November 27, 2024 - Luke 17:11-19, Thanksgiving in New Harmony (Homily at Ecumenical Gathering)

How long has this community-wide thanksgiving service been taking Place?

I’ll guess…several times…at least

And I’ll guess again…that this story of the ten lepers

From the Gospel of Luke

Has been chosen before! 

In my tradition…it is chosen every year!

 

It is so perfect, though…isn’t it?
And we all go home thinking

“Yea…I need to…no, I WILL be more thankful for all that God has done”

 

Which is good and fine and worthy

But there is more here…more trouble and more grace!

 

It isn’t so much about Jesus…really

It is about how those who have encountered him ‘on the way’…Respond.

 

And there are 2 different responses.

By the ONE

And the NINE

The ONE returns to give thanks 

And the NINE continue along the way…

The way that Jesus directed them to go;) 

They are doing exactly what he said.

 

The obvious question for me is WHY?

WHY didn’t the others do as the Samaritan did?

 

Isn’t that what any of us would do in the face of SPECTACULAR NEWS?

Isn’t it inevitable…almost involuntary?

Don’t we HAVE to Say Something?

 

What happens to you when you notice something spectacular…some really Good News?

         I just saw the best movie…
         I just had my Doctor’s Appointment…the cancer is in REMISSION

         He proposed! I said YES! 

My son…the one who lives in the middle of Alaska…he’s coming home
                   to New Harmony for Thanksgiving!

 

WE HAVE TO SAY SOMETHING!

 

I think that’s what it must have been like for the Samaritan Leper
He NOTICED his cure
And even though Jesus instructed him to show himself to the priests at the Temple

The “almost involuntary urge” to “say something” took over

 

But we still have part two of the question

…WHY him and not the others?

Something got in their way

Something strong enough to overpower that almost involuntary human reaction to Good News.

 

We might call it…

·      Tunnel Vision or …

·       hyper focus…

·      or Sticking to the plan…

·      eye on the prize

The Samaritan was no friend of the Temple

He didn’t play by the same rules

He would do what Jesus asked…but only until something more important over road it

 

And because he wasn’t chained to the program…

The steps according to the Law,

I think this Samaritan NOTICED the miraculous

He noticed the FULLNESS of what happened
a healing…yes

But much more

A restoration into the community

An absolute gift of new life

 

 

HE NOTICES

His broader vision

Sees more

Sees fully

And the result

Is ANOTHER GIFT…Another blessing

He turns around, falls on his knees in praise/thanksgiving/and wonderment

And what is born is a relationship

Healer and healed

Gift giver and gift receiver

He hears Jesus commend his faith

Gift upon gift

 

My friends

Isn’t that how “giving thanks” always works?

Isn’t it aways a double blessing?
So…why is it hard to just leave and be more thankful?

 

I think the trouble lies in the ‘NOTICING’

All those things that narrowed the vision of the NINE

Get in our way too:

·      Tunnel Vision or …

·      maybe hyper focus…

·      or Sticking to the plan…

·      eye on the prize

 

And isn’t it true that sometimes an outsider sees what we can’t see ourselves?

 

I have this beautiful window in my kitchen…it looks out into the woods…and truly every day it offers something new…if I notice. 

 

And whenever someone comes to help unclog my sink, 
or fix an electrical issue 
or any number of house problems (it’s an old house) …
they always comment on that window.
I forget about it…walk by it grumpy…some days morning/noon/and night!

 

I’ve been coming to St Stephens in New Harmony for 10 years now
It IS my spiritual home

But I don’t live here

SO…I guess I have a bit of Samaritan in me;)

And I think that gives me a bit of what I’ll call “guest privileges”

I notice

1.    I notice that NH is something more than many a small town

2.    I notice a kind of Mayberry spirit that seems to call forth talents…Artistic or Practical,
and puts them to use in service to the community

3.    I notice how you care for one another

4.    And I notice that here tonight you’ve chosen to gather and give thanks…and to receive a double blessing

 

Maybe

This year 

Instead of leaving here with a fresh desire to be more thankful

Let’s leave with a new commitment to check our tunnel vision

Or whatever it is that steals our attention and narrows our focus

And blinds us to the Holy Spirit at work all around

 

Let’s NOTICE
and then let’s 

let that double blessing spill over into the lives and world around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

October 27, 2024 - Lord, Help me to see! Bartimeaus 30 OTB

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Mark 10:46-52

I remember when I fell in love with the story of Bartimaeus.

It was about 10 years ago when, for the first time

I went to the annual meeting of the 

Network of Biblical Storytellers in Dayton Ohio.

 

Anyway, This  group…the Network…

Was founded by a Methodist minister and Academic, 

Tom Boomershine

Book: Rediscovering the Gospel as Story

Systematic study of the Gospel narratives as story

 

If you were to visit Dr. Boomershine’s Church

You might experience the Gospel performed, 

rather than proclaimed from the Lectern.

 

It must have been year B because the workshops were all focused on the Gospel of Mark…

And one in particular centered around the Bartimaeus story. 

 

I remember it like it was yesterday

…there is POWER in a well-told story

 

There are standard characteristics of good storytelling

One of the most effective is the use of contrasts

 

In this story

There are 5 moves to the story…and at least 8 contrasts

1.    The very first line… “THEY CAME TO JERICHO.”
Period. Small sentence. 
And as they were leaving…disciples…large crowd, Bart, son of, blind beggar, sitting…
THEY CAME. THEY WENT.
JERICHO=PLACE OF HONOR, BEGGAR=SHAME

2.     No question…Bart is shouting. This is dramatic! 
Just like when the disciples try and shoo away the children, 
those around Bart tell him to shut-up…the Greek is that strong.
But again, Bart shouts EVEN louder “SOD HAVE MERCY!”
SHUT UP/GET LOUDER

3.    Jesus stops.
“Call him. “
short sentences, calm-clear command.
Bart=anything but calm…THREW OFF, SPRANG UP, AND CAME
hands searching for the way, out of breath

4.    The scene now gets intimate. 
The contrast is now between James and John and Bart.
Jesus asks the exact same question:
what do you want me to do for you?
They ask for power and honor
Bart asks for sight
I want to see

5.    This section of Mark’s Gospel
 is bookended with 2 stories of healing blindness
In the first the disciples brought the blind man to Jesus
begging him to touch him
Jesus LED him outside the village
SPAT on his eyes…laid his hands on Him…but it didn’t quite take
then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes. 
And the blind man could see.
Jesus says ‘GO HOME’ and he goes.

In the 2^nd…it is Bart who comes to Jesus
And Jesus does nothing
He simply sys ‘GO’
Your faith has saved you
And he DOESN’T go…he follows.

 

 

 

It seems to me that, as a whole, Bartimaeus is the epitome of CONTRAST

all along these past 7-8 weeks we have heard about the disciples

The inner circle

Those privileged to receive Jesus’ direct teaching
How they have been 

confused, uncomfortable…maybe even BLIND

 

And then Bartimaeus, who, by any standard, 

should know absolutely NOTHING
He…Gets it right.

 

This past week I asked myself, and Rob, and a few friends Jesus’ question 

What so you want me to do for you?

-less anxiety in the everyday lives of people close to me

-help to stop drinking so much

-lets just say MORE…MORE savings, MORE close friends, MORE energy, MORE adventure in my life, MORE!

These don’t sound so Bad

Beter than More Power and the privilege to sit at HIS right and left in the Kingdom!

 

But not Bartimaeus!

 

And maybe that’s the point of the story.

Maybe Bartimaeus’ ASK

Is the ONE, essential, prayer???

 

Lord, Help me to see!

Help me to see where you are in all this

Where are you

In the Middle East mess

In Iran

Palestine

Isreal

Where are you in Ukraine

Russia, China, North Korea

Where are you in the 

Blue or Red

Red or Blue

 

Lord, HELP ME to SEE

 

Give me whatever I need

To set myself beside the road

Willing to shout out in my blindness

Willing to leave behind

What I need to leave

In order to follow you.

 

Lord, Help me to SEE

 

 

 

 

 

October 6, 2025 - This At Last - Genesis 2:18-24, Mark 10:2-16

27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Genesis 2:18-24, Mark 10:2-16

 

What happened in you as soon as you heard the word

DIVORCE?

 

If you’ve been through a divorce

Or someone you love has been through a divorce

(which is most, if not all of us)

 

You probably cringed a little

Maybe even felt some bit of returning pain

 

Id like to try an move DIVORCE off to the side

Out of the way

So that we can hear a good word

 

CONTEXT:

We are still in the section of Mark

Where Jesus is leading his disciples toward Jerusalem

(Chapters 1-7 healings and wonders!!!)

And he is teaching, he is trying to help the disciples find their way into the heart of God

To see what God desires

But they have their heads…ummmm…stubbornly elsewhere

…if you remember the last couple weeks

We had the argument about “who is the greatest” 

and we had the scene where the disciples were all bent out of shape 

“we saw someone else doing good works in your name…should we go and stop them”

Their struggling…pride and ego re causing trouble! 

 

He isn’t calling them to some Spiritual greatness

They would have liked that

Rather simply

Jesus is asking the disciples

To live well in this, our common home

In our place

Our Family, work, community

 

And all these past few Sundays the gospel/Jesus’ teaching

Has highlighted care for the vulnerable:

Children, the poor, those without status

This has been at the Center

A couple weeks ago, 

Jesus placed a child on his lap to emphasize this care of the vulnerable

We are still in that same scene

Matter of fact

That child is still on Jesus’ lap

 

So it is into this scene

That the pharisees come with their trick question

(which is a hint that, at the deepest level, it might not be about divorce in particular)

 

Divorce in 1^st Century Judaism had basically winners and losers

Many biblical scholars have pointed out

That women and children had no power, no rights

When it comes to divorce

And that Jesus’ suggestion that a woman could ask for divorce

Was a way of offering her power and agency

 

But when Jesus takes the question/discussion

All the way back

Back “to the beginning”

He is making a statement about priority

He is stating that the particulars of the LAW

Are always subordinate/in service to the Grand Vision of God

God’s intent for human flourishing

 

And, my friends,

Here lies a word for us today

 

Reaching back to Genesis

When Jesus says the words “In the beginning”

Just hearing those words:

“in the beginning”

His audience/The hearers would have conjured that vivid Genesis scene: 

Garden

Paradise

Adam

Eve

One flesh

THIS AT LAST

 

Jesus is reminding the Pharisees to go back to the original vision

To look first at God's design an hope for creation

And that is what our Genesis text gives us.

This is a story…a vision

Maybe a recipe

About flourishing relationships/human flourishing

And I think, at least today, that the key line is 

“THIS AT LAST”

 

Can you remember...call to mind...

When do I find myself…you find yourself

Taking a deep breath and sighing…or feeling

“THIS…AT LAST”?

 

1)   When I reconnect with an old friend…who really knows me, gets me, loves me…THIS…AT LAST

2)   Last week-end was our daughter’s wedding inDenver…at the end of the night…so tired…I fell into bed with Rob…so FULL…THIS…AT LAST

3)   Maybe…think of reaching the quietest place you know…you are there…THIS…AT LAST

4)   After too much travelling (me these days)…being here…at St Stephens…THIS…AT LAST

 

 

The painful truth about Divorce...broken relationships

is real

we know of it intimately

But the hope in the midst of the pain/brokenness  

is that God desires our flourishing

God gives us this vision...this paradise This at Last Vision

That beckons us to deeper relationship 

Ones that lead us, more often, to that safe and comfortable deep sigh

 

And dare we imagine

When we gather in Jesus’ name

That here...this...is the place of origin

 

Where all persons bound up together in the love of God

Sigh together:  THIS…AT LAST