If I am honest the worst part of going on holiday for me is the preparations. 

I know - I get it - things don't just happen, there needs to be some form of preparation.

But sometimes the extent of those preparations can almost make me question whether I should just stay home.

My wife is great at prepping for a trip - she should have a qualification in it. That's not to say she doesn't get stressed - and you can understand why, when she has to put up with me dragging my feet!

The disciples haven't recently been seen in the best of lights as they fear for their lives in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. With all the talk around fear and faith that has been going on so far in the preceding chapters - if I were one of Jesus' first disciples, I think it is fair to say that my nerves wouldn't be much soothed by the scant instructions Jesus now gives them as he sends them off in the first half of chapter 6.

After all, they are about to head off and encounter demons - yet Jesus says (6:8-9) "Take nothing for the journey except a staff-no bread, no bag, no money in your belts. Wear sandals but not an extra shirt...". On the one hand that's my kind of prepping - on the other...yikes!

We often get a bit hung up on details don't we. I wonder if that's the point. Jesus is sending the twelve disciples off with 'his authority' (v 7). The task is the same as their master's, the need is urgent and focused on proclaiming the coming kingdom. No time for worrying about personal well-being.

And cutting through this short account is how gracious and supportive Jesus is. Mark hasn't exactly given a complimentary account of these men. So far they do not understand Jesus' teaching (4:10), do not trust his will or power to protect them (4:28), nor are they sensitive to his extraordinary perceptions (5:31). Yet here we have Jesus sending them out nonetheless. 

I wonder if the key for us to consider is that often no amount of preparation, hearing, teaching or observing God at work will be enough. Sometimes you just have to step forward and take a risk, depending on God and believing that He is enough.

Hopefully seeing that Christ is enough will be what shapes us as a community in The Parish of Holy Trinity, Launceston in the months and years ahead.