Gathered Around the Cross

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

November 25, 2018

Pastor Robert McCarty

Gathered Around the Cross

Preaching Texts: Revelation 1: 4-8   John 18: 33-37

My sermon began musing about whether or not Pilate had a throne. Technically, Pilate served as a governor in the Roman Empire. But Herod, who had a similar role, would call himself a king. Kings have thrones, which serve as in important symbol of their power. Caesar probably had a throne, back in Rome. Thrones remain in the throne room and they do not move. People come and gather around the king and his throne. They bring gifts, they make requests, they pledge loyalty both to the king and to the one who sits in the throne.

As we consider Christ our King, I noted that among the symbols of Christ that we have in our worship space, we omit a throne. Revelation describes a throne in the heavenly kingdom and those who gather around the throne. We believe--more than believe, we have confidence--that one day we too will gather around this throne, but not yet. We gather around the cross, which marks the intersection between God's heavenly kingdom and the earthly realm. 

We have a large beautiful stained glass cross behind the altar of our worship space and when we come and worship we gather around this cross. We also have a processional cross that we can move about and gather around wherever we might be. When we worship in our fellowship hall, we often move this cross downstairs to that space. If we held a worship at Gypsy Hill Park, we could take our cross there. We could even take our cross to Thousand Oaks, California, and hold worship their in the midst of the charred landscape of the recent wild fires. We could do that, but we also can realize they already have a cross out at Thousand Oaks, which is home to California Lutheran University. The Lutherans have a presence in the midst of these fires and the facilities of California Lutheran University served as temporary shelter for people displaced by the fires. 

[From this introduction I transitioned to a side trip that my family took while in California over the Thanksgiving Holiday. I have rewritten this section to include in a VA Synod Newsletter and include the revised portion below rather than my original sermon copy. I have also included some pictures.]

The McCarty family spent Thanksgiving with Elizabeth’s brother who lives in West Hollywood, California. And because Jamison’s dream school is on the beach, we drove north on CA Highway 101 to check out University of California at Santa Barbara. CA 101 goes right through Thousand Oaks, home to California Lutheran University and one set of the wild fires that burned earlier this month (November). Nothing was burning Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We saw no smoke nor anything smoldering, but we saw scarred remnants of trees and brownish black burnt ground.

At times along the way, we saw places where the highway must have served as a firebreak. The right side of the highway held  charred remnants of vegetation and the left side of the highway showed untouched vegetation, as well as a scattering of trees with withered leaves that dried out from the heat of the fire but did not burn away. The contrast between green vegetation and burnt land created a striking image.

Outside of these visuals, life seemed to move along at a normal pace. Sun shined bright in the vivid blue sky. The highway gave us full use of all the lanes. We stopped at a Burger King in Camarillo California at that wonderful 30 minute time when they served both breakfast and lunch. They seemed to have a full menu.

I took these pictures while riding along--in the passenger seat in case you were wondering. (I wasn’t driving and taking pictures at the same time.) I quickly snapped a picture of Thank You messages on an overpass, including one where the artist replaced the O in “You” with a big red heart. A timely reminder that in times of stress and tragedy, people find ways and take the time to say “Thank You.”—to first responders, to those who show compassion and to God the Creator. Also, in these times, the efforts of a few to say thank you often speak for the whole community. (After mentioning this sign during my Sunday morning sermon, I would see it that afternoon in a television commercial during the Steelers game.)

Through all of this, the Lutherans have had an active and caring presence through one of our ELCA colleges. California Lutheran University. Their facilities provided shelter to people displaced from their homes by the fires. Also, you may remember at the beginning of the month, a mass shooting took place at a nearby dance club. The counseling psychological services at CLU made available a helpful handout “When People Don’t Get it” for those coping with either of these tragedies. The handout helps identify the stresses of coping and the importance in caring for yourself. The advice offers wisdom to people in a variety of circumstances and reminds all who read it, “You are valuable and important.”

Amen

The Holy Spirit Re-Forms Us Still Today

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

October 28, 2018

Pastor Robert McCarty

The Holy Spirit Re-FORMs Us Still Today

Preaching Texts: Jeremiah 31: 31-34   John 8: 31-36

[Paragraph added to address violence at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA.]  The Christian Church has an obligation to speak clearly against hate in God’s creation. This week our nation saw two acts of violence motivated by hate in the sending of bombs through the mail to respected political voices and even more sadly another mass murder happening in a house of worship. Apparently, that attack was not just directed at a synagogue but also directed at Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. This group, similar to Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services, assists people from all places and all faith backgrounds who come to make a home for themselves in America. Our Judeo-Christian scripture teaches that the foreigner in our midst deserves our care and protection. We cannot tolerate hate and need to speak up and speak against intimidation with words before it leads to intimidation with violence. God calls us to show compassion not just to the stranger but also to the foreigner in our midst.

Pray with me.  [Come Lord Jesus...]

We wear the red of reformation. That red gives us identity on this Sunday. The ELCA has two tag lines that give shape to our national identity as the Lutheran Church. “God’s Work, Our Hands.” This one may actually serve as a simple mission statement that gives identity to how we function as church. We serve. My sermon last week, my newsletter message and my annual report embrace this call to Christian service. The ELCA wants the nation and the world to recognize that God calls us into a life of compassion and service.

On this Reformation Sunday, however, the second tag line catches my attention and I share that with you. “Always being made New” comes from our recent Campaign for the ELCA. “Always being made New,” I asked Brenda to use this as the artwork for our bulletin cover. You will notice the shift in font types. From the classic serif style font with feet and ligatures to the bold and crisp “New” font. The Holy Spirit lives in constant activity of re-NEW-ing and re-FORM-ing the church and especially, our church.

“Always being made new” however, is a hard sell in a Lutheran Church. It sounds like something close to “change.” How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb. Two answers to this joke. How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? “What Change No.” 

Or 

How many Lutherans does it take to change a lightbulb? Five. One to change the lightbulb and four to lament the loss of the lightbulb and comment on how much better old lightbulbs are than the newer ones. As far as lightbulbs, I agree with that sentiment, but so be it.

Have you ever noticed how the Lutheran Church uses the word Reformation. We have a word that describes the Holy Spirit re-form-ing us. “Re-form” describes Holy Spirit lead activity: forming, forming, forming again, re formed. Have you noticed how the Lutheran Church has taken this Holy Spirit lead verb and turned it into a dated noun that points backwards rather than forwards. We need to let go of “Reformation” as something Martin Luther did and embrace Reformation as an activity of the Holy Spirit even today. Reform is not something that has happened. Reform happens still today, even today.

“The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” That verse from Jeremiah begins our scripture reading for today. That new covenant, a new promise (and frankly a new relationship with God) begins with Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus brings to this covenant forgiveness and reconciliation, life and light, healing and hope. As we help people build this new relationship with God and with Jesus, we speak the truth of Christ and scripture when we speak in terms of forgiveness, reconciliation, life, light, healing and hope. 

It would flow nicer if I could have created alliteration in the first pairing of forgiveness and reconciliation. I have two L words: life and light. I have two H words: healing and hope. Obviously, Forgiveness and Reconciliation do not line up. I thought about Forgiveness and Freedom, because both show up in our scripture reading. When you experience freedom however, you become free from something. Freed from tyranny for example, as our American Revolutionary forefathers went through. Freedom from slavery speaks to our African American brothers and sisters and their ancestors. It also speaks to the Israelites, who try to deny it. Abraham’s children were slaves in Egypt. Freedom from tyranny, freedom from slavery, freedom from sin. Freedom is separation from that which is bad and life denying. Freedom still holds great importance in our life. But what are we are freed? This is more important. We are freed for reconciliation. While we are freed from something, we are reconciled to someone, specifically you are reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. That is much more important. God re-forms your lives as forgiven and reconciled people who do not need violence in order to survive. This truth changes lives. 

I read this week about the church response to the opioid epidemic. And I found this story about David in Missouri. David abused opioids for 24 years, went through rehab several times, 12 step programs several times, went to jail. He had a troubled youth, experienced abuse, and had a father who completed suicide. Opioids offered him an out. He was an atheist as well, an annoying one who liked to belittle Christians. But his Christian friends kept at him and he eventually gave in because they offered him (this is a quote). “live music and BBQ after church and I like to eat.” That lead to regular worship and Celebrate Recovery meetings for 6 months and new relationships. After 24 years of addiction, David hasn’t used in 8 years. Freed from addiction and reconciled to friends and to God.

David now works in recovery not-for-profits. He distributes Narcan, which is life saving medication that reverses opioid overdoses. Some Christian doctors call Narcan “grace in a syringe.” “The dead live. A sin is forgiven, The hopeless receive hope.” All three of those mantras together describe what it means to be “re-formed.” David “distributes Narcan to community organizations throughout the state and trains people how to recognize an overdose and save a life. He told Christianity Today magazine, “When a pastor or a Christian asks me, you know, ‘Why do I need this?’(my note: Narcan) I tell them, ‘Because dead people don’t get saved.’”

David’s life was re formed by the Holy Spirit and by Christ. A dramatic story of how reformation works today. Think about this, live music, and bbq and friends and Christ but has saved a multitude of additional lives in the state of Missouri. Here are the national statistics. In 2015, 47,000 people died because of opioid overdoses, but another 26,000 people lived because of someone had the syringe of Narcan handy and knew what to look for and what to do.1

Much as changed about the church over the years. Even today, whether we like it or not, we are “always being made new.” But, both before and after this newness we remain committed to life for all of the children of God. That is not just a Lutheran calling; that serves as a Christian calling that we live out with our compassion.

Amen

1 Quotes above and statistics from “Hope for America’s Opioid Epidemic is Grace in a Syringe” by Lindsay Stokes in Christianity Today, August 15, 2017. From www.ChristianityToday.com

Kingdom Building

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

October 7, 2018

Pastor Robert McCarty

Kingdom Building

Preaching Texts: Mark 10:  2-16

Every week, just about every week, I live with a gospel text and other pieces of scripture. I live with them daily. Read them, try to listen to what God wants to say. I am called to read this text as part of a community of faith. This week I have had to live with the Psalm verse “O Lord, Our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!/You whose glory is chanted above the heavens out of the mouths of infants and children.” I have lived with that psalm verse alongside of Jesus convicting us. “It is because of your hardness of heart.” With those words, Jesus convicts us. Jesus points out the brokenness of our community.

By the way, don’t be distracted by the divorce topic. Jesus addresses the Pharisees because they ask that question. But then we see the disciples hardness of heart towards children, Jesus gets indignant to them as well. 

Let the children come. Children anticipate the Kingdom of God which is not broken. Hardness of heart means more than just a failed marriage. Hardness of heart means failed communities, if not failed certainly broken communities. Discord. Unrest. Think Charlottesville last year. Or less traumatically think Lexington when the Martin Luther King Jr. parade was scheduled for the same day as the Lee Jackson parade.

I could not help but wonder how many laws lie in the scripture because of our hardness of heart. I guess most of them, people steal because of hardness of heart, a disregard for people and property. Thou shall not covet. Honor thy parents. Remember the Sabbath. All of this has to do with hardness of heart.

One might find it difficult to understand hardness of heart. We see it in others more than we see it in ourselves. Thomas Aquinas, a 12th Century Christian priest and scholar, summarized that all sin stems from self-love, placing our own selves ahead of others and of God. Yet, slowly we learn how to expand our sense of self to include others. Aquinas recognized this complication, that self-love helps us to love others as we expand our sense of who we are. Families would be one natural extensions as well as a church family or friends (another extension), and then perhaps communities or nation or God. Hardness of heart then might begin at that limit where we can no longer stretch ourselves. When we start putting boundary lines on our own sense of community. Hardness of heart begins when we start placing people outside of our limits.

So consider this. The old testament has a law about leaving the corners of your field unharvested for the poor and the widow and the foreigner in your midst. So that they can glean from the corners and have food to eat. That law set precedence for our understanding of charitable giving. Not just supporting the church with our tithe but also caring for the poor in our midst. 

Yet that law, also helped the landowner expand his sense of self. The crops on his land helped to support him, his family, including perhaps mother, brothers and sisters, but also his hired laborers were part of his sphere of concern who benefited from the land. And then because of the corners and the edges of the field, landowners out in their fields would see the gleaners coming and would or at least could treat them with compassion.

In that act of leaving the edge and corners of the field unharvested, God has the farmer expand who he cares for. Care leads to relationship, relationship leads to concern, concern leads to compassion, compassion leads to love. (Well, maybe not love. I would settle for compassion.) Through these fields, God brings into community people that the landowner might otherwise not invite. Through these fields and their edges and corners, God builds community including those whom we might be tempted to keep out. Except, we do not have such fields anymore to expand our sense of self.

Our community right now is broken. This high school name situation has hardened our heart. I have walked with both sides of the issue. And the grief on both sides is powerful, deeply felt hurt and grief. I went to one of the listening sessions over at the Gypsy Hill Park gym this summer. There I heard the language of grief and anger, and concern and compassion. At the listening session, people, even the angry ones, chose their words carefully, politely. I mentioned that I went to the prayer worship last Friday with the African American pastors of our community. That is one of my roles as pastor, to walk alongside people in the midst of their grief. I will say that the leaders offering prayers last week did an admirable job of choosing their words carefully. They set aside their pain and their rhetoric and strived to offer prayers for our civic leaders, mayor, school board, children, that everyone could say "amen” to.

Our common prayer in Staunton, as we struggle through our brokenness, don’t let us be like Charlottesville. Charlottesville was in the news again this week as the federal government arrested four men from California and charged them with inciting violence. We pray don’t let that happen here. Three people died last year in Charlottesville, one pedestrian and two police officers whose helicopter crashed.

Perhaps that imagery helps us understand Jesus’ death as a cure to the brokenness. That Jesus died so that others would not have to. Jesus died so that his blood would have power to soften our hearts. And somehow make our brokenness something other than a competition between future winners and future losers. That we together could grieve for him and hope in him.

Maybe you saw this in the news last weekend. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee State in a game of football. And after the game, the teams from both sides met at midfield to pray for Christion Abercrombie. Abercombie, a linebacker at Tennessee State collapsed with a headache and was rushed to the hospital nearby and as of Thursday was still in ICU. I showed the picture of the post game prayer at midfield to our small group prayer study on Tuesday. R-- mentioned that some teams come together before games to pray. That is what happened yesterday when Tennessee State played Austin Peay. I have seen soccer teams gather for prayer before games. 

Jesus and prayer has the power to break down the boundaries of us and them. Jesus and prayer has the power to expand our sense of self, to help recognize the humanity in all of us. Jesus and prayer has the power to soften our hearts towards one another.

Jesus sees the brokenness in the community that surrounds him. He names the problem. The Pharisees, sadly continue their journey with Jesus to the cross as adversaries. The disciples stand corrected and journey with Jesus to the cross with their hearts softened. At the cross they will abandon him, but then later have their grief turn to joy as they gather around their living Lord. And that joy of Jesus overflows into the world throughout time. You are here today because you know that joy is stronger than your grief. You are here with one another, and with Jesus, building an eternal and universal community to be a part of the kingdom of God. As that Kingdom is not broken, Jesus says “let the children come.” Let all of God’s children come.

Amen

Life's Most Embarrassing Moments

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

July 15, 2018

Pastor Robert McCarty

Preaching Texts: Mark 6:  14-29

Herod liked to listen to John. Sometimes (often typically) you benefit by listening to people who will share with you opinions different from your own. That once stood as a mark of friendship: the willingness to listen to that which you did not want to hear. Herod liked to listen to John, the prophet from God Almighty. Herod goes and listens to John. Maybe we should give him credit. T-- M--- and I went to the afternoon listening session on Tuesday about the school name change. We went to listen. (I will just say this.) Everyone gave respect to whoever was speaking that afternoon and allowed their voice to be heard. "Please lord, don’t let us be like Charlottesville." I think that was our common prayer. 

Now, Herod went and listened to John, he would sit there and listen. Still, that reality aside, I do not want to be like Herod. I do not want to be like Herod in that I do not want my most embarrassing moment, my most shameful moment, to be global news for the world to hear and recorded for all time. For Herod, son of Herod, we would have to expect that this would be one of many shameful moments, one of many sinful moments, but this moment makes him notorious. Immediately, he senses the awkwardness of what his wife’s daughter asks him to do. He faces a damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t moment. And he chooses the worse of the alternatives. Herod needed someone besides John to listen to.

Perhaps I should be interested in the sin of Herod’s activities and deride his wonton disregard for human life. Few of us can relate to that level of depravity. Embarrassment and public embarrassment is something most of us have been through. Maybe not to this scale. (Hopefully, not to this scale.)

I heard this embarrassing moment on radio. Thankfully, for the person involved, the Associated Press report omitted his name. A homeowner in Helsinki Finland mowing his lawn saw a snake in his yard. Not liking snakes, he doused it in gasoline to burn it. As this homeowner doused the snake, he splattered gasoline on his lawnmower that was still hot from recent use. So the gasoline ignited on the lawn mower and caught the side of his house on fire. By the time the fire trucks arrived, fire had worked its way up to the roof and attic. Seventeen thousand dollars worth of damage to the exterior of the house. No word in the news report on whether or not the snake survived.  Fortunately no one hurt, and the fire never cracked into the interior of the house, but the story made global news. I am glad I am not that person.

This happened end of last month 4,400 miles away. This is what we do not want happening, we do not want something stupid that we do going from bad to worse and people laughing about it or moaning about it 4,000 miles away. And we certainly don’t want video of it posted onto Facebook. 

So why my high school classmate did that to one of his neighbors last week, I have no idea. At least he didn’t post the name of the neighbor on Facebook. Every summer at my high school alma mater, they host a community days festival. Different churches and not-for-profits set up food booths to raise funds, or sponsor carnival games. Fire companies walk around with boots for donations. Carnival rides spend the week. Musical groups and local dance classes perform on stage. A community worship is held. Then on the closing night, Saturday, they host what is typically the biggest firework display in the county.

On July 4th they don’t have fireworks, but, of course, people set off their own fireworks, including C---’s neighbor. Some of you have done this. Or your husbands or sons or fathers have launched their own fireworks. So this neighbor launched his own firework and it landed on his own roof and set the roof on fire. And the emergency dispatch goes out and all of the fire companies that were at Community Days Festival have a make shift parade up to the cul-de-sac to put out the roof fire. 

We have all had these moments, where we want to hide under a stone and disappear for twenty-four, forty-eight hours. One of our youth at St. Paul’s in rural NW Pennsylvania, I won’t mention his name, his friend just got his drivers license, so they tied a rope onto the back of the car, found one of those old back rural roads that people rarely use, brought out their skateboards. Car, ropes, skateboards, where do you think this is going? And the friend with the newly minted drivers license pulled his friends on their skateboards down the road—water skiing on macadam with wheels. You can think of a hundred ways this could go bad. No one would have ever guessed that the local officer would drive down that same road and see them. The officer wrote up citations to both the driver and the skier, the skateboarder. The skateboarder was our youth member at St Paul’s. 

Ten days later here comes that youth with his father to our Saturday morning men’s prayer breakfast. R--, a man my age also with a teen-age son, welcomes the youth with words similar to these, “Hey M—, cops caught me doing the same thing when I was your age. Rather than a ticket, he took me home to my Dad, and he smacked my butt.” He said it with a chuckle in good humor. He put what none of us would have said on the table. He spoke the elephant in the room in such a way that we were laughing at R-- and the youth together.

Been there, done that. You are not alone. There but the grace of God go I. It makes a difference. Unless you have done something stupid like Herod, whatever you have done, odds are someone else has done it as well. Someone probably that you know. You are not alone.

Perhaps handling these embarrassing moments would be easier, if we all lived out our most embarrassing moment of the year on the same day—a day like April Fool’s day. Then we could all get together April 2nd and commiserate. 

"What did you do?" 

"Set my roof on fire with a firework." 

"Really, I set my garage on fire with a turkey fryer."  

"What did you do?" 

"I got a tattoo that I already have doubts about." 

"I put buck shot in the back side of my good friend."

Remember when Vice President Dick Cheney did that 12 years ago. It was easier to make jokes about that on late night TV because no one actually died. That’s not always the case. What other things might people confess on that hypothetical April 2nd, the day after. Life’s most embarrassing moments, arrested for DUI, caught involved with insider trading. "I am pregnant and my husband is away"— that was Bathsheba’s moment with King David. Or remember Enron Energy Corporation, how that company just melted away with thousands of retirement accounts lost.

Even typical moments feel huge when you think you go through them alone: failed a test, wrecked the car, received divorce papers, got caught sleeping on the job, fired from a job, got caught shoplifting, wrecked the car. Sometimes you wreck the car because you ran through the stop sign. Sometimes you wreck the car because Herod drove through a stop sign. Sometimes our most embarrassing moments are full of sin, but not always. Sometimes it is just stupidity, and sometimes it is just the unlucky stupid way in which a bad moment gets worse and becomes legendary.

Poured gasoline on a snake and set the house on fire.  

Shot a firework into the air and the wind blew it on on my roof. 

Had a party where my step daughter danced, then made her a promise that I know now I should have broken. 

We all go through embarrassing moments and sinful moments; I cannot shield you from that. Maybe it would be easier if we went through them all at the same time. Then the healing would (could) come quicker. And maybe if we all went though these moments at the same time, we would be less likely to judge others and with quicker intentionality move to forgive. 

That is what we do just about every week during confession; we put our most embarrassing, our most regrettable, even our most sinful moment out for God to see, knowing that we are not alone. And we confess knowing that God will not laugh at us the way our good friends might. God might frown, maybe swallow a chuckle, but you know God will wipe that sin away, reassure you and tell you, “be better this week.”

I do not know whether or not Herod’s sin was forgiven. I know he showed willingness to listen. I would imagine if Jesus was there to listen to, things might have turned out differently for John and for Herod. It is not that your sin is as great as Herod’s. But small sins can get out of hand and have great levels of embarrassment connected to them. Small sins can give way to moments where your embarrassment feels as great as Herod’s shame should feel.

Ephesians Chapter 1 Verse 7 and a bit of 8: 

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us.”

You heard that text this morning in our second lesson: the lavishness of God’s grace and mercy. Because St. Paul knows (Jesus knows, God knows) that painful embarrassment or sin can only be offset by a powerful amount of grace and life. And that lavish amount of grace and life comes to you today, because you are willing to come (here) hear and listen to Jesus, listen to Holy Words. These divine words (that you know and trust) free you from your sin and lift you up into an overflowing life. Thank you for your willingness to listen. Grace is spoken to you in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Who Are You In The Gospel of Jairus and the Woman?

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

July 1, 2018

Pastor Robert McCarty

Preaching Texts: Mark 5:  21-43

You may have heard in the news about televangelists Pastor Jesse Duplantis request to his members for a Falcon 7x corporate jet—54 million dollars give or take. That hit the news a month ago and Christians and non-Christians alike groaned in disappointment. That said, he will probably get the jet, because he knows to ask. 

In our gospel, Jairus knows to ask as well, though I have a lot more respect for what he asks, for Jesus to come with him and heal his daughter. I have a lot more respect for how he asks, on his knees pleading, begging.

You would recognize Jairus quickly if he lived today. You would recognize him by his car, Mercedes, Lexus, something not necessarily flashy, but sleek and regal, and a vanity plate that says Jar’s Car, because he does not really come across as the creative type, not really the think outside the box type. He sits on the board of his place of worship. He has servants or employees and a large house with an extra room where his daughter can be cared for.  Jairus knows how to get things done. And of course he would have health insurance, the golden platinum type that reassures the hospitals as well as the insured family not to worry. Bills will be paid; family will get better. Back then he had what amounted for health insurance in that he could pay upfront when people asked.

Of course, what good is health insurance when it does not cover pre-existing conditions. That reality plagues our unnamed woman. Everyone knows Jairus by name. This woman, maybe they knew her name as well, (maybe they knew her name a long time ago) but now the Christian world knows her more so for her disease, she’s the one with hemorrhage. Probably back then, you would have talked about her in whispers, even though everyone knows. She use to have money. She spent all that she had on physicians, multiple physicians, some traditional, some alternative. You can just picture all the forms and reams of paperwork she would have to fill out if she lived today, that would be suffering enough. First she suffered, then she endured all the doctor’s offices and bizarre treatments they tried on her, clinical trials, experimental treatments, dietitians with theories. Always she has the hope, this will get better, and then she got worse. Twelve years, spent all her money, only to feel worse. Maybe she use to drive a Mercedes, maybe she use to have his wealth, now she just walks quietly and lets people whisper about her.

These two stories, these two people, collide with Jesus and the crowd that follows him. You hear (you have) these two stories of wealth and woe, of sickness and healing, of public piety and quiet faith. What happens today matters, not just to the people surrounding Jesus and listening to Mark when he first wrote this down. This story matters today, to you and to others not here, because just about everyone wants to be Jairus. Jairus has power and wealth and people. Who would not want that?

I will grant the bit about the Mercedes, I included that to get your attention. Jairus might not have been the first practitioner of the prosperity gospel. But how does that song go, “Oh Lord Won’t You Buy Me a Mercedes Benz? my friends all have Porsches, I must make amends. Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends, So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?” Be reassured, Florence has not added Janis Joplin as a choir anthem for the fall.

Janis Joplin’s song has too much truth in it. We would rather by Jairus than the woman, because we know Jesus will heal his daughter. And most of our prayers sound (something more) like what Jairus prays for, and when it is one of our children or our grandchildren and they are desperate, then we too fall to our knees at Jesus' feet and plead.

Jairus knows how to ask. Jairus knows how to get on his knees and beg. “Please, help me, come with me, save my daughter. I have no one but you.” Jairus knows not to send his people to ask, not to offer money, just to plead out of sincere desperation for the one whom he loves. You know how to do that. You have prayed for those you love. You have got on your knees, folded hands together, closed eyes, shut the door of your room and called out “Are you there God, it’s me… (Margaret, Rob).” You have prayed for the one you have loved. And you hope that if you show this humility, if you pray with your whole being, God will respond and respond quickly.  Like he does for Jairus.

And that is why we want to be Jairus. It is not about his money. It is not about his people or his home. Many of you would rather not have his position in our place of worship. What you deeply want is to know that if or when you get down on your knees and beg Jesus come with you, come with you to the one you love more than life itself, you want that confidence that Jesus will come and cast out whatever ails him or her whom you love.

And truth be told, I suspect Mark wants us all to listen with Jairus’ ears even if we do not have Jairus’ bank account, or power or people or home. Mark wants you to listen with Jairus’ ears because Jesus has something to teach Jairus and to teach you, us. What does Jesus have to teach? This is not a story about healing, this is a story, this is a story about faith that has sustained this woman for 12 miserable years.

Mark does not say anything, but I can only imagine that it tried Jairus’ patience when Jesus stops the crowd to find out who touched him. Smart man, probably thought Jesus was testing him and stayed quiet. “Who touched me?” The disciples spoke what Jairus had to be thinking. “Look at this crowd, how can you say who touched me.” 

With fear and trembling, the markers of divine awe, the woman comes forward and tells Jesus the whole truth. How long do you think that took? For the woman to tell Jesus the whole truth? How long was Jairus there looking at his watch, scared and worried about his daughter. Mark does not tell us. How much detail did the woman give about her disease? How many doctor’s did she describe? What all of this cost her? Does she describe her life before and her life after? How long did Jesus listen to her and love her?

Jesus calls her daughter, which implies Daughter of Abraham. Like Jairus and his daughter the woman before Jesus is of the Jewish faith, who probably over the course of 12 years has offered her own prayers and fallen on her own knees and humbled herself before God and before other priests and rabbis and begged for help. And despite no answer to her efforts over 12 years and no response to her prayers over 12 years, she knows to reach out and touch the chosen one of God. She knows even if I just touch the fringe of his cloak, I will be made well. Even after 12 years of waiting she still consistently turns to God. 

This is what faith looks like. Jesus isn’t testing Jairus, he is teaching. You got it easy all your life and now I am going to go with you and heal your daughter. First Jairus watch and learn, this woman displays what true faith looks like. You can probably count by the fingers of your hand how many times Jairus has asked for something and not gotten it. And so Jesus shows him what faith looks like after 12 years, 12 frustrating years. That is lesson number one. This is not a story about two miraculous healings.  This is a story about one woman’s miraculous faith and we wonder whether or not Jairus gets it. 

That is Jesus' first lesson. You have a second lesson as well. Because Jesus does not call her “daughter of Abraham,” he simply calls the woman “daughter.” Jairus has a daughter, whom we can only imagine he loves more than life itself. Jesus in this story identifies one daughter he has that he loves more than life itself. A daughter for whom Jesus is willing to humble himself, first by acknowledging her touch (a big deal when everyone knows that she is sick). Jesus even for her sake humbles himself to the point of death, even death on the cross. This is one of my children, whom I love more than life itself. She has nothing. I will make her well and grant her peace. Underneath this lesson lies the question, what will you do Jairus for my daughter, for the one who I love? 

You start this story of good news focused on the man of wealth and power and desperation, wanting the blessings that God has given him and wanting the confidence that when you ask, Jesus will go with you. If you listen closely, you end up longing to be the woman, the daughter or the son of Jesus. Your heart felt desire has Jesus pleading for you, take away what ails me, the sickness of sin. Your heart felt desire wants to know that you are the one for whom Jesus dies. Jesus dies for you. Jesus pleads to God that your sin be stricken from you. Jesus gives you his very life. We want to be reassured that Jesus will find some reason to praise our faith and to look on us with love.

None of us have jets. None of us will find a Falcon 7x in our Christmas stocking. You have merely come this day to touch the fringe of Jesus’ garment, a mere whisp of his bodily presence, and that touch and Jesus’ words have made you well and granted you peace.

Amen.

Looking Back and Dreaming Forward

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton VA   

October 29, 2017

Pastor Robert McCarty

Preaching Texts:  John 8: 31-36

Grace and Peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We live in an age of milestones and a time when we like to celebrate and reflect on milestones.  

I say this about milestones in a year when I turned fifty.  Which means ten of my lifetimes takes us back to the reformation.  If you can picture 10 of us up here, a little over or a little younger than fifty, creating a chain of generations back.  Another way of looking at it, my ancestor Timothy McCarty was born in 1750.  He is 7 generations back and about halfway to Luther, so it would take 13 or 14 generations connected to him to get me to Luther’s time period.

My first recognition of that connection in my life to these life changing events of our faith was my confirmation in 1983.  I was confirmed on Reformation Sunday, about two weeks before the 500th anniversary of the birth of Martin Luther on November 10, 1483.  One of the gifts I received was a plate bock from a commemorative stamp put out by the US Postal Service.  Or, this summer I went to a yard sale up in Pennsylvania, and I found a blue plate for $1 sold by Fortress Publishing house.  The plate celebrated the 450th anniversary of the Reformation with the dates 1517 to 1967, the year of my birth.  Ten of my lifetimes get us back to Luther or 14 generations.   

Anyone who is close to my age would remember celebrating two big moments.  Our country celebrated two national parties in my lifetime.  One goes back forty-eight years; the other goes back forty years or 240 years.

The first national celebration occurred when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.  I was two years old at the time.  I don’t remember it, but I know I was alive on July 20, 1969.  You know how we have events that everyone remembers where they were at the time.  Where were you when you heard JFK was shot or where were you when you heard about the Challenger explosion.  The moon walk is one of the most positive events that engendered that response, “I remember where I was when….”  A whole nation gathered around their televisions sets.  Actually they say that 600 million people around the world watched the moonwalk.  Even people in the U.S. who did not have TV sets, they watched with neighbors, or they rented rooms at a nearby hotel so they could see it for themselves.  Six hundred million people around the world—1 in 5, 20 percent of people alive at the time—they watched a grainy black and white images of “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  In a way, Neil Armstrong on the moon completed John F. Kennedy’s legacy to our nation.  

The moon landing was an incredible scientific and technological accomplishment for our nation.  It was inspirational affirmation of the power to dream.  Those were good moments that we like to remember.  And celebrate.  I imagine we will in some way, shape, or form commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon landing in two years.  Maybe they will rebroadcast it on television so that another generation can watch.

The second national celebration happened when our nation had its bicentennial in 1976.  I had just completed third grade, and we had units in 3rd grade where Friday afternoon we would go to a different classroom and work on a project that would teach us about colonial life or our nation’s heritage.  I remember Mrs. Keller’s project.  Mrs. Keller was my teacher.  Rather than focussing on men, she focused on colonial women and keeping a homestead.  She had pictures of butter churns and other household items from the colonial period.  But before she showed us her pictures and samples, she poured a cup of whipping cream into a glass jar, and screwed on a lid.  Then we passed the jar around the circle and took turns shaking the cream until it turned into butter.  Then we ate the butter we made on crackers.  Third grade and food, I remember that.  

Remember.  These events help form us as a community, actually as a nation made up of numerous separate communities.  I remember July 4th 1976, sitting on the street in Fleetwood Pennsylvania and watching antique cars.  I am sure the parade had marching bands and fire trucks, but what I remember is the antique cars.  But of course we were not celebrating antique cars or firetrucks.  We were celebrating the declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, and the American Flag designed by Betsy Ross, and the War of Independence led by George Washington.  And since I lived in Pennsylvania, we also celebrated Benjamin Franklin who is to Philadelphia what Jefferson is to Virginia.  The bicentennial marked a nation remembering how freedom formed us, why these leaders formed a new country and what a great thing that was/is.  But if we believe we have always been free, we become like those who listen to Jesus and believe that they have never been slaves to anyone.  

Our gospel lesson reminds us, that Jesus teaching about being made free, has a lot to do with things forgotten.  The gospel writer John quietly makes a point in this exchange between Jesus and some Jewish faithful that had believed in him.  That while these people living had never been slaves, their ancestors were once slaves in the land of Egypt and that God had called on them to remember.  The story of Exodus in scripture, the practice of the passover celebration, even the keeping of the sabbath, all of these moments of faith connect to a remembrance that we were once slaves in the land of Egypt.  I guess there are some things we want to forget, and in forgetting we think that we heal the pain. But what gets lost in the forgetting is the importance of remembering.  You too need to realize that you have not always been free.  Two hundred forty-one years of independence is truly just a small blip of time in the great chronicles of history.  And freedom once won by others can be lost.  We have forgotten the names of many people who have helped make our nation free.  

Peter Lebo is one of the forgotten names that I hold onto from the founding of our country.  Maybe I’ve told you this story before.  The activities bus for school would drop me off at the church and I would walk through the cemetery to get to our house.  And I would find the path through the line of trees by looking for the grave marker of Peter Lebo.  Peter Lebo had a flag holder next to his grave that marked him as a revolutionary war soldier, and every memorial day they would place a crisp new American flag in his holder.  I have imprinted in me the name of a random 1776 soldier who was connected to the church in which I grew up.  He is connected to my freedom as an American and as a faithful believer in Jesus.  

You have people that helped raise you in the faith and who helped raised your grandparents in the faith, who are as much a part of your celebration of the freedom as our celebration of the reformation.  And frankly at some point in our lives of faith we are connected to martyrs who died for the faith.  Freedom and Reformation goes back to Luther, but it also goes back to countless faithful who dreamed of a future and now rest from their labors.  We make an all inclusive celebration of All Saints day which is November 1.  Actually, originally, All Saints Day stood as a festival day for unknown unnamed martyrs  who died for Christ Jesus but did not get a festival day for themselves.  Like a religious tomb of the unknown soldier.  

Perhaps as we remember Apollo 11 that landed on the moon, it is worth dreaming and reaching for the heavens.  Already, people are dreaming of placing colonies on Mars.  And some have already volunteered to go just to see if it might be possible.     

Reformation, likewise, is not just about the past.  It is also about the future.  The reformation is about freeing people yet to be born from a life of sin.  The reformation is about sharing with people—ordinary people yet to be born and forgotten—the gifts of the church, that even Martin Luther inherited as tools of freedom.  Just like you today, those people have baptism to drown out their sinful life and rise up to new life.  Reformation is people and baptism. Just like you today, people not yet baptized, have holy scripture to place in their hearts, on their tongues and lips and in their ears.  (We have scripture to) teach our minds a common language of faith and freedom.  Reformation is people and scripture.  Just like you today, people not yet born, have the Apostles Creed which connects people today and of the future and of the past, with a common confession of what is true and God who can be counted on as true.  Reformation connects people, a whole lot of people, by a simple creed of faith.  The gift of faith includes the fellowship of faith that teaches people the dream of freedom.  And the tools of freedom include Holy Communion, the sacrament of the table that both conveys forgiveness and a life of true freedom in the kingdom.  

Because of the Reformation we believe that the most important milestones are the ones ahead of us marking where we are heading.  And we believe that we are to use these tools of freedom, these gifts of freedom and faith, liberally to bring about and restore life and to grant forgiveness to people who have not yet perished.  To say “yes God loves you,” that “you have a place in his household forever,” and that “God deeply desires that you be free that  you to be free indeed.”

Amen