I’ve been praying hard this week for two different families. My friend, X whom I told you about last week, just had a baby boy on January 28. X you might remember, is a pastor down in South Carolina. Although his baby J seemed fine at birth, it turned out that he needed major heart surgery. J has come through his first surgery now, and seems to be on the road to recovery. I am sure there are hundreds of people praying for J and for his parents as they go through this ordeal. And in this case, the prayers seem to be “working” – the odds are good that after the surgery is complete, J will be able to lead a normal and long life.
I have also been praying for a family from my daughters’ elementary school. C is in my daughter Skye’s fourth grade class, and she has an older sister, a younger sister in first grade, and a three year old brother. Their father, D, found out about a week or so ago that he has cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer has already spread throughout his organs and into his brain – and it looks like it is inoperable and incurable. He has only months to live. Many people who know the family from our elementary school, their church, and in their neighborhood are praying. But the prognosis, while not absolutely predictable, is grim.
I was thinking of these two families as I read the Old Testament and Gospel passages today about two very different healings. What can these passages tell us about God’s power to heal? What does it mean to be healed, anyway? Why do some people receive miraculous “healings,” while others do not? What do we do when we do get healed? What do we do when we do not?
First, we have the passage from 2 Kings, the story of Naaman. Naaman is the commander of the army of Aram, or Syria, who has just defeated the Israelites. Naaman is pretty high up on the social ladder, which makes his leprosy less of a pariah like disease and more of just a very physically uncomfortable one.
In Biblical times, leprosy was the word for any number of skin diseases, not just the disease we envision today. But whatever disease Naaman had, it was certainly one that was very uncomfortable, even painful, and chronic – it had been bothering him for quite some time.
Naaman really isn’t sure what he can do to cure himself, but he is desperate enough to listen when a nameless slave girl – an Israelite who had been taken captive during the war – recommends a path to healing. Almost wistfully, the slave girl laments, “If only my master could meet the prophet of Samaria, he would be healed of his skin disease.”
Naaman wastes no time – he goes to his boss, the king of Aram, and asks him for help. And the king sends him off to Samaria – not to the prophet that Naaman is looking for, but to the king – king-to-king, power to power. The king of Israel is understandably upset to see Naaman, gifts in hand, ready to be healed. How is he supposed to heal Naaman? He’s no doctor! He bemoans his fate, wonders if the king of Aram is trying to start a war over this, or what.
Then Elisha shows up. Elisha is a prophet who was a protégé of the great Elijah – and he is ready to do God’s work. But he isn’t going to do it the way Naaman expects. In fact, he doesn’t even come out to greet Naaman. He just has his servants tell Naaman to go down to the Jordan, wash in it seven times, and he will be clean.
Naaman is understandably upset. The Jordan is kind of a muddy creek, especially in comparison to the Abana, a swift flowing and clean mountain stream. Why would washing in a muddy river do any good? But again, it is a servant who helps him out here, basically asking him what he has to lose. And after following Elisha’s instructions, he finds that his skin has become not only healed, but renewed, like the flesh of a young boy.
Naaman follows instructions – he listens to those he normally probably wouldn’t pay any attention to, those in a social class far below his own. And it works. He is no longer a leper. He has become clean – clean as a new baby. And, he in turn comes clean and recognizes who has healed him – not his boss the king, or the King of Israel, but God Godself, working through servants and through the prophet Elisha.
It seems to me that Naaman jumped through a lot of hoops to get what he was seeking – healing of an annoying, if not debilitating, disease. He was, by all accounts, desperate – desperate enough to travel to another country, desperate enough to bring riches beyond belief with him, and finally, desperate enough to listen to those he normally would have ignored, at best.
But what Naaman received was more than a physical healing. I imagine he looked at the servants in his life in a new way after this. I imagine he wasn’t so quick to label them as below him, not worthy. And I imagine he had a new respect for the prophets of Israel. And finally, from our last verse, I know that Naaman had a new relationship with God as a result of his healing.
What changed for Naaman, then, wasn’t just the texture of his skin but his circle of relationships. The same can be said of the leper in our Gospel story for today.
The leper in the story from Mark isn’t some big important general like Naaman. He doesn’t even have a name. He meets Jesus after Jesus has left the city, probably because he himself isn’t allowed to be in the company of others. He doesn’t doubt Jesus’ ability to heal him, but he does wonder if Jesus will choose to do so. And Jesus does. When the leprosy is gone, he returns to the city to tell everyone of his good fortune. He, too, “comes clean” to his friends, and presumably to the priest Jesus sent him to in the first place.
But he doesn’t follow instructions. Instead of keeping quiet as Jesus has sternly warned him to do, he goes and tells everyone what Jesus has done – how Jesus has healed him, how Jesus touched him and made him clean. Jesus, by touching a leper, is now himself unclean. And the former leper has become Jesus’ latest evangelist.
Two men, two different stories of healing. Two different responses to being made clean. But in both cases, the healing of their disease changed their relationships with others. The leper in Mark, we can presume, now becomes a part of society once more, returns to his family, is no longer an outcast. And Naaman we can imagine, is now a follower of God, and more aware of others.
So what are these healing stories really trying to tell us? At face value, it might seem that being healed is just a matter of following the right formula, taking the right number of baths in the right river, or of begging Jesus for a cure. I have to tell you, sometimes I do wish it were that simple. I wish that if we just brought our cancer ridden friend to Jesus, and begged him, the cancer would be gone. Do you have people you wish that for as well?
Most of us here have lived long enough to know stories where prayers for healing have resulted in a miracle – children cured, successful one-in-a million chances for a surgery to work. Maybe you even know someone who had a cancer diagnosis, and that cancer disappeared.
But for all those stories, we know stories of those who were not physically cured. We know about mothers and fathers who didn’t get to raise their children to adulthood. We know of children who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and whose lives ended tragically and all too soon.
How do we as Christians put all of this together? How do we make sense of it all, especially after reading these stories today? I have to tell you, stories like these mystify me, and they anger me. As we said in our prayer of confession, it is stories like these that make us think that we can take the credit by praying to God for a cure, and we can blame God when it doesn’t work out.
I don’t think it is that simple. To understand what is going on here, we need to understand what healing meant in the time these stories were written. In Jesus’ time, there were many “healers” – people who went around the country giving people various prescriptions that may or may not have helped their physical diseases go away. With a limited understanding of illness and its effect on the human body, it was both easier and more difficult for those folk healers than it is for our modern health professionals to diagnose and treat illness.
Jesus, we all know, was more than a folk healer like these others. That may be part of why he told the leper not to tell anyone what he had done. Jesus was about more than physical healing. Jesus came to restore relationships, to renew faith, to show the world who God was.
So disease was different, and healings were different. If we hold these ideas in our minds as we look at these stories, what can we learn? Maybe more than “God heals those who ask for it” Maybe “God shows us, again and again, how God wants us to live” From Naaman, we learn that paying attention to those you might not even notice can lead you to a new way of life. From the leper in Mark, we learn that it is almost impossible to keep the Good News of Jesus Christ a secret. From both of these stories, we gain a new concept of community – a community where your former enemies, the ones who have conquered you in battle, become the ones in need of healing, and are healed by their interactions with you.
What is your “leprosy” – what is the disease you carry with you wherever you go? We all have something about us that we would rather not have, that we are afraid will alienate us from our friends and communities. This is the thing Jesus came to heal. Our separation, our inner wounds, our alienation from others – this is what the ancient disease called leprosy represented in Jesus’ day. Maybe it is a bodily disease you carry with you – a chronic illness like fibromyalgia, or Crohn’s disease, or AIDS. Let me assure you, I don’t believe it is wrong to ask God to heal you of such a disease. I don’t believe it is wrong for us all to pray that those who are sick in body, or in spirit, may once again become well.
But, like Naaman, we need to be aware that the answer to our prayers may be more than we are seeking. Frederick Beuchner, in his book Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC, puts it this way:
What about when the boy is not healed? When, listened to or not listened to, the prayer goes unanswered? Who knows? Just keep praying, Jesus says. Remember the sleepy friend, the crooked judge. Even if the boy dies, keep on beating the path to God’s door, because the one thing you can be sure of is that down the path you beat with even your most half cocked and halting prayer the God you call upon will finally come, and even if he does not bring you the answer you want, he will bring you himself. And maybe at the secret heart of all our prayers that is what we are really praying for.
This idea, of “beating down the path to God’s door” gives us a sense of direction when we are in need of healing. When we literally do not know where to turn, we can turn to God. When we can do nothing else but pray, then that is exactly what we can do. We beat a path to God's door, with nothing more to offer than our miserable hurting selves. And the good news is that having arrived to God's door, the one thing we can be absolutely sure of is that God will take us in. God will accept us in the place where we are, with all of our doubts, with all of our desperate needs, with all of our sickness and sin. God will open the door. God will take us in. In from the cold and the dusty road, from the dirty water and the fear of disease. In to the good clean warmth of God's everlasting love. This is the gift of prayer. A gift to cleanse the body and the soul, to heal the broken heart, and to lift out spirits in love. A gift of healing that is available to us every minute of every day. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday Five: Pets!
Sophia over at RevGalBlogPals writes:
My son's tiny beloved lizard, Elf, is looking and acting strange this week. His skin/scales are quite dark, and he is lethargic. We are adding vitamin drops to his lettuce and spinach and hoping and praying that he is just getting ready to shed his skin--but it's too soon to tell. Others in the ring have also been worried about beloved pets this week. And, in the saddest news of all, Songbird has had to bid farewell to her precious Molly, the amazing dog who is well known to readers of her blog as a constant sacrament of God's unconditional love.
So in memory of Molly, and in honor of all the beloved animal companions who bless our lives: tell us about the five most memorable pets you have known.
1. My heartdog, Munro, a.k.a. Eaton's Eastshore Yorick, (1990-2003) Munro was the first dog that ever owned me entirely, I bought him for myself as a gift for getting my Master's degree. He was a light colored Golden Retriever. I could write books about him - he helped me adjust to living in Chicago, far from family. He was a Frisbee champ - and if you said the word "Frisbee" - he would cock his head just so, and his ears would perk up. We played about 1/2 hour every day before I left for work. When he was about 3, my husband began bringing him to work with him in the physics dept. of the University of Chicago. He became kind of famous, for Starman set up a webcam that would take his picture in the office every 5 minutes. There were lots of Munro Channel fans. He helped with physics demonstrations for freshman physics lectures, and would sit and wait for a ball to be "shot" from a "cannon" and hopefully land in his mouth. He helped me get through the years when we longed for a child, through miscarriages and a still birth. When Skye finally arrived, he was the best big brother ever. He was unassuming, and kind, and just about perfect. He died from bone cancer - we had his leg amputated in June, but it had already spread, and we had to put him to sleep on December 27, 2003.
2. Cricket was my family dog from the time I was 1 to 13. He was a ball of energy, a Heinz 57 mongrel with lots of border collie in him. He could climb trees to get a ball, pull us on our sled, jump through hoops and over sawhorses. He was a really fun companion. When I couldn't sleep, I would go into the hall where he lay and lie next to him, and my mom would find me there the next morning.
3. Dunstan, our current Golden, a rescue who was about 18 months old when we got him in the summer of 2005. A goofball, very pushy for attention, very unlike Munro, but he tries to be good. He is a great companion for my morning walks, and yesterday spotted an otter on the ice on the lake for me. He follows me everywhere. I wish I liked him the way I loved Munro.
4. Breezy, or Kentucky Breeze, my sister's horse, who is kind enough to let my children ride and groom her every summer when we come to visit. I have grown to love her.
5. Bramble, my sister's Australian shepherd dog, whom she has trained for wilderness search and rescue. He can find anyone anywhere, and has gone on countless searches as a team with her. He did find an 80 year old retired priest in a field after the man had been missing for two days. Although a bit dehydrated, the man was fine. I love to watch the two of them work together and am very proud of both of them.
In the photos: Breezy and Skye with my sister PiperGirl, Dunstan and Bramble on a summer hike, Munro with Skye on his last Christmas in 2003, and as a bonus, Shammy and Lucky our brother-and-sister cats, also a part of the family and great cuddle kitties!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
At Your Service - a sermon for Epiphany 5B
“I just can’t wait for spring” Manny told me when we met last Friday. Manny is a second grader in my daughter’s class, and last Friday I got to spend an hour with him, as we worked together on his reading skills. “I love the way the leaves sound when the wind blows through them. It gets inside me. I just can’t wait for the green leaves and the grass.”
How about you? Are you waiting for spring too? As you are all aware, spring is still a long way off…here in northeast Ohio I try not to count on warm weather until late May. Who can forget last Easter, March 23, when we had a foot of snow on the ground and the wind was blowing?
It’s hard to wait, isn’t it? I must admit to you that I am TERRIBLE at waiting for things – just ask my husband! He knows that if he wants to surprise me, he can’t give me any hints that something fun is coming my way, or I will torture him into telling me what to expect. I like to plan, I like to have everything laid out, and I HATE to WAIT! How about you?
As I read the Scripture passages for today, the idea of waiting wasn’t initially what came to my mind. I must admit that the Isaiah passage has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and not because of an image of waiting. In the last verse of the passage it says “and those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary and will walk and not faint.” What beautiful imagery! I know this passage is a favorite of many of you as well.
The psalm for today, which we used as our call to worship, brings us back, though, to the another focus of this passage. In verse 10 it says “His delight is not in the strength of a horse, or pleasure in the speed of a runner.” Hmmmm…that was enough to bring my fleet feet to a halt. If the passage is not about running fast, then what is the point? That is when I started to think about the idea of waiting.
Different versions of the Bible use different words for the beginning of verse 31, where we read today “those who wait for the Lord” The King James version says “They who wait upon the Lord” while the New International Version says “They who hope in the Lord” The Hebrew word used here can be translated as hope, or wait, or even “look for” I know when I am waiting for something, like spring, I do spend a lot of time “looking for” it – I heard on the radio the other day that a man is sure that spring is coming because he saw some ants in his house. And how many of you tuned in to see whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not on Monday? If he didn’t, winter was supposed to be over, but he did, so we are supposed to wait another six weeks until spring. Of course, we know here in northeast Ohio that winter never ends on February 2, but we keep looking, and waiting…and hoping!
The idea of waiting as hoping is something that resonates with me. Waiting as hoping is something that a lot of us do. When we wait to hear how a medical test has turned out, or wait to see someone we love, we are hoping. With a husband who travels a lot, I spend a lot of time waiting and hoping for his safe return. Probably the most difficult time I waited for Starman was when he left on what was supposed to be a four week trip to Australia back in 1989, yes, 20 years ago. He left on a cold winter day in February, and expected to be home in early April. His experiment was flying on a weather balloon, though, and we all know you can’t make plans based on the weather. Our wedding was scheduled for May 27, and in mid-May, he called and asked me “how many days before the wedding do I actually have to arrive in order for us to be able to get married?” Every day there seemed to be a new problem, either with the instrument, or with the weather, or with the computer program. He arrived home on May 18, just one day before it would be too late for us to get the blood tests needed to get our marriage license.
What have you waited for? Perhaps, like me, it was for your fiancé to return from far away so you could get married. Perhaps it was for your children to be born – I know from experience that can be a very long wait! Or perhaps you waited for your loved one to return from a war overseas, or for a job offer, or for a time when you could retire from your job. As you get older, there seems to be more waiting instead of less – waiting for someone to drive you somewhere when you have decided to give up your car, waiting for doctor’s appointments, waiting to hear from loved ones who are too busy to call. Even waiting here in the chapel (sanctuary) for worship to begin.
Waiting is hard work, don’t let anyone fool you. It makes sense to me that the ones who serve us in restaurants are called the “wait staff” – waiters and waitresses. They work very hard at the business of waiting, don’t they? For that reason, I also like the King James translation of the Isaiah passage, where it uses the phrase “wait upon the Lord” rather than “wait for the Lord.” That’s quite a different picture, isn’t it? If we can think of ourselves as waiting upon the Lord, the picture goes from one of passive sitting to active service.
My mentor pastor, Phil B, told me the story of John Milton when I stopped by to visit him one cold winter’s night, as I was working on this text. Phil recommended I read a poem by Milton called On Blindness. Milton wrote his poem back in the 17th century, when being blind meant many different things than it did today – without keyboards or Braille cards, it was difficult if not impossible for a poet to go on writing after he became blind. Milton was forced to dictate his later writings to a scribe. In his poem, he states that God does not need the work that a man may do, God wants us only to take the yoke God has given us. And in the last line, he speaks this truth: He also serves who only stands and waits.
He also serves who only stands and waits. Through our waiting, we can be serving God and others. So what are we supposed to do while we wait? Exactly how is waiting supposed to be helpful to anyone?
I think part of our answer can be found in the way we use that phrase, “to wait upon” – as a way of serving. In our Mark passage for today, we see that phrase again, in a different way. In one of the first acts of his ministry, Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Simon. She is ill in bed with a fever, and Jesus goes to her and takes her hand. As soon as Jesus touches her, her fever is gone – and she gets up and serves the visitors.
In this passage, the word used for serving is one that is close to my heart – the word “diakoneo” – from it comes our word Deacon. In Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon, if you look up this word, the first definition is, again, “to wait upon” – there’s that idea of waiting again.
Here in the United Methodist Church, we have two “orders” of ordained ministry – two pathways for a person to enter into full connection with the church. People who are called to a ministry of elder commit themselves to serving as pastors of local congregations, to a ministry of service, word, sacrament and order. Roger made that commitment 36 years ago in June. Elders are assigned by the bishop to their appointments.
The ministry of a deacon is a little less clear cut. Deacons are called to a ministry of service and word – they act as the connection between the church and the world. Deacons are not assigned by the bishop but find their own positions, sometimes in a church as a minister of Christian Education or Youth Ministry, sometimes outside of the church as a chaplain in a hospital or even as a social worker in a secular organization. Deacons represent the church wherever they serve. They may be called to “wait upon” or wait with others in the hospital or at a clinic, or to wait with someone and assist them as they wade through the paperwork required for an adoption.
Paul could easily have been talking about deacons in the passage we read today from 1 Corinthians. When I first read this passage, where Paul says he has become “all things to all people,” I was a bit confused. Was Paul saying that he was changing who he was just to get people to agree with him? That didn’t seem right. Was I supposed to do things that I wouldn’t normally do, just to get people to come to Christ? What happened to being principled?
I think, though, that Paul is saying something different. Paul is not going to change who he is, a Jew by birth, a follower of Christ now. Paul is, however, going to do what it takes to communicate the gospel with all those around him. If it takes being weak, he is willing to become weak. If it takes remembering his Jewish heritage, he will remember his Jewish heritage.
When I was in high school I worked for three summers in the maintenance department of Charles River Breeding Labs, a company in my hometown that bred rats for laboratory experiments. I was the first female ever to work on the maintenance crew, and the rest of the workers had no idea what to make of me. At first, they all tried to avoid me – they told me I couldn’t eat lunch with them, because it made them feel uncomfortable. The first year I worked there, they actually had a pool to see how long I would last – at the end of the summer, the head of the department gave me two tickets to a Red Sox game – the winner of the pool was me.
I worked there for two more summers. It wasn’t an easy job. We spent any day that wasn’t raining outside – painting. We painted everything from cinder block walls to chain link fences. I showed up to work on time, wore the same green uniform everyone else wore, and tried to learn how to keep my paintbrushes as clean as my supervisor, Adrian, wanted me to. I didn’t change who I was – I didn’t pick up the swearing habits or start smoking like some of them did. But I also lost some of the superior attitude I had when I started there – I had thought these guys wouldn’t be as intelligent as I, a college bound high school student. I was wrong, and I figured that out pretty quickly. By the end of that second year, they asked me to eat lunch with them. And by the next summer, I was invited to their softball games and parties. I was able to be myself, and yet, be a maintenance worker like them. I never denied who I was, a churchgoing hardworking student, but I didn’t amplify the differences between us. Instead I focused, and they also focused after that first year, on what connected us – getting through the long hot summer days, getting our work done, sharing our brief lunch breaks and even our music.
There is a funny ending to this story. One of my coworkers was a fellow high school student named Larry. Larry and I worked together a lot, and talked together a lot. Larry actually helped me to feel better when I was down, and we both helped each other get through the long days and mandatory overtime. When we left after that last summer, I didn’t know what Larry was going to do next. But a couple of weeks ago, I found Larry on Facebook, one of those social networking sites on the internet where you can find all your old college and high school friends. It turns out Larry is a pastor too – after owning his own electrical company for a few years, he started working as the youth pastor at a growing church in a neighboring town. Now he is the campus pastor at a large church in South Carolina. I guess being a maintenance worker is good training for the ministry!
Has something like that ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were called to do something, to be someone you didn’t really see yourself as, but found out that by doing that job, or being that person, you could connect with people you never thought you would connect to? That is service, and waiting as service – I was waiting to go to college, but instead I found out about the lives of those who never had a chance to go to college. And we served one another by being a community for one another.
The website for the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship puts it this way:
It takes some practice to shift from “being the experts” to “coming alongside,” to shift from “giving the answers” to “becoming all things for all people”
So where are you waiting these days? Can you see your waiting as active service – waiting in a doctor’s office as a chance to pray for those who are waiting with you, waiting to hear some news from a loved one as a chance to serve that person by telling them you are praying with them, that you will be alongside them? As the church, we are called to all be servants of Christ, and therefore servants of one another. Let us go out to serve, to wait upon, those in this community, and around the world. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
How about you? Are you waiting for spring too? As you are all aware, spring is still a long way off…here in northeast Ohio I try not to count on warm weather until late May. Who can forget last Easter, March 23, when we had a foot of snow on the ground and the wind was blowing?
It’s hard to wait, isn’t it? I must admit to you that I am TERRIBLE at waiting for things – just ask my husband! He knows that if he wants to surprise me, he can’t give me any hints that something fun is coming my way, or I will torture him into telling me what to expect. I like to plan, I like to have everything laid out, and I HATE to WAIT! How about you?
As I read the Scripture passages for today, the idea of waiting wasn’t initially what came to my mind. I must admit that the Isaiah passage has been a favorite of mine for a long time, and not because of an image of waiting. In the last verse of the passage it says “and those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength, they will mount up on wings like eagles. They will run and not be weary and will walk and not faint.” What beautiful imagery! I know this passage is a favorite of many of you as well.
The psalm for today, which we used as our call to worship, brings us back, though, to the another focus of this passage. In verse 10 it says “His delight is not in the strength of a horse, or pleasure in the speed of a runner.” Hmmmm…that was enough to bring my fleet feet to a halt. If the passage is not about running fast, then what is the point? That is when I started to think about the idea of waiting.
Different versions of the Bible use different words for the beginning of verse 31, where we read today “those who wait for the Lord” The King James version says “They who wait upon the Lord” while the New International Version says “They who hope in the Lord” The Hebrew word used here can be translated as hope, or wait, or even “look for” I know when I am waiting for something, like spring, I do spend a lot of time “looking for” it – I heard on the radio the other day that a man is sure that spring is coming because he saw some ants in his house. And how many of you tuned in to see whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not on Monday? If he didn’t, winter was supposed to be over, but he did, so we are supposed to wait another six weeks until spring. Of course, we know here in northeast Ohio that winter never ends on February 2, but we keep looking, and waiting…and hoping!
The idea of waiting as hoping is something that resonates with me. Waiting as hoping is something that a lot of us do. When we wait to hear how a medical test has turned out, or wait to see someone we love, we are hoping. With a husband who travels a lot, I spend a lot of time waiting and hoping for his safe return. Probably the most difficult time I waited for Starman was when he left on what was supposed to be a four week trip to Australia back in 1989, yes, 20 years ago. He left on a cold winter day in February, and expected to be home in early April. His experiment was flying on a weather balloon, though, and we all know you can’t make plans based on the weather. Our wedding was scheduled for May 27, and in mid-May, he called and asked me “how many days before the wedding do I actually have to arrive in order for us to be able to get married?” Every day there seemed to be a new problem, either with the instrument, or with the weather, or with the computer program. He arrived home on May 18, just one day before it would be too late for us to get the blood tests needed to get our marriage license.
What have you waited for? Perhaps, like me, it was for your fiancé to return from far away so you could get married. Perhaps it was for your children to be born – I know from experience that can be a very long wait! Or perhaps you waited for your loved one to return from a war overseas, or for a job offer, or for a time when you could retire from your job. As you get older, there seems to be more waiting instead of less – waiting for someone to drive you somewhere when you have decided to give up your car, waiting for doctor’s appointments, waiting to hear from loved ones who are too busy to call. Even waiting here in the chapel (sanctuary) for worship to begin.
Waiting is hard work, don’t let anyone fool you. It makes sense to me that the ones who serve us in restaurants are called the “wait staff” – waiters and waitresses. They work very hard at the business of waiting, don’t they? For that reason, I also like the King James translation of the Isaiah passage, where it uses the phrase “wait upon the Lord” rather than “wait for the Lord.” That’s quite a different picture, isn’t it? If we can think of ourselves as waiting upon the Lord, the picture goes from one of passive sitting to active service.
My mentor pastor, Phil B, told me the story of John Milton when I stopped by to visit him one cold winter’s night, as I was working on this text. Phil recommended I read a poem by Milton called On Blindness. Milton wrote his poem back in the 17th century, when being blind meant many different things than it did today – without keyboards or Braille cards, it was difficult if not impossible for a poet to go on writing after he became blind. Milton was forced to dictate his later writings to a scribe. In his poem, he states that God does not need the work that a man may do, God wants us only to take the yoke God has given us. And in the last line, he speaks this truth: He also serves who only stands and waits.
He also serves who only stands and waits. Through our waiting, we can be serving God and others. So what are we supposed to do while we wait? Exactly how is waiting supposed to be helpful to anyone?
I think part of our answer can be found in the way we use that phrase, “to wait upon” – as a way of serving. In our Mark passage for today, we see that phrase again, in a different way. In one of the first acts of his ministry, Jesus heals the mother-in-law of Simon. She is ill in bed with a fever, and Jesus goes to her and takes her hand. As soon as Jesus touches her, her fever is gone – and she gets up and serves the visitors.
In this passage, the word used for serving is one that is close to my heart – the word “diakoneo” – from it comes our word Deacon. In Strong’s Enhanced Lexicon, if you look up this word, the first definition is, again, “to wait upon” – there’s that idea of waiting again.
Here in the United Methodist Church, we have two “orders” of ordained ministry – two pathways for a person to enter into full connection with the church. People who are called to a ministry of elder commit themselves to serving as pastors of local congregations, to a ministry of service, word, sacrament and order. Roger made that commitment 36 years ago in June. Elders are assigned by the bishop to their appointments.
The ministry of a deacon is a little less clear cut. Deacons are called to a ministry of service and word – they act as the connection between the church and the world. Deacons are not assigned by the bishop but find their own positions, sometimes in a church as a minister of Christian Education or Youth Ministry, sometimes outside of the church as a chaplain in a hospital or even as a social worker in a secular organization. Deacons represent the church wherever they serve. They may be called to “wait upon” or wait with others in the hospital or at a clinic, or to wait with someone and assist them as they wade through the paperwork required for an adoption.
Paul could easily have been talking about deacons in the passage we read today from 1 Corinthians. When I first read this passage, where Paul says he has become “all things to all people,” I was a bit confused. Was Paul saying that he was changing who he was just to get people to agree with him? That didn’t seem right. Was I supposed to do things that I wouldn’t normally do, just to get people to come to Christ? What happened to being principled?
I think, though, that Paul is saying something different. Paul is not going to change who he is, a Jew by birth, a follower of Christ now. Paul is, however, going to do what it takes to communicate the gospel with all those around him. If it takes being weak, he is willing to become weak. If it takes remembering his Jewish heritage, he will remember his Jewish heritage.
When I was in high school I worked for three summers in the maintenance department of Charles River Breeding Labs, a company in my hometown that bred rats for laboratory experiments. I was the first female ever to work on the maintenance crew, and the rest of the workers had no idea what to make of me. At first, they all tried to avoid me – they told me I couldn’t eat lunch with them, because it made them feel uncomfortable. The first year I worked there, they actually had a pool to see how long I would last – at the end of the summer, the head of the department gave me two tickets to a Red Sox game – the winner of the pool was me.
I worked there for two more summers. It wasn’t an easy job. We spent any day that wasn’t raining outside – painting. We painted everything from cinder block walls to chain link fences. I showed up to work on time, wore the same green uniform everyone else wore, and tried to learn how to keep my paintbrushes as clean as my supervisor, Adrian, wanted me to. I didn’t change who I was – I didn’t pick up the swearing habits or start smoking like some of them did. But I also lost some of the superior attitude I had when I started there – I had thought these guys wouldn’t be as intelligent as I, a college bound high school student. I was wrong, and I figured that out pretty quickly. By the end of that second year, they asked me to eat lunch with them. And by the next summer, I was invited to their softball games and parties. I was able to be myself, and yet, be a maintenance worker like them. I never denied who I was, a churchgoing hardworking student, but I didn’t amplify the differences between us. Instead I focused, and they also focused after that first year, on what connected us – getting through the long hot summer days, getting our work done, sharing our brief lunch breaks and even our music.
There is a funny ending to this story. One of my coworkers was a fellow high school student named Larry. Larry and I worked together a lot, and talked together a lot. Larry actually helped me to feel better when I was down, and we both helped each other get through the long days and mandatory overtime. When we left after that last summer, I didn’t know what Larry was going to do next. But a couple of weeks ago, I found Larry on Facebook, one of those social networking sites on the internet where you can find all your old college and high school friends. It turns out Larry is a pastor too – after owning his own electrical company for a few years, he started working as the youth pastor at a growing church in a neighboring town. Now he is the campus pastor at a large church in South Carolina. I guess being a maintenance worker is good training for the ministry!
Has something like that ever happened to you? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you were called to do something, to be someone you didn’t really see yourself as, but found out that by doing that job, or being that person, you could connect with people you never thought you would connect to? That is service, and waiting as service – I was waiting to go to college, but instead I found out about the lives of those who never had a chance to go to college. And we served one another by being a community for one another.
The website for the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship puts it this way:
It takes some practice to shift from “being the experts” to “coming alongside,” to shift from “giving the answers” to “becoming all things for all people”
So where are you waiting these days? Can you see your waiting as active service – waiting in a doctor’s office as a chance to pray for those who are waiting with you, waiting to hear some news from a loved one as a chance to serve that person by telling them you are praying with them, that you will be alongside them? As the church, we are called to all be servants of Christ, and therefore servants of one another. Let us go out to serve, to wait upon, those in this community, and around the world. Thanks be to God.
Amen.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Another Friday Five
First, for those of you who may not be familiar with RevGalBlogPals, it is a blog I found a couple of years ago, "An Open Table set for a diverse group of people -- women pursuing or discerning a Christian vocation -- and their friends -- all are welcome!". You can find it here. It is a blogging community, a place where I have found preaching ideas, support for being a pastor, and lots of fun - and a bunch of bloggers I admire and read. Each week, they have a "Friday Five" meme - a question or list of questions that help us get to know one another. So, read on!
This week's installment, written by Songbird, one of my favorite bloggers, says this:
Whether it's new friends or new loves or new employers, what are five things people should know about you? There's also a link to a cool song from the musical "Rent" but I can't figure out how to post that...someday I will become more sophisticated.
Five Things About Me:
1.I am deeply in love with Starman, and love our three children fiercely. Family time comes first no matter what.
2. I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Twice. But that does NOT mean I am smart. It means I worked my butt off. I wear my college ring because despite working harder than I ever have before or since, I also had the time of my life there - I met Starman, and many of my friends there, including two who, though they live far away, are still the best friends I have. It also means that I can "talk technology" and I don't appreciate those who think that because I am (a) a woman or (b) a pastor, I can't.
3. I am a Christian United Methodist. I value the tension between social responsibility and liturgical authenticity. I can't see being anything else, although I have strong disagreements with some UM policies. I will work within the system for change, and not leave it.
4. I love to be outside. I need to be outside daily, in any kind of weather. The lake and ravine near our house are part of what keeps me sane. They are where I hear the voice of God
5. I value community. I like having friends and being a friend. If I am your friend, I will do my best to be a good one. I will bake you brownies when you are sad. I will watch your children. I will laugh with you (and I love to laugh) and I will cry with you.
and one more, because five weren't enough!
6.I am a New Englander, actually, to be technical, a Bostonian. Despite living for the past 18 years in the Midwest, I can still pahk my cah in Hahvahd Yahd, or my fahtha's, if you get the idear. I love and miss the mountains, the ocean, the history. Someday, I want to live there again.
Thanks as always, Songbird!
This week's installment, written by Songbird, one of my favorite bloggers, says this:
Whether it's new friends or new loves or new employers, what are five things people should know about you? There's also a link to a cool song from the musical "Rent" but I can't figure out how to post that...someday I will become more sophisticated.
Five Things About Me:
1.I am deeply in love with Starman, and love our three children fiercely. Family time comes first no matter what.
2. I graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Twice. But that does NOT mean I am smart. It means I worked my butt off. I wear my college ring because despite working harder than I ever have before or since, I also had the time of my life there - I met Starman, and many of my friends there, including two who, though they live far away, are still the best friends I have. It also means that I can "talk technology" and I don't appreciate those who think that because I am (a) a woman or (b) a pastor, I can't.
3. I am a Christian United Methodist. I value the tension between social responsibility and liturgical authenticity. I can't see being anything else, although I have strong disagreements with some UM policies. I will work within the system for change, and not leave it.
4. I love to be outside. I need to be outside daily, in any kind of weather. The lake and ravine near our house are part of what keeps me sane. They are where I hear the voice of God
5. I value community. I like having friends and being a friend. If I am your friend, I will do my best to be a good one. I will bake you brownies when you are sad. I will watch your children. I will laugh with you (and I love to laugh) and I will cry with you.
and one more, because five weren't enough!
6.I am a New Englander, actually, to be technical, a Bostonian. Despite living for the past 18 years in the Midwest, I can still pahk my cah in Hahvahd Yahd, or my fahtha's, if you get the idear. I love and miss the mountains, the ocean, the history. Someday, I want to live there again.
Thanks as always, Songbird!
Friday, January 9, 2009
Friday Five - Pancakes!
Sophia over at RGBP writes:
Last week Sally gave us a beautiful, spiritually reflective Friday Five, so it's time for something light and fluffy (literally). It's inspired by the fact that as I write this my dear spouse TechnoGuy, with the assistance of daughter Ladybug, is making a batch of chocolate chip pancakes with two Christmas presents. One is the Knott's Berry Farm mix which came along with jam, boysenberry syrup, and biscuit mix from my aunt (we ended up with two sets, since my parents passed theirs on to avoid sweet and carb-y temptation). The other is the large size Black and Decker electric skillet he was thrilled that I got him online -- our trusty wedding present normal size one still works at going on 20 years, but the Teflon is getting worn, and he wanted more cooking space. So pull up a chair to the kitchen table and tell us all about your pancake preferences.
1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?
Pretty much exclusively Bisquik here, funny because with all the other things we make, from brownies to pizza dough, we make them from scratch. But Starman admits I make better pancakes than he does, which, since he is the chief cook, is quite a compliment!
2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?
I like plain, or blueberry, or chocolate chip if I am feeling decadent. Sometimes apple if we have some good apples around. The girls pretty much stick with plain, although Brown Eyes the four year old is always up for some chocolate!
3. For breakfast or for dinner?
Either one! We have them every Saturday morning as a treat for the girls. But we occasionally have "breakfast for dinner" as well - although then I would try to leave out the chocolate chips to be more nutritious (don't ask me why dinner has to be more nutritious than breakfast, it makes no sense I know!)
4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?
Vermont Maple Syrup, Grade A of course. Growing up in New England, the idea of anything less was anathema. For Skye, it is Strawberry All Fruit Jam, in the microwave for a minute to make it liquid. The girls have not inherited a love of the maple flavor from me - more proof that they are growing up in the Midwest?
5. Favorite pancake restaurant?
In Wilmette, Illinois was Walker's Original Pancake House - the only place I know that would make pancakes that tasted like homemade. Anyplace else, they seem flat and chewy to me. The lines at Walker's on Saturday morning went out the door and down the sidewalk.
Here in the further east midwest city, we haven't found a good breakfast pancake place. I was just saying to Starman the other day that we never go out for breakfast any more. My parents back in New England go out AFTER church every Sunday, but their church service is done before 9 am! Here, we start at 9:30 with Sunday school and usually don't get home before 1 pm!
Bonus: Any tasty recipes out there, for pancakes or other special breakfast dishes? Bring 'em on!
Sorry to say, nothing. I eat the same thing every morning - Quaker Oats, some frozen or fresh blueberries added, and a little dollop of Stoneyfield Farms fat free vanilla yoghurt. There you go - a recipe! It is filling, and quite tasty, and only 4 WW points if you include 8 oz of OJ!
Thanks Sophia! That was fun!
Last week Sally gave us a beautiful, spiritually reflective Friday Five, so it's time for something light and fluffy (literally). It's inspired by the fact that as I write this my dear spouse TechnoGuy, with the assistance of daughter Ladybug, is making a batch of chocolate chip pancakes with two Christmas presents. One is the Knott's Berry Farm mix which came along with jam, boysenberry syrup, and biscuit mix from my aunt (we ended up with two sets, since my parents passed theirs on to avoid sweet and carb-y temptation). The other is the large size Black and Decker electric skillet he was thrilled that I got him online -- our trusty wedding present normal size one still works at going on 20 years, but the Teflon is getting worn, and he wanted more cooking space. So pull up a chair to the kitchen table and tell us all about your pancake preferences.
1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?
Pretty much exclusively Bisquik here, funny because with all the other things we make, from brownies to pizza dough, we make them from scratch. But Starman admits I make better pancakes than he does, which, since he is the chief cook, is quite a compliment!
2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?
I like plain, or blueberry, or chocolate chip if I am feeling decadent. Sometimes apple if we have some good apples around. The girls pretty much stick with plain, although Brown Eyes the four year old is always up for some chocolate!
3. For breakfast or for dinner?
Either one! We have them every Saturday morning as a treat for the girls. But we occasionally have "breakfast for dinner" as well - although then I would try to leave out the chocolate chips to be more nutritious (don't ask me why dinner has to be more nutritious than breakfast, it makes no sense I know!)
4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?
Vermont Maple Syrup, Grade A of course. Growing up in New England, the idea of anything less was anathema. For Skye, it is Strawberry All Fruit Jam, in the microwave for a minute to make it liquid. The girls have not inherited a love of the maple flavor from me - more proof that they are growing up in the Midwest?
5. Favorite pancake restaurant?
In Wilmette, Illinois was Walker's Original Pancake House - the only place I know that would make pancakes that tasted like homemade. Anyplace else, they seem flat and chewy to me. The lines at Walker's on Saturday morning went out the door and down the sidewalk.
Here in the further east midwest city, we haven't found a good breakfast pancake place. I was just saying to Starman the other day that we never go out for breakfast any more. My parents back in New England go out AFTER church every Sunday, but their church service is done before 9 am! Here, we start at 9:30 with Sunday school and usually don't get home before 1 pm!
Bonus: Any tasty recipes out there, for pancakes or other special breakfast dishes? Bring 'em on!
Sorry to say, nothing. I eat the same thing every morning - Quaker Oats, some frozen or fresh blueberries added, and a little dollop of Stoneyfield Farms fat free vanilla yoghurt. There you go - a recipe! It is filling, and quite tasty, and only 4 WW points if you include 8 oz of OJ!
Thanks Sophia! That was fun!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Homecoming
Sometimes
It's worth leaving work early
To see her little four year old face
Light up when I come through the door
To watch her run to me
And feel her whole body wrap me up
In one big
Hug
It's worth leaving work early
To see her little four year old face
Light up when I come through the door
To watch her run to me
And feel her whole body wrap me up
In one big
Hug
Friday, January 2, 2009
RGBP Friday Five - Beginnings and Endings
Sally over at RGBP writes:
As we look back we may come to understand how God has worked in and through us in joy and saddness. how we have grown against what may seem impossible odds. As we look forward we may do so with expectation, and we may do so with fear and trembling. As we look back and forward in New Years liminality I offer you this simple yet I hope profound Friday Five in two parts:
First list five things that you remember/ treasure from 2008
1. Our family trip to Disney World - Three girls, two sets of grandparents, Starman, and me, for a hot week in May. Pure vacation.
2. Preaching the Easter Sunrise service at the cemetery on the hill, sun rising behind me, a foot of snow around me, temperature about 20 degrees F. It was a short sermon, but wow, it was a neat thing to do!
3. Being appointed as a licensed local pastor, same job, different title, and new responsibilities...like the wedding I get to officiate at tomorrow! I am enjoying my new role, and loving my continuing work with Wise Pastor.
4. The Chicago Missions trip we took, my last official duty as Youth Minister to our home congregation. Saw old friends, worked very hard, loved every minute of it.
5. Five days at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada with Starman. He was at a conference, I joined him. Found out that I can keep myself busy and occupied (doing sermon research and planning while he went to talks) and enjoy myself by myself, even when I don't have three daughters clamoring for my attention! Starman had a bad cold, but was a good sport, hiking up the mountains around the lake together.
Then list five things that you are looking forward to in 2009
1. Continuing to learn and grow as a pastor, hopefully attending some training/continuing ed events (Lectionary Homiletics?).
2. Celebrate 25 years of together-ness with Starman come October. Wow.
3. Enjoy my last days with a preschooler and at the same time look forward to having three girls in school for full days come September
4. Spend some time hiking and enjoying New England this summer.
5. Deepen my relationship with God, continuing to see my spiritual director and journaling and reading more.
Sally also gave us this blessing from the Iona Community that I share here:
We stand to face the future:
God behind us in the past
Christ before us; the way ahead;
Christ beside us in this moment;
Christ beneath us in our weakness;
Christ above to shield us-
beneath the shadow of his wings we are safe;
Christ between us to bind us in the unity of his love;
Christ in us equipping us with his all sufficient grace.
Thus armed and guided, and protected we face the new year.
Now we arise and go forth on the journey before us,
knowing that, where Christ leads, life is a journey home.
Therefore we travel in faith, in hope, and in love,
in the name of the Father/ Mother, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
May the blessing of God
be upon us
all this year
and into eternity. Amen.
I echo that blessing to you all. Sally, thank you for adding this time of reflection to my day!
As we look back we may come to understand how God has worked in and through us in joy and saddness. how we have grown against what may seem impossible odds. As we look forward we may do so with expectation, and we may do so with fear and trembling. As we look back and forward in New Years liminality I offer you this simple yet I hope profound Friday Five in two parts:
First list five things that you remember/ treasure from 2008
1. Our family trip to Disney World - Three girls, two sets of grandparents, Starman, and me, for a hot week in May. Pure vacation.
2. Preaching the Easter Sunrise service at the cemetery on the hill, sun rising behind me, a foot of snow around me, temperature about 20 degrees F. It was a short sermon, but wow, it was a neat thing to do!
3. Being appointed as a licensed local pastor, same job, different title, and new responsibilities...like the wedding I get to officiate at tomorrow! I am enjoying my new role, and loving my continuing work with Wise Pastor.
4. The Chicago Missions trip we took, my last official duty as Youth Minister to our home congregation. Saw old friends, worked very hard, loved every minute of it.
5. Five days at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada with Starman. He was at a conference, I joined him. Found out that I can keep myself busy and occupied (doing sermon research and planning while he went to talks) and enjoy myself by myself, even when I don't have three daughters clamoring for my attention! Starman had a bad cold, but was a good sport, hiking up the mountains around the lake together.
Then list five things that you are looking forward to in 2009
1. Continuing to learn and grow as a pastor, hopefully attending some training/continuing ed events (Lectionary Homiletics?).
2. Celebrate 25 years of together-ness with Starman come October. Wow.
3. Enjoy my last days with a preschooler and at the same time look forward to having three girls in school for full days come September
4. Spend some time hiking and enjoying New England this summer.
5. Deepen my relationship with God, continuing to see my spiritual director and journaling and reading more.
Sally also gave us this blessing from the Iona Community that I share here:
We stand to face the future:
God behind us in the past
Christ before us; the way ahead;
Christ beside us in this moment;
Christ beneath us in our weakness;
Christ above to shield us-
beneath the shadow of his wings we are safe;
Christ between us to bind us in the unity of his love;
Christ in us equipping us with his all sufficient grace.
Thus armed and guided, and protected we face the new year.
Now we arise and go forth on the journey before us,
knowing that, where Christ leads, life is a journey home.
Therefore we travel in faith, in hope, and in love,
in the name of the Father/ Mother, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
May the blessing of God
be upon us
all this year
and into eternity. Amen.
I echo that blessing to you all. Sally, thank you for adding this time of reflection to my day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)