The Cry for Healing 062815
Today we begin our summer worship series called “Cries of
the Heart”, tho unwittingly our men started us off last week with their theme,
“Storms of Life”. Our world, our nation,
our local community, our own hearts, have been crying out over the last couple
of weeks, from Charleston to Lyons, to Tunisia,
because when our hearts cry over one situation, they are more likely to
see other situations compassionately.
It may seem negative to say we’re going to spend our summer
worship on ‘cries of the heart’. But
God’s people need to find godly ways to respond. And it has become clear to me that the place
to begin is with myself.
At Baber AME the night after the shooting in Charleston, my
heart cried, none of us is free from racism if one (or 9) of us isn’t free from
racism. On Thursday night at a panel
discussion, my heart cried with the black pastor who said, enough! The place for God’s people to begin is with
ourselves, our white privilege, our denial, our pretence.
So if God calls us to look at ourselves, let’s look at the
cries of the heart in today’s texts and see what stirs in us….with whom do we
identify? We’re going to look at the characters
and give ourselves some moments of silence to reflect.
If you’re used to reflecting on your own life, heart, mind
or soul, then you’ll hear what you need to hear. You will know the cry of your own heart
If that is new or too threatening for you, then at least
listen for what God might be saying to you about what someone else needs….the
cry of someone else’s heart.
Today we have two texts and at least four kinds of heart
cries for healing. Let’s start with the
Jesus story according to Mark’s writing.
Here we have a story within a story. It starts and ends with the story of Jairus
seeking help for his 12 year old daughter, and in the middle comes an
interruption of a woman seeking help for herself. This is a characteristic of Mark’s literary
style; he will bracket a story with another so we might be forced to ask what
the connection might be….which I invite you to do this week, we’re not going
there right now.
So first, Jairus…his heart cries out for another person he
loves. He comes to Jesus, speaks clearly
about what he needs, as one might expect for a religious leader (we’re all
expected to be articulate!). What’s not
so expected, and would have shocked the witnesses, was that he ‘fell at Jesus’
feet and begged repeatedly’. Leaders
are also expected to have their act together; they send messengers, or at least
greet the other with dignity as to an equal.
But Jairus gets off his high horse and gets humble.
Where do you see yourself as
Jairus? What’s your life position of
superiority? …… Where don’t you have it all together? What needs do you have beyond your own
ability to meet? Can you risk what
others might think if you admit a need you can’t handle? …………………….
Then there is this anonymous woman who interrupts the
agenda. Just the opposite of Jairus,
she’s a nobody. She has suffered for
years and all that’s happened is she has drifted further and further to the
margins. She too is desperate, but has
no particular right to address this wandering rabbi. She’s already fallen well off any high horse
she had; she’s already as low as she can get.
And maybe because of this, she’s a risk taker. That happens when you’ve nothing left to
lose. She went out where she didn’t
belong, not only beyond her own comfort zone but beyond society’s. I thought a lot about those who experience
racism because of their skin color—her heart too cried, enough.
In what way are you like her? How many years have you tried to stop the
bleeding of hurt? Are you still trying
to fix things yourself, or can you risk trying something new and take it to
God? ………….
And then there’s the child.
She’s utterly vulnerable and has absolutely no ability to do anything
about it. She is completely
powerless. I think of the first step of
the AA twelve steps: admit our powerless.
This one is completely countercultural for us; our whole western society
says we’re powerful, we’re in charge, we can fix anything. There are people who think the church is
simply a crutch and we’re weak for needing to go to church. Well, yes.
And once we see our own helplessness, we are more likely to allow others
to offer compassion. I am sure that 12
year old girl trusted her dad to find help, deep in the silence of her heart,
beyond words, beyond action. Like her
father, like the woman, but unconsciously, she had to let go and trust.
How does her heart speak to you?..........
Then there is the psalm.
It will be our theme for the summer – out of the depth I cry to you, O
God, hear my prayer. For the child,
cure came the same day; for the woman it took 12 years. In the psalm here’s the cry of the heart when
cure and fixing doesn’t happen.
When you reach the end of your rope, you pray, you reach out to Jesus
and nothing seems to happen. It’s a
huge theological problem for many. And
I don’t have an answer. In fact, I don’t
need to have an answer to why questions, (unless it’s to see how I contributed
to the problem) because I think they’re a distraction…..we can
ask them with head and heart till we die, and they will keep us safe from
examining what we really believe.
I think that might be what Jesus is saying to Jairus when he
says, Do not be afraid, only believe.
Whatever happens, who’s your God?
If the child dies and doesn’t come back to life, who’s your God? When the cancer metastasizes, who’s your
God? When you lose your job and you’re
full of fear, who’s your God?
The psalmist says, I
wait, and I hope. That’s it. That’s all.
It’s about relationship with God, not about outcomes.
Of course we don’t think that’s enough. We want results, OUR results.
Perhaps that’s also why Jesus tells the parents to keep
quiet about this miracle…..a common request of Jesus in Mark’s gospel. The sign of the coming kin-dom of God isn’t
so much miracles as it is change…..a leader becomes humble, a woman takes
risks, a child is valued. Counter
cultural.
In the midst of all this, what CAN you believe?.........
Here’s what I am coming to believe this week…..
I believe that healing and cure are not the same thing
I believe
Nobody is above the need for healing…not our nation, not our
leaders, not ourselves
I believe
Nobody is beneath God’s compassion….not those who’ve bled
from racism or oppression for many more than twelve years…..not the voiceless
children of our world
I believe that trust and hope are ways of life that can help
me live with the questions and the lack of results, that God can bring good out
of my worst nightmare
I believe in people who bring compassion and act as Jesus,
conduits of wholemaking grace.
I believe I need to pray, that we need to pray:
Get me humble God
Get me daring God
Get me trusting.
Amen.
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