Jesus in custody

Matthew 26:57-68

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas the high priest… v. 57

     Jesus says that when we visit the prisoner, we are visiting him.  How often do we stop to think that Jesus literally stands among the least of these–those arrested, those charged, and those found guilty?  He is betrayed to the authorities, abandoned by his friends, subjected to a judicial system stacked against him, accused by false witnesses, found guilty though he was innocent.   Jesus’ experience puts him in the ranks of almost everyone in prison.

     When Jesus praises those on his right for visiting the prisons as visiting him, he knows of what he speaks.  He knows the loneliness, the confusion, the fear that come with arrest and imprisonment.  He knows the terror of facing those in power who have authority over his life.  

      In Matthew’s gospel Jesus is mostly silent as he is accused and questioned.  His reticence amazes Pilate and infuriates his accusers.  He stands mute before them trusting in a higher power and a higher authority to vindicate him.

      As we visit those in prison, we can bring the good news that the God of justice and the God of love not only knows what they are experiencing but has also experienced it.  Jesus walks the walk they walk.  Jesus suffers the indignities they experience.  Jesus experiences their helplessness and vulnerability.

        As we visit, can we have empathy for the situation of these people?  Can we draw on our own experiences of loneliness, vulnerability, helplessness, to share their situation?  Can we also bring the light of the resurrection to them?  Can we remind them and ourselves that God brought the salvation of the whole world through the events of the cross?  The cross was a necessary prelude to the light of the resurrection.

Pray:  God, the author of freedom, you have experienced being a prisoner, facing injustice, losing freedom.  Today we pray for prisoners and their families that they not lose hope as they experience their difficulties.  Show your presence to them where they are that they migh rely on your power and  presence and promise as they live out their sentences.  Amen.

Jesus Heals

Matthew 8:14-17

“He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.” v. 17b

    Ask many children with a church background who Jesus is and what Jesus does, you will often hear them say, “Jesus saves our sins.”  This answer is incomplete, of course.  They miss the word “from,”  but even more miss the width of Jesus ministry.  Restoring people to health and wholeness was an important part of that ministry.  He was a great teacher, but also a great healer.

    In these verses Jesus restores Peter’s mother-in-law not only to health, but also to her role in society as she serves Jesus. This restoration leads to many people bringing friends and family members who are possessed with demons or are sick.  In response Jesus “cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick.”  

     The gospels are full of stories about Jesus healing ministry–sight restored, withered hands made whole, paralyzed legs strengthened, leprosy cured, the dead revived.  This healing sometimes came with just a word, sometimes with a touch, sometimes at a distance.  Those healings sometimes came to people who expressed faith in Jesus and sometimes at the request of family or friends.  Sometimes the healing created faith.

      What Jesus reveals in these stories of healing is God’s desire for all people to have health and wholeness in their lives.  Illness is not from God.  Sickness is not God’s will for anyone.  Yet God comes among us to experience our life with our infirmities and diseases.  He lives with us in the shadow of the cross, but it’s always God’s will to bring us into the light of the resurrection morning. 

      Many of us have been rescued by medicines timely given or by surgeries and procedures that have enhanced our living.  Our faith, of course, is that God is at work in all of these ordinary or extraordinary events using the wisdom and understanding God has given to many.  We then give thanks for Jesus’ healing ministry as we are “saved”, that is, made well and whole over and over again.

Pray:  Loving God, you provide health and wholeness.  When the body is broken, diseased, and wasting you provide healing and hope.  You set up the cross in the desert with the life-giving serpent and hang on Golgotha’s cross.  You live in the broken places of life.  May we see in those who are sick in body, mind or soul opportunity to minister to you for you live and reign and make all things whole both now and always. Amen.

Augusta Victoria

Matthew 10:1-4

“A sign of hope in a troubled land.”

   As Jesus carried out his healing ministry, he did so without regard to identity.  Jesus healed the child of the Syro-Phoenician woman.  Jesus relieved a demonic possessed man living in the Decapolis of his demons.  The daughter of a Roman Centurion revived at Jesus word.  In following Jesus example, we too offer health and hope and healing to all in need.

      Among the many programs, clinics, and hospitals supported through the ELCA World Hunger Appeal, Augusta Victoria Hospital provides a good example.  AVH is a program of the Lutheran World Federated Department for World Service in Jerusalem.  It started in partnership with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as a major medical facility in Jerusalem after the 1948 war to care for Palestinian refugees. Today, most of the patients served by AVH continue to be in social need and seeking life-saving specialized care.

      Specialty departments that account for the majority of work at the hospital are:  The Cancer Care Center, the Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplantation Care Center, the Artificial Kidney Unit (dialysis), the Surgical Care and Ear, Nose, Throat Center, the Diabetes Care Center, the Specialized Center for Child Care, and the Skilled Nursing and Long-Term (Sub-Acute) Care Facility.  These care centers provide specialized treatments that are not available in the majority of hospitals in Palestine.

      AVH is the first and only hospital to provide radiation therapy for cancer patients in the Palestinian territories and is the only medical facility in the West Bank offering pediatric kidney dialysis. On a daily basis, these and other specialty services touch countless lives, both young and old, from communities across the Palestinian territories. August Victoria hospital is the light of the resurrection in Palestine.

Prayer:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, we give you thanks for the medical personnel who work in less than ideal situations, who put their own lives at risk to treat people in the midst of war or epidemics.  Keep them safe and healthy that they may bring your healing presence to all.  We especially lift up the ministry of mercy at Augusta Victoria Hospital in their time of need.  Amen.

Fast:  By taking time to make a list of what you are grateful for.

Act:  Advocate with authorities for adequate health care for everyone.

                        OR set aside $1 for ELCA World Hunger medical projects

. Transferred

Colossians 1:3-14

He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.  v. 14

     When I attended seminary, I spent my year of internship at Trinity Church in Owatonna, Minnesota.  Part of my learning was to visit twice a week with anyone  from our parish who was hospitalized.  With little experience I needed some help.  The supervising pastor suggested the verses above as especially helpful for hospitalized people to hear.  He was, of course, right.

      While the verses certainly lift up hope, patience and joy, I found the very active verbs “rescued” and “transferred” to speak directly to the situation.  These words reminded the hospitalized person of what God had not only done in the past, but what God was also doing now.  

       Newer hospitals work hard to provide rooms that are bright and cheerful.  Still, despite the large windows and soft lights and cheery colors, hospital days can seem dark indeed.  How necessary it is to hear that God has already come to the rescue and overcome the power of darkness.  God has transferred us to the realm where the power is God’s.  Jesus, God’s Son, reveals that power in his life and in his own healing ministry.  In the shadow of the cross and on the cross, Jesus also suffered.  God knows our suffering and can promise the light of the resurrection to carry us through the suffering.

      This promise brings hope, patience and even joy in the midst of suffering.  We thank God in our suffering not for the suffering, but for God’s presence in and through that suffering.  As we navigate through the Covid-19 experience, we can be assured of God’s presence and power goes with us.  Reason enough for joy.

Pray:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, we give thanks for medical institutions, for hospitals and clinics, for nursing homes and memory care units.  May they continue to seek the best care for the sick and the aging.  We also give thanks for hospital chaplains, for pastors and lay people who visit hospitals and nursing homes and bring your message of hope. Amen.

Fast:  By limiting your “screen time” today.

Act: Phone or send a card to a shut-in from the congregation.

                        OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger medical  projects.

Raised from the Dead

John 11:1-53

Lord, he whom you love is ill.  v. 3b

     It’s not unusual for someone who becomes ill to wonder is God is punishing them in some way.  Their life may, in many ways, be exemplary.  They have exercised, eaten well, had a strong social and intellectual life, were emotionally stable and cared for their God relationship as well  Still they get sick.  They get cancer or diabetes or heart disease or have a stroke or suddenly come down with some rare disorder.  

     In those moments, it’s not unusual to ask about God’s love.  Where is God when bad things happen?  Martha and Mary send for Jesus with a simple message. “he whom you love is ill.”  They believe in Jesus and his powers.   They trust Jesus to act out of his love for Lazarus and make him well, make him whole.  But when Jesus doesn’t come right away, the worst happens and Lazarus dies.  

    When Jesus does finally arrive, he is met with Martha’s complaint, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!!!”  Who of us, having watched a love one die while hoping for a miracle, would not have expressed the same emotion in that circumstance?  Jesus wasn’t there.  God wasn’t there.  My loved one died.  My faith, my trust in God didn’t ward off dying.  

        Mary and Martha grieve their loss and Jesus does too.  What they grieve is the loss of a relationship with a brother and a friend.  It goes beyond physical presence to a deep sense of self that is defined by this relationship.

       Jesus gives life back to Lazarus–at least for a time.  He will one day get ill again and die.  But for now, as Lazarus lives in the deep shadow of the cross, he does so with hope.  Sickness always leaves us feeling vulnerable, powerless, dependent, fragile, certainly mortal.  The shadow of that cross is a dark shadow on our lives.  But in those dark times, we discover again that God is not as absent as it seems, but present in our weakness with God’s power to make whole, make strong, make well.

Pray:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, your son Jesus healed the sick and raised the dead to reveal your desire for our health and wholeness.  May we acknowledge you in all of life’s miracles and moments so that we always look to you for our good.  Amen.

Fast:  By drinking more water today

Act:  Reach out to a grieving friend today.

OR Give $1 to the World Hunger Appeal for ministry support.

The Road to Jericho

Luke 10:25-37

Go and do likewise. v.37

    Life is a road to Jericho.  Many dangers lie in wait along that road.  It is a road that passes through the shadow of the valley of death.  The shadow of the cross lies across it.

     As a person who went to hospitals and nursing homes as part of my on-going work, I’m always surprised by those who either won’t go or who go very reluctantly to visit a family member or a friend in the hospital.  Sometimes they have had a bad experience with a hospital stay for themselves or someone they love.  Sometimes seeing someone helpless in a hospital bed makes them feel too vulnerable themselves.

     The folks, who passed up the man lying by the side of the road, all had good reasons for avoiding him.  Fear for their own safety, the busyness of life, the fear of the demands that might be put on them.  However, one person does stop.  The Samaritan stops and helps.  He places the bandaged man on his donkey, takes him to a place where he can rest and recover, promises to pay ahead and foot the bill whatever it might be.   He also promises to return.  This is not a one off.  

     The hearers can easily see and acknowledge that the Samaritan showed mercy.  The Samaritan didn’t just see the injured man as neighbor, but also proved to be a neighbor by acting like one.

       We often cite the 10 commandments when asked about the will of God—this is what God wants us to do.  Or we cite the Great commandment of love for God and love for neighbor—this is what God wants us to do.  Here is another command, “Go and do likewise.”  Care for the sick and injured is more than charity, but also investment in the return to health.  Showing mercy to the sick in our world, may be as simple as a visit to the hospital or a visit to a shut-in or as complicated as providing malaria nets or aid stations or building clinics and hospitals where medical care is non-existent. Whatever we do, we join the Samaritan in his errand of mercy.  This what it means to live in the light of the resurrection in a world living in the shadow of the cross.

Prayer:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, we give thanks for doctors, nurses, CNA’s, Medical Assistants, dentists and others who work together to maintain our health.  Give them patience, compassion, and wisdom in their care of their patients.  Help them to see you in each person they meet.  Amen.            

Fast:  By beginning or restarting an exercise regimen.

Act:  Support scientific research on a health with a contribution.

                        OR  $1 for  World Hunger Appeal medical projects.

Revival

I Kings 17:17-24

The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah, the life of the child came back to him again, and he revived.  v. 22

     We are again reminded that God is on the side of life.  In the second creation story in Genesis 2 God breathes the breath of life into the lump of clay from which humans come.  Humanity is one with all creation and yet at the same time vivified, given life.  God is author, sustainer, guarantor of Life and Health and Wholeness.

     In this story from 1 Kings, God worked through Elijah to save the life of this widow of Zarephath and her Son.  Though their resources are scarce, God does provide, and they survive the drought.  But now…now the son is so ill he has “no breath in him.”  The life force has escaped.

      The widow blames herself and even Elijah for showing up to remind her of “her sin.”  One of the reasons to visit the sick is to remind that person that it’s not necessarily their fault when sickness invades a body.  Yes, some illnesses are the result of a careless attitude toward our bodies and an abuse of our bodies.  However, often these illnesses are random or part of an aging process or the result of outside forces acting on our physical natures.

      We visit, also, to comfort people with the news that God is present even on the darkest days.  Sick people can feel abandoned to the vagaries of life or feel the hopelessness of illness, feel as if they’ll never feel better.  We can offer assurance that God is present and assurance that God wants them to be well.

      Most often we cannot come offering a cure for what ails the sick person, but we can offer healing—a proclamation that God hears prayer, that even in their illness people are valued and included.  So often an illness isolates, but God uses these moments to connect.

      When the HIV-AIDS epidemic first broke out, many people were afraid of the disease.  They avoided people with the disease at all costs.  It took the bravery, knowledge, and empathy of a few people to show that this illness wasn’t something to fear.  Their actions didn’t cure but did bring healing.  We’re living through the fears of the present pandemic.  We distance ourselves physically from each other.  How much more in these times do we need to remember God is present in these times too and is on the side of life.

Pray:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, you grieve the infirmities and diseases that attack us and make us ill.  We give thanks for  the gifts of medicine and therapies that work with our bodies to  return us to wholeness and health. May we see you in those who are sick and in need. We pray for healing even when there is no cure.  Amen

Fast:  By taking time to breathe deeply

Act:   In days of quarantine make a phone call or write a letter or card 

to someone in the hospital or nursing home.

                        OR set aside $1 for ELCA World Hunger medical projects.

The Bronze Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9

“…look at the serpent of bronze and live.”  v. 9

    One of the realities of life is that life is fragile.  That has come home to us now with the COVID-19 pandemic.  We do fear the evil that follows us through the valley of the shadow of death.  The forces of death are strong.  Disease, disaster, predators, plagues, depressions, and defeats dog us throughout our lives.  From the moment we are born, we are in the process of dying.

     Though we often complain (sometimes even to God) about our lot in life, about how good things used to be, we don’t find ourselves facing a plague of poisonous snakes like the people of the Exodus.  Not literally at least, though the snake might represent anything that sneaks up on us, disrupts our life, and, in fact, threatens our life.  Slithering along close to the ground, the snake surprises and startles as it strikes.  We know those things outside of ourselves that are like that including the current virus.

      In this Exodus story, the snakes are God’s punishment on those who complain.  The presence and power of the snakes also drive people back into the strong arms of God.  God provides the escape from the plague, the action that will bring healing.   Moses is to fashion a bronze serpent.  Instead of slithering on the ground, the bronze fixture is lifted up so that all can see and in seeing be healed.

      It’s troublesome in this reading that God is the source of the trouble, of the snakes.  Should we share that worldview that God is the author of evil?  That bad things are somehow punishment for our sin, our wrongdoing?   While that question is left unanswered here, what is made abundantly clear is that God desires wholeness and health.  There is inevitable trouble and evil, but it is God’s will to rescue and thwart that trouble and evil.  God’s strength can and does do that.  God provides healing and wholeness to life.

     In the gospel of John chapter 3, Jesus compares his crucifixion to this incident in the wilderness.  “ For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:17  God desires fullness of life for all of us.

Pray:  O God the giver of health and wholeness, we give thanks for our bodies in which you take delight.  We honor you for you have indeed created us with gifts and powers.  You have made us a little lower than the angels and breathed into us the breath of life.  Sustain that breath in us every day.  Amen.

Fast: By resolving to eat healthily today.

Act:  Collect items for Health kits for LWR.  (Towels, washcloth,  2 bars of soap, toothbrush, comb, nail clippers)

OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger medical projects.

 Words vs. Works

James 2:14-17

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?  If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their daily needs, what is the good of that? vs. 14-16

      In times of natural disaster or in times of mass shootings, national leaders are quick to offer thoughts and prayers to the victims and their families.  The temptation for most of us is to do the same when we discover people in need.  They often aren’t in our backyard.  We find it difficult to imagine that we could do much more than offer “thoughts and prayers.”  The truth is, of course, that it’s not healthy or necessary to shoulder the burdens of the world.  We are not the Savior.

    But the writer of the letter of James draws us up short.  Words are cheap and fleeting.  As powerful as words are and as necessary as words are, what’s often needed in response to disaster or even everyday trouble is action, works!  Works done not to earn points, not to please God, not to look good, but works because there simply is a need.  

       People are cold and need a coat or a blanket or shelter.  People are shoeless and need soles on their feet.  People are hungry and thirsty and need food and water.  People are oppressed and need justice.  People are persecuted and need someone to stand with them.  

      The letter of James isn’t to “those people out there.”  The letter is written for those who count themselves believers, people of faith, the beloved community.  Across this cohort the cross also casts its shadow.  As we peer into that darkness, we see Jesus there just as surely as we see Jesus in the good things of life.  

        How can our words become actions that are an expression of God’s grace and our faith?  How shall we speak in the shadow of the cross and in light of the resurrection and then how shall we act?

P.S.  These words were written before the current COVID-19 crisis.  It’s been frustrating to be among those considered “vulnerable” because of my age.  I would like to do more than offer thoughts and prayers, but I’m relegated to a place among the “least of these”, who need to quietly sit and contemplate the fragility of life.  I can still pray, however. I can still make monetary contributions to those groups who are caring for others.  I can make phone calls and check up on the well-being of others.  God’s call is still for not only words but also works.  .  

Prayer:  Loving God, you clothed Adam and Eve in the Garden, gifted Dorcas in the sewing of clothes for those in poverty, and cloth us each day with more than rags.  In those around us help us to see you naked on the cross that we may see you in the needs of others for you live and reign in radiant glory now and forever.  Amen.

Got You Covered

John 1:1-5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.  v. 5b

     Lutheran World Relief meets the needs of people following a natural disaster, an armed conflict that creates refugees, or people living in poverty.   One of the basic ways of meeting those needs simply involves a quilt.  Here is their description of how the quilts made by hundreds of people in Lutheran congregations can be used.

          Imagine the comfort and care you feel when you snuggle under a comforter or wear a piece of clothing made or worn by a loved one. That’s the feeling you share through an LWR Mission Quilt. Useful for shielding against the cold and rain, and for warm bedding, quilts can also be purposed as simple tents, floor coverings, or a wrap to hold a baby on a mother’s back. In a simple combination of fabric and thread, you reach out to people in their time of greatest need with a strong message of hope – you are not alone.

         Besides blankets, congregations also put together school kits, health kits, baby kits to provide for the basic needs of people.  Monetary gifts support health clinics, hospitals, and agriculture in areas hard-hit by disaster.  

      God is at work in a world of suffering and loss to bring healing, hope and new life.  The shadow of the cross does lie over places like Haiti or the Bahamas or Syria. In these days of dread of the Covid-19 virus among us,  the shadow of the cross lies across our lives.. God is there in those shadows with the light of resurrection shining in the darkness.

Prayer:  O God who clothes the world in beauty, we give thanks for Lutheran World Relief and all those who benefit from their ministry.  We also give thanks for  shoemakers, for the factory workers in third world countries who make our clothes, and for retail workers who guide our purchases.  Help us to seek just wages for all laborers.  Amen.

Fast:  By contributing to a homeless shelter such as the Salvation Army.

Act:   Contribute household items to New Horizons 

OR contribute to your local congregation’s quilting or blanket tying group.

         OR set aside $1 for the ELCA World Hunger Relief projects.