Year B
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-12, 21c
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Essential workers\u2026 who are they\u2026 there’s a little bit of blurriness in my timeline\u2026 but early in the pandemic\u2026 perhaps in March or April\u2026 it seemed they were all of the doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers who took care of those sickened by COVID-19\u2026 they were the supply clerks and ward clerks and custodial staff who kept cabinets stocked and medical records updated and hospital rooms clean and sanitized\u2026 they were the nurses and staff in long term care retirement communities who cared for our loved ones\u2026 who scheduled video visits when in-person visits were too dangerous\u2026 who held their hands as they lay dying\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But on May 1st\u2026 and in order to further protect the public health\u2026 Governor Whitmer issued Executive Order No. 2020-70\u2026 it temporarily banned those activities which didn’t directly sustain life\u2026 and it specified those which did\u2026 and so in addition to medical and public health\u2026 and environmental health\u2026 it included things like food and agriculture\u2026 energy\u2026 water and wastewater\u2026 transportation and logistics\u2026 public works\u2026 communications and information technology and news media\u2026 law enforcement\u2026 critical manufacturing\u2026 financial services\u2026 and chemical supply chains\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of these activities don’t seem to impact our lives\u2026 but we’ve got to eat\u2026 and we need electricity and heat\u2026 and many of us have been dependent on the internet for work\u2026 for news and entertainment\u2026 for access to our bank accounts\u2026 things that if they’re not available\u2026 can make sheltering in place much more difficult\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most recently\u2026 essential workers may be the men and women who manufacture vaccines\u2026 and transport them\u2026 and unpack them\u2026 and who answer the phones and answer our questions about vaccinations… and who schedule the vaccines and administer the vaccines and who keep an eye on us for fifteen minutes to make sure none of us has an allergic reaction\u2026 essential workers\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now I’d bet good money\u2026 that all of us were all raised to say “Please.” and “Thank You.”\u2026 but over the past eleven months\u2026 I’ve become so much more aware of how many people serve me\u2026 that I need these people\u2026 that without them I couldn’t accomplish the dozens\u2026 perhaps hundreds of things I need to do\u2026 things named by the Governor to be really essential\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A few weeks ago… I shared something that Martin Luther King, Jr\u2026 wrote in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail\u2026 he said\u2026 in a real sense\u2026 all life is inter-related\u2026 all of us are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality\u2026 tied\u2026 in a single garment of destiny\u2026 that whatever affects one directly\u2026 affects all indirectly<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s the same kind of insight Paul had when he wrote in 1Corinthians 12\u2026 about how the foot cannot say\u2026 because I am not a hand\u2026 I do not belong to the body<\/em>\u2026 or how the ear cannot say\u2026 because I am not an eye\u2026 I do not belong to the body<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the contrary\u2026 the members of the body that seem to be weaker\u2026 <\/em>like grocery store clerks\u2026 are indispensable\u2026 and those members of the body that we think less honorable\u2026 <\/em>like migrant farm workers\u2026 we clothe with greater honor\u2026 and our less respectable members\u2026 <\/em>like sanitation workers\u2026 are treated with greater respect… whereas our more respectable members\u2026 <\/em>like our elected officials\u2026 do not need this\u2026 but God has so arranged the body\u2026 giving the greater honor to the inferior member\u2026 that there may be no dissension within the body\u2026 that the members may have the same care for one another\u2026 so that if one member suffers\u2026 all suffer with him\u2026 and if one member is honored\u2026 all rejoice with her…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus went to Simon Peter’s home\u2026 and Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed and sick with a fever\u2026 we don’t know the name of this woman\u2026 but the fact that she was living with Simon and Andrew likely meant she was a widow\u2026 a person of no value\u2026 but they told Jesus about her\u2026 and immediately\u2026 he went\u2026 and because of her inherent value\u2026 he healed and lifted her up\u2026 and the Greek word from which the phrase\u2026 lifted her up comes\u2026 doesn’t just mean helped her to stand up\u2026 it’s related to resurrection\u2026 it means to arouse from the sleep of death\u2026 now of course this woman wasn’t physically dead\u2026 but Jesus raised her to a new life\u2026 and not simply to fulfill a weaker and less honorable subservient role of making sandwiches\u2026 but to the kind of life\u2026 to which every single one of us are called\u2026 a life of service\u2026 it’s what Jesus meant when he said that he came not to be served… but to serve\u2026 and he raised her to this same kind of new life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It saddens me that we have been unable\u2026 to be together in this place\u2026 and aside from missing each other\u2026 seeing each other\u2026 worshipping and singing together\u2026 shaking each others’ hands or hugging each other at The Peace\u2026 and chatting with each other over real coffee and cake\u2026 many of us think of this place\u2026 as the place\u2026 perhaps the only place\u2026 where we can encounter God\u2026 but Jesus was in Simon Peter’s home\u2026 and Jesus is in our homes too\u2026 and while we’re all still sheltering in place as much as we’re able\u2026 trying to keep the COVID demon at bay\u2026 the love and invitation to wholeness that Jesus offers is in every home\u2026 in every house\u2026 even in the houses where our elected officials meet and work\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n So to answer the question\u2026 who is essential\u2026 everyone is\u2026 there’s no one who’s not\u2026 we are all each of us God’s children\u2026 different as the stars which God counts and names\u2026 undeserving of hate speech\u2026 of conspiracy theories like Jewish lasers in outer space starting wildfires in California\u2026 underserving of overt threats of violence\u2026 or even death\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n After sunset\u2026 when it was a new day\u2026 and when the whole town gathered around the door\u2026 Jesus healed many who were sick with various diseases\u2026 and cast out many demons\u2026 and he would not permit the demons to speak\u2026 because they knew just who he was\u2026 and it makes me wonder\u2026 which voices of division and violence in our time\u2026 are silenced\u2026 because they know the truth\u2026 and which\u2026 because they are afraid of being exposed by the truth\u2026 double down to protect themselves\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dealing with and healing spiritual demons can be exhausting\u2026 and I imagine Jesus feeling pulled thin\u2026 drained\u2026 like when the hemorrhaging woman touched the fringe of his cloak in Luke 8:43-46\u2026 and he noticed that power had gone out from him\u2026 no wonder he got up\u2026 and went off on his own to a deserted place for a while to recharge\u2026 and pray\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And in those quiet times\u2026 God gives power to the faint\u2026 both to Jesus\u2026 and to us\u2026 and strengthens the powerless\u2026 because those who wait for God shall mount up with wings like eagles\u2026 shall run and not be weary\u2026 shall walk and not faint\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n When we’re healed\u2026 we move from unhealthy to healthy\u2026 from dysfunctional to functional\u2026 we cross over boundaries\u2026 so I ask\u2026 what does it feel like to be healed\u2026 and do we know what to do with our healings\u2026 do we know how to respond\u2026 and not just to physical healings\u2026 but to spiritual and psychological ones as well\u2026 what does it look like\u2026 and what would it look like for this country to be healed\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n After he cured so many\u2026 Jesus said\u2026 let’s go on to the neighboring towns\u2026 and throughout Galilee\u2026 so that I may proclaim the message there also\u2026 for that is what I came out to do<\/em>\u2026 and after being raised to new life\u2026 I’m certain that this is what we\u2026 as we are able\u2026 are called out to do too\u2026 Holy God\u2026 make it so\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Isaiah 40:21-31 Psalm 147:1-12, 21c 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 Mark 1:29-39 May the words of my mouth\u2026 O God\u2026 speak your Truth\u2026 Essential workers\u2026 who are they\u2026 there’s a little bit of blurriness in my timeline\u2026 but early in the pandemic\u2026 perhaps in March or April\u2026 it seemed they were all of the doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers who took care of those sickened by COVID-19\u2026 they were the supply clerks and ward clerks and custodial staff who kept cabinets stocked and medical records updated and hospital rooms clean and sanitized\u2026 they were the nurses and staff in long term care retirement communities who cared for our loved ones\u2026 who scheduled video visits when in-person visits were too dangerous\u2026 who held their hands as they lay dying\u2026 But on May 1st\u2026 and in order to further protect the public health\u2026 Governor Whitmer issued Executive Order No. 2020-70\u2026 it temporarily banned those activities which didn’t directly sustain life\u2026 and it specified those which did\u2026 and so in addition to medical and public health\u2026 and environmental health\u2026 it included things like food and agriculture\u2026 energy\u2026 water and wastewater\u2026 transportation and logistics\u2026 public works\u2026 communications and information technology and news media\u2026 law enforcement\u2026 critical manufacturing\u2026 financial services\u2026 and chemical supply chains\u2026 Some of these activities don’t seem to impact our lives\u2026 but we’ve got to eat\u2026 and we need electricity and heat\u2026 and many of us have been dependent on the internet for work\u2026 for news and entertainment\u2026 for access to our bank accounts\u2026 things that if they’re not available\u2026 can make sheltering in place much more difficult\u2026 Most recently\u2026 essential workers may be the men and women who manufacture vaccines\u2026 and transport them\u2026 and unpack them\u2026 and who answer the phones and answer our questions about vaccinations… and who schedule the vaccines and administer the vaccines and who keep an eye on us for fifteen minutes to make sure none of us has an allergic reaction\u2026 essential workers\u2026 Now I’d bet good money\u2026 that all of us were all raised to say “Please.” and “Thank You.”\u2026 but over the past eleven months\u2026 I’ve become so much more aware of how many people serve me\u2026 that I need these people\u2026 that without them I couldn’t accomplish the dozens\u2026 perhaps hundreds of things I need to do\u2026 things named by the Governor to be really essential\u2026 A few weeks ago… I shared something that Martin Luther King, Jr\u2026 wrote in his Letter from the Birmingham Jail\u2026 he said\u2026 in a real sense\u2026 all life is inter-related\u2026 all of us are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality\u2026 tied\u2026 in a single garment of destiny\u2026 that whatever affects one directly\u2026 affects all indirectly\u2026 It’s the same kind of insight Paul had when he wrote in 1Corinthians 12\u2026 about how the foot cannot say\u2026 because I am not a hand\u2026 I do not belong to the body\u2026 or how the ear cannot say\u2026 because I am not an eye\u2026 I do not belong to the body\u2026 On the contrary\u2026 the members of the body that seem to be weaker\u2026 like grocery store clerks\u2026 are indispensable\u2026 and those members of the body that we think less honorable\u2026 like migrant farm workers\u2026 we clothe with greater honor\u2026 and our less respectable members\u2026 like sanitation workers\u2026 are treated with greater respect… whereas our more respectable members\u2026 like our elected officials\u2026 do not need this\u2026 but God has so arranged the body\u2026 giving the greater honor to the inferior member\u2026 that there may be no dissension within the body\u2026 that the members may have the same care for one another\u2026 so that if one member suffers\u2026 all suffer with him\u2026 and if one member is honored\u2026 all rejoice with her… Jesus went to Simon Peter’s home\u2026 and Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed and sick with a fever\u2026 we don’t know the name of this woman\u2026 but the fact that she was living with Simon and Andrew likely meant she was a widow\u2026 a person of no value\u2026 but they told Jesus about her\u2026 and immediately\u2026 he went\u2026 and because of her inherent value\u2026 he healed and lifted her up\u2026 and the Greek word from which the phrase\u2026 lifted her up comes\u2026 doesn’t just mean helped her to stand up\u2026 it’s related to resurrection\u2026 it means to arouse from the sleep of death\u2026 now of course this woman wasn’t physically dead\u2026 but Jesus raised her to a new life\u2026 and not simply to fulfill a weaker and less honorable subservient role of making sandwiches\u2026 but to the kind of life\u2026 to which every single one of us are called\u2026 a life of service\u2026 it’s what Jesus meant when he said that he came not to be served… but to serve\u2026 and he raised her to this same kind of new life\u2026 It saddens me that we have been unable\u2026 to be together in this place\u2026 and aside from missing each other\u2026 seeing each other\u2026 worshipping and singing together\u2026 shaking each others’ hands or hugging each other at The Peace\u2026 and chatting with each other over real coffee and cake\u2026 many of us think of this place\u2026 as the place\u2026 perhaps the only place\u2026 where we can encounter God\u2026 but Jesus was in Simon Peter’s home\u2026 and Jesus is in our homes too\u2026 and while we’re all still sheltering in place as much as we’re able\u2026 trying to keep the COVID demon at bay\u2026 the love and invitation to wholeness that Jesus offers is in every home\u2026 in every house\u2026 even in the houses where our elected officials meet and work\u2026 So to answer the question\u2026 who is essential\u2026 everyone is\u2026 there’s no one who’s not\u2026 we are all each of us God’s children\u2026 different as the stars which God counts and names\u2026 undeserving of hate speech\u2026 of conspiracy theories like Jewish lasers in outer space starting wildfires in California\u2026 underserving of overt threats of violence\u2026 or even death\u2026 After sunset\u2026 when it was a new day\u2026 and when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1129","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1129"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1130,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1129\/revisions\/1130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}