Worship as Self-Care and Community-Care - Redeemer Episcopal Church

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Feeding the Five Thousand

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

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This sermon was originally preached by me, to a certain people in a certain time and place, but we believe in the power of the Spirit, so it might touch you as well. 

It is GOOD to be back with you all. The last eight weeks or so have been wonderful for our family as it expanded and I am so grateful for the time that we were able to spend together in our little bubble as we got to know our daughter. 

AND it was HARD. Of course, we have a newborn again and that comes with all sorts of challenges and exhaustion, but one of the hardest parts for me was that I do not rest well. I am not someone who sits for very long. Even when recovering from childbirth. I’m a busybody— the kind of person who used to make to do lists during church. 

We all know that God has a good sense of humor, which I think is why we heard this text this morning. Of course my first sermon back from parental leave would be about rest— or perhaps about looking for rest. 

Last week we heard about God, who perched on the Ark of Covenant. The people believed that God would come and go as God pleased and that they could provide a resting place for God in their community with a tabernacle and ark. But, as Father Wiley said, we know that God has come to us in the person of Jesus— the God that we worship is incarnate, in flesh and blood— a real living person with whom we can have a relationship. With whom we DO have a relationship. 

In the reading this morning, the apostles were returning from their mission that Jesus had sent them on to go into the towns and cities to heal and to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God. When they came back from the towns, the crowds were constantly trying to find them— apparently news had spread quite effectively about Jesus and his band of followers… It was getting so crowded and the people were so desperate to see Jesus that the apostles barely had any time to even eat by themselves. 

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Jesus tells them. But even this didn’t work because people recognized them and got to their resting place first and continued to press in on Jesus and the apostles. Now, if I were one of the apostles, I would be pretty upset by this— they had just traveled all over the country and now they were ready to rest a little bit. They just wanted to eat dinner in peace! That couldn’t be too much to ask. I’d be wanting Jesus to put his foot down and send the crowds away so I could rest a while. 

What we are seeing in this story is not only that the apostles are feeling overworked and overwhelmed by the persistent crowds, but the other side of it is that we see hundreds and even thousands of people who are so desperate for the teachings of Jesus that they follow Jesus and the apostles around all over the country, not even stopping for food for themselves. 

As our world moves back into its rhythm of overwork and go go go, I think we are going to start to feel a similar kind of weariness and maybe even desperation— we might feel a bit like the apostles AND a bit like the crowds all at once. And when that happens, people are going to tell us about what we tend to call “self care” or “rest” as a resistance to this overwork. We’ll hear about how we need to take time for ourselves and care for ourselves. I heard a lot of this during the last eight weeks— I needed to take some time to take care of myself. What they mean most of the time is that I should take a bubble bath or get a massage.

And there is certainly nothing wrong with self-care in the form of things like massages and bubble baths or beach vacations. But the weariness I felt over the last few weeks wasn’t going to be cured by taking a walk or reading a novel. I think the weariness of the past year and a half is going to show us that we need something more than superficial self-care. We are going to find ourselves both just like the apostles— needing “Come away to a deserted place all by ourselves and rest a while”— and also like the crowds— so desperate for Jesus and his teaching and healing that we press in from all sides. 

I loved what Father Wiley said about worship last week— what if our perspective changes and we GOT to go to worship instead of feeling like we HAVE to go to worship? How would that change our experience of God? Worship as a privilege instead of obligation. As someone who grew up very much feeling like worship was just an obligation, I can understand if you’re not quite there yet, if you’re not quite to the point where worship feels like a celebration or a place where we can dance. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I began to feel that myself. But then, I realized, worship is part of my deep-needed spiritual self-care. 

Worship is a privilege and a celebration, but it’s also more than that— it’s the root from which we gain our nourishment, it is absolutely necessary for our life with God. And I’m a campus pastor— I would never ever say that we can only worship God in THIS building. Or even that this building is better fit for worship than anywhere else in the world. BUT… if your life is anything like mine, it does not give many opportunities to sit and rest with God, to be quiet and listen to God’s Word speaking into my life. When people ask me about my spiritual life during the week, I might mention something about reading the Bible when I’m preparing my sermons, but it really is sometimes ONLY Sunday mornings when I take enough time and sit quietly enough to listen to God. 

That is the power of worship in this space. It is within these walls that everything else falls away. It is in this place, and during THIS particular time that we set aside other obligations and, if we allow ourselves, it is here that we come away to rest a while. It’s not that God won’t meet us in other places of our lives, and indeed, God is always present. But here in this place? This is where WE can show up to be attentive to God, this is where we can truly rest and be healed because there is power in these rituals, in the routine of standing and sitting, praying and singing, our worship is embodied just like our God.

My hope for you is that you might feel the desperation of the crowds. That you might ache for his teaching, so much so that you’re willing to sit at his feet hungry, believing that he will provide you will more than enough. I hope that we might know what it means to need Jesus and the healing he provides that we press in close, just to touch the fringe of his cloak. And I hope that you might know that you are invited here— to this place, in this time, to this table, and this community— to be nourished and healed and be taught by our incarnate and ever-compassionate God. Amen. 

Jesus brings shalom

Mark 5:21-43 Teaches Me That Jesus Brings Shalom into a Broken World

Wholeness or shalom is at the heart of Jesus’ healing in this passage.  Jesus heals the physical infirmities of two women and welcomes them back into society.  In Mark’s narrative Jesus’ ministry is centralized around bringing shalom into a world that has been possessed and corrupted by satan.  The brokenness of the world is continually being brought to wholeness through Jesus‘ teaching, healing, and associating with the marginalized.  This passage proves that no matter a person’s wealth or status in society, Jesus is indiscriminately bringing shalom into the entire world.      

The evangelist introduces a woman who has been suffering physically, socially, and financially for twelve years (Mark 5:25).  Her physical infirmity is what the author describes as a continual bleeding (interpreted as a hemorrhage).  This bleeding was also likely to have kept her from having children.  The very essence of being a woman in the first century was cut off from this woman during these twelve years.  The intercalation with the story of the young girl puts an emphasis on this point.  This woman’s brokenness extends further than her physical infirmity.  It also states that the woman is poor, using all of her money seeing physicians who only made her condition worse (5:26).  Despite her poverty, Jesus does not hesitate to speak to her endearingly after she had been healed.  Jesus associates and heals people of all levels of society and wealth.    

The woman’s condition was not only physically injurious, but it likely cut the woman off from society.  The text introduces the woman alone.  Although scholars vary on how much the Jewish purification laws would have influenced the woman’s life, it would have at least kept her from the majority of society and visiting the temple in order to cleanse herself of her impurity.  Throughout Mark’s gospel, Jesus associates with the socially marginalized.  Whether this woman has been completely or partially cut off from society is irrelevant.  She is solitary and desperate enough that she must have the faith to intercede on her own behalf.  The climax of the first healing is a prime example of Jesus’ mercy and power.  Instead of rebuking the woman for touching his garment, Jesus turns in the midst of his journey and tell the woman her faith has healed her.  In one sentence, Jesus praises the woman and welcomes her back into society.  By calling the woman “daughter,” he has brought her into his family and thus back into Jewish society (5:34).  Thus in one episode, the woman is healed and brought back into communion with her peers.  

The healing passage of the hemorrhaging woman falls within the story of Jairus and his dying daughter.  In the first half of Jairus‘ story, the reader learns that Jairus‘ young daughter is ill and close to death (5:23).  Jairus is a wealthy leader of the synagogue who humbles himself before Jesus.  On Jesus‘ way to Jairus‘ house, the characters learn that the young girl has died.  Jesus tells Jairus to have faith and continues to the house anyway in order to raise the young girl from death.  It is at this point in the story that the reader is told that the child is twelve years old, which is old enough to be married and bear children.  By healing the child, Jesus is also giving the girl a chance to bring new life into the world.  When the child is healed, Jesus welcomes her back into communion by instructing her family to give her something to eat (5:43).  As well as proving that the girl is not a phantom, eating together is a common thread that brings people into communion in the miracle stories of the gospels.

The stories of both woman help the church understand that the Kingdom of God, as brought into this world by Jesus Christ, operates by bringing shalom.  The work of the kingdom is not dependent on social status, purity laws, or gender.  God and God’s work is responsive to every need in every situation.  Jesus, through God, has power over earthly powers and cannot be conquered, even by death.   

(Mark thesis from Gospels class, 2014)

   

Healing a Daughter of Abraham

In the spirit of International Women's Day, March 8, 2016

Luke 13:10-17 teaches me that Jesus’ ministry restores creation to its divine intent.

Jesus’ actions in this passage are centered on reconciliation, compassion, and shalom.  Through healing the “daughter of Abraham,” (vs. 16) and interpreting Torah for shalom in a debate with the synagogue leader, Jesus restores part of creation to its divine intent.  

The appearance of the crippled woman is depicted as sudden by the exclamation “behold,” suggesting that the woman was socially invisible until Jesus began teaching in the synagogue.  The woman introduced is obviously physically impaired as she is described as “bent over and quite unable to stand up straight” (vs 11).  This impairment could be a representation of her status in society or, as Gench suggests, it could be a real result of her status in society.  If this woman had been a peasant for most of her life or done back-breaking work for many years, a crippled and bent back is likely to be the natural result of that work.  

The woman was also impaired by a “spirit of weakness” (vs 11).  This description has many implications.  It could be a result of her crippled back or vice versa.  It could also be completely unrelated to her crippled back and could depict a mental or emotional weakness in the woman.  Gench outlines several possibilities for the meaning of her “spirit of weakness” such as self-esteem issues, depression, or self-worth depravity.  Jesus interprets one or both of these infirmities as the woman being bound by satan.  The last interesting characterization of the woman is that no male counterpart is mentioned.  This woman could have been a widow, putting her even further on the fringes of society.  

When Jesus notices the woman in the narrative, he calls her over to, presumably, the middle of the synagogue where he is teaching.  This is his first act of compassion and restores the woman from the edges of the worshipping community to the center.  He heals her in two stages: first he declares her free from her ailment, then lays his hands on her.  One interpretation explains that Jesus heals the “spirit of weakness” with his words and secondly heals her crippled back with his hands.  With both of these healings, whether they are separate or simultaneous allow the woman to become a fuller part of society.  She responds to this healing by glorifying God, demonstrating her restoration to divine intent.  There is an inseparability of healing physical infirmities and the liberation of the spirit that is obvious in this passage.  It is only when she was fully healed that she was able to fully worship God.  

In the second part of the passage, Jesus engages in a debate with the synagogue leader.  In doing this, Jesus demonstrates more compassion by interpreting Torah for shalom.  The narrator emphasizes that Jesus’ actions were done on the sabbath in a synagogue.  Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 emphasize that no work is to be done on the sabbath day because God rested on the sabbath and it is the day to commemorate Israel’s freedom from Egypt.  According to Jesus, there is no better day to free this woman from bondage than the day that remembers God’s mercy on Israel.  By twisting the synagogue leader’s use of the Greek word “dei,” Jesus claims that “it is necessary” or God’s divine will to heal the crippled woman.  Jesus also welcomes the woman back into the Jewish community by calling her a “daughter of Abraham” (vs 16).  This demonstrates the restoration of this woman to God’s divine community and the covenant that God has with the people of Israel.   

Jesus’ treatment of Jewish laws during the episode with the crippled woman is an example that should be followed by the church today.  Despite laws prohibiting Jesus from healing on the sabbath, Jesus treated the woman with compassion and interpreted the law for shalom.  Everything that the church does, and all of the rules and boundaries that are set in place, should promote reconciliation, compassion, and shalom.  Oftentimes the church is so focused on tradition and following the status quo that we forget that the church is the continuation and response to Jesus’ earthly ministry and his restoration of creation to its divine intent. 

(Luke thesis from Gospels class, 2015)

References from Frances Taylor Gench's Back to the Well: Jesus' Encounter with Women in the Gospels.