This being the first Sunday of February, we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion.
The Scripture Readings for this week are:
- Isaiah 40:28-31
- Mark 1: 21-45
The Sermon title is The Healer, the Renewer
Early Thoughts: Where do you need to be healed? What part of your life cries out for renewal?
The Gospel accounts are clear. The ministry of Jesus included a ministry of healing. Jesus healed people. Jesus cast out demons.
This is sometimes a challenge for those of us whose rationality tends to discount the supernatural. And demon possession/exorcisms?
However the Gospels are clear. Even if the (sometimes overly) rational 21st century Christian finds the concept unbelievable Jesus healed, Jesus cast out demons.
Moreover, I would suggest that the ongoing work of the Risen Christ in the world continues to include healing. The presence of God in our lives brings healing and renewal. God's activity in the world continues to silence demons and take away their power.
I also suggest that there may be times that there is a difference between having our selves healed/renewed and having a physical condition cured.
So back to the questions I started with. Where in your life do you need healing and renewal? I might even ponder what demons (because in one way or another many of us have demons) need to be silenced and robbed of their power. Are we able to name those things? Are we able to ask for healing? Are we able to receive it?
And more to the point...HOW?
The how has to do with our willingness to ask and seek, but also our ability to see and recognize. Sometimes healing and renewal might look different than we want them to. Or sometimes we are so focused on how we understand the world to work that we can't see what is staring us in the face.
When I read those few verses from Isaiah I see another clue to the how. "They who wait for the Lord...". We might have to wait and allow God to work. We might have to wait an allow God to reveal what God is doing so that we can participate in the healing and renewal that is already happening around us.
That might be true both for us as individuals and for us as communities (including congregations). This weekend I started to read a book that a colleague had recommended: When Church Stops Working.
One of the things that has been suggested in the opening chapters is that the path forward is not about new or more programs but starts with waiting. Renewing the church begins with waiting. I look forward to seeing where they go with that line of thought.
Assuming that we, as individuals and communities, are in need of healing and renewal and assuming that God's activity in the world includes bringing healing and renewal, are we ready to look and see where that healing is occurring? Are we ready to pause and wait, to stop doing something, so that the healing can happen?
What might happen if we opened ourselves to the possibility of healing, of renewal, of demons being silenced? How might our lives be different?
--Gord
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