Hurting, they came to him.Healed, they followed him.
Grateful, they gave to him what they had and what they were.
Blessed, they became a blessing and went out to all the world.
Those who are hurt, and healed,
grateful and blessed
still move among us in his name.
(Kneeling in Jerusalem by Ann Weems)
We are followers of Christ … children of God … we are the spiritual descendents of Abraham and Sarah … we are the one who have inherited the promise “I will be your God and you shall be my people …”
The promise – the Covenant with God that begins with the promise of presence and lead to the elderly couple having a new born son …
The story of Abraham and Sarah is one that begins with power and authority.
One day Abram, a resident of Ur – a great empire in what is now Iraq, is told by God that he is to travel across the deserts to a place that God will show him, and there God will make of him a great nation … AND Abram not only listens – he goes.
As the childrens’ story I shared a few minutes ago – he goes off on this strange quest without hesitation and takes his wife and members of his extended family with him, all because God said to …
The reality in today’s world is that if someone stepped up and shared an experience like Abram’s we would respond in fear … there is a very fine line between Abram’s experience and that of Vincent Li hearing voices and responding violently to them … and yet, this divine commandment stands as the defining moment in our collective faith …
I will be your God and you will be my people … stands as the foundational Covenant for the entire Judeo-Christian movement that has come from this transformation of Abram and Sarai into Abraham and Sarah, an aged couple being told they are about to become parents … The strange and miraculous keeps piling up in this story … the call from God begin this journey and the pilgrimage and preparations (things this Lenten Season is ALL about) leads them not only to a new land along with many adventures and mis-adventures, their journey leads them to parenthood while in their senior years …
Such is the miraculous nature of our God and our faith and the Covenant that we, by our presence here in the Body of Christ, partake of.
So, what does our Covenant entail?
How does the Covenant unfold in our lives?
What does it mean to LIVE the notion that “I will be your God and you shall be my people?”
One of foundational aspects of our faith is that of Prayer … not prayer that is simply crying out to God when we need help, but ignoring God the rest of the time, but prayer that is ongoing conversation with God through the day that expresses our faith and embodies our certainty of God’s presence in our day. Prayer as a conversation rather than a petition …
I once read a book that looked at the religious content and religious lessons that can be gleaned from the tv programme – The Simpsons.
Among the many wonderful lessons in the book is the contention that the father Homer is a typical Western Church goer. Homer in his life is busy looking after Homer. Donuts, beer and watching TV are his priorities. He goes to Church because he is forced to by Marge as “the thing to do” as a family. The only time Homer really prays is when he’s in trouble … which if you watch The Simpsons is actually quite often … his “aaaahhhh” is heard frequently, and in those moments Homer cries out for help …
Homer is not that different from the rest of us … how many of us prayer regularly and in a way that is more than just asking for help?
One of the things that impressed me when I began my pilgrimage within the Presbyterian Church has been the open expression of the importance of Prayer. Even in business meetings, prayer begins the meeting and ends the meeting, and to pause before a contentious discussion or debate would not be out of line.
This is not the case in other places …
I remember the DEBATE when I asked at a Congregation why they didn’t have a devotion and prayer when their Board – the equivalent of the Session. The suggestion was not met with enthusiasm … comments like “but this is a business meeting …” betrayed a strange bias that lacked the fundamental understanding of our Covenant relationship with God …
Many years ago I was privileged to be part of a presentation with representatives from the Ethiopian Coptic Church who came to talk about their faith – their background and their Church … the floor was opened to questions and the first question came – “why didn’t you speak of women in ministry?” The answer – “we’re Coptic, it’s not what we do …” drew a gasp of horror.
Then one man stood up and noted that we had sent millions of dollars in aid to Ethiopia to feed the people during a famine – and we had sent thousands of tonnes of food aid – then the man noted that the presenters spoke of over 1200 monasteries in Ethiopia. He asked – “what do SO MANY monasteries do to justify their existence?”
The presenters looked at each other and answered simply – “PRAY.” In a tone that sounded incredulous … this was met with an even louder gasp of horror from the floor …the thought of prayer as justification for the existence of monasteries was simply too much for the modern mind … despite this happening in a provincial CHURCH meeting, the mere suggestion of prayer was regarded as OUTRAGEOUS.
There is something seriously wrong in the Church when we no longer see prayer as a foundational part of our life in faith, both individually and collectively.
On Friday at the World day of prayer we heard the readings from Romans and Acts that celebrated the commonality of our Faith family with the diversity of many gifts and abilities – a commonality that is drawn together in PRAYER.
Not the – “oh God help me get out of this mess …” Prayers of Homer Simpson.
Not the – “Oh God, please heal my loved one of their illness …” Prayers that are common in our world – prayers that are a no-win situation …
If the person worsens in their illness and dies – does that mean God doesn’t care or doesn’t exist? Or if person A with this illness recovers, but person B down the hall with the same illness gets worse, does it mean person A is a more faithful and more deserving person that person B?
Or could it be that we’ve offered the WRONG prayer all together?
Perhaps instead of praying for healing we need to first pray for WHOLENESS, and seek the healing of spirit, and body simultaneously … with the acceptance of the moment and the wholeness of body remarkable things can happen … remarkable things that see the restoration of relationships and the healing of rifts and brokenness …and yes, I would never rule out the possibility of those miraculous healings … I’ve seen them happen – and there is ample evidence out there of them happening. One author Larry Dossey, a medical doctor has written a number of books on the power of prayer in medical treatment.
Dossey says – miracles DO happen through prayer, but he notes that from his scientific background the real power of prayer comes from the wholeness that it brings to the mind, body and spirit. The real miracle is the acceptance that comes and the commitment to life even in the face of a bad diagnosis …
Life is about living it fully …
I will be your God and you shall be my people … how do we live this idea ?
How do we share this covenant?
It begins with prayer … there is a Hindi poem/prayer that embodies this well: to talk with God, no breath is lost – TALK ON … to walk with God, no strength is lost – WALK ON …and to wait on God, no time is lost – WAIT ON.
Our job is not to make our conversations with God a divine shopping list of needs and wants – but our job is to talk with God in an ongoing way, and to share our joys and our sorrows, to be fully present to God in our world and our lives and to approach God in ALL moments as we would an old friend … we can pray in the shower, behind the wheel, walking along the lake, sharing tea with friends, lying on the sofa, or as we sit down to a meal … God is not somewhere out there … but remains part of this (our heart) …
Our Covenant means we need to talk to God and be open to God’s presence and power in our lives … the miraculous can and does happen … just look at the story of Abraham and Sarah … but it can only happen when we’re open and ready for it …
May it be so – thanks be to God – let us pray …
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