Guide for Sunday, July 6, 2025

Summertime is vacation time. Whether our plans take us away for days at the beach or weeks in a foreign land, the challenge is what to pack. We aim to take everything we need and nothing we don’t. Still, it can be tricky. Lest we think we’re the first to encounter this challenge, we get a look at extreme light-packing as Jesus sends his disciples out on a kingdom-enlarging mission with only the clothes on their backs. How do they fare? Let’s have a look!

• Think about your favorite trip. Where did you go? What did you see? Whom did you meet that made your vacation memorable? What impact on any of this did the stuff you took with you have?
• Packing light is its own reward, especially if your trip will have you legging it between airport concourses and hopping on and off buses and trains! It also can reflect what you rely on most (or think you do). Why do you suppose Jesus insists on the disciples packing as lightly as he does?
• Jesus says that the kingdom of God comes near those places where the disciples are welcomed—and even where they are not! What does it mean for the kingdom of God to come near? Why do you think it comes near, no matter how it is received?

Next Step: Packing light can mean two things—packing only the essentials or bearing the light of the gospel. How might this double meaning affect the way you read this text? And live it out?