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February 18, 2007
The Rev. John Auer
Scripture: Exodus
34:33-35, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Luke 9:28-43a
“Beyond the Veil:
The Upside-Down and Inside-Out of Healing”
This “transfiguration,”
this deep alteration of Jesus by the intensity of his prayer and the sense of
his fiery closeness to God the source of all energies -- this transfiguration
begins to convey to us the cost of following Jesus through Lent – the events
leading up to his arrest, condemnation and death – in which we participate as
those who betray, deny, and abandon him there on the cross. No wonder Peter
speaks for us this morning in wanting to set up eternal shop on a safe
mountain-top!
Moses and Elijah are there
in part because their lives came under the same persecution and threat as faces
Jesus now. They know what it’s like to live with sure knowledge of their
mortality. To live with a price on their heads. Moses and Elijah both had to
run for their lives – until they received some radical reassurance God had not
forgotten them and would give them the strength and resources they needed to
resume God’s mission for them. Jesus is looking for such reassurance this
morning. He wants to know his decision to head for Jerusalem and certain death
is the decision God calls him to.
He wants to know God is
going there with him and even before him – making his way out of no way. That
is the assurance they all receive in the midst of the fearful cloud – the
assurance of a voice speaking words Jesus heard at baptism just a short lifetime
ago – “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” That is the role of we who
offer ourselves as healers – as anointers and pray-ers and layers on of hands
this morning. We are here to listen to those who present ourselves for
healing. Each one of us is God’s Chosen, God’s Beloved, assured of God’s grace
and the power to name what we need, what is happening to us – or happening to
others we know and love and bear with us to offer for healing.
We come for healing this
morning. We all come for healing this morning. We all come for healing because
this planet we inhabit, this world we are part of, our own communities and
relationships, our own bodies and minds and spirits – cannot endure without
healing. The healing to which we are called ourselves – and called to offer
each other – is a spiritual healing that comes from biblical language of
“salvation” and of “wholeness.”
Salvation acknowledges
there is something intrinsically good, redeemable, about the createdness, the
embodiedness of each one of us. No matter anything else about us, God and the
universe, as acknowledged in our baptisms, are glad we are here! Are glad we
are who we are! Will love us and value us now and forever. That may be what we
call the “upside-down” of healing, the gift of love that comes God and the
universe in the beginning and returns to God and the universe in the end. Each
one of us in our own ways is part of the eternal mystery of God’s own life in
this world.
Wholeness may be seen more
as the “inside-out” of healing. It acknowledges that each one of us is a part
of a larger body, a larger whole. At the same time each one of us is a body
made up of many parts. I’ve forgotten exactly how many body-parts make us up.
Sixty some? Some replenishing all the time? All the parts both play a part and
are interconnected with every other part. And believe us, we know in the life
of the congregation, in the past year especially, but in any year really – we
know whatever can go “wrong” – whatever can be invaded, infected, damaged,
destroyed, weakened, broken, altered, removed – you name it! -- with almost any
body part WILL go wrong at some time or other!
We always seem to need
healing -- not just of any one part but of the whole body. And even the body is
only a part of who we are. We come for healing this morning – not only in body,
but also in mind -- in where and how we perceive and think and process our
thoughts – but also in spirit, in heart – in where we receive and feel the gifts
of life with wonder and awe, grace and gratitude -- where we contemplate, pray,
and offer to God ourselves, others, and all life.
There also is the healing
that moves even further from inside out – the healing of our relationships with
others – often past as well as present! We may be carrying a lot of unresolved
healing – healing intents or attempts. We know we are not made to be alone. We
are made to be with and for one another. As we heal and grow more aware of
connections and relations among all the parts of ourselves – our own body and
the body of our congregation – we become more prepared to reach out and be part
of the larger body of parts all around us. We become more prepared to live by
trust and by risk, by embrace and engagement, by inclusiveness and acceptance.
Traditional language tells
us the way to such healing begins with confessing ourselves to each other –
seeking experiences of forgiveness and reconciliation – new beginning in new
relationship with ourselves and with one another. We testify by the faith of
the church to all that remains so mysterious – so unknown and even, finally,
unknowable. That is not only true of our own mysteriousness. Even the medical
experts acknowledge more mystery and proceed by some kind of faith! And just as
mysterious always remains the ever-promised, ever-present, ever-passionate,
ever-powerful love of God for us. In the midst of all mystery, we offer
ourselves to serve as channels of that love for each other -- living reminders
God is with us -- God will not forsake us -- no matter what happens to us! Ours
is not to pretend to the curing of illness, much less of pain and of death.
Rather ours is to affirm by word and deed every human being as embodying all
that is holy and filled with grace – now and forever.
We come in these moments to
gather up in our arms, our hearts, our bodies, our souls all whom we know are
living -- with illness and injury, disease and despair, loss and grief,
treatment and recovery, brokenness and separation We lift one another, as we
lift ourselves. We never know quite what it means to offer this service to and
for one another. We only know we are in this too human condition and
circumstance all together. We do the best we can with the faith we’ve got.
We are so grateful in this
congregation for the Thursday noon Prayer and Share Group – open to all, now in
its twenty-fourth year! -- who lift us up continually to our sources of life and
light. We are so grateful for the Nurture and Care ministry to help us keep in
better touch. For John Emerson and the ministry of loss support. For those
who offer rides and meals and calls and cards. We are grateful for those who
live so gracefully among us with whatever afflictions – of mind, body, spirit,
and relationship – and who allow us all to be so connected and related. When
one of us hurts we all hurt. When one rejoices we all rejoice. As Fred Pratt
Green says in our Words for Meditation this morning – “From every ailment flesh
endures our bodies clamor to be freed; Yet in our hearts we would confess that
wholeness [connection, relationship] is our deepest need.”
Let us in these moments
unveil and reveal as much of ourselves to ourselves, to one another and to God,
as we possibly can. Let us hold as little back. If our feelings flow freely,
along with our tears, all the more cleansing for us! Let us be as trusting and
risk-taking in bringing our whole selves for healing in whole ways by the one so
creates and sees and loves and treasures the wholeness of all our lives, the
wholeness of life, of creation, itself. Let us find and face with Jesus, in
whom no veil is needed, the “Jerusalems” of our own lives. When and where we
find ourselves with nothing and no one but God – whoever God is, through
whomever God acts – to sustain us and keep us going thus far by our faith!
God meets us on every
mountain-top to lead and go with us through the valley. Yea, though we walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil. God is with
us. God comforts us. God prepares sustenance for us -- even in the presence of
enemies! God anoints our heads with oil. Our cups run over with joy and
thanksgiving. Surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our
lives. We will dwell in God’s promise and presence, God’s passion and power –
forever! Amen.
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