From my message on 4/27, from I Peter 1:8-9, John 20:24-29
Seeing isn't believing. That's what the confirmation class came to when they looked at these scriptures. I had heard reports about the unreliability of eyewitnesses, so this past week I "googled" it. When you do this search, this is what you will find: the Innocence project. This is a group that works to overturn wrongful convictions. They discovered that eyewitnesses are frequently inaccurate. In fact, in over 75% of the cases that they got overturned due to later DNA evidence, the reason for wrongful conviction was the unreliability of eyewitnesses.
There are 2 reasons. One is the estimator variable. These are factors like the amount of lighting, the distance involved, the issue of ethnicity, the presence of a weapon, and the degree of stress. Diane, our youth minister, had as one of her youth ministers growing up, a man who was robbed at gunpoint. He only could remember that the perpetrator was a male. He could not describe the height, weight, age, race, hair color, eye color, clothing, or any other feature. He only focused on the gun which was pointed at him. That gun he could describe in great detail, but not the robber.
The second reason is the system variable. These are factors involving the line-up. The police may subtly or overtly lead the witness to the "right" perpetrator with their instructions, body language, or tone.
Seeing isn't believing.
Let's do a vision test now. I will show you this picture for 3 seconds. What did you see? A man.....did he look like your understanding of Jesus? Let's take a longer look. Point out what you see. The artist has included many scenes from Jesus' life. There are scenes of angels announcing his birth, a manger scene, shepherd's crook, 2 crosses, a star, an empty tomb, among other things, all represented in Jesus' face.
We look with the eyes of faith. Believing is seeing. We see everything through these lens. The line spoken to Thomas is for us, for all who have lived since the time of the early church. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have come to believe.
Believing is seeing. We look at the world with Christ eyes. We see Christ everywhere. We live on this side of the resurrection. Didn't we celebrate Easter last Sunday? We believe that he has been raised from the dead and goes before us.
I wanted to translate this understanding to a mission context. We sent a team of 6 persons to Belize to see if we might be called to do mission work there. The mission team has been undergoing training to look at the world differently.
We are being called to move from Relief to Restoration. Relief is appropriate in the immediate aftermath of a horrific event like a tornado, flood, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Water, food, medical aid, shelter are needed to survive. But often we get stuck in relief mode. Restoration realizes that people have many coping skills and would like to participate in their new life.
We want to move from having an Experience to establishing a Relationship. So many times we have gone on a mission trip to feel good about ourselves. And it does feel good to help people. But this new way of seeing things involves more than our feelings. It is about other people and a relationship.
We want to move from Short Term to Long Term. We don't want to just parachute in for a few days or a week. The situation will still be there after we leave. We need to expand our time horizon to the long term. Some of our short term answers actually hurt more than they help in the long run.
We want to move from What's Wrong with You to What can I learn from You. This doesn't work so well when meeting people to say, "What's wrong with you? How can I fix you?" This really upsets the power dynamic, putting us instantly in the role of savior and others in the role of helpless victims. Maybe we need to be students. We may have need reverse mentoring. We may learn from those we encounter.
We want to move from Mission To to Mission With.
We want to move from We Are Bringing Jesus to You to Looking for the Jesus Who Is Already There. Christ is alive and working ahead of us. We look for the Christ who is already present.
Let's watch this video to see how we might see the resurrected Christ already at work in Belize. (go to our website YouTube channel to see this, www.westlake-umc.org)
One concrete response you can make to this message today is to visit with Kim Weidmann. She wants to do a training course for anyone interested in this new way of looking at missions. You may also be drawn to this specific mission opportunity with our brothers and sisters in Belize.
Another concrete response is to look at people around you differently. You mentors of the confirmands, you didn't look at these youth at some problem to solve. You didn't treat them like some short term project just to feel good about yourself. No, you saw these youth as holy children, created in the image of God, worthy of a relationship.
There may be a family member or a co-worker, you know the one, whom you could see differently. Not as someone to fix or a problem to solve, but as a holy child of God, deserving of a long term relationship.
Seeing isn't believing . Believing is seeing. We see the risen Christ everywhere. That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, April 28, 2014
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
It's Good to not Always Find What You Are Looking For
from my Easter Message, April 20, 2014, from John 20:1-18
She went to the tomb early. Mary only was looking to do what's right, to take care of her dead friend's body. But the stone had been rolled away!
It reminded me of the Rolling Stones. Maybe you have heard of them? They had some wisdom for us in this regard:
(Sing) You can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes, you just might find,
you get what you need.
It's Good to not Always Get What You Are Looking For.
I want to tell you a story of what happened at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. The pastor Mike Mather reported that his congregation would have prayer meetings during the season before Easter. This particular Wednesday, it had snowed, so only 6 people showed up. They read some scripture. They were meditating quietly when Mike heard some voices at the side door of the sanctuary. Three youth were there. The oldest might be 13 years old. "What's going on?" "We're having evening prayers." "Can we come in?" "Sure."
The 3 sat down. The congregation started singing, "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer." Mike hear more voices at the door. Three more youth were there. "Are our friends in here?" "Yes." "Tell them to come out." "No, but you are welcome to come in." They did and sat down with the other 3.
They were whispering amongst themselves, obviously trying to get their leader to leave. Mike started to explain how the praying went. "Someone can offer a prayer. Then say, Lord, in your mercy. Then everyone responds, Hear our prayer." The silence was broken only by the youth chattering amongst themselves. Mike started to intervene, when one of the members of the church asked a prayer, and said, Lord in your mercy. Mike was watching the 6 youth. Their got big when everyone said, Hear our prayer.
A dam broke. ONe of the youth said, Pray for my cousin Booder who got killed last year. He rushed to say, Lord in your mercy. Everyone responded, Hear our prayer. The youth prayed. There was a lot of violence in their lives. The congregation prayed. There was violence in the community, in the world. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
One of the youth prayed, For the schools to stop expellin' people. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Then the leader prayed, For me and my grandma, cuz my dad is trying to take me away from her. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
Mike then had them turn to the Lord's Prayer. They sang, "I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus." They shared the peace of Christ amongst themselves. And 6 youth left a prayer service just a little bit quieter.
The youth were expecting to find that inside the church. The 6 church members weren't expecting to find those youth needing prayer. It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
That's a good story. But the rest of the story is that 18 months later, Broadway UMC find that its ministry with youth on the streets had grown tremendously. Youth had found a safe place. And Broadway UMC received a grant from the national church so that they could share their experience with others. They found a ministry that was waiting for them.
It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
Mary saw Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener. She was looking for her dead friend's body.
Another story comes from my addiction to Netflix streaming video. I have gotten into another series, Call the Midwife. I never thought that I would be hooked on this show. It is set in the East end of London in the late 1950's. There is an order of Anglican nuns whose ministry is being nurse-midwives. They also lead other nurse-midwives who are not a part of the religious order. I love the faith angle of the programs.
Every episode is going to have the delivery of a baby. Trust me on this one. When a show is named, Call the Midwife, there is going to be a baby born. Every episode will have a difficulty. It is the second season, episode 5, where the main character, Nurse Lee, attends the birth of a baby boy. The boy has spina bifada. That means that nerves protrude through the vertebrae out the back. It can be not very serious to extremely serious. This one was severe. It was crushing to the parents. They refuse to hold the baby. Nurse Lee finds herself doing all of the care of the child, feeding it, dressing it, and changing its diaper. She is wearing herself out while the parents are depressed and do nothing.
The mother superior advises Nurse Lee to take the parents to St. Gideons, a home for children with birth defects. Only the father goes inside with Nurse Lee who is still carrying the baby. The father is talking with the matron of the home about what it's like there. Children are all around them carrying on with their lives. Two young men serve them tea and biscuits. Don't you love England? No matter what the situation is, you are going to have tea. One of the young men who is serving them has difficulty walking and talking. The father asks matron, "What happened to him?" "Jacob has spina bifada like your son." "Why?" "We don't know why; it happens in 1 out of 1,000 births." Jacob brings the tea and biscuits over to the father and nurse Lee. Jacob makes a little joke when no one drinks the tea, "It's not poison, you know." The father asks Jacob, "What's it really like here?" "Oh, it's quite lovely. There's a biscuit factory next door.....we get the broken ones."
So do we. We still get the broken ones. I don't know what you are looking for today. If you are looking for a perfect church or perfect people or perfect pastor, you won't find that here. We get the broken ones. We follow Jesus who was broken for us. If you are only looking for death and destruction, you won't find that here either. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He has joined us in all of our brokenness and somehow brings hope and healing out of it.
The father and Nurse Lee return to the car. They drive home with the mom. The mom and dad start packing up the baby's clothes. They are going to take the boy to the home it seems. The father says, "I have got his things. You carry it." The mom takes the boy into her arms for the first time. She says, "This is our son, not an it. This is Danny, Jr. We are not taking him to that home."
It's good to not always get what you are looking for.
Mary went to the tomb to find a corpse. She left saying, "I have seen the Lord." That's the good news I have to share today.
She went to the tomb early. Mary only was looking to do what's right, to take care of her dead friend's body. But the stone had been rolled away!
It reminded me of the Rolling Stones. Maybe you have heard of them? They had some wisdom for us in this regard:
(Sing) You can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
no, you can't always get what you want,
but if you try sometimes, you just might find,
you get what you need.
It's Good to not Always Get What You Are Looking For.
I want to tell you a story of what happened at Broadway UMC in Indianapolis. The pastor Mike Mather reported that his congregation would have prayer meetings during the season before Easter. This particular Wednesday, it had snowed, so only 6 people showed up. They read some scripture. They were meditating quietly when Mike heard some voices at the side door of the sanctuary. Three youth were there. The oldest might be 13 years old. "What's going on?" "We're having evening prayers." "Can we come in?" "Sure."
The 3 sat down. The congregation started singing, "It's me, it's me, it's me, oh Lord, Standing in the Need of Prayer." Mike hear more voices at the door. Three more youth were there. "Are our friends in here?" "Yes." "Tell them to come out." "No, but you are welcome to come in." They did and sat down with the other 3.
They were whispering amongst themselves, obviously trying to get their leader to leave. Mike started to explain how the praying went. "Someone can offer a prayer. Then say, Lord, in your mercy. Then everyone responds, Hear our prayer." The silence was broken only by the youth chattering amongst themselves. Mike started to intervene, when one of the members of the church asked a prayer, and said, Lord in your mercy. Mike was watching the 6 youth. Their got big when everyone said, Hear our prayer.
A dam broke. ONe of the youth said, Pray for my cousin Booder who got killed last year. He rushed to say, Lord in your mercy. Everyone responded, Hear our prayer. The youth prayed. There was a lot of violence in their lives. The congregation prayed. There was violence in the community, in the world. Lord, in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
One of the youth prayed, For the schools to stop expellin' people. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer. Then the leader prayed, For me and my grandma, cuz my dad is trying to take me away from her. Lord in your mercy. Hear our prayer.
Mike then had them turn to the Lord's Prayer. They sang, "I want to walk as a child of the light. I want to follow Jesus." They shared the peace of Christ amongst themselves. And 6 youth left a prayer service just a little bit quieter.
The youth were expecting to find that inside the church. The 6 church members weren't expecting to find those youth needing prayer. It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
That's a good story. But the rest of the story is that 18 months later, Broadway UMC find that its ministry with youth on the streets had grown tremendously. Youth had found a safe place. And Broadway UMC received a grant from the national church so that they could share their experience with others. They found a ministry that was waiting for them.
It's good to not always find what you are looking for.
Mary saw Jesus, but she didn't recognize him. She thought he was the gardener. She was looking for her dead friend's body.
Another story comes from my addiction to Netflix streaming video. I have gotten into another series, Call the Midwife. I never thought that I would be hooked on this show. It is set in the East end of London in the late 1950's. There is an order of Anglican nuns whose ministry is being nurse-midwives. They also lead other nurse-midwives who are not a part of the religious order. I love the faith angle of the programs.
Every episode is going to have the delivery of a baby. Trust me on this one. When a show is named, Call the Midwife, there is going to be a baby born. Every episode will have a difficulty. It is the second season, episode 5, where the main character, Nurse Lee, attends the birth of a baby boy. The boy has spina bifada. That means that nerves protrude through the vertebrae out the back. It can be not very serious to extremely serious. This one was severe. It was crushing to the parents. They refuse to hold the baby. Nurse Lee finds herself doing all of the care of the child, feeding it, dressing it, and changing its diaper. She is wearing herself out while the parents are depressed and do nothing.
The mother superior advises Nurse Lee to take the parents to St. Gideons, a home for children with birth defects. Only the father goes inside with Nurse Lee who is still carrying the baby. The father is talking with the matron of the home about what it's like there. Children are all around them carrying on with their lives. Two young men serve them tea and biscuits. Don't you love England? No matter what the situation is, you are going to have tea. One of the young men who is serving them has difficulty walking and talking. The father asks matron, "What happened to him?" "Jacob has spina bifada like your son." "Why?" "We don't know why; it happens in 1 out of 1,000 births." Jacob brings the tea and biscuits over to the father and nurse Lee. Jacob makes a little joke when no one drinks the tea, "It's not poison, you know." The father asks Jacob, "What's it really like here?" "Oh, it's quite lovely. There's a biscuit factory next door.....we get the broken ones."
So do we. We still get the broken ones. I don't know what you are looking for today. If you are looking for a perfect church or perfect people or perfect pastor, you won't find that here. We get the broken ones. We follow Jesus who was broken for us. If you are only looking for death and destruction, you won't find that here either. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He has joined us in all of our brokenness and somehow brings hope and healing out of it.
The father and Nurse Lee return to the car. They drive home with the mom. The mom and dad start packing up the baby's clothes. They are going to take the boy to the home it seems. The father says, "I have got his things. You carry it." The mom takes the boy into her arms for the first time. She says, "This is our son, not an it. This is Danny, Jr. We are not taking him to that home."
It's good to not always get what you are looking for.
Mary went to the tomb to find a corpse. She left saying, "I have seen the Lord." That's the good news I have to share today.
Monday, April 14, 2014
Prayer Practice: Thy will be done
from my message on April 13, 2014, from Matthew 26:36-46
(sound of a heart beating) Can you hear it? It's a heartbeat. It is the heart of Jesus beating for us. We are in the garden of Gethsemane with him. His heart is breaking for us. He is grieved, agitated, grieved unto death over us.
And he is praying, "My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want, but what you want." It is the prayer of relinquishment, of letting go, of ceding control, of yielding.
How many times have we prayed this same prayer? 100's, 1000's, every time, we have prayed the Lord's Prayer, we have said it, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
And we mean it. We have aligned our hearts with Jesus' heart, and we have really meant what we prayed.
Some of us are parents. When we had kids, we gave up some control. There were late night feedings. There were trips to the emergency room. We tossed out our agenda. Thy will be done.
Some of you have callings. It's not just a job or a paycheck. It's a calling. Your profession takes you to places and people you do not choose. The schedule is not always convenient. You may be "on call." You give up some control. Thy will be done.
Some of you have other callings as followers of Christ. You get up early on Tuesday mornings to be down at First UMC at 5 a.m. for Feed My People, to serve breakfast to those who live on the streets. You get up early on Saturday morning to drive nails on a house for Habitat for Humanity. You are a youth, and you choose to sleep on a hard bunk and work in the hot sun as you do a mission trip. You cede some control. Thy will be done.
Sometimes our hearts align with Jesus' heart. Sometimes we break His heart. We have tachycardia, as we race ahead of what Jesus' will for us. We have heart arrhythmia, as our hearts get out of sync with His heart. We mean "thy will be done," until it conflicts with our will. Then we want to do our own thing.
I had a member in a former church. She was brilliant, a physics teacher, who from time to time worked for NASA. She took every Bible Study we ever offered. She was faithful in worship, bringing her family with her. But she had one reservation. When we would talk about following Jesus, she would say, "I respect Him and His teachings. He is a great model to emulate. But I just can't give up my control. I can't give up my will. I can't go that far."
I know that we have not fully prayed "Thy will be done," because of some words in our vocabulary. If we truly lived into Thy Will Be Done, then we wouldn't have words like "Holocaust" or "Food Insecurity" or "Homophobia" or "Racism" or "Sexism" or "Pay Inequality." We continue to break God's heart.
I realize that this prayer of relinquishment, Thy will be done, is a major league prayer. That's why I have saved it till last in this sermon series on Prayer Practice. Today, I invite us to start small, to take some baby steps toward Thy Will Be Done.
Let's start with the marriage relationship. Cathy and I load the dishwasher differently. I put the cups in the upper rack, underneath that folding shelf. The saucers go up top too as well as the glasses. The dinner plates, pots and pans go down below with the silverware. I can get twice as many dishes in the dishwasher as Cathy can. She just throws them in there anywhere. Plates up top, glasses on the bottom. It just drives me crazy (there should be a support group!). Since Cathy has retired, she now does most of the dishes. I have just had to let this go. Thy will be done.
It could be with children. They may choose colleges and majors and careers that you would not have picked. Let it go. Thy will be done.
You may have co-workers. They do things in a different way, in a different order than you do. Do you have to win every battle. Sometimes, you may need to simply not say anything. Just hush your mouth. Walk away. My spiritual director gave me a practical tip we can practice right now. When you find yourself in one of these conflicts, simply reach over and feel your pulse in your wrist. You will have to pause. You can connect with the heart of Christ beating for you. Thy will be done.
You may find someone sitting in your pew next Sunday (Easter). They may also take your parking place. You are going to breath and welcome all of the guests. Thy will be done.
In this Healthy Church Initiative, we are being challenged to give up some of our control. We may be doing things not for our own pleasure, but for those who need to be here. We will listen for Jesus' heart beating for all of His children. Thy will be done.
It is not easy to pray this way. In fact, the only way I can do it is to surrender even this prayer to Jesus. Jesus has to pray it for me, with me, until I can pray it and mean it also. That's why Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He reverses what happened in the Garden of Eden. He prays, "Thy will be done," to replace our grabby, "My will be done."
He does this to offer us a wonderful gift: the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always having to get our own way. Besides that, can we want any better for ourselves than He wants for us?
Listen for Jesus' heart. He is praying, "Thy will be done," until we can.
That's the good news I have to share today.
(sound of a heart beating) Can you hear it? It's a heartbeat. It is the heart of Jesus beating for us. We are in the garden of Gethsemane with him. His heart is breaking for us. He is grieved, agitated, grieved unto death over us.
And he is praying, "My father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not what I want, but what you want." It is the prayer of relinquishment, of letting go, of ceding control, of yielding.
How many times have we prayed this same prayer? 100's, 1000's, every time, we have prayed the Lord's Prayer, we have said it, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done."
And we mean it. We have aligned our hearts with Jesus' heart, and we have really meant what we prayed.
Some of us are parents. When we had kids, we gave up some control. There were late night feedings. There were trips to the emergency room. We tossed out our agenda. Thy will be done.
Some of you have callings. It's not just a job or a paycheck. It's a calling. Your profession takes you to places and people you do not choose. The schedule is not always convenient. You may be "on call." You give up some control. Thy will be done.
Some of you have other callings as followers of Christ. You get up early on Tuesday mornings to be down at First UMC at 5 a.m. for Feed My People, to serve breakfast to those who live on the streets. You get up early on Saturday morning to drive nails on a house for Habitat for Humanity. You are a youth, and you choose to sleep on a hard bunk and work in the hot sun as you do a mission trip. You cede some control. Thy will be done.
Sometimes our hearts align with Jesus' heart. Sometimes we break His heart. We have tachycardia, as we race ahead of what Jesus' will for us. We have heart arrhythmia, as our hearts get out of sync with His heart. We mean "thy will be done," until it conflicts with our will. Then we want to do our own thing.
I had a member in a former church. She was brilliant, a physics teacher, who from time to time worked for NASA. She took every Bible Study we ever offered. She was faithful in worship, bringing her family with her. But she had one reservation. When we would talk about following Jesus, she would say, "I respect Him and His teachings. He is a great model to emulate. But I just can't give up my control. I can't give up my will. I can't go that far."
I know that we have not fully prayed "Thy will be done," because of some words in our vocabulary. If we truly lived into Thy Will Be Done, then we wouldn't have words like "Holocaust" or "Food Insecurity" or "Homophobia" or "Racism" or "Sexism" or "Pay Inequality." We continue to break God's heart.
I realize that this prayer of relinquishment, Thy will be done, is a major league prayer. That's why I have saved it till last in this sermon series on Prayer Practice. Today, I invite us to start small, to take some baby steps toward Thy Will Be Done.
Let's start with the marriage relationship. Cathy and I load the dishwasher differently. I put the cups in the upper rack, underneath that folding shelf. The saucers go up top too as well as the glasses. The dinner plates, pots and pans go down below with the silverware. I can get twice as many dishes in the dishwasher as Cathy can. She just throws them in there anywhere. Plates up top, glasses on the bottom. It just drives me crazy (there should be a support group!). Since Cathy has retired, she now does most of the dishes. I have just had to let this go. Thy will be done.
It could be with children. They may choose colleges and majors and careers that you would not have picked. Let it go. Thy will be done.
You may have co-workers. They do things in a different way, in a different order than you do. Do you have to win every battle. Sometimes, you may need to simply not say anything. Just hush your mouth. Walk away. My spiritual director gave me a practical tip we can practice right now. When you find yourself in one of these conflicts, simply reach over and feel your pulse in your wrist. You will have to pause. You can connect with the heart of Christ beating for you. Thy will be done.
You may find someone sitting in your pew next Sunday (Easter). They may also take your parking place. You are going to breath and welcome all of the guests. Thy will be done.
In this Healthy Church Initiative, we are being challenged to give up some of our control. We may be doing things not for our own pleasure, but for those who need to be here. We will listen for Jesus' heart beating for all of His children. Thy will be done.
It is not easy to pray this way. In fact, the only way I can do it is to surrender even this prayer to Jesus. Jesus has to pray it for me, with me, until I can pray it and mean it also. That's why Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He reverses what happened in the Garden of Eden. He prays, "Thy will be done," to replace our grabby, "My will be done."
He does this to offer us a wonderful gift: the ability to lay down the terrible burden of always having to get our own way. Besides that, can we want any better for ourselves than He wants for us?
Listen for Jesus' heart. He is praying, "Thy will be done," until we can.
That's the good news I have to share today.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Prayer Practice: Prayers for Healing
from my message on March 30, 2014, from James 5:13-16
I have some questions for you. Are any of you suffering? Anyone here cheerful? Is anyone here sick? Has anyone here ever sinned? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then God's response back to you is "Pray."
Today, we continue our Lenten series on Prayer Practice by focusing on Prayers for Healing. I believe that the God revealed in Jesus Christ is a Healer. If you come to the altar rail today to be anointed with oil, I will pray with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician. I believe God wants us to be whole and holy. God wants us to be well in our bodies, minds, spirits, memories, and relationships.
In biblical times, the priest did it all: chief medical officer, counselor, religious representative. Today, we sometimes compartmentalize. But I want to claim that God wants us to be not in parts or pieces, but whole human beings. I want to claim that all those who practice the healing arts are on the same team, after the same goal.
It is National Physician Day. We recognize all the ways God heals through the doctors around us. We have just about every medical discipline represented in this congregation. We give thanks to God for you. I also give thanks for nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, counselors, and all the others. If you consider yourself to be part of the healing team, let us recognize you now.
I also give thanks to God for the healing that comes through surgery, radiation, pharmaceuticals, counseling, and other therapies. Furthermore, I give thanks for the healing that comes through recovery groups like AA and other 12 step programs.
We use best practices. In our passage today, sick persons were anointed with oil and prayed over. That's about the best medicine they had. Today we have so many more tools.
They touched. They laid hands on. We still know the power of touch today. A story I got from long ago involved a baby in the Neonatal ICU who was born premature and drug dependent. The mom had been a heroin addict. The mom deserted the child. A nurse there knew the child needed more than the breathing tube and IV's. She began to hold the child. Then as the child got better, she began to carry the child around like a papoose. The child thrived. She adopted the little girl as her own. The child grew and became full of life. She would run, and jump, and push the boundaries. The mom would say, "Ruby, be careful." Ruby would reply, "Oh, mama, I was born to dance." And so we are. Touch is powerful.
They prayed in biblical times. We do today. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is us. There have been all kinds of studies done that show prayer lowering blood pressure, lowering anxiety. There have been studies done that show how prayer rewires the brain, creating new neural pathways. Prayer changes us first.
Prayer also changes others. Many of you know this. You have experienced it. We have many examples of healing that we have celebrated over the years here in worship. That's why we put all of these names and situations on the blue prayer sheet each week. That's why we pray on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in the library. We believe that our prayers matter and change others.
Prayer also changes God. We read many examples in the Bible of how seems to wait to act until we pray. God is in relationship with us. It makes a difference to God when we pray.
Always our prayers for healing are in the realm of mystery. The prayers themselves don't bring about the healing. We don't heal others. The oil or the touch doesn't have the healing power. Only God heals. It is a mystery how God does this.
I have been in the hospital with the family gathered around. The doctor was there to remove the life support....and she lived! In fact, when I went to see her the next week in her care facility, she ran over my foot in her wheelchair as she was on the way to art class.
I have also been there with Ellen in San Saba, who had cancer. Wife, mother of a young son, artist, with cancer. We banged on heaven's door. We begged, we pleaded for her to be healed. She continued to decline. It wasn't right. I grew discouraged. I was doing a prayer exercise, taking people who needed healing before Jesus. The meditation involved me carrying people one by one down into a pool of water to Jesus. When I carried Ellen down into the healing water with Jesus, I heard a voice in my spirit. The voice said, the voice of God said, "She belongs to me." All of my anxiety left me. That's right. She belongs to You, O God. She always has, always will. In life, in death, in life beyond death, she belongs to you. Even death can be our final healing.
You can practice praying for healing for others by lifting up persons on this blue prayer sheet, by remembering them when you go by their house, or calling their name out in prayer when you wake up at night.
Stephen Ministers are persons trained to listen and care for others. Stephen Ministers learn a great phrase in their training: we are the caregivers, Christ is the cure giver. That's the good news I have to share today.
I have some questions for you. Are any of you suffering? Anyone here cheerful? Is anyone here sick? Has anyone here ever sinned? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then God's response back to you is "Pray."
Today, we continue our Lenten series on Prayer Practice by focusing on Prayers for Healing. I believe that the God revealed in Jesus Christ is a Healer. If you come to the altar rail today to be anointed with oil, I will pray with you in the name of Jesus Christ, our Great Physician. I believe God wants us to be whole and holy. God wants us to be well in our bodies, minds, spirits, memories, and relationships.
In biblical times, the priest did it all: chief medical officer, counselor, religious representative. Today, we sometimes compartmentalize. But I want to claim that God wants us to be not in parts or pieces, but whole human beings. I want to claim that all those who practice the healing arts are on the same team, after the same goal.
It is National Physician Day. We recognize all the ways God heals through the doctors around us. We have just about every medical discipline represented in this congregation. We give thanks to God for you. I also give thanks for nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, respiratory therapists, counselors, and all the others. If you consider yourself to be part of the healing team, let us recognize you now.
I also give thanks to God for the healing that comes through surgery, radiation, pharmaceuticals, counseling, and other therapies. Furthermore, I give thanks for the healing that comes through recovery groups like AA and other 12 step programs.
We use best practices. In our passage today, sick persons were anointed with oil and prayed over. That's about the best medicine they had. Today we have so many more tools.
They touched. They laid hands on. We still know the power of touch today. A story I got from long ago involved a baby in the Neonatal ICU who was born premature and drug dependent. The mom had been a heroin addict. The mom deserted the child. A nurse there knew the child needed more than the breathing tube and IV's. She began to hold the child. Then as the child got better, she began to carry the child around like a papoose. The child thrived. She adopted the little girl as her own. The child grew and became full of life. She would run, and jump, and push the boundaries. The mom would say, "Ruby, be careful." Ruby would reply, "Oh, mama, I was born to dance." And so we are. Touch is powerful.
They prayed in biblical times. We do today. Prayer changes things. The first thing prayer changes is us. There have been all kinds of studies done that show prayer lowering blood pressure, lowering anxiety. There have been studies done that show how prayer rewires the brain, creating new neural pathways. Prayer changes us first.
Prayer also changes others. Many of you know this. You have experienced it. We have many examples of healing that we have celebrated over the years here in worship. That's why we put all of these names and situations on the blue prayer sheet each week. That's why we pray on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. in the library. We believe that our prayers matter and change others.
Prayer also changes God. We read many examples in the Bible of how seems to wait to act until we pray. God is in relationship with us. It makes a difference to God when we pray.
Always our prayers for healing are in the realm of mystery. The prayers themselves don't bring about the healing. We don't heal others. The oil or the touch doesn't have the healing power. Only God heals. It is a mystery how God does this.
I have been in the hospital with the family gathered around. The doctor was there to remove the life support....and she lived! In fact, when I went to see her the next week in her care facility, she ran over my foot in her wheelchair as she was on the way to art class.
I have also been there with Ellen in San Saba, who had cancer. Wife, mother of a young son, artist, with cancer. We banged on heaven's door. We begged, we pleaded for her to be healed. She continued to decline. It wasn't right. I grew discouraged. I was doing a prayer exercise, taking people who needed healing before Jesus. The meditation involved me carrying people one by one down into a pool of water to Jesus. When I carried Ellen down into the healing water with Jesus, I heard a voice in my spirit. The voice said, the voice of God said, "She belongs to me." All of my anxiety left me. That's right. She belongs to You, O God. She always has, always will. In life, in death, in life beyond death, she belongs to you. Even death can be our final healing.
You can practice praying for healing for others by lifting up persons on this blue prayer sheet, by remembering them when you go by their house, or calling their name out in prayer when you wake up at night.
Stephen Ministers are persons trained to listen and care for others. Stephen Ministers learn a great phrase in their training: we are the caregivers, Christ is the cure giver. That's the good news I have to share today.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)