Brokenness & Death – Wholeness & New Life

Mark 5: 21-43

Roger Lynn

July 22, 2018

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Considering that the stories come to us across a span of almost 2,000 years, the situations seem surprisingly familiar. We know about suffering. We know about feeling cut off. We know about death. The stories of Jesus’ interactions with the pain of his day are stories with which we can identify.

In the course of his travels, Jesus encounters a man who is terrified that he will lose the most precious thing in his life – his daughter. She is very ill and he is out of options. Perhaps it is faith which drives him to seek out Jesus. Perhaps it is desperation. Perhaps it is something of both. But regardless of how he comes to this point of openness in his life, the man invites Jesus to make a difference. “Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” (Mark 5:23) Unspoken in that plea is the additional hope that in the healing of his daughter he himself might also be restored to wholeness and find life again. So, driven by compassion, Jesus starts out with him for his home and daughter. But before he gets there other pain intervenes. This time it is a woman who has suffered for many years from a bleeding disorder. It is worth noting that such a condition would have meant far more than just physical suffering. Under Jewish law, such a condition would have rendered her ritually unclean. She would, in effect, have been cut off from her family, her friends and her community – a social outcast. It is not hard to imagine the desperation which led her to resort to such a desperate plan. She had heard the stories about Jesus – that he was a healer, a miracle worker, a man of God. As Jesus was walking with the crowd towards the home of Jairus she saw her chance and she took it. As with Jairus, it was probably a mixture of faith and extreme need which prompted her to reach out and touch his cloak. She probably didn’t know exactly what to expect, but what she found was healing. What she found was new life. Jesus said to her, “Go in peace.” And for the first time in twelve years she began to believe that peace might indeed be a possibility in her life.

Wrestling with God

used by special permission of the artist

Genesis 32: 22-31 & Luke 18: 9-14

Roger Lynn

July 15, 2018

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We want life to be nice and neat and tidy. We want it to be comfortable and easy. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work out that way much of the time. In fact, often as not it is messy and confusing and sometimes downright painful. And we would really rather avoid it if we could. Except what we discover is that it is precisely in the midst of the whole messy, confusing, painful business of living where we find meaning and purpose and direction. It is here where we meet God.

Rita Nakashima Brock is a theologian and scholar who wrote a book entitled “Saving Paradise,” which is based on her research that the early Church found profound meaning in the idea of paradise. And paradise was not some idealized, pie-in-the-sky, other-worldly, after-you-die affair. It was all about experiencing God fully and completely right here, right now, in the midst of this life, with all of its messy mix of joys and struggles. Somehow I think Jacob would find much in this idea that resonated with his own experience.

The story of Jacob at the Jabbok is filled to overflowing with powerful symbolic imagery about the human experience. Jacob, you may recall, was the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham. Early in his life he pulled a fast and shady deal on his brother Esau and managed to walk away with Esau’s birthright for the price of a cup of soup. And then as a result he spent the rest of his days looking over his shoulder, doing the best he could to live with himself and get on with the business of living. Until the day when it all catches up with him (as it almost always does, one way or another). He wears out his welcome in the foreign land where he has been living since the fallout with his brother, and now he is headed home. But word comes that his brother is on the way to meet him, and he’s bringing an army with him. Jacob sends gifts in an effort to secure a favorable reception from his brother. But fear is permeating his soul. He has at last come face to face with his life, and it is not a pretty picture. 

If Only . . .

Mark 6: 1-13

Roger Lynn

June 24, 2018

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My friend Amy Martin has a song she calls “What If. . .” in which she explores what I believe is a common tendency among us human beings – playing the “What if . . .” game. Our imaginations often seem to run down the most unhelpful, “worst-case-scenerio” paths until we drive ourselves crazy and find ourselves completely paralyzed with fear. “What if I do this, and then this happens, and then that happens, and then the world completely falls apart?” In her song, Amy’s solution is brilliant in it’s simplicity. “What if I let go of all of the What Ifs and try to be with What Is?”

A closely related malady to which we humans seem especially vulnerable is the “If only . . .” game. We know we have fallen down this particular hole when we find ourselves saying things like, “I would do something about the problem, if only I knew more, or if only I had more money, or if only I had more time, or if only (insert reason here.)” As with the “What if. . .” game, it is easy to drive ourselves crazy with this endless list of “If only. . .” excuses and never actually get anything done.

Choosing Life

Deuteronomy 30: 15-20 & Philemon 8-16

Roger Lynn

July 1, 2018

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As the Hebrew people stood at the threshold of the Promised Land, after 40 years in the wilderness, Moses urged them to “Choose Life!” Pay attention to what enhances your living. Pay attention to what enhances the living of those with whom you share life in this world. Pay attention to the presence of God in your life and the guidance which can be found in that presence. Choose life!

It is a message which echoes down through the years and remains as vital for us today as it was when Moses first spoke the words. And it is not a one time choice. The Hebrew people didn’t get to “choose life” in one big, dramatic moment there at the edge of the Promised Land and then go on about their business for the rest of their days. Choosing Life is an ongoing challenge – an every day, all the time way of living. In each moment, in each action, in each choice we have the opportunity to align ourselves with life instead of death, light instead of darkness, love instead of hate, connection instead of separation.