"Power in the Blood" - Healing Power.

Scripture: 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 8:7-15; Mark 5:21-43


"This week's passage contains two stories that are, for very good reason, woven into one. Just as the sea crossings hold more meaning than might first appear, this narrative of healing and restoration of life is full of contrasts and connections that weave the two incidents together tightly. You might say that these two incidents together help us to understand each of them. They both involve women in crisis – in fact, we don't know them by their names but by their needs – both "daughters" of Abraham, not outsiders to begin with but now both subject to the taboos around the mysterious power of life (blood) and the even more mysterious (and seemingly unconquerable) power of death. Neither a bleeding woman nor a dead girl should be touched, at the risk of conveying their uncleanness to others." And yet Jesus, God's love and compassion incarnate, touches us, or allows us to touch him. We reach out in faith, forgetting, or in spite of our fear, and receive life from him.


"Another theme that runs throughout these stories is really a way of describing that reception: faith, or no faith. Faith, or fearfulness. Faith, or confusion or hard-headedness or maybe even hard-heartedness. 

Our text this week sits on that point between faith and fear as it tells us two stories in one, both of them taking place on "this" side of the sea, after Jesus has returned from Gentile territory where he was (perhaps politely but definitely with fear) asked to leave. Fear, not rejoicing, was the response of the people who witnessed the spectacular and very public healing of a man who had unclean spirits; surprisingly, they didn't flock to Jesus in hope of more miracles. In contrast, the former demoniac wanted to leave everything behind and follow him. In this case, we get to hear about what happens later to someone whom Jesus has healed, and how his life has been transformed: he goes about the countryside telling everyone what Jesus had done for him, "amazing everyone." 


Barbara Brown Taylor and Frederick Buechner have both written beautiful sermons on this text, and they bring the scene alive before our eyes. Buechner is tender as he puts us in the place of the little girl, as Jesus speaks to us, taking our hand and telling us to rise up and live: "You who believe, and you who sometimes believe and sometimes don't believe much of anything, and you who would give almost anything to believe if only you could….'Get up,' he says, all of you – all of you!" Jesus gives life not only to the dead, but to those of us who are "only partly alive…who much of the time live with our lives closed to the...wild beauty and miracle of every day we live and even of ourselves." That, Buechner says, is the power at the heart of this story and all of our stories: "the power of new life, new hope, new being" ("Jairus's Daughter" inSecrets in the Dark: A Life in Sermons). Whether we take notice or not, miracles happen around us every day, and "every single breath we take," Taylor writes, "is a free surprise from God. Faith does not work miracles. God does." And every miracle, she says, gives a taste of the reign of God that is to come ("The Problem with Miracles" in Bread of Angels)."


~ The above was taken from The Rev. Kathryn Matthews Huey in Reflection on Healing Powers.


This brings to mind the old hymn by Lewis E. Jones, 1999 - "There's Power in the Blood"


Refrain:


There is pow'r, pow'r, 
wonder working pow'r 
In the blood 
of the Lamb; 
There is pow'r, pow'r, 
wonder working pow'r 
In the precious 
blood of the Lamb.

"Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Scripture: Job 38:1-11; Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41


In last week's readings, the First Book of Samuel told the story of the youngest, smallest son being lifted up to lead the whole nation, and the Gospel of Mark recounted the parables of Jesus about the tiny mustard seed growing into a mighty tree. This week, the stories continue but seem to take a sudden turn, from quiet and promising to things much more disturbing and dramatic, with a measure of violence as well.

In First Samuel, little David defeats Goliath with an impressive confidence in God's help that illustrates what faith truly is, that is, trust that God is, at all times, good and, always, near at hand: David believes that he has never faced anything alone.


Young David is in stark contrast to the disciples in the boat with Jesus, in the midst of a storm that frightens even these seasoned fishermen. They"feared a great fear." They had seen great things Jesus had done. If they did not doubt his ability to save him, did they doubt that he cared? And who can fault the disciples for being afraid, too? We know fear ourselves, from our personal dread of illness, suffering, death (our own and that of our loved ones), and the emotional suffering of loss and loneliness, to the shared anxiety we have about terrorism, war, environmental damage, and economic troubles.


In her "Reflections," Kathryn Huey asks us "Is your church small, like David? Do you feel that your life, and the life of your church, is more like that boat, rocking on the stormy sea? Where do you ground your confidence? Do you feel small and powerful, or small and weak? Is your church or are you personally filled with power and security? In what do you ground your faith? Do you ever have hints of the awesome power of God, even when God seems near and tender and caring for you? What might this God require of you and your church?

In "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing," The Rev. Rick Morley tells us "God never, ever, ever promises that nothing bad will ever happen. God never promises smooth sailing and blue skies every day. If you think that God promises this, you haven’t read your Bible lately. What God does promise is that when the world comes crashing down, God is right there with us. Jesus is there with us, in the sinking boat."

In "Does Jesus Care?" The Rev. Dr. Lewis Galloway quotes Diogenes Allen from his book,  Theology for a Troubled Believer: "In addition to discovering our place in God's universe [as material beings, vulnerable injury, illness, decay and death], Allen describes a second step: trusting in God's loving care enables us 'to experience God in the midst of suffering.'"

Why do you think this account of the violence, fear, doubt, and vulnerability of the disciples is related to us by the author of the gospel of Mark? What does it teach us personally, and us as a church? What does it teach us about the Teacher?

What Good Fathers Know: Reflections on the Seed Parables

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 and Psalm 20 (Track 2: Ezekiel 17:22-24 and Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14);2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17; Mark 4:26-34


This Sunday is Father's Day. Professor Alyce M. McKenzie tells us that Jesus' seed parables provide good lessons for fathers, and for all of us as we l;earn to live with the guidance and companionship of the Advocate, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. Jesus called us his friends before his ascension, and prayed intimately for us to be one, holy, catholic or universal, and apostolic - live as called out from the world to bring the good news of new life in God's forgiving love.


In "What Good Fathers Know:Reflections on the Seed Parables" McKenzie  tells us :"... the job of parent is to plant and nurture seeds ... For starters, these parables remind fathers that it's not all up to them. They have help from beyond themselves.Some parents are too controlling and want to tell the seed exactly what kind of plant to become. Some parents are too lax and don't help create good conditions for the seeds to grow. While other parents are like the sower in the parable of the growing seed, they sow and wait with patience." 


What do Mark's seed parables have to say about growing the church under all kinds of circumstances?


Jesus' parables tell us to expect the in-breaking of God's kingdom into our every-day lives. John R. Donahue tells us to "look beyond what we see to what we hope for." That's what loving fathers do with regard to their children. McKenzie tells us:


 "We 21st-century types want our lives to be full of successes and significance. We want our children to be impressive to the world around us. Jesus calls on us to have more patience with and respect for failure, hiddenness, and insignificance. They point beyond themselves toward the reality of the kingdom of God already in our midst. There is a message there for all of us in our relationships with one another today, not just fathers."


In "Just a Seed. Just a Kid. Just a Church," Joel Shuman considers the choice of the young shepherd boy David as king, the elevation of a poor Mid Eastern peasant from lowliness to sit at the side of the Father in heaven, to whom every knee shall bow, and the growth of a mighty tree from a tiny mustard seed, and tells us "God begins with weakness and impotence and insignificance, and God works through those things, and they become God’s salvation, even though the world is likely to continue to regard them as weak, impotent, and insignificant. God’s work in the world is the life together of God’s people, and in Scripture God’s people are seldom impressive by any standards except God’s."


We won't have class this week so that we can all enjoy the brunch fixed by the women of the church.

Family relations...

Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) and Psalm 138 (Track 2: Genesis 3:8-15 and Psalm 130); 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; Mark 3:20-35


Before his ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Jesus prayed an intimate prayer for us that we be one, holy, catholic and apostolic. From αποστολειν, we are called to be sent out to share the good news of new and eternal life present in the redemptive love of God through Christ.


This week we get a good look at what it means to answer that call, to stand against that which separates from the life we are called to live. Sometimes we have to abandon the old and familiar, and what others want us to be or do to bring about God's kingdom. We are warned by God, speaking through the prophet Samuel, about what happens when we ignore God's call and wishes for us, and get what we ask for instead, when Saul was anointed King. Examining the scripture from Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15), compare the acts and desires of earthly Kings and the character of God as ruler in Psalms 130 and 138.


Jesus is on the go in Mark's gospel. He is constantly beset by crowds, sometimes desperate for his healing and teaching. Can you blame them? As his fame grows, there are those who seek to trap him, to mock and jeer at him because he doesn't satisfy their concepts of who he should be. Even as he drives out demons, some said he was Satan's agent in casting out demons. Even his family doesn't understand him. For what ever reason, they called to him to come away from what he was doing. What was Jesus' response? Who does he say are his brothers and sisters? Read 
“Jesus the Home Wrecker, “by Bishop William H. Willimon, and think about why Jesus left his home and family. What kind of family are we as Christians called to be? What does it mean to be part of God's family?