Jesus Hits Pause
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For June 11, 2023:
Jesus Hits Pause
by Mary Austin
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
“You need to listen to Dr. Williams,” tennis great Serena Williams said to the doctors treating her after she gave birth to her first child. Knowing her body, and her past history of life-threatening embolisms, she knew she was experiencing another one. Even so, her wealth, stature and life experience weren’t enough to get the medical staff to listen to her concerns. In that, she’s far from alone.
Black and brown women suffer more pregnancy complications, and experience greater danger giving birth and post-partum. “About 700 to 900 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. And for every death, dozens of women suffer life-threatening complications. But there is a stark racial disparity in these numbers. Black mothers are three to four times more likely to die than white mothers.”
Who’s worthy of attention? And how much do people have to advocate for themselves? This week, Jesus pauses to answer these questions — twice! — in an interesting way.
In the News
Who’s worthy of healing? The country is pondering this question as states disenroll people from Medicaid, after providing three years of continuous enrollment as a response to the pandemic. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that from the start of the pandemic until March, “Medicaid enrollment grew by an estimated 20 million people, contributing to declines in the uninsured rate, which dropped to the lowest level on record in early 2022.” Now states are allowed to take people off the rolls, and up 17 million people could lose their Medicaid health insurance. Health care experts describe “the impending coverage shift as the biggest change in health care since the implementation of ObamaCare,” although the impact will vary from state to state.
And who’s worthy of freedom?
Once people access care, they often end up in debt, struggling to pay co-pays or the entire bill, if they don’t have insurance. “Nationwide, people’s medical debt has contributed to bankruptcy filings, evictions, and foreclosures. And while changes have been made in recent years to reduce the impact of medical bills on credit reports, debt can hamper a person’s ability to buy a house or enroll in higher education. Debt is also associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression and can ultimately lead to worse health outcomes when people avoid care for fear of racking up debt. In 2022, a Gallup poll found that 38 percent of Americans postponed medical treatment because of the cost.”
The District of Columbia is exploring a plan to buy — and then cancel — medical debt, setting people free. “In DC, the burden falls the hardest on Black residents, who are three times more likely than white residents to have medical debt. It’s also more likely to impact residents with disabilities or chronic health conditions who may not have the option of delaying or foregoing care.” The United Church of Christ, as a denomination, has paid off more than $100 million in medical debt, lifting people out of debt and worry.
In the Scriptures
No wonder the synagogue leader and the woman in the crowd believe that Jesus can heal them. Word must have spread rapidly about all the things he’s already done. Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew are chock full of miracles, including Jesus healing a person with leprosy, the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and many others. Then, Jesus takes a break to calm the storm and heal the paralyzed man, all before we find him here, healing the woman in the crowd and raising the synagogue leader’s daughter from death.
Both the synagogue leader and the woman in the crowd act energetically to get Jesus’ attention and to participate in the healing / resurrection they seek. They believe they’re worthy of the gifts Jesus has to offer, although the older woman hopes to receive her gift of healing and then slip back away.
Most often, Jesus responds to someone who asks him for something. He doesn’t typically heal people without their participation. This is what we do in prayer and in asking other people to pray for us. If we ever think that we don’t have to ask God, or shouldn’t ask God for things, the people in this story remind us to energetically pursue God’s gifts.
The lectionary includes the calling of Matthew as part of the frame — could that be a healing story, too? Is Matthew healed from a kind of isolation in his booth, and set back into a community? Or perhaps healed from some inner conflict about his work? Like the ill woman and the dead girl, Matthew also gets a pause from Jesus, who stops to speak to him in his tax booth.
In the Sermon
Jesus’ comment “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” is interesting in this context. Three times he stops what he’s doing to give a gift: an invitation to Matthew, recognition to the woman, and new life to the girl. He’s modeling the gift of mercy to each person — along with the tax collectors and sinners who sit with him at the table. Each person in the frame of this story is worthy of his attention. The sermon might explore who’s worthy of our individual attention, and who deserves the church’s attention. Are we placing our gaze where Jesus would have his?
Jesus’ version of mercy is all about inclusion, and the sermon could also talk about who’s included at our tables, in our healing, and in our feeling of worth.
The woman who touches the edge of Jesus’ garment would rather stay unnoticed, and Jesus refuses to do an anonymous healing. The sermon might explore where we would like to go unnoticed for something we want. Are we shy because we don’t think we belong? Don’t deserve God’s attention? Don’t feel worthy of grace?
Our culture deems some people worthy — of insurance, of medical care, of housing, of justice — the list is endless. The sermon could talk about our calling as both people of faith and citizens to extend the mercy of Jesus where it doesn’t currently go. As people who follow Jesus, what can we do to extend his mercy in the world?
Greg Carey notes, “Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, yet Jesus follows Matthew and the sinners to the table… So it may be with the church’s ministry: sometimes we go forth and identify ourselves with those on the margins; in other cases the needs of others draw the church beyond its comfortable boundaries.” The sermon might explore this interesting dual mission for the church. Sometimes we have a vision for ministry and go out to people, and other times we listen for what’s needed, and respond to the people around us. How can the church combine both ways of doing ministry, as we follow Jesus in both ways?
Jesus stops and listens, pausing to bring the power of God to the people he meets. Following in his footsteps, may we do the same.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Lost Causes are My Favorite Kind
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
A Star Trek Parable
In the Star Trek universe, known to most Star Trek fans (Trekkers, not Trekies), there is a race of humanoid extra-terrestrial beings known as Romulans who have their home on the planet Romulus. They were originally Vulcans, a highly emotional and volatile race, but split from them during the Awakening when the majority of Vulcans decided to reject the rule of emotion and the violence that inevitably emerged from it and dedicate themselves to peace through logic.
The Romulans rejected the Awakening and chose to retain their volatile, emotional nature.
The Romulan Empire was created by the Star Trek writers out of speculation on what the Roman Empire might have become had it continued into the 23rd century and the age of space flight. They are the sworn enemies of the United Federation of Planets, which includes humans and Vulcans but, in the year 2379, when their home planet is destroyed by a supernova, millions of their people are rescued by the Federation.
When the series “Star Trek: Picard” aired, set in 2399, the Romulans have become reluctant and wary allies of the Federation and we discover that this has been made possible largely through the intervention of an ancient order of Romulan warrior nuns called the Order of the Qowat Milat.
They are an all-female order. Though males can study under them, only women can become members. The primary teaching of the Qowat Milat is called, “The Way of Absolute Candor,” i.e., the total, honest communication of emotion without filter between thought and word. Theirs is a "house of truth" and they make promises rarely as they believe that "a promise is a prison."
They are among the most skilled personal combat fighters in the galaxy. Armed with sacred swords, before they engage in combat, they are sworn to offer their adversaries the option to back away. “Choose to live,” is one of their often-heard warnings. The Qowat Milat cannot be hired, though their assistance can be requested. Like the ancient Samurai of Japan, a Qowat Milat sister can choose to bind her sword to a singular cause if she judges the cause worthy. The criterion for worthiness is that the cause must be a lost one.
Once a Qowat Milat sister joins the cause, however, it often proves to be not quite as lost as at first thought. With their absolute candor, their willingness to fully commit to a purpose, and their skill in personal combat, they are sometimes able to find answers and solutions where others have not.
Two Hopeless Cases
Being a Trekker, myself, I could not help but think of the Qowat Milat and their embrace of lost causes when I read today’s text from the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus is confronted with two seemingly lost and hopeless causes.
First, a leader of the synagogue (Mark says his name is Jairus. We Christians would probably think of him as one of the church board members or trustees) comes running up to him and throws himself at Jesus’ feet. It’s an unseemly thing to do and, no doubt, his very proper friends, neighbors, and fellow church leaders, who are looking on, are embarrassed on his behalf.
His first words are words of utter hopelessness and despair: “My daughter has just died.”
As pastors, most of us know the depth of grief of a parent who has lost a child. That is not how the universe is supposed to spin. Everyone knows that. Parents die first, and then, years later, after they have lived long, happy, fruitful, and successful lives, the children grow old and die, leaving their own children to follow after them.
In my 40-plus years of ministry, I have never seen any kind of grief or pain to equal that of a parent who has lost a child to death. They are inconsolable. They are outraged. They are desperate. And this is true whether the child is an infant or 70 years old.
So desperate are those parents, in fact, that they will go to any length to save their child: TV faith healers, herbal remedies, even some unknown itinerant teacher about whom they have heard rumors of healing power, and throw themselves in the dirt at his feet and beg, plead, and flatter him into helping them.
Jesus doesn’t even hesitate. He gets up and follows this poor man. Of course, he does. And his disciples tag along.
But, on the way to the man’s house, a woman with a chronic hemorrhage touches the fringe of his cloak. Mark’s gospel fleshes this story out a little. He tells us that the woman has suffered much under many physicians and has, at this point, spent every cent she has on treatments that didn’t work. So, she, like Jairus, is both desperate and hopeless.
She has heard that this Jesus guy has such amazing healing power that all she has to do is touch his garment and she will be healed and she hopes that this is the case as she reaches out and touches the fringe of his cloak.
Bam! She’s healed. Jesus tells her that it is due to her tremendous faith, that is, her trust that Jesus had the power to heal her.
In Mark, there is a great deal of fuss about Jesus feeling the healing power flow out of him and turning to ask the crowd who touched him. They all back away (and point to her?) and the woman comes forward and throws herself at his feet (as did Jairus) and confesses that it was she. Jesus responds by telling her that, as in Matthew, her faith has made her healing possible.
They continue on to Jairus’ house where the mourning rituals have already begun. Jesus sends them out of the house with the confusing words, “The girl is not dead but sleeping.” Is this literally so? Is she in such a deep coma that it seemed like death? Or is it a metaphor? Is Jesus saying that even death is not permanent where he is involved?
Whichever it is, she gets up from her bed and walks out and everyone is amazed and tells everyone they know about the seeming miracle.
So, as Sportin’ Life says in Porgy and Bess, it ain’t necessarily so. The impossible ain’t necessarily impossible. The hopeless ain’t necessarily hopeless. The last word ain’t necessarily last. And the lost cause ain’t necessarily lost. Where the world would put a period, Jesus puts a comma.
Over and over the gospels make this point.
The paralyzed man by the pool at Bethesda who has been there for 30 years thought his case was hopeless until Jesus came along. The man by the side of the road thought his plight was hopeless until a good Samaritan happened by. Blind Bartimaeus had been blind from birth and assumed with everyone else that his case was hopeless until Jesus happened by. The Gerasene demoniac, the woman caught in adultery, his friend Lazarus, were all seemingly hopeless cases until Jesus entered the picture.
In the Sermon
Sometimes unsolvable problems are thrust upon us.
In the wake of Memorial Day, we cannot help but think of those who have received that terrible news from some branch of the military that their son or daughter or husband or wife has been killed in action. Their loss is tragic, painful, undeniable, and irreversible. How awful and hopeless they must feel. How heavy the blanket of despair that falls upon them.
Or we think of those who receive a diagnosis of some terminal and untreatable condition. Cancer, ALS, Chronic Heart Failure, Parkinson’s Disease. How devastating and overwhelmed they must feel. How profound must be their grief.
If they feel hopeless, it is understandable. But, sometimes, hopelessness is a decision we make, a posture we adopt.
I knew a couple who discovered, after years of frustration, with poor grades and disruptive behavior, that their daughter had a learning disability. The disability was responsible for the poor grades and the behavior was born of frustration. They immediately fell into a posture of despair and hopelessness. Their daughter would be a failure in life, they said, unable to get a good job, find a husband to love her, or achieve any level of the life for which they had hoped and dreamed for her.
I tried to tell them that this was not necessarily so, but they would hear none of it. It was, they said, utterly hopeless.
But, in Jesus Christ, hopelessness ain’t necessarily so.
I have known people with terminal medical conditions whose faith in God propelled them out of disappointment and despair into a vibrant and active, joy-filled life in the time they had left. I have seen parents who have lost children but whose profound faith has let them go on to dedicate their lives to the care of other children. I have known people who have allowed their grief to become a creative force in their life that gave them direction and purpose, all by the grace of God.
I finally convinced the parents of that little girl with the disability to see a psychologist who gently reminded them that they were Christians and in Christ there is hope. I saw them return to their church home, where they worked at renewing their faith and their relationship with their daughter who, today, has a successful career, a husband whom she loves and loves her, two marvelous, beautiful children of her own and, all in all, a very full and happy life.
Paul does not say that all things are good, but he does say that all things can work for good, for those who put their faith in God. (Romans 8:28) Causes, whether they be personal or global, can seem lost and hopeless. But, as Christians, we know that no cause is truly hopeless if we lean on Jesus and place our faith in him and YHWH, our God.
In fact, lost causes are their favorite kind.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Genesis 12:1-9
A New Beginning
The Bible makes a profound change at Genesis 12. Some contend that the origin myths end and the history begins at Genesis 12. Such a reading makes Abraham the first truly “historic” character in scripture.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
A Great Migration
Abram is called to leave his whole family — and it was a big family. People lived a long time back then. Abe left his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather, great-great-great grandfather…it goes all the way to Shem, Abram’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was alive and presumably waved goodbye to Abram, Sarai and Terah. Shem was one of Noah’s sons, a guy who survived the Flood. Noah had only been dead 17 years when Abram left Ur for Haran.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
A crossroads
Haran was a stop on Abram’s way to Canaan. It was truly a crossroads, a spot in northwestern Mesopotamia, about 60 miles above the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates Rivers. Much later in the story, after Abram’s name had been changed to Abraham, Abe sent a servant back to Haran to acquire a wife for his son Isaac.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
A nice phrase about Abram’s need to leave Ur
Midrash says this about Abram’s call to leave Ur:
Why did Abraham have to go forth to the world?
At home he was like a flask of myrrh with a tight-fitting lid. Only when it is open can the fragrance be scattered to the winds.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Hope Against Hope
The idiom “hope against hope” originates in Romans 4:18. It’s an odd phrase, incongruous. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the phrase as “to hope very strongly that something will happen, although you know it is not likely.”
The Interpreter’s Bible, (Vol. 9, p. 446, New York: Abingdon Cokesbury Press, 1954) says this about Abraham’s hope, “So far as nature could inspire hope, Abraham had none; but because he trusted in God’s promise, he believed.”
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Hope in the Stars
Back in Genesis 15 the Lord promised Abram, pre-name change, that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. To this day blue is a color for Jewish weddings because it is the color of the sky, the color of God’s promise to bless the whole world through Abraham. (Nevermind that it was under the night sky that God made this point to Abe.)
At one time Jewish weddings were outside, under the sky, to remind those gathered of God’s blessing. When those weddings took place on market days, and it might be unclear who’s there for the wedding and who’s there to buy soap, chuppahs were created for people in the wedding party to stand under to set them apart from the hoi polio. The canopy was seen as permeable, thus not blocking out the wedding from being under the blessing of the sky.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Hope Against Hope, Volume 2
Before Eddie Rabbitt became a country music superstar, he moved to Nashville in the late 1960s with $1,000 to his name. He was discouraged and depleted.
“During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom," which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968.” Eddie Rabbitt - Wikipedia
He was so low he imagined he had to work himself up to reach rock bottom. He found hope against hope and launched a career that began as a songwriter and peaked with the No. 1 pop and country hit “I Love a Rainy Night.” Not bad for a kid who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey!
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Hope, One Final Thought
“How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers." The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.” ― Woody Allen, Without Feathers
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Matthew 9:9-13, 28-26
Framed in Mercy
I always think it’s funny that people try to tattle that Jesus is sitting with the wrong people. In retrospect it’s hilarious to think that Jesus, the Christ, can sit with anyone wrong. And yet, we today continue to judge who we sit with. Jesus opens this whole passage with the framing of “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Before any miracles or wonders, Jesus says he wants mercy. With the advent of the “Shiny Happy People” documentary, there is a lot about the Duggars and how they worked to look good to the outside world, even as abuses of all kinds happened within. They were so busy worrying about not looking bad, that they forgot to practice mercy. They were so worried about looking good, they idolized patriarchy, power, and control over mercy. Jesus meanwhile, kneels down in the dirt with those who we would call unworthy, and is able to have his power stolen by the least likely of unnamed and unclean women. What a contrast. It reminds us, that there are no wrong people to sit with — only mercies to practice and healings to pursue.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Hoping for Hope
When I conducted spiritual assessments for patients at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, one of the questions was whether or not the patient had hope. Once in a while the patient would reply, no, they did not have hope, but they were hoping for it. This, to me, illustrates hoping against hope. Or, letting the Holy Spirit hope for you — it is letting the Body of Christ do the hoping for you when you have nothing left. It is acknowledging that you have the practice of hope, even when the hope itself is not present within you. Hope is more than a feeling, it is a working of God that has been gifted to God’s people through the Holy Spirit. Thus, one can somehow, intrinsically have hope — in one’s practice — even when one is hopeless, or hope against hope, or be hoping for hope, because that is how God made us.
* * *
Psalm 33
God’s Word
We say sticks and stones may break my bones — but generational trauma proves that words do indeed hurt. Movies like “Encanto” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” show that words cause a cascade of hurt. Thus the fact that the word of God is upright, faithful, and consistent, is no small feat. The dependability and power of God’s word is not just in that it is creative and loving, but also in that it is continuous — the presence of God as a cup that can hold our anxieties is something that is no small feat in this fast paced, ever-changing world. The fact that God spaces, commands, and stands firm — in justice and in hope — even as nations and our plans might come to nothing, is very comforting. God is forever a bulwark on which we can lean, even in tumultuous times.
* * *
Genesis 12:1-9
Blessing
Blessings are not pie. They never run out. You notice how God says that any who curse Abraham will be cursed, but also, through Abraham, somehow, eventually, all the families on earth shall be blessed. Therefore, not only are blessings not going to run out, but blessings are contagious. The inevitability of everyone being blessed is foreordained and foretold. We are blessed to be a blessing, because blessings are not like pie, but more like dandelions, well rooted and meant to be seeded and spread across the world — wishes blown by children to be planted on every lawn to feed butterflies and bumblebees alike. Until blessings bloom upon all of the earth.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Genesis 12:1-9
So Abram went…
Abraham answers God’s call, and becomes not only Israel’s patriarch, but an immigrant who journeys far from home. It is a story, notes the blog, Working Immigrants, that runs parallel to the stories of historical and contemporary immigrants who move from familiar surroundings to pursue the promise of a dream.
It is easy to attach a strong sentiment of faithfulness, hopefulness and optimism to Abram and Sarai’s journeys, especially since the narrative upholds Abram’s resolve. But reflect on Abraham’s hope in light of the hopes, dreams, and experiences of contemporary refugees and immigrants. Their experiences depend more on determination than they do divine guidance.
Millions of displaced people lack a sense of hopefulness today. Last week, for example, PBS Newshour profiled the tens of thousands of persons fleeing Sudan for neighboring South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. Many are South Sudanese natives seeking to return home, with no idea of how they will get home, or if they can even afford the trip. “People are arriving faster than they can be taken to new locations,” the report noted.
The United Nations notes that the stories of contemporary immigrants are not heroic tales like Abram and Sarai, but often desperate accounts of survival. “Hoping against hope,” there are more than 103 million persons on the move globally, according to the United Nations.
The crises stretch across the world, including Ukrainian refugees, survivors of multiple humanitarian crises across Africa, and refugees seeking to cross the United States’ southern border. Added to this is the highest number of people globally who have ever faced acute food insecurity.
Farhat Popal, immigrant affairs manager for the City of San Diego, writes that for those entering the United States, the American dream is still alive, but filled with obstacles that can feel insurmountable. Writing for the George W. Bush Institute, Popal details her own experiences as an immigrant, and relates the realities immigrants face daily:
We focus on the beauty of the American dream without evaluating what it means to achieve it and maintain it, especially today. If all I’ve done is spread an ounce more of awareness that contributes to asking better questions, and perhaps more empathetic policy responses, then I will have made my immigrant family proud.
* * *
Romans 4:13-25
Punching holes in the darkness
In his recent book, Dancing in the Darkness, the Rev. Otis Moss III explores what he notes as the “deep unease” afflicting contemporary America. “If America were music, its chords would be clashing, its rhythm off,” he writes in the introduction. “If it were a time, it would be midnight, a political midnight in which, more than any time since the City War, we are divided.” (pp.1-2). There is, he writes, a need for hope that is both simple and complex, which “will never be found by rearranging politicians and policies…I believe we hunger for the bread of love wrapped in the actions of a just society.” He sums up the introduction by quoting a story from the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles about a time in a previous generation when streetlights were powered by gas. “A little boy who was supposed to be in bed watched out the window as a city employee lit the lamps. He ran to his mother and father and said, “Come here, quick!”
“Why are you up?” they asked.
“You have to see this! There’s a man outside. He’s punching holes in the darkness.”
Moss continues, “I know we can punch holes in the darkness, for I know that dawn is coming.”
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Who gets healed?
Reaching for the hem of Jesus’ coat brings healing to the woman who had been suffering for many years. In the United States, however, even the woman’s persistent reach would keep her at the fringe of affording healthcare. “Health inequality,” Alvin Powell noted a few years ago, “is part of American life, so deeply engrained with other social problems — disparities in income, education, housing, race, gender, and even geography — that analysts have trouble saying which factors are cause and which are effect.” Everyday realities often determine whether someone lives to old age or dies an early death.
That may be accentuated in the coming weeks as Medicaid provisions enacted during the Covid-19 medical emergency are rolled back. The continuous enrollment provision ended in March, and now Medicaid disenrollments have begun. In ten states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion, there are at least 1.9 million persons who are ineligible for Medicaid per their state guidelines, but are still below poverty — thus ineligible for subsidized insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Unlike the woman in the crowd, they may be reaching forward, but unlikely to find the healthcare solution they need.
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:
Genesis 12:1-9
Will you go?
Very rarely do we hear the voice of the Lord clearly, yet when we do the voice of the Lord is loud and demanding. Do you recall the first time the Lord called you by name and commanded you to throw caution to the wind and leave. Taking a leap of faith is never an easy task. Abram showed what that leap looked like when he heard the voice of the Lord telling him to leave his country, his people, and the safety of his father’s house and trust only in a promise spoken. Taking hope with both hands and going forth with trust in their hearts. How often do we fear taking the next steps just because we are worried that a promise or a blessing will not catch us if we fall? Abram, our progenitor, most definitely was afraid, yet he went. How about you? Will you go?
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Hope can be a monster if you let it
Hope is beautiful but it can also be tragic if you let it be. Matthew offers two stories where Jesus encounters two different women that held onto their hope and refused to fall into despair. Humanity was graced with the privilege to perceive and interpret the beauty that is God’s creation and with that comes the reality that we can feel pain. Jesus does not heal the sick woman; she takes her healing for herself. The same goes for the man who demands Jesus comes and heal his daughter. In both cases these people have hit rock bottom. A father who has lost a child and woman who has given everything to be made whole. What both of these two have in common is that they did not let their hope for a miracle turn them into monsters. In both cases their hope drives them to do radical things. Their hope makes them take risks. It makes them do something that is far outside of their comfort zone, but their hope also keeps them grounded. They see how hopeless their causes are, yet they still hold firm to the smallest thread that things have to get better. They trust in hope, yet they do not allow hope to blind them.
* * *
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Risk it
The bleeding woman is an important archetype for us as modern readers. Here is a woman that embodies hope beyond hope. She tells herself that she has nothing left to lose, thus she is willing to risk the ire of the Lord if it means she can be healed. The bleeding woman demands that you take the risk. What’s the worst that can happen? Someone gets angry because you took what you have been seeking for a long time? How often do we ask kindly for things to be done only for our struggles to be overlooked? Taking risks don’t always work out in your favor yet it is far worse if you do nothing at all.
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Rejoice in the Lord for praise befits the upright.
All: Praise God with the lyre, with the harp of ten strings.
One: God loves righteousness and justice.
All: The earth is full of God’s steadfast love.
One: Let all the earth be in awe of the Lord.
All: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of God.
OR
One: God, our help and our hope, calls us this day.
All: We long to come to God and to be healed.
One: The God who created us in love seeks our good.
All: We turn to God who is the foundation of our lives.
One: In the midst of despair God comes to bring us hope.
All: With joy we welcome our God of hope and salvation.
Hymns and Songs
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
GTG: 734
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Soon and Very Soon
UMH: 706
GTG: 384
AAHH: 193
NNBH: 476
ELW: 439
W&P: 523
CCB: 93
Renew: 276
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
GTG: 39
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
UMH: 368
PH: 379
GTG: 353
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293/294
ELW: 596/597
W&P: 405
AMEC: 364
Hymn of Promise
UMH: 707
GTG: 250
NCH: 433
CH: 638
W&P: 515
Now Thank We All Our God
UMH: 102
H82: 396/397
PH: 555
GTG: 643
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533/534
ELW: 839/840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
Spirit Song
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
W&P: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
Heal Me, Hands of Jesus
UMH: 262
CH: 504
W&P: 636
O Christ, the Healer
UMH: 265
GTG: 793
NCH: 175
CH: 503
LBW: 360
ELW: 610
W&P: 638
Renew: 191
Something Beautiful
CCB: 84
God Is So Good
CCB: 75
Healer of My Soul
Renew: 224
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who holds creation in your loving embrace:
Grant us the faith to trust in you always
so that we may have hope in this world and the world to come;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you hold all of your creation in your love. All that is and will be is in your embrace. Help us to place our faith in you so that we may know the hope that secures today and tomorrow. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our placing our hope in things which are not eternal.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have placed our hopes in things that are passing away. We have put our trust in things of our own making. We have given ourselves to wealth, possessions, and earthly power. We have forsaken you and we have forgotten that it is in you alone that we can rest secure. Forgive us our foolish ways and call us back, once more, to you and your message of hope and salvation. Help us to cast aside our idols. Amen.
One: God is our hope and our salvation and comes to deliver us from ourselves. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness and the power of the Spirit to live more fully into your faith.
Prayers of the People
We worship and adore you, O God, for you hold the future in your hands. All creation and all time rests in your love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have placed our hopes in things that are passing away. We have put our trust in things of our own making. We have given ourselves to wealth, possessions, and earthly power. We have forsaken you and we have forgotten that it is in you alone that we can rest secure. Forgive us our foolish ways and call us back, once more, to you and your message of hope and salvation. Help us to cast aside our idols.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have sustained us through our lives and the lives of those who have come before us. We give you thanks for those who have testified to us of your faithfulness so that we might truly hope in you. We thank you for the gift of your Spirit that dwells within us and among us and who bolsters our faith.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need and especially for those who find it so difficult to find hope in their lives. We pray for those oppressed by poverty and want; those who wander without adequate shelter; those who are beat down by violence and hatred. We pray for those who struggle to hope and trust in you because the world has been a hopeless place for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN'S SERMON
Healing Faith
by Elena Delhagen
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
You will need:
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In today’s Bible story, we read about two different people who experienced God’s power through touch. The first was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Have you ever gotten a cut or a scrape? When that happens, what do you do? (Allow children to answer — possibilities include washing the cut, putting a bandage on it, having a parent take care of the cut, etc.) Well, no matter what this woman tried, she could not stop bleeding. She was so tired and so upset because she just couldn’t get better. Have you ever been really sick and just wanted to feel better already? That was exactly how this woman was feeling. So when she saw Jesus in the crowd, she thought to herself, “If I could just get close enough to touch Jesus — even just his clothes! — I know he can make me better.” And as soon as she touched him, Jesus turned to her and told her that her faith had healed her.
The other person in our story was a little girl. She had been sick and died. Her family was so sad. Her father came to Jesus because he knew that Jesus had the power to do anything! He asked Jesus to come to his house to touch his daughter, because he knew that God is so powerful that just a touch from the Lord could resurrect the girl! So when Jesus came to the house, he went inside and took the little girl by the hand. And can you guess what happened? That’s right. She got up!
In each of these stories, it was Jesus and his touch that healed these people. Whether he was holding the little girl’s hand, or the woman who had been bleeding touching Jesus, Jesus and his touch are so powerful that they could do what everyone thought was impossible. Isn’t that amazing?
Will you pray with me?
Dear God, thank you that nothing is impossible with you. Thank you that you care for us and are always with us. When we are sick or hurt or tired, help us to remember to turn to you, because your touch can make us all better again. In your name we pray — Amen.
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The Immediate Word, June 11, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Jesus Hits Pause by Mary Austin. Based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
- Second Thoughts: Lost Causes are My Favorite Kind by Dean Feldmeyer. Based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Katy Stenta, Chris Keating, Quantisha Mason-Doll.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: Healing Faith by Elena Delhagen. B Based on Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26.
Jesus Hits Pauseby Mary Austin
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
“You need to listen to Dr. Williams,” tennis great Serena Williams said to the doctors treating her after she gave birth to her first child. Knowing her body, and her past history of life-threatening embolisms, she knew she was experiencing another one. Even so, her wealth, stature and life experience weren’t enough to get the medical staff to listen to her concerns. In that, she’s far from alone.
Black and brown women suffer more pregnancy complications, and experience greater danger giving birth and post-partum. “About 700 to 900 women die each year from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. And for every death, dozens of women suffer life-threatening complications. But there is a stark racial disparity in these numbers. Black mothers are three to four times more likely to die than white mothers.”
Who’s worthy of attention? And how much do people have to advocate for themselves? This week, Jesus pauses to answer these questions — twice! — in an interesting way.
In the News
Who’s worthy of healing? The country is pondering this question as states disenroll people from Medicaid, after providing three years of continuous enrollment as a response to the pandemic. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that from the start of the pandemic until March, “Medicaid enrollment grew by an estimated 20 million people, contributing to declines in the uninsured rate, which dropped to the lowest level on record in early 2022.” Now states are allowed to take people off the rolls, and up 17 million people could lose their Medicaid health insurance. Health care experts describe “the impending coverage shift as the biggest change in health care since the implementation of ObamaCare,” although the impact will vary from state to state.
And who’s worthy of freedom?
Once people access care, they often end up in debt, struggling to pay co-pays or the entire bill, if they don’t have insurance. “Nationwide, people’s medical debt has contributed to bankruptcy filings, evictions, and foreclosures. And while changes have been made in recent years to reduce the impact of medical bills on credit reports, debt can hamper a person’s ability to buy a house or enroll in higher education. Debt is also associated with a higher prevalence of anxiety and depression and can ultimately lead to worse health outcomes when people avoid care for fear of racking up debt. In 2022, a Gallup poll found that 38 percent of Americans postponed medical treatment because of the cost.”
The District of Columbia is exploring a plan to buy — and then cancel — medical debt, setting people free. “In DC, the burden falls the hardest on Black residents, who are three times more likely than white residents to have medical debt. It’s also more likely to impact residents with disabilities or chronic health conditions who may not have the option of delaying or foregoing care.” The United Church of Christ, as a denomination, has paid off more than $100 million in medical debt, lifting people out of debt and worry.
In the Scriptures
No wonder the synagogue leader and the woman in the crowd believe that Jesus can heal them. Word must have spread rapidly about all the things he’s already done. Chapters 8 and 9 of Matthew are chock full of miracles, including Jesus healing a person with leprosy, the centurion's servant, Peter's mother-in-law, and many others. Then, Jesus takes a break to calm the storm and heal the paralyzed man, all before we find him here, healing the woman in the crowd and raising the synagogue leader’s daughter from death.
Both the synagogue leader and the woman in the crowd act energetically to get Jesus’ attention and to participate in the healing / resurrection they seek. They believe they’re worthy of the gifts Jesus has to offer, although the older woman hopes to receive her gift of healing and then slip back away.
Most often, Jesus responds to someone who asks him for something. He doesn’t typically heal people without their participation. This is what we do in prayer and in asking other people to pray for us. If we ever think that we don’t have to ask God, or shouldn’t ask God for things, the people in this story remind us to energetically pursue God’s gifts.
The lectionary includes the calling of Matthew as part of the frame — could that be a healing story, too? Is Matthew healed from a kind of isolation in his booth, and set back into a community? Or perhaps healed from some inner conflict about his work? Like the ill woman and the dead girl, Matthew also gets a pause from Jesus, who stops to speak to him in his tax booth.
In the Sermon
Jesus’ comment “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” is interesting in this context. Three times he stops what he’s doing to give a gift: an invitation to Matthew, recognition to the woman, and new life to the girl. He’s modeling the gift of mercy to each person — along with the tax collectors and sinners who sit with him at the table. Each person in the frame of this story is worthy of his attention. The sermon might explore who’s worthy of our individual attention, and who deserves the church’s attention. Are we placing our gaze where Jesus would have his?
Jesus’ version of mercy is all about inclusion, and the sermon could also talk about who’s included at our tables, in our healing, and in our feeling of worth.
The woman who touches the edge of Jesus’ garment would rather stay unnoticed, and Jesus refuses to do an anonymous healing. The sermon might explore where we would like to go unnoticed for something we want. Are we shy because we don’t think we belong? Don’t deserve God’s attention? Don’t feel worthy of grace?
Our culture deems some people worthy — of insurance, of medical care, of housing, of justice — the list is endless. The sermon could talk about our calling as both people of faith and citizens to extend the mercy of Jesus where it doesn’t currently go. As people who follow Jesus, what can we do to extend his mercy in the world?
Greg Carey notes, “Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, yet Jesus follows Matthew and the sinners to the table… So it may be with the church’s ministry: sometimes we go forth and identify ourselves with those on the margins; in other cases the needs of others draw the church beyond its comfortable boundaries.” The sermon might explore this interesting dual mission for the church. Sometimes we have a vision for ministry and go out to people, and other times we listen for what’s needed, and respond to the people around us. How can the church combine both ways of doing ministry, as we follow Jesus in both ways?
Jesus stops and listens, pausing to bring the power of God to the people he meets. Following in his footsteps, may we do the same.
SECOND THOUGHTSLost Causes are My Favorite Kind
by Dean Feldmeyer
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
A Star Trek Parable
In the Star Trek universe, known to most Star Trek fans (Trekkers, not Trekies), there is a race of humanoid extra-terrestrial beings known as Romulans who have their home on the planet Romulus. They were originally Vulcans, a highly emotional and volatile race, but split from them during the Awakening when the majority of Vulcans decided to reject the rule of emotion and the violence that inevitably emerged from it and dedicate themselves to peace through logic.
The Romulans rejected the Awakening and chose to retain their volatile, emotional nature.
The Romulan Empire was created by the Star Trek writers out of speculation on what the Roman Empire might have become had it continued into the 23rd century and the age of space flight. They are the sworn enemies of the United Federation of Planets, which includes humans and Vulcans but, in the year 2379, when their home planet is destroyed by a supernova, millions of their people are rescued by the Federation.
When the series “Star Trek: Picard” aired, set in 2399, the Romulans have become reluctant and wary allies of the Federation and we discover that this has been made possible largely through the intervention of an ancient order of Romulan warrior nuns called the Order of the Qowat Milat.
They are an all-female order. Though males can study under them, only women can become members. The primary teaching of the Qowat Milat is called, “The Way of Absolute Candor,” i.e., the total, honest communication of emotion without filter between thought and word. Theirs is a "house of truth" and they make promises rarely as they believe that "a promise is a prison."
They are among the most skilled personal combat fighters in the galaxy. Armed with sacred swords, before they engage in combat, they are sworn to offer their adversaries the option to back away. “Choose to live,” is one of their often-heard warnings. The Qowat Milat cannot be hired, though their assistance can be requested. Like the ancient Samurai of Japan, a Qowat Milat sister can choose to bind her sword to a singular cause if she judges the cause worthy. The criterion for worthiness is that the cause must be a lost one.
Once a Qowat Milat sister joins the cause, however, it often proves to be not quite as lost as at first thought. With their absolute candor, their willingness to fully commit to a purpose, and their skill in personal combat, they are sometimes able to find answers and solutions where others have not.
Two Hopeless Cases
Being a Trekker, myself, I could not help but think of the Qowat Milat and their embrace of lost causes when I read today’s text from the gospel of Matthew. In it, Jesus is confronted with two seemingly lost and hopeless causes.
First, a leader of the synagogue (Mark says his name is Jairus. We Christians would probably think of him as one of the church board members or trustees) comes running up to him and throws himself at Jesus’ feet. It’s an unseemly thing to do and, no doubt, his very proper friends, neighbors, and fellow church leaders, who are looking on, are embarrassed on his behalf.
His first words are words of utter hopelessness and despair: “My daughter has just died.”
As pastors, most of us know the depth of grief of a parent who has lost a child. That is not how the universe is supposed to spin. Everyone knows that. Parents die first, and then, years later, after they have lived long, happy, fruitful, and successful lives, the children grow old and die, leaving their own children to follow after them.
In my 40-plus years of ministry, I have never seen any kind of grief or pain to equal that of a parent who has lost a child to death. They are inconsolable. They are outraged. They are desperate. And this is true whether the child is an infant or 70 years old.
So desperate are those parents, in fact, that they will go to any length to save their child: TV faith healers, herbal remedies, even some unknown itinerant teacher about whom they have heard rumors of healing power, and throw themselves in the dirt at his feet and beg, plead, and flatter him into helping them.
Jesus doesn’t even hesitate. He gets up and follows this poor man. Of course, he does. And his disciples tag along.
But, on the way to the man’s house, a woman with a chronic hemorrhage touches the fringe of his cloak. Mark’s gospel fleshes this story out a little. He tells us that the woman has suffered much under many physicians and has, at this point, spent every cent she has on treatments that didn’t work. So, she, like Jairus, is both desperate and hopeless.
She has heard that this Jesus guy has such amazing healing power that all she has to do is touch his garment and she will be healed and she hopes that this is the case as she reaches out and touches the fringe of his cloak.
Bam! She’s healed. Jesus tells her that it is due to her tremendous faith, that is, her trust that Jesus had the power to heal her.
In Mark, there is a great deal of fuss about Jesus feeling the healing power flow out of him and turning to ask the crowd who touched him. They all back away (and point to her?) and the woman comes forward and throws herself at his feet (as did Jairus) and confesses that it was she. Jesus responds by telling her that, as in Matthew, her faith has made her healing possible.
They continue on to Jairus’ house where the mourning rituals have already begun. Jesus sends them out of the house with the confusing words, “The girl is not dead but sleeping.” Is this literally so? Is she in such a deep coma that it seemed like death? Or is it a metaphor? Is Jesus saying that even death is not permanent where he is involved?
Whichever it is, she gets up from her bed and walks out and everyone is amazed and tells everyone they know about the seeming miracle.
So, as Sportin’ Life says in Porgy and Bess, it ain’t necessarily so. The impossible ain’t necessarily impossible. The hopeless ain’t necessarily hopeless. The last word ain’t necessarily last. And the lost cause ain’t necessarily lost. Where the world would put a period, Jesus puts a comma.
Over and over the gospels make this point.
The paralyzed man by the pool at Bethesda who has been there for 30 years thought his case was hopeless until Jesus came along. The man by the side of the road thought his plight was hopeless until a good Samaritan happened by. Blind Bartimaeus had been blind from birth and assumed with everyone else that his case was hopeless until Jesus happened by. The Gerasene demoniac, the woman caught in adultery, his friend Lazarus, were all seemingly hopeless cases until Jesus entered the picture.
In the Sermon
Sometimes unsolvable problems are thrust upon us.
In the wake of Memorial Day, we cannot help but think of those who have received that terrible news from some branch of the military that their son or daughter or husband or wife has been killed in action. Their loss is tragic, painful, undeniable, and irreversible. How awful and hopeless they must feel. How heavy the blanket of despair that falls upon them.
Or we think of those who receive a diagnosis of some terminal and untreatable condition. Cancer, ALS, Chronic Heart Failure, Parkinson’s Disease. How devastating and overwhelmed they must feel. How profound must be their grief.
If they feel hopeless, it is understandable. But, sometimes, hopelessness is a decision we make, a posture we adopt.
I knew a couple who discovered, after years of frustration, with poor grades and disruptive behavior, that their daughter had a learning disability. The disability was responsible for the poor grades and the behavior was born of frustration. They immediately fell into a posture of despair and hopelessness. Their daughter would be a failure in life, they said, unable to get a good job, find a husband to love her, or achieve any level of the life for which they had hoped and dreamed for her.
I tried to tell them that this was not necessarily so, but they would hear none of it. It was, they said, utterly hopeless.
But, in Jesus Christ, hopelessness ain’t necessarily so.
I have known people with terminal medical conditions whose faith in God propelled them out of disappointment and despair into a vibrant and active, joy-filled life in the time they had left. I have seen parents who have lost children but whose profound faith has let them go on to dedicate their lives to the care of other children. I have known people who have allowed their grief to become a creative force in their life that gave them direction and purpose, all by the grace of God.
I finally convinced the parents of that little girl with the disability to see a psychologist who gently reminded them that they were Christians and in Christ there is hope. I saw them return to their church home, where they worked at renewing their faith and their relationship with their daughter who, today, has a successful career, a husband whom she loves and loves her, two marvelous, beautiful children of her own and, all in all, a very full and happy life.
Paul does not say that all things are good, but he does say that all things can work for good, for those who put their faith in God. (Romans 8:28) Causes, whether they be personal or global, can seem lost and hopeless. But, as Christians, we know that no cause is truly hopeless if we lean on Jesus and place our faith in him and YHWH, our God.
In fact, lost causes are their favorite kind.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Genesis 12:1-9
A New Beginning
The Bible makes a profound change at Genesis 12. Some contend that the origin myths end and the history begins at Genesis 12. Such a reading makes Abraham the first truly “historic” character in scripture.
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Genesis 12:1-9
A Great Migration
Abram is called to leave his whole family — and it was a big family. People lived a long time back then. Abe left his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great grandfather, great-great-great grandfather…it goes all the way to Shem, Abram’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather was alive and presumably waved goodbye to Abram, Sarai and Terah. Shem was one of Noah’s sons, a guy who survived the Flood. Noah had only been dead 17 years when Abram left Ur for Haran.
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Genesis 12:1-9
A crossroads
Haran was a stop on Abram’s way to Canaan. It was truly a crossroads, a spot in northwestern Mesopotamia, about 60 miles above the confluence of the Balikh and Euphrates Rivers. Much later in the story, after Abram’s name had been changed to Abraham, Abe sent a servant back to Haran to acquire a wife for his son Isaac.
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Genesis 12:1-9
A nice phrase about Abram’s need to leave Ur
Midrash says this about Abram’s call to leave Ur:
Why did Abraham have to go forth to the world?
At home he was like a flask of myrrh with a tight-fitting lid. Only when it is open can the fragrance be scattered to the winds.
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Romans 4:13-25
Hope Against Hope
The idiom “hope against hope” originates in Romans 4:18. It’s an odd phrase, incongruous. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the phrase as “to hope very strongly that something will happen, although you know it is not likely.”
The Interpreter’s Bible, (Vol. 9, p. 446, New York: Abingdon Cokesbury Press, 1954) says this about Abraham’s hope, “So far as nature could inspire hope, Abraham had none; but because he trusted in God’s promise, he believed.”
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Romans 4:13-25
Hope in the Stars
Back in Genesis 15 the Lord promised Abram, pre-name change, that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. To this day blue is a color for Jewish weddings because it is the color of the sky, the color of God’s promise to bless the whole world through Abraham. (Nevermind that it was under the night sky that God made this point to Abe.)
At one time Jewish weddings were outside, under the sky, to remind those gathered of God’s blessing. When those weddings took place on market days, and it might be unclear who’s there for the wedding and who’s there to buy soap, chuppahs were created for people in the wedding party to stand under to set them apart from the hoi polio. The canopy was seen as permeable, thus not blocking out the wedding from being under the blessing of the sky.
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Romans 4:13-25
Hope Against Hope, Volume 2
Before Eddie Rabbitt became a country music superstar, he moved to Nashville in the late 1960s with $1,000 to his name. He was discouraged and depleted.
“During his first night in the town, Rabbitt wrote "Working My Way Up to the Bottom," which Roy Drusky recorded in 1968.” Eddie Rabbitt - Wikipedia
He was so low he imagined he had to work himself up to reach rock bottom. He found hope against hope and launched a career that began as a songwriter and peaked with the No. 1 pop and country hit “I Love a Rainy Night.” Not bad for a kid who was born in Brooklyn and grew up in East Orange, New Jersey!
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Romans 4:13-25
Hope, One Final Thought
“How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not "the thing with feathers." The thing with feathers has turned out to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich.” ― Woody Allen, Without Feathers
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From team member Katy Stenta:Matthew 9:9-13, 28-26
Framed in Mercy
I always think it’s funny that people try to tattle that Jesus is sitting with the wrong people. In retrospect it’s hilarious to think that Jesus, the Christ, can sit with anyone wrong. And yet, we today continue to judge who we sit with. Jesus opens this whole passage with the framing of “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” Before any miracles or wonders, Jesus says he wants mercy. With the advent of the “Shiny Happy People” documentary, there is a lot about the Duggars and how they worked to look good to the outside world, even as abuses of all kinds happened within. They were so busy worrying about not looking bad, that they forgot to practice mercy. They were so worried about looking good, they idolized patriarchy, power, and control over mercy. Jesus meanwhile, kneels down in the dirt with those who we would call unworthy, and is able to have his power stolen by the least likely of unnamed and unclean women. What a contrast. It reminds us, that there are no wrong people to sit with — only mercies to practice and healings to pursue.
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Romans 4:13-25
Hoping for Hope
When I conducted spiritual assessments for patients at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital, one of the questions was whether or not the patient had hope. Once in a while the patient would reply, no, they did not have hope, but they were hoping for it. This, to me, illustrates hoping against hope. Or, letting the Holy Spirit hope for you — it is letting the Body of Christ do the hoping for you when you have nothing left. It is acknowledging that you have the practice of hope, even when the hope itself is not present within you. Hope is more than a feeling, it is a working of God that has been gifted to God’s people through the Holy Spirit. Thus, one can somehow, intrinsically have hope — in one’s practice — even when one is hopeless, or hope against hope, or be hoping for hope, because that is how God made us.
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Psalm 33
God’s Word
We say sticks and stones may break my bones — but generational trauma proves that words do indeed hurt. Movies like “Encanto” and “Everything Everywhere All at Once” show that words cause a cascade of hurt. Thus the fact that the word of God is upright, faithful, and consistent, is no small feat. The dependability and power of God’s word is not just in that it is creative and loving, but also in that it is continuous — the presence of God as a cup that can hold our anxieties is something that is no small feat in this fast paced, ever-changing world. The fact that God spaces, commands, and stands firm — in justice and in hope — even as nations and our plans might come to nothing, is very comforting. God is forever a bulwark on which we can lean, even in tumultuous times.
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Genesis 12:1-9
Blessing
Blessings are not pie. They never run out. You notice how God says that any who curse Abraham will be cursed, but also, through Abraham, somehow, eventually, all the families on earth shall be blessed. Therefore, not only are blessings not going to run out, but blessings are contagious. The inevitability of everyone being blessed is foreordained and foretold. We are blessed to be a blessing, because blessings are not like pie, but more like dandelions, well rooted and meant to be seeded and spread across the world — wishes blown by children to be planted on every lawn to feed butterflies and bumblebees alike. Until blessings bloom upon all of the earth.
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From team member Chris Keating:Genesis 12:1-9
So Abram went…
Abraham answers God’s call, and becomes not only Israel’s patriarch, but an immigrant who journeys far from home. It is a story, notes the blog, Working Immigrants, that runs parallel to the stories of historical and contemporary immigrants who move from familiar surroundings to pursue the promise of a dream.
It is easy to attach a strong sentiment of faithfulness, hopefulness and optimism to Abram and Sarai’s journeys, especially since the narrative upholds Abram’s resolve. But reflect on Abraham’s hope in light of the hopes, dreams, and experiences of contemporary refugees and immigrants. Their experiences depend more on determination than they do divine guidance.
Millions of displaced people lack a sense of hopefulness today. Last week, for example, PBS Newshour profiled the tens of thousands of persons fleeing Sudan for neighboring South Sudan, the world’s youngest country. Many are South Sudanese natives seeking to return home, with no idea of how they will get home, or if they can even afford the trip. “People are arriving faster than they can be taken to new locations,” the report noted.
The United Nations notes that the stories of contemporary immigrants are not heroic tales like Abram and Sarai, but often desperate accounts of survival. “Hoping against hope,” there are more than 103 million persons on the move globally, according to the United Nations.
The crises stretch across the world, including Ukrainian refugees, survivors of multiple humanitarian crises across Africa, and refugees seeking to cross the United States’ southern border. Added to this is the highest number of people globally who have ever faced acute food insecurity.
Farhat Popal, immigrant affairs manager for the City of San Diego, writes that for those entering the United States, the American dream is still alive, but filled with obstacles that can feel insurmountable. Writing for the George W. Bush Institute, Popal details her own experiences as an immigrant, and relates the realities immigrants face daily:
We focus on the beauty of the American dream without evaluating what it means to achieve it and maintain it, especially today. If all I’ve done is spread an ounce more of awareness that contributes to asking better questions, and perhaps more empathetic policy responses, then I will have made my immigrant family proud.
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Romans 4:13-25
Punching holes in the darkness
In his recent book, Dancing in the Darkness, the Rev. Otis Moss III explores what he notes as the “deep unease” afflicting contemporary America. “If America were music, its chords would be clashing, its rhythm off,” he writes in the introduction. “If it were a time, it would be midnight, a political midnight in which, more than any time since the City War, we are divided.” (pp.1-2). There is, he writes, a need for hope that is both simple and complex, which “will never be found by rearranging politicians and policies…I believe we hunger for the bread of love wrapped in the actions of a just society.” He sums up the introduction by quoting a story from the Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles about a time in a previous generation when streetlights were powered by gas. “A little boy who was supposed to be in bed watched out the window as a city employee lit the lamps. He ran to his mother and father and said, “Come here, quick!”
“Why are you up?” they asked.
“You have to see this! There’s a man outside. He’s punching holes in the darkness.”
Moss continues, “I know we can punch holes in the darkness, for I know that dawn is coming.”
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Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Who gets healed?
Reaching for the hem of Jesus’ coat brings healing to the woman who had been suffering for many years. In the United States, however, even the woman’s persistent reach would keep her at the fringe of affording healthcare. “Health inequality,” Alvin Powell noted a few years ago, “is part of American life, so deeply engrained with other social problems — disparities in income, education, housing, race, gender, and even geography — that analysts have trouble saying which factors are cause and which are effect.” Everyday realities often determine whether someone lives to old age or dies an early death.
That may be accentuated in the coming weeks as Medicaid provisions enacted during the Covid-19 medical emergency are rolled back. The continuous enrollment provision ended in March, and now Medicaid disenrollments have begun. In ten states that have not adopted Medicaid expansion, there are at least 1.9 million persons who are ineligible for Medicaid per their state guidelines, but are still below poverty — thus ineligible for subsidized insurance through the Affordable Care Act.
Unlike the woman in the crowd, they may be reaching forward, but unlikely to find the healthcare solution they need.
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From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:Genesis 12:1-9
Will you go?
Very rarely do we hear the voice of the Lord clearly, yet when we do the voice of the Lord is loud and demanding. Do you recall the first time the Lord called you by name and commanded you to throw caution to the wind and leave. Taking a leap of faith is never an easy task. Abram showed what that leap looked like when he heard the voice of the Lord telling him to leave his country, his people, and the safety of his father’s house and trust only in a promise spoken. Taking hope with both hands and going forth with trust in their hearts. How often do we fear taking the next steps just because we are worried that a promise or a blessing will not catch us if we fall? Abram, our progenitor, most definitely was afraid, yet he went. How about you? Will you go?
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Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Hope can be a monster if you let it
Hope is beautiful but it can also be tragic if you let it be. Matthew offers two stories where Jesus encounters two different women that held onto their hope and refused to fall into despair. Humanity was graced with the privilege to perceive and interpret the beauty that is God’s creation and with that comes the reality that we can feel pain. Jesus does not heal the sick woman; she takes her healing for herself. The same goes for the man who demands Jesus comes and heal his daughter. In both cases these people have hit rock bottom. A father who has lost a child and woman who has given everything to be made whole. What both of these two have in common is that they did not let their hope for a miracle turn them into monsters. In both cases their hope drives them to do radical things. Their hope makes them take risks. It makes them do something that is far outside of their comfort zone, but their hope also keeps them grounded. They see how hopeless their causes are, yet they still hold firm to the smallest thread that things have to get better. They trust in hope, yet they do not allow hope to blind them.
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Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Risk it
The bleeding woman is an important archetype for us as modern readers. Here is a woman that embodies hope beyond hope. She tells herself that she has nothing left to lose, thus she is willing to risk the ire of the Lord if it means she can be healed. The bleeding woman demands that you take the risk. What’s the worst that can happen? Someone gets angry because you took what you have been seeking for a long time? How often do we ask kindly for things to be done only for our struggles to be overlooked? Taking risks don’t always work out in your favor yet it is far worse if you do nothing at all.
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: Rejoice in the Lord for praise befits the upright.
All: Praise God with the lyre, with the harp of ten strings.
One: God loves righteousness and justice.
All: The earth is full of God’s steadfast love.
One: Let all the earth be in awe of the Lord.
All: Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of God.
OR
One: God, our help and our hope, calls us this day.
All: We long to come to God and to be healed.
One: The God who created us in love seeks our good.
All: We turn to God who is the foundation of our lives.
One: In the midst of despair God comes to bring us hope.
All: With joy we welcome our God of hope and salvation.
Hymns and Songs
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
UMH: 117
H82: 680
AAHH: 170
NNBH: 46
NCH: 25
CH: 67
LBW: 320
ELW: 632
W&P: 84
AMEC: 61
STLT: 281
Hope of the World
UMH: 178
H82: 472
PH: 360
GTG: 734
NCH: 46
CH: 538
LBW: 493
W&P: 404
Soon and Very Soon
UMH: 706
GTG: 384
AAHH: 193
NNBH: 476
ELW: 439
W&P: 523
CCB: 93
Renew: 276
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
UMH: 140
GTG: 39
AAHH: 158
NNBH: 45
NCH: 423
CH: 86
ELW: 733
W&P: 72
AMEC: 84
Renew: 249
My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
UMH: 368
PH: 379
GTG: 353
AAHH: 385
NNBH: 274
NCH: 403
CH: 537
LBW: 293/294
ELW: 596/597
W&P: 405
AMEC: 364
Hymn of Promise
UMH: 707
GTG: 250
NCH: 433
CH: 638
W&P: 515
Now Thank We All Our God
UMH: 102
H82: 396/397
PH: 555
GTG: 643
NNBH: 330
NCH: 419
CH: 715
LBW: 533/534
ELW: 839/840
W&P: 14
AMEC: 573
STLT: 32
Spirit Song
UMH: 347
AAHH: 321
CH: 352
W&P: 352
CCB: 51
Renew: 248
Heal Me, Hands of Jesus
UMH: 262
CH: 504
W&P: 636
O Christ, the Healer
UMH: 265
GTG: 793
NCH: 175
CH: 503
LBW: 360
ELW: 610
W&P: 638
Renew: 191
Something Beautiful
CCB: 84
God Is So Good
CCB: 75
Healer of My Soul
Renew: 224
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who holds creation in your loving embrace:
Grant us the faith to trust in you always
so that we may have hope in this world and the world to come;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you hold all of your creation in your love. All that is and will be is in your embrace. Help us to place our faith in you so that we may know the hope that secures today and tomorrow. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our placing our hope in things which are not eternal.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have placed our hopes in things that are passing away. We have put our trust in things of our own making. We have given ourselves to wealth, possessions, and earthly power. We have forsaken you and we have forgotten that it is in you alone that we can rest secure. Forgive us our foolish ways and call us back, once more, to you and your message of hope and salvation. Help us to cast aside our idols. Amen.
One: God is our hope and our salvation and comes to deliver us from ourselves. Receive God’s grace and forgiveness and the power of the Spirit to live more fully into your faith.
Prayers of the People
We worship and adore you, O God, for you hold the future in your hands. All creation and all time rests in your love.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have placed our hopes in things that are passing away. We have put our trust in things of our own making. We have given ourselves to wealth, possessions, and earthly power. We have forsaken you and we have forgotten that it is in you alone that we can rest secure. Forgive us our foolish ways and call us back, once more, to you and your message of hope and salvation. Help us to cast aside our idols.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you have sustained us through our lives and the lives of those who have come before us. We give you thanks for those who have testified to us of your faithfulness so that we might truly hope in you. We thank you for the gift of your Spirit that dwells within us and among us and who bolsters our faith.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for all your children in their need and especially for those who find it so difficult to find hope in their lives. We pray for those oppressed by poverty and want; those who wander without adequate shelter; those who are beat down by violence and hatred. We pray for those who struggle to hope and trust in you because the world has been a hopeless place for them.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONHealing Faith
by Elena Delhagen
Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
You will need:
- a brown paper bag
- objects of different sizes textures (number can vary) to put in the bag. Some ideas could be: a cotton ball; a grape; a toothpick; a small rubber ball; a leaf or small flower
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In today’s Bible story, we read about two different people who experienced God’s power through touch. The first was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. Have you ever gotten a cut or a scrape? When that happens, what do you do? (Allow children to answer — possibilities include washing the cut, putting a bandage on it, having a parent take care of the cut, etc.) Well, no matter what this woman tried, she could not stop bleeding. She was so tired and so upset because she just couldn’t get better. Have you ever been really sick and just wanted to feel better already? That was exactly how this woman was feeling. So when she saw Jesus in the crowd, she thought to herself, “If I could just get close enough to touch Jesus — even just his clothes! — I know he can make me better.” And as soon as she touched him, Jesus turned to her and told her that her faith had healed her.
The other person in our story was a little girl. She had been sick and died. Her family was so sad. Her father came to Jesus because he knew that Jesus had the power to do anything! He asked Jesus to come to his house to touch his daughter, because he knew that God is so powerful that just a touch from the Lord could resurrect the girl! So when Jesus came to the house, he went inside and took the little girl by the hand. And can you guess what happened? That’s right. She got up!
In each of these stories, it was Jesus and his touch that healed these people. Whether he was holding the little girl’s hand, or the woman who had been bleeding touching Jesus, Jesus and his touch are so powerful that they could do what everyone thought was impossible. Isn’t that amazing?
Will you pray with me?
Dear God, thank you that nothing is impossible with you. Thank you that you care for us and are always with us. When we are sick or hurt or tired, help us to remember to turn to you, because your touch can make us all better again. In your name we pray — Amen.
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The Immediate Word, June 11, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
