Christ Lutheran Church

1701 Arroyo Chamiso

Santa Fe, NM 87505-4775

(505) 983-9461

church@clcsantafe.com

  

Sunday, June 06, 2010
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
 

A Daring Touch, A Healing Word

I Kings17: 8-24         Galatians 1:11-24        Luke 7:11-17

 

Jesus came forward and touched the bier and the World stood still!  I am grateful to share worship with you and help lead you in the worship of God the Holy Trinity.  What I say to you now, I say in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen

 

You can now sit back, relax and take a deep breath.  The party is over and life goes back to some sense of normalcy.  Well at least as relates to the church year.  Like when the last guest has departed and you have picked up and sit down to take a deep breath. 

 

We have cleaned house, put up decorations, and waited in great anticipation for the coming of the Christ—surprise, but Emmanuel, God with us, was a baby in the manger.  How vulnerable God becomes for us. We celebrated the most impressive of Christian pageants: the twelve days of Christmas.  Then we had a very short break and we began our slow journey to Easter. We traveled from the Ashes of Lent to the fire of Pentecost.  Then we journeyed through lent, to Passion/palm Sunday, Holy week, the great three days and finally the Joy of the resurrection.  You have just completed the 50 days of Easter, rejoiced in the fire of Pentecost and the good news of the one who stands by you in every joy and sorrow, every up and down, every vision of light and moment of darkness.  Last Sunday we made clear that the God we worship and serve is the Triune God who has made known the God self to us.  NOW

 

Yes, now begins the long season of ordinary time or the Sundays after Pentecost.  The color is green for nearly six months, with the tiny reprieve for All Saints day. I have planted my little garden, am eating radishes, lettuce and using herbs, but I expect more fruit from my labor.  But there will be lots of work, not all fun, as I water, dig around, fertilize, fuss about the rabbits, weeds and insects.

 

 We are going to discover afresh what it means to live under the tutelage of the Holy Spirit.  Not always comfortable, but we will see fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, understanding etc.  So maybe sit back and relax is a little misleading!  Mostly, we are talking about everyday life.  The celebrations are wonderful, take a lot of preparation and work, but then life does go back to “ordinary time.” And as we look at The Daring Touch of Jesus and the Healing Word, we will ask: would we dare to touch the untouchable, and would we speak good news to those in need?  But before we begin this gardening project on our lives and the life of the church, we need to remember:  We are Easter people.  We are people of the resurrection! We look to the future, we neither hide in the past nor are we content to dwell in the darkness of brokenness.

 

The lessons for today give us a powerful place to begin. 

Look at the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. Reference to this story by Jesus, caused an uprising in Nazareth and he had to escape with his life.  What upset the people?  Jesus said that there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent only to this foreigner.  Many lepers but Elijah healed only Naaman, the Syrian.  God loves God’s children and is not concerned with their nationality, or borders. Two lessons for our growth time:  The widow’s risky hospitality opens her life to let others in and opens her to a future instead of being frozen in despairing cynical present.  She was ready to give up and die, but when she opened her life to another, she discovered a new future.  And we see some bad theology reversed.  When her son dies, she assumes that she is being punished by God for some past deed. That theology is still with us.  Ever hear anyone say, “What have I done to deserve this?”  But that is not how God deals with God’s creation.  Yes, we can make mistakes that have serious consequences, but God is a God of healing and forgiveness and who restores life.

 

The Gospel Paul proclaims is a gospel of Grace:  He will not give in to those who want to restore a legalism, that requires one to become something or someone else before God will accept you.  This Gospel celebrates the gift of life given by God in Jesus Christ. It is Good News to one and to all.

 

Luke presents the story of the raising of the widow’s son and the story that precedes it: the healing of the centurion’s servant, to answer John’s question:  Are you the one who is to come, or are we to look for another?  But the story is an eye opener. Here is a stranger, a widow and now her son is dead—she is in a most desperate situation.  She has nothing, will be forced to the street without life or hope—marginalized and destitute.  What does Jesus do?  He has compassion, he breaks the law and touches the bier, making himself unclean, he speaks and it happens.  Luke wants you to know that here is one greater than a prophet, even the prophet Elijah.  He heals from a distance, he speaks and the young man is restored to life and to his mother. The risen Christ gives life in the face of every kind of death.  He is God’s word to us.

 

That is the good news for us and the healing word we have to give to a hurting world.  There is a future and it belongs to God, there is desperate need for daring touch. As we continue to grow into our baptism and live the Eucharistic life, this season of growth calls for us to practice hospitality, to dare to touch, even those who are rejected, and to speak good news to the stranger, the hurting, the marginalized, and the lonely. We are called to offer hospitality, a daring touch, and a healing word.  That is the church’s business.  

 

We saw a stranger yesterday,

                        We put food in the eating place,

                     drink in the drinking place,

                        music in the listening place,

                 and with the Sacred

                          name of the Triune God,

               the stranger blessed us and our house,

                        our cattle and our dear ones.

 

Often, often, often,

                        sings the lark in her song,

                            often goes the

                Christ in the Stranger’s guise.

 Amen

 

                                                                        Wes Lackey