The Pastor’s Words

Text:  Mark 5:21-43
28 June 2009
Topic:   Waiting on Miracles
 
Today’s Gospel reading is a difficult one for me, personally, to preach on today.  Perhaps, it is a difficult one for you as well.  Because every one of us, at one time or another, has prayed for a miracle to happen in our lives, or in the lives of those whom we love, only to have that prayer somehow lost in the transmission between us and God.
As you have already heard, Joanne’s youngest sister’s husband, Steve, a vibrant 45 year old man, loving father of three and coach of his son’s football team, has suffered a very devastating stroke that has necessitated two operations on his brain to relieve the pressure that had built up due to the arteriovenous malformation he’s had since his birth. 
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have been praying for him.  We all want a miracle to happen.  We all want him back the way he was.
But there are others for whom miracles are also being sought.  Last week, one of our members, Nancy Hanna, fell down the stairs in her house in the middle of the night, cracked her skull, broke several vertebrae in her back, and almost bled to death.  She is now in Lancaster General Hospital where, hopefully, and prayerfully, she is beginning a long road to recovery.  She and her family, and us, as her church family, will be praying that she will return home again, restored, and able to live out her days.
Which brings me to the Gospel for today.  It begins with the story of a very important religious leader of that time and his daughter who was ill.  We don’t know what the young girl was dying from, simply that she was on her death bed and Jairus, her father, went begging to Jesus that he might heal her.
True to his nature, and true to his calling, Jesus responded compassionately to Jairus and went with him. 
On the way to Jairus’ daughter, crowds of people began milling about Jesus.  After all, it didn’t take long for people to get the message, “Hey, there’s a man in town who heals people.” 
Last week’s gospel, from Mark chapter 4, told the story of when Jesus miraculously calmed the sea.  And in chapter 5, in the section that precedes our text for today, is the story about Jesus healing the man with Lots of demons inside of him.  So people were getting the message, “We have a miracle worker among us!”
That’s why Jairus went looking for Jesus.  It’s also why the woman in the crowd who was following Jesus tried to get close enough to simply touch him.  It was her thought, and her hope, that if she just touched the hem of the robe Jesus was wearing, she just might be healed.  Everyone was looking for a miracle.
The deaths of Farah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dominated the news two days ago.  Ryan O’Neal, the companion of Farah Fawcett, wanted a miracle.  No doubt, Michael Jackson’s family and friends prayed for a variety of miracles for his assorted conditions throughout his life.  And you and I can add to that list from our own lives.
Jesus was known as the miracle worker.  And like the crowds in Mark’s gospel, we are all looking for some power, some body, to help us.
So, here’s my perspective.  Here’s how I’m coping with my brother-in-law’s condition. 
I begin at the end, which, ironically, is also another beginning.  I begin with the knowledge we are all going to die.  Since the Garden of Eden, from the beginning of time until now, we know we are going to die, some day, of some cause.
However, as a believer in the resurrection, I believe that even in death, we will live again – with with God –  in heaven – for all eternity.  So that even in death, we will have a new beginning and a party with all the saints that will last forever. 
The future is not in doubt.  It’s the present we struggle with.
We live on this earth, and our hearts and our minds and our families are very real and very precious to us.  There’s a rhythm to life that says we are given a reasonable time on earth (Psalm 90:10 says 70 years, maybe 80 if we’re healthy) and then we die.  But no one wants to leave this earth before that reasonable time is up.
So, when we get sick, or an accident happens, we cry out to God to intervene.  We pray for a miracle.  We pray to the one who created us, we pray to the miracle worker to come to our aid.
But several miracles have already taken place in the case of my brother-in-law.  And several miracles took place in the case of Nancy Hanna.  Steve was at home, in the middle of the day, when he collapsed last weekend.  He wasn’t in a car, or on a plane, or alone.  His wife and son were there and paramedics were called immediately.  Doctors were able to operate on him within a very short amount of time and just perhaps saved his life.  Those are all miracles.
Nancy lives with her mother, Bertha.  Normally it’s only the two of them at home.  But Nancy’s sister was visiting from the south and was at Nancy’s home when she fell.  Nancy’s sister called the paramedics who immediately sized up the situation and had her flown by helicopter to Lancaster which saved her life.  It’s a miracle she’s alive.
So, we’ve already seen some miracles happen.  We’ve already seen the power of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit at work in these two situations. 
Of course, we want more, much more.  And we will continue to pray for more miracles which will hopefully restore each of these two people to complete health.
In the gospel stories for today, faith was key to the healing that took place.  Jairus believed Jesus could heal his daughter so he sought him out and said, “Please come and touch her, so she will get well and live.”  Jairus believed in the touch of Jesus.
The woman had heard about Jesus and his ability to heal people and said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.”  She too believed in the touch of Jesus.
We need to believe in the touch of Jesus.  We need to believe in the touch of paramedics, in the touch of doctors and nurses, in the touch of friends calling us on the phone, in the touch of those who reach out to us on Facebook.  These are all touches of God coming to us, re-assuring us that God never leaves us nor forsakes us.
Does this mean all these touches will preserve our lives here on earth?  They may, and they may not.  But the touches are real and the touches bring some measure of comfort and hope.  Along with Jairus and the woman in the gospel, we must have faith.
The writer of Hebrews said, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” For now, we will hang onto the faith we’ve been given and pray that God’s healing hand will take care of all the rest.   AMEN

Text:  Mark 4:26-34
14 June 2009
From Small Things, Big Things Grow
 
From small things, big things can grow.
It was fifty years ago, at the end of the idealism of the 1960’s, that ASP – Appalachia Service Project and Habitat for Humanity were begun.  ASP was the dream of Tex Evans, a pastor in Frakes, Kentucky in the late 1960’s.  He saw a great need for home repair among the people of his community and envisioned a way to meet this need by matching high school youth groups with families in need.
Habitat for Humanity was the dream of Millard and Linda Fuller.  The Fullers, once very affluent residents of Montgomery, Alabama, decided in the mid-1960’s to give up their expensive home and very lucrative business and moved to Koinonia Farm, a small Christian community outside Americus, Georgia.  There, the Fullers developed the concept of “partnership housing.”
Those of us who are old enough to remember the 1960’s, who lived through them, and may even wish to forget some of the pain and confusion of that time, can now celebrate ASP and Habitat for Humanity as something very good that came out of those tumultuous days. 
As a college student in the early 1970’s, I remember a conversation about Habitat for Humanity in which it was stated, “The idea for Habitat for Humanity came from a commune.  And so, it’s probably some kind of communist plot to get everybody else living in a commune.”
As far as I know, ASP didn’t suffer from that kind of political smear, but, it, too, was regarded with great suspicion.  People said things like, “How can it be a good thing to let high school kids give up a week out of their summer to work on somebody’s house they’ll never see again?  Besides, isn’t it more important to teach people to ‘pick themselves up by their own bootstraps’?”
From small things, big things can grow.
Today, of course, ASP and Habitat for Humanity are seen as tremendous ministries that serve the needs of people far and wide.  Each of these ministries started small and have grown into huge missions that reach thousands of people.
From ASP’s humble beginnings in 1969 when 50 student volunteers went to Barbourville, Kentucky and repaired 4 homes, ASP now hosts nearly 15,000 volunteers each year to repair homes in Appalachia.  We will have nine of our own members working through ASP this summer in Leslie County, Kentucky, continuing to make homes warmer, safer, and drier, a vision that has not changed in fifty years.
Habitat for Humanity seeks to build homes for people who otherwise cannot to afford to build one themselves.  The houses are built at no profit, and no interest is charged on the house loan needed to build the house. 
Building costs are financed by a revolving fund called “The Fund for Humanity.” The fund’s money come from the new homeowners’ house payments, no-interest loans provided by supporters, and money earned by fund-raising activities. The monies in the Fund for Humanity are then used to build more houses.
In the last 50 years, Habitat for Humanity has built more than 300,000 houses, sheltering more than 1.5 million people in more than 3,000 communities all across the world.  In our own community, Habitat for Humanity has built many new homes, some of them built by our own members.
From small things, big things can grow.
Jesus said in our gospel for today, “The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which is a very small seed, but when planted in the ground, can grow into a very large plant.  It can even grow big enough so that birds can make a nest in it and rest in its shade.”  (paraphrase of Mark 4:30-32)
From small things, big things can grow.
Jesus was talking to his early disciples about the kingdom of God and what it’s like and what it’s not like.  He was explaining that the kingdom of God would start out small and grow into something big, something very big.  In fact, if Jesus had his way, the kingdom of God would encompass the entire world and all its people.  For as we heard last week, Jesus came into the world not to condemn the world but to save it – all of it!  (John 3:17)
Every time we celebrate a baptism in this congregation, every time we celebrate the affirmation of baptism in this congregation, every time sojourners and companions in faith come to this altar and renew their faith, every time old members and new members alike profess their faith in this place and go out from here renewed in the Spirit and consecrated to the Christian ministries to which they have been called, we participate in the building up of the kingdom of God.
From small things, big things can grow.  From small gatherings like ours, big things can happen.  From babies and small children can come the realization that God lives in them and is bidding us to listen to their needs, to care for their spiritual well being, and to lay a foundation for their future as Christian men and women.
From youth and young adults can come the realization that God not only lives in them but is using them to show us new ways of living and serving in a fast and changing world. 
From older adults and senior citizens can come the realization that God not only lives in them but is demonstrating his abundant and ever present support for those who remain faithful to him.
From small things, big things can grow. 
None of us, by ourselves, can have much of an impact on the life and the shape of the kingdom of God.  But, from small visions, connected to larger visions, from small gatherings merged into larger gatherings, from a small faith developing into a large faith, the kingdom of God will grow and flourish. 
When small things are allowed to grow, the needs of young and old alike will be met.  When small things are allowed to grow, wisdom and spiritual understanding will flourish.  When we trust that God is present in the small things of life, we will begin to see that God is already present in the large things that await us.
Mustard seeds, like any seed, are small, but they can grow into something very big and very useful.  So, too, with our faith.  Trust that God is leading us.  Trust that God can use small things and make them big.  AMEN

Text:  John 3:1-17
7 June 2009
Topic:  Affirming One’s Baptism
 
Today is a wonderful day in the life of three of our youth.  Today, they are affirming their baptism.  The parents of Allie Barajas, Ian Newswanger, and Max Varga brought each of them to the church to be baptized when they were just a few months old.  And today, these three are affirming what their parents did for them 13 or 14 years ago.
We’ve talked a lot about what it means to be baptized in this church.  In a word, it is the public acknowledgement that God has declared us to be a child of God. 
We use the symbols of water and the Word to demonstrate this great declaration.  And we make a big fuss by having a whole lot of people present for the baptism.  We invite family, friends, and an entire congregation, to witness this once and wonderful event. 
And afterwards, almost always, there’s a party.
Why?  Because we want to celebrate the Good News that we have been marked forever as a child of God.
Now, everybody knows that when these three were just a few months old, there was no way they could know what happened on their respective baptismal days.  They would have to be taught and shown what it means to be claimed as a child of God. 
And so, on the day of their baptism, their parents made promises to God and to themselves.  They promised to raise their child in the Christian faith.  They promised to teach them the Lord’s Prayer, the Creeds of the Church, the Ten Commandments and to place in their hands the Holy Scriptures so their child would, one day, understand for themselves what it means to be claimed as a child of God.
So, now, after more than a dozen years being raised in a Christian home, after attending Sunday School and Vacation Bible School, after worshiping regularly, and after completing two years of confirmation classes, each of them is ready to say, for themselves, and by themselves, “Yes, I believe.” Today they will be affirming their baptism, a baptism their parents wanted them to have.
An interesting, if not bizarre, trend is taking place these days in London, England.  While we are celebrating the affirmation of the Christian faith of three of our youth, there are others in the world who are renouncing their faith. 
According to an article in TIME magazine (Tuesday, Apr. 14, 2009) earlier this year, over 100,000 former Christians have downloaded certificates of “de-baptism” in a bid to publicly state they no longer believe.
The website that’s selling these “de-baptism” certificates is the National Secular Society, a group of people who believe the Christian Church, all across the world, by virtue of the sheer number of baptisms on their rolls, is able to have far more influence and authority than it should. 
It is the society’s contention that churches of all kinds claim to have more members than they actually do.  They believe that churches inflate the numbers of true adherents to the faith.  The society is upset because, in their opinion, the Christian Church, through false documentation, wields more power than it should. 
And to make their point, they are encouraging everyone who has stopped believing to get “de-baptized” and have their names removed from the official roll of members from their church in the hope that churches, with fewer numbers to report, will then have less influence.
A part of me is appalled at this trend, for truly, to disown one’s faith is a very serious matter.  God is not pleased.
And yet, if the National Secular Society of London is forcing the Church to be more honest, then that’s a good thing. 
The world into which these three young adults are embarking is a world that, from the Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden to this very day, is a very complex and confusing world.  It is a world that is divided, a world that has two very real, and opposite, attractions.  The world into which these three will be entering upon their affirmation of faith today is a world that will forever be at odds with itself.  And it will their Christian responsibility, as it is ours, to sort out how they will live, and, in what ways they will serve the Lord whom they are affirming today.
In another church’s newsletter I came across an illustration of what I’m talking about.
 
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves.” 
“One is named Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.”
“The other is named God. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
 
It is our prayer for Allie, Ian and Max, that they will be feed the wolf named God.  It is our prayer that these three, and indeed all of us, will seek the joy and peace, love and hope, and truth of God.
It is our prayer that these three, and all of us, will constantly seek to understand what it means to be a child of God, what it means to be claimed and called to love and serve God, to love and serve our neighbors, and to love and serve ourselves as well.
It is our hope and prayer that they will forever treasure their baptism, and the affirmation of that baptism that is taking place today.
It is our prayer that they, and we, will feed the faith we have been given, and that we will nourish our faith from this day until that day when we meet the Lord face to face.
Congratulations Allie, Ian and Max.  Celebrate the gift of God’s claim upon you in Baptism.  AMEN