Jeremiah 33:14-16

14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? 10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.

11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. 12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. 13 And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 21:25-36

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. 34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Questions?

I’ve been thinking about sermon writing lately- my process and congregational involvement.

This website has been somewhat helpful to me. It offers people the chance to look at the text’s for a coming Sunday and ask the questions that come to mind.

If I’m not answering your questions (with the help of the Spirit) about the text, God, life and death- then what am I doing in preaching? Of course, it’s not always about answers, sometimes good preaching leaves you wrestling with questions (I hope NOT “What was she talking about?”).

So I thought I would try this for a couple weeks. I’ll post the texts for the coming Sunday here, though you can find them in many places. You can ask questions publicly by commenting on Facebook or on the blog site. Or you can email or message me with private questions. I will try to answer all the questions even if I don’t do it in the sermon.

Daniel 12:1-3

1 “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. 2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Psalm 16

1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” 3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight. 4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. 5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. 7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. 10 For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. 11 You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Hebrews 10:11-14, [15-18], 19-25

11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. 12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” 13 and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

[15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” 17 he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” 18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.]

19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Mark 13:1-8

1 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2 Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.” 3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”

5 Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, “I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

I look forward to your questions.

The Friday Five come from here.

Martin Luther said:

“I have no use for cranks who despise music, because it is a gift of God. Music drives away the Devil and makes people gay; they forget thereby all wrath, unchastity, arrogance, and the like. Next after theology, I give to music the highest place and the greatest honor.”

On this Friday before Reformation Sunday, let’s talk about music. Share with us five pieces of music that draw you closer to the Divine, that elevate your mood or take you to your happy place. They might be sung or instrumental, ancient or modern, sacred or popular…whatever touches you.

1. My favorite hymn is “My Life Flows On”. See my sermon about it here and another post here. I love this hymn and it brings me great comfort to hear it or to sing it.

2. Bach’s “Sheep May Safely Graze” is one of the pieces of music that relaxes my mind and body. I think I listened to it, looped, for a couple hours once when I was very upset. With the calming flute melodies, the piece also brings to mind the peace of Christ and the grace that comes from believing you are part of the flock of the Good Shepherd. You can listen to the song on Youtube here.

3. The soundtrack to “Little Women” (1994, starring Susan Sarandon and Winona Ryder) has been the soundtrack to many meaningful moments in my life. I listened to it alone on the last night I spent in my dorm room before my college graduation (when everyone else was out partying). I listened to it as I prepared for my wedding. I’ve written many sermons with the airy instrumentals of that soundtrack playing in the background. I like the movie, but the soundtrack has been even more special to me- apart from the story.

4. My favorite song of all time is “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” I have more versions of that song in my collection than any other. (At last count, around 22.) I can recognize the strains of it anywhere. But it’s not just the music. Consider these lyrics:

I want to comment, but there is nothing I can say to improve upon those lyrics.

5. When a soldier/airmen/Marine/sailor returns from a deployment, it’s called “reunion”. At our reunion in 2007, Rob was supposed to arrive on a Sunday morning at 11 am. Then it was 3:30 pm. Then 10 pm. Then around midnight. During what became the longest 30+ hours of my life, I walked on the treadmill, I made cookies, I went to the store, and I listened to Queen’s “Somebody to Love” about 80 times. Again, I listened on a loop and danced around my kitchen, shaved my legs, drank a beer, singing: “Can anybody find meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee somebody toooooooo looooooooooooooooooove?” Because of this association with this song, I don’t listen to it that often. And if I hear when I’m not expecting it, I can have a very emotional reaction.

This happened the other day when I watching something on a friend’s recommendation. The closing number of the show was “Somebody to Love”. I sucked in my breath at the opening “Caaaaaaaan….” It’s hard to hear the song right now because reunion is still over two months away this time. But it’s coming. In less than 80 days (I hope), I should once again be able to my dance (preferably for fewer hours), shower, bake, shave and change the baby and then get in the car to know exactly where I will find somebody to love.

I recently read this article about the return of relics to the Roman Catholic Church (or to some RC churches). Within the piece, the author has this to say:

After all, these spiritual accoutrements were a large part of the Catholic experience for well over a millennium. But a quiet groundswell of Catholics won’t give up this time-honored tradition of praying to a saint’s bodily remain. Pope Benedict XVI reinstated the Latin Mass. So why not bring back an emphasis on relic veneration as well? A French priest is currently touring the United States with the supposed bones of Mary Magdalene, and the faithful are flocking to pray in front of them. In September and October, the relics of a 19th-century nun, St. Therese of Lisieux, went on a 28-stop tour around Great Britain. If the thousands of devotees who came to witness these lovely bones are any indication, the faithful are hungering for a less sterile form of religion.

While there’s no scholarly consensus on when relic veneration began, many historians point to the year 156 A.D. and the death of Polycarp, then bishop of Smyrna (in modern-day Turkey). He got on the Romans’ bad side by praying to Jesus instead of the Roman gods, and he was burned. After the pyre cooled, Polycarp’s followers scurried over and scooped up his remains and ran off with them. With that, the cult of relics was born.

I’m wrestling with the idea of relics. Can I call them holy souvenirs? What is the point of a relic? To remind the believer of an encounter with the divine, to enrich one’s faith, to collect?

I’m struggling to separate the tangential symbol from the non-tangential experience. I like to things to commemorate places I’ve been or people (usually living) I’ve seen. However, I get the most spiritual peace from the blessing that is on something, from a medal to the elements of Holy Communion.

Perhaps that is what brings comfort to those who are seeking the bone fragments, pieces of cloth or strands of hair. Perhaps belief in the closeness of a saint gone on to that item brings a spiritual strength that I can’t understand, but it doesn’t make it any less real to that person.

Part of the reason we have water, bread and wine in our sacramental practice is so that we have earthly elements, which we understand, to bring us to a deeper understanding of, faith in and nourishment by the promises and actions of God in Christ. We call baptism and Holy Communion the means of grace, for they are means by which God communicates grace to us.

However, we can also have strict rules and ceremonies around the means of grace, some of which can strip away the grace. Perhaps the veneration of relics offers a glimpse of grace to some people, the knowledge that God has performed miracles in the past and has promised to continue to do so.

So I have a definite statement about relics. I suppose I don’t, though I thought I did when I started writing this.

I’m not one who leans toward saying “to each his own” when it comes to matters of faith and faithful living. I believe the Bible offers us hope through Christ and that’s the place where I hang my heart. However, without some relic veneration, we might not have preserved copies of the letters of Paul, the book of Revelation, the hymns of the early church. So somewhere in there is the place where the Spirit works so that the evidence of faith may be preserved. Thanks be to God.

Isaiah 53:4-12; Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45

“Hey, I want you to do me a favor.” When I say that to you, how do you respond? Are you inclined at all to say, “Sure” without hearing what the favor is? That’s essentially what James and John asked of Jesus. “Hey, Jesus. We want you to do us a favor.” Despite all that Jesus has revealed to them about the coming of the kingdom of God and the miracles they have witnessed, James and John are most concerned with their reward.

They are essentially asking Jesus to tell them that they are the greatest among the disciples (and you better believe they’ll make sure the others hear about it). James and John have heard Jesus’ message, but they haven’t listened to it. When Jesus asks if they are up for the sacrifices they will have to make to have such a reward, the brothers eagerly assure Him that they are. However, Jesus says, “You may be able to make those sacrifices and you will. But the seats at my right and my left are not mine to grant. And you shouldn’t be interested in them anyway. If that’s all you guys can think about, then you missed the point.”

Even though that’s how Jesus answers the request, the other disciples are angry when they hear what’s happening. They might be mad because James and John asked such a question or they might be upset because they didn’t think of it first. But Jesus replies to all of them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

What is Jesus telling the disciples? What is He saying to us? “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.” Jesus offers the reminder that most people with power let it go to their head. Think of the other rulers we read about in the Gospels, Herod Antipas beheading John the Baptist, Pontius Pilate washing his hands of Jesus, Herod the Great and the slaughter of the innocents. The disciples knew that power did not necessarily mean goodness. And having power certainly did not mean being in the right place with God.
We too know people whose power goes to their head, people who take a position of authority as an opportunity to do whatever they please. Sometimes we suffer under those people. Sometimes we are those people, using and abusing the power we have in our workplace or at home, in a volunteer position or in an appointment.

Jesus goes on to say that kind of behavior has no place in God’s kingdom and between His followers, “But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.” In order to achieve greatness in God’s kingdom, we must become like children. Being a child is different than being childish and seeking our own way.

Rather, we are called to innocence, to openness and to the main lesson of childhood- sharing. As followers of Christ, to show that we do share in His cup at His table and in his baptism, we are called to share the story of what God has done for us. We are called to share the gifts that God has given us. We are called to serve the neighbors God has placed around us. This isn’t a slavish service wherein we take pride in being beaten down, but a joyful service that bears witness to the joy and hope that has been poured into our hearts through Christ Jesus.

The seed of that joy is evident in what Jesus says next, “For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The point of that slightly confusing reading from Hebrews is to remind us that Jesus is different from anyone else whom God had sent to God’s people. Jesus is a high priest, but His place also as the servant and the Son of God makes his service and his sacrifice different than what any other priest could achieve. Jesus did not have to ransom himself, but He came for the children of God.

We, with James and John, are precisely those children. We see the world’s models of power and we can be tricked into believe they are more than fool’s gold. We can be derailed by the power of the forces that oppose God and come to think that we are unworthy of grace and mercy. We can get a little power and we can all too easily forget whence it came. We, like sheep, go astray. And we, like children, can easily get lost.

So Jesus reminds us here that the path is one of service and humbleness. We are called to a vision of mission to God’s whole creation. We must work together to achieve God’s mission for our lives, for the church and for the world. And we are able to do that because of the One who gave his life for us.
So that we would be free to be servants, Jesus came and showed what service looks like. He came and reminded the disciples and world of what real power looks. He came so that we might know the peace that passes all understanding. When he had done all those things, Jesus died for all. In his last act of service, Jesus returned to the Father and said, “I’m home. And I brought the children with me.”

Amen.

My computer has been telling me, “You have not backed up your information in 50 days…” 51 days, 52 days, 53 days…

My kitchen calendar was still on August and, I discovered this week, so was my office calendar.

This past Wednesday I finally finished reading a book, my first since 17 August. I think I get bonus points because said book was neither about child development nor breastfeeding.

I’m eating cold leftover steak out of a baggie and typing quickly, listening to the new sounds around which my life rotates… the grunts, squeaks, and sighs that mean I have only so many minutes before Daniel, my baby, wants something.

All the familiar markers of my life are completely disordered and, at this time, unhelpful. When each day is a blur of feeding, sleeping, changing, playing, trying to go to sleep, changing, feeding, and paperwork… I don’t really need a calendar or even to back up the things that used to seem so important.

In a week or so, I will be going back to work, which means now I need to consider how to have some semblance of a schedule. The coffee maker that is on my counter is representative of all the friends and relatives who have come to help me. I don’t drink coffee, so it only appears to give the caffeine fix to those who are living the schedule-less life with me. Now they have gone and I have to figure out when to shower (at 4 am when I know he’s sleeping?). How to make sure the dog gets enough exercise. How to eat dinner in 5 courses… an apple at 5 pm, a porkchop a 5:30, mashed potatoes at 6:15, a handful of spinach at 7:30, half a bar of chocolate with a glass of milk at 8:45.

It’s all new every day and I just wait to see what happens.

I did update my kitchen calendar last night. Moving ahead to October (skipping September) was more exciting than I thought it would be. It means there are only two more calendar pages until 2010. It’s less than 80 days until Christmas (do you know where your sermon is?), but that also means it could be less than 100 days until my husband returns from deployment. We don’t have a date and won’t until two weeks out.

But the days are full of possibility, rolling over, smiling, sleeping 5 hours in a row… and as each day passes, Daniel, Ivan and I get closer to the date when we can be the family we were meant to be with Rob at home.

So did you call me and not hear back? Did you email me and receive nothing in return? Slowly, I’m coming back to the rest of the world. Slowly, I’m moving up to October. Slowly, I’m regaining strength. Slowly, I figure out how to be a mother and a pastor. And slowly, I move more fully into God’s grace, though that movement has very little to do with me.

I haven’t done a Friday Five in a while. The prompt(s) come from here and this Friday’s is:

Please pardon me for talking about church in the summer when many of you may be on vacation. However, the church we are talking about today is the one you dream of. I’ve been thinking about this because I miss pastoring and preaching, because I am sending in resumes, and because…well…jut because. So have some fun with this. Tell us five things that the perfect church would have, be, do…whatever.

We can dream, right?

So, my initial reaction is that there is no such thing as the perfect church on this side of Christ’s return. As we strive for wholeness in and as the Body of Christ, we also struggle with the realities of our humanness, the fallen world and the forces that oppose God and God’s kingdom (see Satan).

However, I am also in a transitional call and my congregation could and should ask me what I would like to see in a church, so having given this some thought and prayer- here goes:

A congregation working toward wholeness in Christ and acknowledging the on-going work of sanctification by the Spirit would:

1) Have more than one kind of service on a semi-regular basis. I don’t like segregation of services or music. I think as a congregation we are called to embrace similar visions and understandings of Christ and of the people’s work in liturgy. That being said, most people are spiritually fed by different things. Some people like world praise music, some people never want to hear a drum or see a dancer, some people want to feel free to lift their hands, other people would prefer not have clapping. We can’t always accommodate everyone, but an occasional service outside of the “regular” worship could open the doors to people within and without the congregation who seek a different kind of spiritual nourishment now and then.

2) Embraces and encourages children to participate and be seen in church life- from worship to Sunday School to church projects. Jesus said, “Let the children come to me.” I love to see churches where all children are encouraged to do all kinds of things. Too young to offer the cup- carry a pick up tray. A child who can’t be seen over the podium or pulpit, but who speaks and reads well can still lead the Psalm with a hand-held microphone. The more involved children are at a young age, the more likely they will be to be involved after confirmation (which is NOT the end of church). I know kids are very busy these days, but we either say to them that they are important and church participation is too (by creating opportunities for them in the church)… or we keep lamenting the absence of young people in our congregations.

3) Does not think the pastor does everything. Said church also doesn’t let the pastor do everything. The Spirit longs and strives to use everyone. In the perfecting church, there is shared empowerment, encouragement and mutual support for ministry.

4) Has at least two regular adult education offerings, one of which might be taught by the Pastor. I LOVE to teach about the Bible, but the pastor’s Bible class doesn’t have to be the only educational option. And I’m not the only one who has Biblical insights. And there are well-written books, discipleship studies, hands-on group lessons and all kinds of other things that incorporate Biblical messages and can and should be explored for the growth and life of the church. A perfecting church also exhibits excitement about the Bible, Biblical teaching and discussion! 🙂

5) Exhibits forgiveness. Church people can really hurt one another, intentionally and unintentionally. A church that is growing can only begin to experience fullness by letting go of the binding pain of the past. I realize it doesn’t mean that people forget what happened, but grudge holding doesn’t move anyone forward.

Again, I would say that there is no perfect church on this side of the resurrection, but we are called to acknowledge and believe in the eternal and constant work of Christ in and through us- bringing His perfection into fruition through the Church on earth.

Genesis 3:8-10

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
⁹ Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”
¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

Yesterday I was listening to commentary about this article in the New York Times. The author was being interviewed about how to talk to patients about weight issues when it is clear that she struggles with this issue herself. She mentioned that it isn’t simply an issue of people feeling shame about being overweight. She said, “If shame would work, we would be the thinnest nation on earth.”

I think about shame a lot. Another pastor I know frequently talks about the loss of shame in our culture as a value and as a shaper of behavior. In recent decades, we have come to view shame as negative, something that doesn’t contribute to our well-being and should be shed and pushed aside.

Shame: the painful feeling arising from the consciousness of something dishonorable, improper, ridiculous, etc., done by oneself or another

Guilt: the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, esp. against moral or penal law; culpability

I think we have moved to embrace guilt because it can more easily be dismissed. If you are (eventually) able to reason that your offense was not real or not as great as you imagined- then you can move forward.

Shame is a different feeling. To admit to being ashamed of one’s self is to acknowledge one’s guilt and the understanding of transgression. Shame is to acknowledge not just the presence of sin in one’s life, but the truth and the reality that one can, does and will sin. When we talk about sin as a separation from God and that we are all guilty of it, we can have some distance from the painful chasm that is created by this separation.

When we honestly admit that our sin, our things done and left undone, have moved us from where God desires us to be and from where we are fully able to understand and grow in relationship with God and with one another. Feeling ashamed of our sin can move us forward into the real confession of bearing our souls (to the One who already knows them) and of embracing the cleansing and creating of a new heart.

Is there a way we can re-incorporate shame in a healthy way into our Christian understanding? It would involve a celebration of knowing that we are fearfully and wonderfully made and, simultaneously, knowing that we take advantage of that fact daily, to our detriment.

I don’t want to endorse a Puritanical notion of shame and constant mea culpa, but I do think there is a place for shame in our lives and in our spiritual self-understanding and practice.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a little hymn sing at church. For many of the hymns I was listening to how many people were singing and enjoying themselves through praising God. We had the church doors open and it was a fantastic service.

Afterwards, someone asked me about the spelling of “recreation”- as in playtime. I spelled it and then noted it was the same as re-creation. That’s when the person pointed out that we sang about God’s “recreation” (playtime) at the end of “Morning Has Broken”.

The last verse of the hymn is:

Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning,
Born of the one light Eden saw play!
Praise with elation, praise every morning,
God’s recreation of the new day.

Now, in my hymnal, re-cre-a-tion is drawn out just like that for singing ease. However, I suppose it could be sung either way. God is re-creating us and the new day, every day and we celebrate that each morning.

On the other hand, I do like the idea of the morning as God’s playtime- the time when there is freshness, opportunity and grace abounding as God walks through the garden.

This is a beautiful arrangement of the song with pictures of lovely animals. They sing “re-creation”.

EZEKIEL 2:1-5; PSALM 123; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-10; MARK 6:1-13

When I was 11 or 12, I thought 16 was a magical age. I dreamed that when I turned 16, I would wake up and have beautiful hair that bounced around my shoulder. I assumed I would have stopped biting my fingernails and they would be long and gorgeous. I thought I would be taller, trimmer and tanner. When that didn’t happen on my 16th birthday, I figured it would on my 18th. 21st? 30th?

Learning to accept how he looks is hardly the thorn in the flesh that Paul describes in today’s reading. We know from his other letters that he wasn’t a terribly good-looking guy and by the time he is sending this letter to the Corinthians- he has been beaten several times and bears the scars of those bruises. In addition to his struggles in mission work, he has been afflicted with some kind of chronic ailment that makes his life a bit difficult.

Lots of hot air and ink have been used to speculate what that ailment might have been. However, Paul reveals that he has prayed several times to be relieved from the pain and since it has not happened, he interprets God’s answer to be “no”. Just as God said no to Moses about entering the Promised Land, to David about healing the first child born to him through Bathesheba and to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Sometimes God does say “no”.

Paul interprets God’s no to mean that God wants him to continue in this situation. Whatever the thorn in his flesh is, Paul comes to see it as God’s way of tempering him and keeping Paul focused on God’s words and God’s mission. As Paul writes and dictates his letters, we see his love and frustration pour out for the congregations he loves, but he has to be held back- so that his zeal does not overwhelm the message that he has been sent to carry. This thorn gives him pause and makes him remember that he is not the one with the power. God is shaping the Corinthians, the Roman church, the Philippians. God’s own grace should be and is sufficient for Paul, for each of these churches and for us. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

What does it mean to be weak? Or, even, what does it mean to boast in weakness? Does it mean that we should brag to one another about our physical or emotional struggles? Or about our hardships? See how the Lord has blessed me with this hardship. Oh, how fortunate for you that God has seen fit to bless you with financial struggle. While we are called and we must remember that God causes all things to work for good for those who love him, we don’t necessarily have to embrace a thorn in our side as a desirable part of life. Inevitable, perhaps. Mysterious, certainly. Desirable, never.

Consider the people of Nazareth in the gospel story. They are blinded by the Jesus they believe they know. Didn’t he make our table? Didn’t he work on your house? Are his brothers miracle workers? Is his mother so special? The shelf he made for me broke after three months of use. They are unable to approach him with faith and, for the most part, he is unable to reveal the glory of God to them.

I do always find that line interesting within the gospel, “And he [Jesus] could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.” So somewhere in the town, there were people who had heard and believed in who Jesus was and the power of God within him.

The unbelief of Nazareth and their rejection of Jesus, however, is the fire stoker that the disciples need. They have struggled with believing who Jesus is and understanding the power source of his abilities. However, when they see his inability to work with the people who have no faith- they are suddenly more clued in and, thus, are able to go out teaching and healing.

They are sent out with very little, but armed with the good news of Jesus Christ, God with us and the whole world. The thorn in their flesh may be their initial uncertainty in what to say, worry about acceptance, ability to heal or cast out demons or any other variety of concerns. Yet God goes out with them and people are healed, fed and the Word is preached.

There are many things that can stop each of us from going out and sharing the gospel. The thorn in our flesh may be that we are not as able to leave the house as we once were, that we are afraid to speak of what we believe, that we worry about what people may think about what we have to say or about us when we say it.

We have an idea of someone to call or to visit or to whom we could send a card, but we worry and then a week or two passes and we try to forget. But the Spirit doesn’t let us. That memory of what we need to do becomes a thorn in our side. And even as we wrestle with God to say we don’t think we can, God says to us as to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
Each of us has been shaped by God-given special and specific gifts. As we age or encounter new difficulties, what God asks of us, specifically, may well change. However, God is still always seeking a relationship with us and a response from us. We look to the cross, where Christ’s own broken body did the reconciling work so that our relationship with God would be healed.

We must carry that knowledge in our hearts, believing that God’s grace is greater than our mistakes and that the Holy Spirit works with us and through us so that we can do the work God desires from us. Jesus is still sending us out, giving us power and preparing people, somewhere, to hear God’s good news. We are called to be like Paul, to persist beyond the thorn in our flesh, and to remember that God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs and for the needs of the whole world- this day and forever. Amen.