Worship for July 8, 2012

July8, 2012

The Pastoral Prayer

Gracious and loving God; this is the day which you have made! We will rejoice and be glad in it! We come to you today as a people ready to sing your praises and share in the delight of each others’ company and experience your presence together. We come in thanksgiving for all the many ways you have blessed us--through the love of family and friends, through the privilege of being your children, the freedoms we enjoy, and through the many other blessings with which you have gifted us. For all these things and more we thank you and praise you.

At the same time, we come with concerns for the world around us. We complain about the heat, but we pray that you make us mindful of those for whom heat and storms are more than mere inconvenience. We pray for those whose lives are threatened even now by this heat and drought in our country and beyond, and we pray for relief.

We pray for our state and for our leaders. We especially pray for our Governor John, our Lt. Governor Mary, our Senator Kris, and our Representative Jay. We ask you to fill them with wisdom and courage, and mercy and compassion, that they may have the strength to lead.

Bless those who lead our military and especially bless those who serve, that they may return safe, sound, and soon.

We have celebrated this week with cookouts and fireworks, but we pray that you will remind us that the greatest freedom is to worship you.

Bless all who mourn today, that they may feel you healing touch, and bring healing to those who suffer, both those names we have called and those we left unmentioned.

And finally, Lord, we pray for ourselves, and the things we dare not speak in words. Hear us even in our silence.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus, and by his grace. Amen.

Mark 6:1-13

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ²On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

No Hands but Ours--No Power but His

Question: How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: Only one, but the light bulb really has to want to change.

Question: How many saviors does it take to offend the people of Nazareth?

Answer: Only one, but the town really has to want to take offense!

Why do you think they took such offense at Jesus? Because they knew him too well. Nothing good can come from Nazareth, anyway, right?

My summer reading list has included a whimsical book entitled, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. I recommend it to you with some caution. It seeks to fill in the gaps in the canonical Gospels of Jesus’ childhood and early adult years. It is irreverent and wonderfully funny.

The book supposes an extraordinary if very ordinary childhood of Jesus. He was a regular little boy with some extraordinary talents, who began his apprenticeship with his carpenter father (by the way, tekton, the Greek word translated carpenter could also be translated stonemason).

The people of Nazareth watched him grow up like any ordinary kid and learn a trade just like every other boy would do. They knew him well. They knew him too well.

If Jesus had come into town with a rock hammer or a chisel under his belt, he’d have been received with open arms. That, after all, is what was expected of him. If he had carved a rock into a stone that would make part of good wall for a home, or if he’d fashioned an olive tree trunk into a bench, they’d have applauded and said, “Look what nice work that Jesus kid does. A chip off the old block!”

But Jesus came into town and went to the synagogue and started to teach the scriptures--a task for which the good folks of Nazareth knew he had no training. At first they are impressed and astounded. And then they started talking about his pedigree. Isn’t this that carpenter, that tekton? Isn’t this Mary’s boy (it would have been insulting not to refer to him by his father’s name)? Isn’t this the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Aren’t’ his sisters here?

In other words, who does this guy think he is, to come into this town and say and do all these things? They don’t trust him. They don’t trust that he is God’s emissary--much less that he is God himself. In that world, one’s status was fixed at birth, and as far as they were concerned, this Jesus would never be anything but a lowly tekton.

This is a common theme in Mark. Just before this, he raises a girl from the dead and heals a woman who’d been bleeding for 12 years, and they were amazed and confused. He cast out demons in Gerasa and they asked him to leave the area. He calmed a storm during a boat trip and those on board asked, “who is this whom the wind and sea obey?”

Who is this Jesus? Mark is trying to help us--the readers--figure that out.

And what about his inability to perform any deeds of power there? Mark G.V. Hoffman writes that a miracle is not merely an event, but an interpreted event. So if the people regarded Jesus as incapable of healing, any healing that would happen would not be attributed to him.

What follows is something that is truly astounding. Jesus sends his disciples out to heal the people in the villages. Mark particularly paints a portrait of the disciples as inept dunderheads. In Mark 4, they can’t understand the parables and need explanations. At the end of Mark 4, Jesus says of them that they are fearful and lacking faith when he calms the storm. They then ask, “Who is this?” In Mark 5, the question Jesus for wondering who touched him. And that’s just in those two chapters. There will be many more instances of stupidity and lack of faith in Mark’s Gospel. But, here, Jesus sends them out and--wonder of wonders--they are effective in ministry to the world.

And he sends them out with nothing. No laptops or tablets. No Iphones or IPads or IPods. Nothing. Nothing but the tunic on their backs and the sandals on their feet. Armed with nothing but the spirit of Jesus.

And now, Christ sends us out to do ministry in the City of Mansfield and beyond. The first part of the title of this sermon comes from a poem by Teresa of Avila. St. Teresa lived in the 16^th century. It is entitled:

Christ Has No Body

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours

But it’s a pretty daunting assignment to go out into the world to do ministry in the name of Jesus. I’m guessing that many of us can’t picture ourselves in ministry, but we are. The key to being ministers in the name of Jesus is remembering that we have something those original idiot disciples did not have. We have experienced the faithfulness of God made known to us in Jesus crucified and risen. We have been given the knowledge of Jesus in the Gospels and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the power of the Spirit of Christ!

But ministry? Please!

You just need to wrap your heads around it differently.

When you speak a kind word to an overworked store clerk, that’s ministry.

When you say a word of encouragement to a child, that’s ministry.

When you visit one of our members in a nursing home, that’s ministry.

When you send a card to someone who’s sick or just down in the dumps, that’s ministry.

When you tell someone about the wonderful Vacation Bible School we’re planning (you can give them the flyer from your bulletin), that’s ministry.

Whe you give to the work of the church, that’s ministry.

When you pull a weed from our community garden beds, that’s ministry.

When you come down to Fellowship Hall Saturday after next to serve breakfast to hungry people, that’s ministry.

When you work to change the world on behalf of hungry people, that’s ministry.

When you perform any act of kindness or justice, that’s ministry.

Question: How many members of First Christian Church does it take to change the world?

Answer: Start with yourself. But you really have to want to be changed. And with all of us--the world doesn’t stand a chance.

And that will be Good News for us, Good News for Mansfield, and Good News for the world. Amen.

Offering

Invitation

God knows about our lives and how much money we have. God does not want us to give more than we can or should. God does ask us to willingly give as we’ve received, and God will be pleased if we give what we can with enthusiasm. Let us make our offerings with joy, knowing that God already knows what we can afford.

Prayer

Gifting and giving God, we make our offerings to you with a willing, eager spirit. Please accept the gifts presented this morning for the use of the church so that our mission and service may be fulfilled. Bless those who could give richly and richly bless those who could not. Amen.

Benediction

Go in peace, love and care for one another in the name of Christ; Go in ministry with nothing but the power of Christ’s Spirit in you.

- and may the love of God the Father rest upon you

- may the grace and the mercy of Christ Jesus the Son dwell within you

- and may God the Holy Spirit strengthen, comfort, and sustain you

both now and forevermore. Amen.