June 20, 2010
Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 8:26-39

 Standard Podcast [18:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

I have shared a few stories with you about the Disciples church in Los Angeles where I worshiped. Well, after just a few Sundays I was sitting in worship and right in the middle of the opening prayer someone yelled…loudly. The pastor just keep going with her prayer, and the voice yelled again. This must have happened three or four times. When the pastor said amen, there was clapping from the same person who had been yelling before. Throughout the service, every time the congregation said “Amen,” this person would let out a yell and a clap. I came to learn that this person was the pastor’s child and had an intellectual disability since birth.

Some have suggested that when we read about demon possession in the Bible that it is really an example of ancient cultures attempting to describe mental illness or developmental disabilities. Whether or not this is the case, I believe it provides a helpful analogy for us today. Luke 8 provides one such example.

The setting of the Gerasene Demoniac.

Jesus and the Disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee into Gentile territory. Instead of being welcomed by the Gerasene welcome committee, Jesus and the Disciples encountered a demon possessed man. We are given a quick snap-shot of the situation. The man was from the town, but not living in the town – The towns folk had cast him out. He did not wear any clothes – people thought he was not worthy human dignity. The towns folk chained him up and kept him under guard – he was not worthy to be free. He was living in the tombs. He was dead, as far as the towns folk were concerned.

What kind of people treat such poor and unfortunate souls in such a manner? Surely people are deserving of such basic human needs as clothing, shelter, and basic human dignity. Could such a thing happen in our modern society?

Byberry

NPR’s Joseph Shapiro, in a December 2009 All Things Considered piece, shares the disturbing story of Byberry Mental Hospital in Philadelphia.

During the WWII draft, conscientious objectors who rejected war were assigned to work at state mental hospitals to fulfill their service obligation. Warren Sawyer was a young Quaker who describes the hospital. Building A was simply called the “incontinent ward.” Sawyer says it was terribly overcrowded and all the staff could do was custodial care because there were only 3 staff caring for 350 patients. The smell lingered, even after washing your clothes. It was a large open room with a concrete slab floor, no chairs, no activities, no therapy, not even a radio to listen to. Hundreds of men, most of them naked because the hospital did not provide clothing, just wandered around aimlessly all day or hunched on the floor next to the bare walls.

Building B was called “the violent ward.” That is were they housed patients who would attack each other. There was row after row of men strapped and shackled to their beds 24/7. The regular attendants often beat or choked patients in order to keep control. Many attendants were drunks who got fired and were moved to the next state hospital. This was in 1944.

People with developmental and intellectual disabilities, and those with mental illness were tossed away, without clothes, freedom, or basic human dignity; much like the story we encounter in today’s gospel reading. Christ, however, was so bold as to approach this man and ask his name.

Labeled

Verse 30: Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. This man had been robbed of his name. He was not “the man who is struggling with a demon.” He was Demon. After perhaps years of seclusion and subhuman treatment; what other choice did he have really? He came to believe himself to be demonic because he was treated as the demon. What is your name? I am demon.

Again, this is a challenge for people living with disabilities today. So often society defines them by their disability instead of as a person. They see the wheel chair, the crutches, the differences first without seeing the person for who they are. The autistic guy, the Downs kid, that one in the wheel chair. When people do this today they confine people to their label of disability. They fail to do as Jesus did and see first a man with a name and an identity.

SMA

Ben Mattlin has a Spinal Muscular Atrophy and is paraplegic. It’s a progressive neuromuscular weakness. It occurs in one of every 6,000 births. He is often asked what he would do if a cure became available. His answer: He wouldn’t choose to be cured.

In his own words, “My disability is part of who I am. It’s all I’ve ever known. Who would I be without it? It doesn’t define me, but it has informed every aspect of my life. Even as a child, I never dreamed of walking. Flying, yes. I wanted to be a superhero, but I never wanted to be just like everyone else…After all, if you dream of a cure, aren’t you saying we’re not okay as we are? Disability is a fact of life. It’s here to stay, so why not celebrate it as another part of human diversity? Call me crazy, but I sort of like myself just the way I am.”

Back to Community

After Jesus asks for his name, recognizes him as a person and not a disability; the demons are driven out and the man is healed. The towns folk discover the man clothed and in his right mind…and they are afraid. They are afraid that he is healed. Well, now the community has to face their sin of exclusion. The man is so thankful that scripture tells us that he begged to go with Jesus. Can you blame him? Why would he want to stay with the people who dehumanized him these many years and wrote him off for dead? But Jesus tells him to return to the community. In fact, he even gives him a commission – to tell how much God has done for him. I think that part of the reason Jesus sent him back to town was because healing continues in the community.

Good Church, Bad Church.

The church is one place where such healing occurs in community. Sometimes churches do a good job of being the place of welcoming healing; and sometimes church can do better.

Remember the pastor’s child I mentioned earlier? His clapping and yelling annoyed some of the church members. They wrote letters to the pastor stating that her son was not welcome in worship. One of the reasons given was “his outbursts interfere with my worship.” What a selfish, un-Christian understanding of what it means to be a Christian community, worshiping the God who makes us one! The young man who was about 14 years old was excused from worship with the children for children’s church. Other 14 year olds were not. He is not a child. What kind of welcome is this?

A good friend of mine, Mike, drives a group of developmentally disabled men to his church every Sunday. He is so devoted to this ministry that he personally bought a giant passenger van as his regular vehicle. He tells me that the guys are just welcomed into the fold. He remembers one Easter Sunday he was driving the guys home and noticed a tear running down one of the men’s cheek. Mike asked him “What’s the matter?” He replied “I’m happy.” When Mike asked why he was happy, the man responded “Because Jesus isn’t in the tomb anymore!”

Mike told me that he thinks the church has been more blessed by these men than the other way around. I wonder, if in the Gospel reading today, Jesus sent the man into the community not so much because he needed further healing; but because the community needed to be healed.

Our Challenge and Our Opportunity

What kind of community will we strive to be? Will we cast away people with disabilities or will we be a place of welcoming healing?

June 6, 2010
Corpus Christi (The Body of Christ)
1 Cor 11:23-26

 Standard Podcast [14:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

You’ve heard the saying “You are what you eat.” Eat healthy foods and you will be healthy. Eat unhealthy foods and you will be unhealthy foods. Its a constant reminder that what you put in your mouth can literally shape your body. What might that mean for us, as Christians who celebrate Holy Communion – a sacrament that is eaten, fills our bodies and shapes who we are individually and as a church.

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi which means “The Body of Christ.” We celebrate Holy Communion throughout the year but on this day we give this sacrament our special attention. It is here at this table that we fulfill Christ’s command to “Do this.” We follow in the tradition of the early believers which, as the book of Acts tells us, “they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers…day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.” (Acts 2:42,46)

It has many different names by various Christian traditions. Holy Communion, The Blessed Sacrament, The Lord’s Supper, Ordinance, Eucharist (from the Greek word for giving thanks). The Body of Christ. On this day of the feast of Corpus Christi I want to encourage you to mediate on the meaning of this name for Holy Communion: The Body of Christ.

For the first few years of seminary I attended a rather small Disciple church in Pasadena California. This church made it a habit to have pot luck lunches following Sunday service quite frequently. I don’t think a month went by without a pot luck dinner. If there was a congregational meeting – pot luck lunch; if there was a presentation from the missionary who was giving his report – pot luck lunch; For the guest preacher – pot luck lunch. If there was no reason or occasion to have a pot luck lunch – they had a pot luck lunch.

You know the rules of pot luck. Everyone brings a covered dish to share; enough for about 6-8 people. You had to make it yourself, buying something from the store is cheating. At least buy it from the store and put it on a nice plate. Well, I was in school and had no job. I rode my bicycle everywhere, including to church. Even if I managed to put a simple dish together there was no way I would have be able to bring it with me. Every time pot luck rolled around I had nothing to offer.

But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t welcome – by no means. That’s the other rule of pot luck: everyone is welcome and everyone is fed. Though I showed up empty handed they set me home with all the left overs. A church member or the pastor loaded up my bike in the trunk of their car, along with all the pot-luck left overs and drove me home. The bounty from one of those lunches almost always feed me for a whole week.

The Corinthian Church was not living like the Body of Christ, and their celebration of the Lord’s Supper showed it. Listen to the words Paul has for the Corinthians, which come just before we hear the Words of Institution from our second reading. 1 Corinthians chapter 11, beginning with verse 17:

[Read 1 Cor 11:17-22]

There was a division in the Corinthian church between the wealthy and the poor. The wealthy had to work little and the poor worked long hours. The wealthy got together before they met as a church and had their fill of food and wine. By the time the poor were finished with their long day of work there was little left for them. They were not celebrating the Body of Christ because they were divided. Paul later says, in verse 29 “For all who eat and drink without discerning the body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” Paul tells us that the sin of the Corinthian Christians was a failure to discern the Body of Christ; a failure to recognize the other, weather poor or wealthy, slave or free, male or female, was a brother or sister in the Body of Christ. They failed to eat together, they failed to be the Body.

It is the difference between, as Paul puts it The Lord’s Supper and an individual supper. The Lord’s Super, Holy Communion, Eucharist, is not a Big Mac, Made-to-Order, individually wrapped, fast food, to go; me and my personal relationship with Jesus. No, it is more like the family meal of Thanksgiving (the literal meaning of the word Eucharist). A slow cooked, sit-down, family and community event. At the table where families celebrate their families, and in the eating of Thanksgiving/Eucharist itself creates family.

Saint Augustine, in a sermon to newly baptized Christians, shares these words:

“So how can bread be his body? And what about the cup – how can it (or what it contains) be his blood? My friends, these realities are called sacraments because in them one thing is seen, while another is grasped. What is seen is a mere physical likeness; what is grasped bears spiritual fruit.

So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: You are the body of Christ, member for member. If you, therefore, are Christ’s body and members, it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord’s table! It is your own mystery that you are receiving! You are saying Amen to what you are – your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. When you hear “The body of Christ” you reply “Amen.” Be a member of Christ’s body then, so that your Amen may ring true!

But what role does the bread play? We have no theory of our own to propose here; listen, instead to what Paul says about this sacrament: The bread is one, and we, though many are one body….Be what you see; receive what you are.” (Sermon 272)

Being the Body of Christ also implies we continue the work of Christ. Like yeast causes a loaf to grow, we are

called to expand Christs body, drawing in the whole world to his family.

Inviting the World to Dinner

Every Sunday for the past 30 years Jim Haynes hosts a dinner in his home in Paris. People, including total strangers can call or email him to book a spot. The first 50 or 60 people who call can come, double that if the weather is nice and they can overflow into the garden. Each week a different friend prepares the feast. People from all corners of the world come to break bread together, to meet, to talk, to connect and often become friends. All ages, nationalities, races, professions gather here. Recently a dinner featured a typical mix: a Dutch political cartoonist, a beautiful painter from Norway, a truck driver from Arizona, a bookseller from Atlanta, a newspaper editor from Sydney, students from all over, and traveling retirees. Since there is no organized seating, the opportunity for mingling couldn’t be better. He has a good memory, so each week he makes a point to remember everyone’s name on the guest list and where they’re from and what they do, so he can introduce them to each other. If he had his way, Jim says, “I would introduce everyone in the whole world to each other.”

In some ways the Lord’s Supper is like that. It brings together people of all corners of the world, all ages, nationalities, races, and professions. But our Supper goes beyond a casual encounter at an ordinary table. We gather here because Christ makes us one, and through this meal we are made one in his Body.

Soon we will approach our family meal, our Thanksgiving dinner, our expression of family, The Body of Christ.

When you receive the plate, I encourage you not to simply pass it, serve it to your neighbor. Declare “The Body of Christ.” Both in the elements themselves and in your neighbor Be what you see. When you receive the plate I encourage you to not just take. Instead respond “Amen.” Saying that it is true that this is the Body of Christ. Receive what you are. Be the Body of Christ.

May 30, 2010
Trinity Sunday
John 16:12-15

 Standard Podcast [12:19m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

Today we celebrate the Holy Trinity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As far as I know, this Sunday is the only one which is devoted to a Christian doctrine. Other special days on the Christian calendar may focus on events such as Christmas, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost; but on this day we recall the doctrine of the Trinity: One God in Three persons.

Of course, preaching a sermon on a doctrine presents certain challenges. I can’t simply tell a bible story about the Trinity. The Trinity is alluded to in scripture but never spelled out for us. We see references to The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit in scripture; but it is not until the Council of Nicaea that the doctrine in formally defined. Still, the creed never attempts to explain the exact “hows” and “whys” of the concept of God. It simply states what is. That the father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God, that they are all God and yet three distinct persons. The Trinity remains a mystery. That doesn’t mean it is something that we don’t know about, but rather that is right in front of us and yet we cannot fully understand. As with most Christian doctrines, the Trinity was defined in response to heresy – or bad ideas about God.

Bad ideas like “Jesus is not God.” There were (and are) people that taught this false doctrine. Some who deny that Jesus is God like the idea that Jesus was just a very faithful man who God had favor on and gave him a promotion. The problem here though is that if Jesus was not God – then who was he to save us from our sins? God and God alone is worthy to save.

Our gospel reading today contains part of Jesus’ farewell speech to his disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. He tells them “I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear.” Jesus did not teach his disciples everything that he could have taught them. There was still so much more. But even as Jesus was preparing to leave them he promised the the gift of the Holy Spirit.

But consider the good news of the Trinity as God in a perfect relationship. Our God is not some distant deity who is unconcerned human affairs. God knows what it means to be in relationship, a perfect relationship. 3 persons, interdependent, mutually affirming, supportive so much that they are one!

Early Christians used the Greek term Perichoresis to describe this mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity. It is a word for dance. To think of our God, the one in three involved in a heavenly dance with one another.

When I say the Holy Trinity is like a dance I am not talking about Derek and Nicole who won Dancing with the Stars last Tuesday. The show features a professional dancer and a non-dancing famous person. Each pair dances in front of the judges and a couple is eliminated every week until one winner remains. When the couples dance it is a performance, and it is exclusive. It is about those two only; the audience is not invited to join the routine.

Remember that in the Holy Trinity we have three persons, not two. That changes the dynamic when we think of dancing. Instead of two people excluding others, all members of the Trinity are invited in the dance. Its more like a group folk dance. Each member of the group executes each move, the move in and out, and as the dance goes on you can still see each individual and yet they all move as one in the dance.

In California I went to the winter High School youth retreat for the UCC and Disciples in the area. According to camp tradition they always had a dance on the last night of the retreat. Normally they would hold a regular dance with modern pop music, all the cool kids dancing in pairs and all the un-cool kids sitting in the bleachers watching the spectacle. This year, the director decided to hire a square dance caller. The caller taught us the moves we needed, shuffled the groups and before you knew it the dance was in full swing. Campers and counselors moving in, out and among the group; grabbing hands, spinning around; even as amatures still moving as one group. And as we looked around we noticed that it wasn’t just the cool kids who were dancing; every camper and counselor present participated in the dance. Yes, partly because we made them – but mostly because the dance allowed for this kind of participation.

That is what it is like with God. Our God is a God of relationship, and that being the case he has reached out to each one of us; to be in relationship with us. Bidding us into the dance. We are in that dance with God, even if we have two left feet, even if we don’t have any rhythm, even if we feel silly about dancing….even if thinking about God is too much to bear. Open your hearts to God’s guidance.

May 23, 2010
Pentecost
Romans 8:14-17

 Welcome to the Family [14:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

May 16, 2010
Ascension of the Lord
Acts 1:1-11

 Standard Podcast [12:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

Ascension is the 40th day after Easter (Thursday of the week before) but we observed it this Sunday.

May 9, 2010
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Rev 21:10, 22-22:5

 Standard Podcast [11:13m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

Yes, it was mother’s day; and yes I preached from Revelation – oh boy!

May 2, 2010
Fifth Sunday of Easter
Acts 11:1-18

 Standard Podcast [15:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

Ann Nichols is a missionary to Zambia, a country in Southern Africa. She writes about her first home visit in a Global Ministries update letter. She has always vowed to eat whatever has been offered to her. This is especially important when families with limited resources prepare food specifically for guests like missionaries. She has eaten guinea pig, a hundred year old egg, roasted goat, and millet drink. But on her first visit to a Zambian home she was faced with a basket of worms. She suggests holding your breath if a strange food has a strong odor. But, she says, the roasted caterpillars looked like roasted caterpillars. They didn’t smell, but the chewy texture and the very idea of eating a worm was too much for her. She managed to get half of one down, but that was her limit. Thankfully she only put two on her plate.

In the Acts text Peter shares his own missionary encounter with his home church. Which is a bit strange when we think about it. In the opening of Acts, during his ascension, Christ commissions the believers to go out and be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. But there were believers who stayed behind in Judea. Peter heard this call and went to the ends of the earth, even to the Gentiles. To Caesarea to be exact.

Caesarea was a large Roman capital city and was a major port. It had all the major amenities of a pagan Roman city including theaters, temples to multiple gods and even a grand temple devoted to Caesar Augustus. It wasn’t a Jewish city, and certainly not a Christian city. Maybe not so unlike our modern cities – which have limited Christian influence.

In the middle of Peter’s report, the believers in Judea openly criticize him. They say “Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?” I thought this was kind of strange when I first read it. Were these believers criticizing Peter for being an evangelist? But take a close look at the criticism. They didn’t say “Peter, what were you doing spreading the gospel to Gentiles?” They weren’t even offended that Gentiles accepted Jesus. The criticism was “Why did you go in the home and eat with Gentiles?” This may be a bit difficult for us modern readers to understand. Whats the big deal we might ask, he just had a meal with them. But Peter was a Jew and eating with Gentiles was really a big deal.

He recalls a vision he had in which a sheet came down from heaven with all sorts of nasty food in it – or at least unclean, non-kosher food. And God said get up, kill and eat. This would have been quite strange for Peter to go to a Gentile house that did not keep kosher. It may be difficult for us to understand the importance of kosher – sometimes they sound like silly unnecessary laws. For example kosher forbids Jews from eating meat with blood in it, or a certain part of an animals leg; it also forbids eating certain animals. But each of these rules points to prayer. Jews couldn’t eat meat with blood because blood was used in ritual sacrifice, they couldn’t eat a certain part of the leg because they remember Jacob wrestling with God and striking him on that part of the leg. Jews could only eat animals that were acceptable for sacrifice. You see, kosher pointed to prayer, which pointed to God. Everything, down to the way they ate, pointed to God as a prayer. Think of it this way. I normally pray for my food, but sometimes when I am out at restaurants or with friends or certain family members I may refrain. And it feels strange, like I am giving up just a little bit about who I am for the sake of the other. That is sort of what it would have been like for Peter to go and eat with a Gentile and not observe kosher, but in a much bigger way. The Jewish people have been keeping these laws and rules for thousands and thousands of years and in the eyes of the believers back home Peter just abandoned that history.

My grandfather was a very proud United Auto Worker, for those of you who may not know UAW folks work on American cars, and they are very proud to work on American cars. He worked for GM for maybe 30 or 40 years before he retired. Granddad always told us that every time someone bought a foreign car, GM laid off 10 employees. Imagine how he felt when he found out that my dad bought a Toyota pick up truck. He was devastated, he was angry, and he felt betrayed. He gave me dad the silent treatment for several years following the truck purchase. He remembered that up till the day he died. For Peter to give up kosher and eat with a Gentile would have been somewhat like this kind of family betrayal in the eyes of the Jews back home.

But Peter listened to God when he called him to spread the good news outside the box. Peter didn’t say “Okay Lord, I will go preach the good news – but only to people like myself.” He didn’t say “Okay Lord, I will go and preach to people different than me – but don’t make me eat with them!” He didn’t say “Okay Lord, I will ever go to them – but don’t change me!” We normally think of evangelism as changing the non-believers, but how strange is it that here evangelism actually changes the evangelist!

This story raises some interesting challenges and questions for us. I do not believe that this is only a history lesson. I believe that God continues to call his church outside of their comfort zones – to go to those most unlike ourselves. How might we be called outside of our boxes today? Where is God at work in our communities? Where is God at work in people not like us? What if (fill in the blank) group of people came to accept the good news, here in Timberville? What if democrats, republicans, hippies, punk teenagers, people from the trailer park, people with a different skin color than ourselves, those who speak a different language…what if people like that accepted the good news? What would be the same for us? What would be different? How might we be called to welcome them? And how might we be called to change, like Peter?

Perhaps the most important question of all; as Peter is retelling the story to the believers back in Jerusalem he observes that the Gentiles accepted God just as we have, and if God does it – who are we to hinder God? How can we hinder God? – We can’t.

April 25, 2010
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Acts 9:36-43

 Standard Podcast [12:01m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Notes:

In Jackson, Michigan a son entered the family business. He didn’t just follow in his father’s footsteps, but his grandfather’s and his great-grandfather’s. Joshua Munro is a fourth generation doctor. The Munro family name has been associated with wellness in their hometown since 1889. Each of the four doctors got into medicine for their own reasons, but they all simply wanted to serve others. Joshua works with his father David, and though he is already 60, he has no plans for retirement. He says “why stop doing what you love?” Joshua and David continue the family business of healing and are grooming the fifth generation for medical work.

We, the church, are in the family business of healing as well.

Our scripture lesson from Acts recalls how Peter raised Tabitha from the dead. The book of Acts tells us how she was a disciple and a very good woman – she was devoted to good works and acts of charity. She lived among widows probably serving them, and perhaps a leader among this group. And then, as suddenly as she is introduced we are told that she had died. Just like that. You can almost feel the unexpected suddenness as the widows express their grief. They know that Peter is in a nearby town and so they hurriedly send for him, and he rushes to Joppa in response. In at what appears to be a funeral. The widows were weeping and showing off the clothes which Tabitha had made – much like we would show photos, art, and other items that remind us of the deceased.

It seems odd to encounter death in the midst of the Easter season, in the midst the good news of the resurrection. But it is a story which has some parallels elsewhere in scripture.

Elijah a Hebrew prophet of the Old Testament, and who also appeared with Moses and Jesus at the Transfiguration, has a similar resurrection story. There was a widow who had a son who became ill and died. Elijah cried to the Lord and asked that life be brought back into the son. The Lord listened and the child was brought back to life. The relieved widow also saw and believed.

In the text we’ve looked at today, Peter was bold enough to issue a command: “Tabitha, get up.” And she does. This is a story which sounds strangely familiar. Jesus uttered similar words in a similar situation for the only daughter of Jairus who had also died. Jesus made it to the little girl’s house, found her dead and said the words “Talitha, cum” which means little girl get up. Did you hear the difference, “Tabitha, get up.” “Talitha, get up.” the resurrection command is different by only one letter. The author of Acts whats us to know that Peter is following closely in Christ’s footsteps – continuing the ministry of healing and resurrection.

Peter rose the dead just as Jesus rose the dead before him, and as Elijah rose the dead before Jesus. Just as we are called to bring resurrection and healing to those in need this day. Though we don’t often see resurrections in this day. And because of that, it may be easy to think that healing cannot or does not happen, much less happen through the church. When I say that the church is the place of healing it may conjure up images of tv preachers shouting, slapping foreheads, and people falling over with their physical aliments relieved. But healing and resurrection is not always about the body. It is about restoring relationships – healing of relationship with God and others. The church is called to a home of relational resurrection.

While I was in seminary I served in the Army National Guard as a chaplain candidate. During our two-week annual training I held evening prayer services every night. It was not in the chapel, but out among the soldiers – in the field where they were. One evening as the sun was setting, I approached a group of 3 young soldiers. I asked if they were there to join me for evening prayer. They said they were waiting for another training to begin but that they would like to stay for the evening prayer. We had our prayer service as the sun faded from the sky. After it was over one of the young soldiers approached me and said “Those prayers remind me of the ones I used to know as a kid.” She then tried to recite the Lord’s Prayer for me. She had trouble and said she hadn’t said that prayer for nearly 10 years. We sat there as she wrote out the prayer, remembered it and recited it again for the first time in 10 years. Spoke to God for the first time in 10 years, reclaiming the healing relationship with God to call him father. This is the kind of healing the church is called to – the resurrection of healing relationships.

We are called to be a place of healing. Are we bold enough to follow Peter in the ministry of healing? Bold enough to respond to the calls of the world, and the calls of those within the church who seek healing? Let us be bold enough to echo the resurrection.