February 8, 2009 Sermon
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Epiphany 5 - B
Susanna Brosseau
February 8, 2009 Emmanuel, San Angelo
"Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint." Sometimes these words are hard to believe. If you've ever been so tired that you can't even muster the energy to go to bed, you know what I mean. When you've reached the point where the only word that really describes you is "drained", then you know what I mean. If you've ever thought to yourself, "I cannot take even one more thing right now", and then that thing happens, you know what I mean.
And yet we're all still here, those of us who have reached that point and insisted to ourselves that we can't take any more. We're all here, ready to listen to God's word and to have faith that it’s true for us. That's proof enough to me that God does indeed work in our lives to strengthen us and to lift us up. Unimpressed by our earthly strength, he continually sends us His own. And quite often, He sends us that strength through each other.
That is ministry. Not necessarily ordained ministry, but the ministry that we the Church are called to do. There are people right here, right now, that have felt the love and healing of Christ through the conduit of another human. We never know when we're going to be called to fulfill our ministries, only that we will be called, and sometimes in ways we can't begin to imagine. I think of people like Wesley Autrey, the New York City construction worker who leaped from a subway platform just before an oncoming train to save a man’s life. People like Cynthia Taylor, a priest in Georgia who traveled to Ground Zero after 9/11 just because she knew she could help. I think of people like you, who have absorbed into your daily routines the interruptions of people who needed you and responded accordingly.
I think it’s easy for us to sympathize with Paul's changing roles as a minister. We may choose to define ourselves only in one or two ways, if somebody asks us--"I'm a mother. I'm a lawyer. I’m a husband"--but we know that we are more than those parts, and indeed more than even the sum of those parts. When we are effectively ministering to others, we all have the ability to become all things to all people by the power of God. The accountant becomes the comforter and counselor to the client who's lost his job during the tax year. The customer at the grocery store listens to the clerk’s story about her sick child during checkout, touches her hand, says "I will pray for you"...and does it. Paul's words in our epistle reading must surely have been the inspiration for St. Francis' saying "Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words". When we become those people whom others truly need, without losing ourselves or the guidance of Christ, we are preaching the gospel indeed!
And let's not forget at that the end of our Eucharistic services, we ASK to do God’s work--sometimes not just once, but twice! Our post-Communion prayers are either asking God for that strength to love and serve Him, or asking Him for the work which He would have us do. And our deacon will sometimes send us out to "love and serve the Lord" right before we gather our things from the pews and go into the world. We don't ask for the work we think we’re qualified to do, or maybe just a little work for now, or for a day off from His service. We pray that He'll send us the work that needs to be done, even when we think we may not be able to do it.
How, then, do we find refreshment after we've taken on one of those jobs He sends us, one of those jobs where we may have thought "Lord, are you sure you meant me for this? Is it I, Lord"? Our scriptures tell us that we turn to Him, the same God who sends us that hard work will surely send us restoration from that work, and if you've been listening, you know that that restoration will likely come in the form of a minister just such as yourself. It's a beautiful cycle that we’re looking at--you are a minister, so that the person beside you can be a minister, so that the person beside her can be a minister, and so on. And it's important for you to know that in allowing someone to care for you, you’re fulfilling another requirement of your own ministry. It's as important for you to accept that care as it is for someone to offer it to you. All the concern and compassion that someone has to give you will be poured out into the dust if you don’t allow that ministry to take place. When we look at our Gospel reading today, we see that Christ Himself needed that restoration after a long day's work. If Christ Himself asks for His Father's help and receives it gratefully, why on Earth would you refuse it? God has resources and people to serve Him that we wouldn't expect, and when you ask, He sends them to you.
God heals the brokenhearted--in the form of our families, our friends, and sometimes in the form of people we've never met before and may never see again.
God binds up our wounds--literally, in the form of charitable organizations like Doctors without Borders, and figuratively, by sending us people who love us and want us to be well inside and out.
God lifts up the lowly--by softening our hearts and sending us to bring good news to the poor, the afflicted, the neglected, and the hungry.
God has no pleasure in our own strength--yet he sends us all of His own, to be used in His service, the service of doing His work, of being His hands and feet, the service of all of His children.
And God urges us to embrace the ministry of others, so we may fully feel the strength of His love for us and be restored in that love, reconciled always to Him and to His creation.
Let us pray: Lord Christ, you called us all to be your ministers. Help us to follow the example of St. Paul, that we may serve others as they most need us. Help us to be served by others, that we may find strength to continue in our own service to your children. Make our hearts and minds always ready to receive the blessing of your Holy Spirit, so that we are continually filled with the strength of your presence, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Revised: 02/16/09