The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost, Terry Larson
June 30, 2024, Holy Wisdom Sunday Assembly
Mark 5: 21-43
In Mark’s Gospel, we have a story about two daughters. One was the daughter of a leader of the synagogue. His standing was indicated by the fact he was named by Mark. His name was Jairus. His daughter was deathly ill. He came to Jesus because he’d probably heard of the amazing healing Jesus had done on the Gentile-side of the Sea of Galilee. When Jesus crossed over the lake to the Jewish-side Jairus boldly sought him out on behalf of his dying child.
The other daughter was an indigent woman who had tried everything to have her terrible hemorrhaging stopped. She had no status, no standing, not named by Mark other than the name Jesus gave her: daughter! She came to Jesus surreptitiously through the cover of the crowd.
This story identifies contrasts…daughter of a wealthy leader with social standing, daughter who was an outcast of society because of her bleeding; a daughter who has a powerful advocate, and one who is alone in her devastating, life-draining illness. But these stories also indicate the connection they both have through the touch of Jesus…one touching his garment, and the other being touched by Jesus. Jesus unifies them in a remarkable way. According to Gospel writer Mark, when Jesus identified the woman’s incredible faith and named her ‘daughter,’ there was word that came from the leaders house that the child had died. Jesus then told the leader, ‘Don’t fear, only believe.’ ….. just as the woman had done. In Jesus’ presence, in Jesus’ touch, there was connection between them, not only healing but an uncommon, unanticipated unity!
In Christ’s presence, in Christ’s touch there is connection between us too. There is a unity which we have, which we certainly need in these times. We have that union, that connection also in remarkable ways.
When I first started attending Sunday Assembly, I was still a part-time pastor in a Lutheran parish. My mode of leading worship was to march through the liturgy. ‘Be Prepared’ was the motto I learned as a Boy Scout, and that’s why I was always prepared jump up to do the next thing after the readings, after the hymns … no dead air on my watch! When attending worship at Sunday Assembly it wasn’t like that. Pauses, silence, quiet…Benedictines are different I thought. Silence is a Benedictine value! I grew to like silence, these intentional pauses because I believed it gave me time to reflect on how that reading, or psalm, or hymn impacted my relationship with Christ.
But as my spirituality has evolved, that silence, though it is still personally nurturing, is a time when I experience how Christ connects me to this body, to this community and how we are joined to one another. In this quiet worship time without words, without music we are connected to the children who are making children-sounds, we are connected to people we know well, and those who we don’t know at all…yet. It’s sacramental, it’s unifying, as Christ touches us and joins us with one another in that calming, centering time.
We welcome you new members to Sunday Assembly today. Yes, we feel related to you already in Word, Sacrament, and silence. But we are hungry to get to know you. I use that word because I have a Robin’s nest with two hatchlings next to my front door. When the parent comes to nest with a piece of worm or insect, the babies s-t-r-e-t-c-h their necks toward that food. We too are hungry to stick our necks out to hear your stories, to be shaped by your presence with us, to be touched by Christ through you.
We do that because we need each other. It’s pretty frightening to look at the unknown personal, political, cultural future alone. I went to the baseball game of Jack, my 6-year-old across-the-street-neighbor last week. His parents were their along with Jack’s five siblings, the youngest of whom is Dominic, age two. Dominic wasn’t much interested in the game but there’s a playground in the baseball complex with a towering slide where he wanted to hang out. Natalie, an 12-year-old family friend took him to the slide, helped him get up all the steps to the top. Dominic was insistent to go down the slide by himself so Natalie went first. She waited at the bottom…called for him to come down. He didn’t come. She was worried that some child who was behind him in line would push him so she scrambled up the long, covered, twisting slide. Moments later, Dominic came sliding down sitting next to her smiling. There are so many terrific examples of the line we heard from the book of Wisdom this morning: ‘the generative forces of the world are wholesome.’ I don’t think Natalie would readily identify herself as a ‘generative force’ of Christ’s touch, of Christ’s love to Dominic but in my mind she certainly was.
I’m like Dominic. I don’t want to slide down into the precarious future alone. Christ touches us through the presence of others, the presence of this community who join us in the winding path of life. Together we have healing from our isolation, and wholeness for our lives in Christ’s touch through others.
Amen.
Let us now in silence to feel Christ’s touch through the presence of this community……