The Shootings in Tucson and the Tragedy of America's Mental Health System

The tragic shootings a week ago in Tucson, which left six dead, and thirteen wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was hosting a "Congress on the Corner" event, has raised important questions for the nation.  The debate began with a focus on the tenor of our national conversations, but as we learned more about the situation, we discovered that this was a more complicated issue than maybe we first thought.  It turns out that the suspect in custody was driven more by "inner demons" that were rather disconnected from political discourse.  As the President noted Wednesday evening there are issues beyond discourse that need out attention -- including accessibility to guns and our mental health situation. 

I use the phrase "inner demons" advisedly, but I think it has some value, because it reminds us that what happens internally, in our minds, can lead to tragic and destructive events.  I appreciated the fact that the President didn't call Jared Loughner a madman or even call him crazy.  It's easy to use those words, but they are extremely pejorative, and they don't help us understand the root causes of tragedies like that of last Saturday.  I realize that some will think I'm letting this man off too easily by putting the question in the context of mental health.  But, to give this issue a bit of theological context, I'd like to suggest that we put into our hearts and minds the encounter that Jesus had with the "demon-possessed man" from the region of the Gerasenes.  Remember that this man lived alone, ostracized by his community, because of his violence.  But instead of imprisoning the man, or condemning the man, Jesus freed him from his demons (Luke 8:26-39). 

Jesus brought healing to this man, and thus to the community.  He restored this person not only to his "right mind," but also to his community.  My sense is that Jared Loughner will spend the rest of his life in prison, but will he find healing?  Will we let him find healing?  And the question then is -- how does this healing occur?

In the context of the Gospel, Jesus acted as an exorcist.  In today's context, healing is likely to come as a result of attending to a person's psychological disturbances, which often means addressing chemical imbalances that can lead to all number of problems, including paranoia and violence.    I believe that evil exists in this world, but more often than not it is systemic and not personal.  But people can get caught up in the context of evil, and if they are suffering from mental illness, that can have tragic consequences.   What we know so far is that this young man exhibited aberrant behaviors, and yet no one knew what to do to help him until was too late.  Couple this failure of the system, with another system that makes semi-automatic guns available to people who are suffering from mental illness, and you have a problem. 

So, what have learned from these events?  I believe that one important thing that we've learned is that we are, as a nation, ill-equipped to deal with mental illness.  Maybe less so than we were a generation earlier.  We have more drug therapies and counselors available, but too often these therapies are beyond the reach of those most affected. 

It's important that we remember that most state mental hospitals were closed years ago, and those who resided in those institutions were often put out on the streets.  There may be good reasons for doing this, even humane reasons -- for one need only  watch One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest to get a sense of the abuses that were often present in these intuitions.  But even as these institutions were being closed, we didn't think ahead far enough about the consequences to provide alternatives.  As a result, we're discovering that many mentally ill people, who once would have been institutionalized, end up either homeless or in prison.  

So what should we do?  Remember that we're living in a period of budget deficits, and mental health spending is often the first line item to see cuts.  It's important to remember too that many if most insurance plans don't cover mental health solutions, especially counseling.  You can get meds from your MD, but access to regular counseling is hard to come by.  It would appear that the Health Care Reform law will help resolve some of these problems, but what if this law gets undermined or over-turned either by Congress or by the courts?   Who will pay the cost then -- not only for the individuals who suffer from mental health problems, but society itself?   

My hope is that before the events of last Saturday begin to fade from our memories that we will have a conversation about the way we deal with mental health issues in our nation.  There is great urgency to this conversation, before we find ourselves dealing with another Jared Loughner type act of violence.     

Transforming Acts: The Power of the Name (Bruce Epperly)

In his fourth installment of his journey through the book of Acts, he comes to chapters 3 and 4, chapters in which transformative ministry begins to move out into the community, and it is done "in the name of Jesus."  It is interesting that the first chapter of Ephesians, a letter that may have been written at about the same time as Acts, and perhaps from within the same broader Pauline community, also lifts up the preposition "in."  So the question for today has to do with the nature of the power that is present in the name of Jesus and how we should understand that name and its power today.

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Transforming Acts: The Power of the Name

Acts 3:1-4:31

Bruce Epperly

Acts 3 begins with a healing story in which a man with paralysis is cured by invoking the name of Jesus. This healing story begs the question: Is there a special power in the name of Jesus? Does the invocation of Jesus' name have some spiritual and metaphysical power that can change minds, bodies, and spirits? Can the faithful mentioning of Jesus' name open up an energetic force field through which God is able to do extraordinary things for our well-being? Do other names carry healing power? In Acts, chapters 3 and 4, Peter heals in the name of Jesus and the early church experiences signs and wonders through invoking Jesus' name.

Could Jesus' name be a life-transforming mantra - a power word - not unlike the Hindu “Om”? The biblical tradition asserts that God creates through the word (Genesis and John). The wisdom of God moves over the waters, creates through all things, and enlightens all human beings. Words matter: holy words join our spirits with what Herbert Benson (Relaxation Revolution) describes as "remembered wellness," our primordial wholeness that brings health and healing to our hearts. The word of God sets in motion vibrations that create, restore, and reestablish order. The name "Jesus" was a power word for those first Christians, a word that focused and expanded God's presence and power in their lives. Many Christians today still use the name of Jesus to mediate power, healing, and protection. I personally use the name of Jesus to center myself when I am giving Reiki healing touch attunements: for me Jesus’ name grounds the dynamic energy in Jesus’ ministry and field of force.

The Biblical tradition proclaims that God's word is present in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. The author of Acts proclaims boldly that there is salvation in no other name. But, what does this affirmation really mean? Is the presence of God in Christ inclusive or exclusive? On the one hand, salvation in Christ can mean that wherever we experience wholeness, God is its source and that Jesus mediates that wholeness to us. Jesus Christ is the ultimate source of all saving ways. The love and wisdom manifest in his life give birth to all authentic religious experience, Christian and non-Christian alike.

In contrast, does this apparent limitation on salvation to Christ alone mean that only when we assent to this name we find wholeness? From this perspective, apart from invoking Jesus' name in some prescribed way we are lost.

Or, is there truth in both. That is, God's power is everywhere, operating in all creatures, and seeking the well-being of all creation, but when we assent to its media greater power flows through us. Jesus Christ - or speaking in the name of Christ - elicits unique energies to heal, transform, and save human beings. This does not rule out God's healing and saving revelation in other faith traditions, but describes the unique and effective power of Jesus' name to bring healing and wholeness. As a Christian mantra, the name of Jesus creates a protective and energizing field of force around us and those for whom we pray. This protective power is evident, for example, in the Celtic caim or encircling, in which a person draws a circle around himself with the right index finger and says words like “Christ in me…Christ before me…behind me…above me…beneath me.” In life and death, the power of Christ is present to save and protect.

Finally, openness to the word of God in Christ's life inspires boldness in proclaiming the good news. These are days in which we need boldness - we need to be shaken from complacency in terms of issues of global climate change, justice, care for the vulnerable, and our role in sharing good news. This is a matter of both meaning and action, of responding to the cultural thirst for wholeness and also the deep needs of our society and planet.

Boldness is called for today: boldness born of passion in God's healing presence and our calling to be God's partners in healing the earth. Awakening to Jesus’ field of force by calling out his name is one way we gain courage and wisdom for the journeys that lie before us.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected 2009 Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.His most recent book is From a Mustard Seed: Enlivening Worship and Music in the Small Church, written with Daryl Hollinger.



Seeking the Balm of Gilead -- A Sermon

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

Last week we heard a word from the Gospel of Luke about a risk-taking and extravagantly-loving God, who will do everything and anything to restore humanity to fellowship with God and with one’s neighbor. It’s also a word about a God who likes to celebrate this fact with a party. It’s a pretty powerful and wonderful word. But there’s another word to be found in Scripture, and it also needs to be heard. That word is found in today’s lesson from Jeremiah.

1. The Cry of the Wounded Heart

Nine years ago, on the second Sunday after September 11th, I preached from this very text. Like today, it was the lectionary reading from the Old Testament, but it spoke directly to the shock that our nation was still experiencing. It offered a word of consolation to people, trying to make sense of the horrific events of the previous week. As I took to the pulpit that day and preached my sermon, I tried to wrestle with the grief and the anger people were feeling. I reflected on the angry calls for vengeance that I was reading and hearing. These feelings were understandable, but to my mind they were contrary to the gospel of Jesus. I tried to offer a different perspective, one that reflected the nature and character of the God we know and love in Jesus Christ, using this passage from Jeremiah as a lens through which we could look at our situation and make sense of it. What Jeremiah does for us is give voice to the despair that so many were feeling. But, giving voice to our despair isn’t enough. There has to be a voice of hope and consolation as well, and despite the heaviness of this passage there’s also a glimmer of hope and a promise of healing, even in the midst of a word of judgment on a wayward people.

As we have seen in recent weeks, the shadow of September 11th still hangs over our nation. The anger, the despair, and the fear engendered by the events of that day remain with us. But it’s not just 9-11 that casts a shadow over our lives. There are the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Katrina, confessions of moral failure on the part of religious and political leaders, the continuing legacy of racism in our land, a catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a lingering economic downturn that has cost millions of people their jobs and even their life savings. And these are just the events that touch American lives. As we reflect on our situation in life, the cry of Jeremiah seems to express the feelings of the moment: “My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick.” (Jer. 8:18). This cry of the heart isn’t just found in Jeremiah. The Psalmist also cries out:

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I bear pain in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day long?” (Psalm 13:1-2a).

Then there’s that cry of dereliction from the Psalmist that’s found then on the lips of Jesus as he hung on the cross. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1).

These aren’t joyous words, and yet they reflect the absence of hope that stands over our lives like a cloud that won’t go away. Sometimes we think we have to put on a smiley face before God and our neighbors, and pretend that nothing is happening to us. But these texts give us permission to cry out to God and ask why.

2. Hearing Words of Judgment

Now, when Jeremiah spoke these words the Babylonians were bearing down on Jerusalem. We don’t hear the full word of judgment that Jeremiah levels against the people in this passage, but it’s there in the broader context. Jeremiah essentially told the people of Judah that since they had broken things, they now owned what they’d broken. They’d gone against God’s word, and so now they were suffering the consequences. The sufferings of the day were the result of God’s judgment on the spiritual sickness that afflicted the nation.

The darkness that’s present in this passage of Scripture should make us uncomfortable. It’s good to remember that while the Scriptures bring us good news, the biblical writers were realistic about the world in which we live. Sometimes we need to be reminded that what we say and do can have a negative effect on our lives and the lives of others. While I don’t believe God sent those planes into the towers of Manhattan, or sent Katrina as a sign of judgment on New Orleans, or the earthquake that hit Haiti, or the floods in Pakistan, events such as these can be a wake-up call of sorts. They catch our attention and cause us stop and consider the presence of darkness in our lives. That may be why many churches saw an increase in attendance after 9-11. Even if this attendance increase was short-lived, it represented the human need to find a word of healing, balm of Gilead that would heal a sin-sick soul.

3. The Balm of Gilead

We come to church hoping to hear a positive word, a healing word. Although there are those who enjoy fire and brimstone, most of us will take a pass on words like that. There’s a reason why preachers like Norman Vincent Peale, Robert Schuller, and Joel Osteen are so popular, they preach a positive message. Unfortunately, their message is too often a partial gospel. Although it’s not my habit to criticize other preachers, at least not in my sermons, I find it enlightening to read that the primary cause of the break between Robert Schuller and his son, which led to the dismissal of the son as pastor of the Crystal Cathedral, was the father’s concern that his son talked too much about the Bible and about Jesus. Apparently, if the Bible and Jesus are the focus, then the message might not be as positive as some people want it to be.

Now, I’m more an optimist than I a pessimist, more Winnie the Pooh than Eeyore, but I’m not naive. I know about the dark side of life, and so if we’re to hear the whole gospel, we need to hear the dark side as well as the bright side of life. Although we might wish things to be different, there is truth in the words of Ecclesiastes: There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to rejoice and a time to grieve (Eccles. 3:1-8). That’s just the way life is. Still, even as Jeremiah brings a word of judgment on his people, he also cries out for healing.

"Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored?" "O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!"

Jeremiah recognizes that we can’t go on forever living on the dark side of life. We can’t dwell in the darkness forever, even if the cloud doesn’t want to dissipate. And so, we must go looking for the balm of Gilead, which brings healing to “our sin-sick souls.” The question is – where can we find this balm of Gilead? Where does the physician for our souls reside?

The passage for the day doesn’t give us an immediate answer. We have to continue reading, past the point where the people go into exile. Then and only then do we hear a word of hope. In his letter to the exiles in Babylon, Jeremiah writes:

For thus says the Lord: Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill my promise and bring you back to this place. For surely I know the plans I have made for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jer. 29:10-14).

There is, as they say, light at the end of the tunnel, so keep on searching for God. Keep looking for the balm of Gilead.

And as we seek a word of healing, we’re led to Jesus, who is the great physician and the healer of our lives. If we read the gospels, we know that healing stood at the center of his ministry. Wherever he went, he reached out and he touched people’s lives. He restored hope to those who lived without hope. He restored broken bodies and broken lives. We see this promise of healing in his own death and resurrection. Hanging on the cross as he did that day, Jesus tasted the bitterness, the pain, and the despair of humanity. He bore on his body the blows of human anger and hatred, and he offered forgiveness in return. When we hear the cry “Is there no balm in Gilead?” the answer that we hear is that it’s Jesus who brings God’s healing presence to us.

Whether we grieve the loss of one we hold dear or a person we don’t even know who dies as a victim of violence in Afghanistan, Darfur, Congo, Detroit, or even own neighborhoods, the good news is that God is present with us and that God has tasted our sorrow in Jesus. As we hear this message of hope we also discover that we’re to be the agents of that hope. And so in the words of that old spiritual we sing out:

"There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul."

Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Troy, MI
17th Sunday after Pentecost
September 19, 2010

A Healing Presence -- A Sermon

Luke 8:26-39

What do Aimee Semple McPherson, Katherine Kuhlman, Benny Hinn and Jesus have in common? The answer: They all connected healing with faith. I realize that putting Jesus in the company of these other faith healers may seem inappropriate to many, but I think it will help us think about how Jesus’ healing ministry should be understood. There have always been those who claim to heal in the name of God. Some have been shysters and frauds, but others have brought gifts of grace and healing to the lives of many. Some have used the tools of modern medicine, while others have turned to alternative forms of healing, including prayer and anointing with oil. Jesus is among those who have brought God’s healing presence into our lives in ways that are beyond a scientifically-based medicine. The healing stories involving Jesus are often dramatic, but they also raise questions. If Jesus can heal this demoniac or Blind Bartimaeus, why not me?

People of faith often wrestle with the relationship of faith and healing. While pray for the healing of our loved ones, perhaps hoping that God will do something “miraculous,” most of us also go to the doctor and take our medicine. That is, even while we pray we look to human wisdom for healing. And yet, we also sense that prayer could and should play a role in this process.

In recent years, the scientific community has sensed that spirituality or prayer might play a role in healing, and they’ve done studies to figure out the relationship. Some of these studies seem rather silly, and none of these studies have truly explained how all of this works, which isn’t surprising since people of faith understand that God usually works at deeper levels than can be perceived by science. Still, even if these studies are inconclusive, they suggest that we’re more than the sum of our body parts and that people of faith tend to recover better and faster.

This cautious embrace of spirituality by the medical community is controversial, and a degree of skepticism is always healthy, for we don’t want to fall prey to the quacks and frauds and other purveyors of false hopes. At the same time it’s appropriate to recognize that we are -- to use a medical term -- a psychosomatic whole. Because we seem to be more than simply a mass of carbon-based atoms magnetically linked together, there may be room for God to act in the healing process. Bruce Epperly, who has been writing a series of blog posts for me on the topic of healing makes this point quite directly:

Progressive Christians are challenged to consider the possibility that Jesus was able to achieve what many contemporary holistic and spiritual healers as well as faithful Christians at liturgical healing services regularly experience - the transformation of the whole person through healing touch, anointing with oil, reiki, prayer, or laying on of hands.1

1. Jesus and the Gerasene Demoniac

If we look closely at the gospels we’ll discover that healing forms a major part of Jesus’ ministry. In fact, healing stories, whether physical or spiritual, make up nearly 20% of the Gospel texts. There’s the man with an unclean spirit and Peter's mother-in-law, a leper and a man with a withered hand, there’s Jairus' daughter and the woman with the hemorrhages. Morton Kelsey says that "wherever Jesus went he was simply besieged by the people who wanted to be healed." Even his enemies didn't "contest the fact that Jesus healed; they only tried to cast doubts upon the agency through which he did it."2

This morning we hear the story of Jesus’ encounter with the Gerasene demoniac after crossing the Sea of Galilee into Gentile territory. As soon as he lands, he’s accosted by a naked man who runs out of the cemetery shouting incoherently at him. Obviously this guy’s out of his mind! Tormented and seemingly beyond help, his neighbors have tried to keep him under control by chaining him up, but each time they do this, he breaks loose and hides out in the cemetery – homeless, naked, and forgotten. The man Jesus encounters is of two minds – part of him wants help, but the other resists. He shouts at Jesus: "What do you want of me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?" While Jesus could have turned away from the man, he doesn’t. Instead, he reaches out to the man in compassion and confronts the demons that bind him, releasing him from the hold of “Legion,” which interestingly enough leads to the death of a herd of pigs.

You might be wondering how this text speaks to the question of healing. Well, Luke like many of his contemporaries, made no distinction between healing and exorcisms. To heal was to engage evil in spiritual battle, and therefore Luke understands Jesus’ healings to be signs that the kingdom of God is spreading its influence. These healings are also expressions of Jesus’ own calling to “seek out and save the lost” (Lk 19:10). Healing and saving are really the same thing. They bring wholeness where there is brokenness. Whatever our modern diagnosis might be, this tormented man was experiencing brokenness, and Jesus brought wholeness to his life. The man’s neighbors came and found him to be “clothed and in his right mind.” Interestingly, their response was one of fear, a fear that led them to encourage Jesus’ departure.

  

2. God’s Healing Presence

It’s clear from the Scriptures that God is the source of healing, but if this is true, then why doesn't God heal everybody? We all know people, people who are close to us, for whom we pray, perhaps daily, hoping for a cure, and yet we don’t see them healed. There are those who say that maybe God healed back in the bible days God doesn’t do that sort of thing anymore. I’m afraid that explanation doesn’t work for me, because it suggests that rather than being present in our lives today, God is absent. Others say that God will heal you, if you have enough faith, but that sounds kind of cruel. Besides this guy doesn’t seem to have all that much faith, and yet Jesus heals him. And, I’ve known people with plenty of faith who never experience physical healing.

Consider the story of my high school youth minister. Steve died a number of years ago from stomach cancer. He was probably in his early 40s then. He had a wife and children, and pastored a church. He believed in healing and his church practiced it and prayed for it. In fact, they prayed intensely and continually that Steve would be healed. They claimed his healing, and as I’ve heard the story told, the church kept everyone away who had doubts about whether God was going to heal him. If all it took was faith, then surely Steve would be alive today.

So what do we do with these biblical texts that suggest that Jesus was involved in healing the bodies and the minds of people? I’m tempted to leave them be, and just rest in the mystery that is God. But to do so, means turning my back on stories that can have a transformative effect on our lives. I may be more of a rationalist than a mystic, but even I believe that God is at work in our lives, bringing wholeness and even healing to them. It doesn’t always happen immediately or in the way we might expect or desire. Sometimes it’s a rather slow and gradual process. Bruce Epperly writes:

I believe that God moves toward wholeness within all things, but most of the time, the divine quest for abundant life is revealed in gradual, almost imperceptible ways. Our health and illness, and the healing process occur in the context of factors such as DNA, physical condition, economics, health care accessibility and treatment, faith, and community support, along with our prayers and the prayers of others and movements of God in our lives. When a cure occurs, God is always the ultimate source, even though God works relationally and persuasively through the many factors of life, from meditation to medication, and contemplation to chemotherapy.

There are times when people are cured, but healing isn’t always about curing. Healing can take place in a number of ways, but as Bruce notes, God is always involved, even if the context of this healing is found in modern medicine, psychotherapy, or other therapies. While not everyone is cured, if healing is understood to mean wholeness, then this wholeness can be experienced in ways that do not always involve physical wholeness. Sometimes it involves finding peace in the midst of an illness or a disability.

In my reading of Scripture, it seems appropriate that we come before God and ask God’s blessing for people who are hurting. It’s appropriate to anoint the sick, the injured, and the dying with oil, as a sign of God’s grace. We do this while praying that the one we love will experience wholeness of body, mind, and spirit, always acknowledging that healing comes in different forms. It could be physical, but it might also be spiritual.

In the early church, when a person was sick, they called for the elders to come and anoint with oil and pray for the one in need. Oil was used in part because it was believed to have medicinal value, but it was also believed that when accompanied by prayer, God would be present in the healing process. Faith and medicine need not be seen as two ships passing in the night. We can embrace both in the pursuit of wholeness of body and spirit. And when we find that we’re whole again – whether or not we’re cured -- it’s appropriate to give thanks and share the good news. After Jesus brought healing to the Gerasene man, he told him to share the good news with his neighbors, who, to tell the truth were a bit disturbed to see this man, whom they had thought was under the control of demons, once again in his right mind. And the same is true for us – when God has touched our lives, we’re called to make that known to the world.

 

1. 
   
    Bruce Epperly, “Did Jesus Cure Anybody?” Ponderings on a Faith Journey, http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/2010/06/did-jesus-cure-anybody-bruce-epperly.html
2. 
   
   Morton Kelsey, Healing and Christianity, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1995), 45.
3. 
   
   Bruce Epperly, “The Gift of Gradual Healing,” Ponderings on a Faith Journey,
   http://pastorbobcornwall.blogspot.com/2010/06/gift-of-gradual-healing-bruce-epperly.html

Preached by:
Dr. Robert D. Cornwall
Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Troy, Michigan
June 20, 2010
4th Sunday after Pentecost

The Gift of Gradual Healing (Bruce Epperly)

For the past several weeks we have been treated to a discussion of God's divine agency in the world.  We've explored the question of whether divine power is unilateral or persuasive, whether we can envision the resurrection as being more than metaphor, and whether God is engaged in healing.  In this week's column Bruce Epperly returns to the question of healing, exploring a passage that reminds us that sometimes healing is a gradual process.  I invite you to consider Bruce's contribution and join in conversation.

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The Gift of Gradual Healing

Bruce G. Epperly

In some ways, all theology is healing theology. By that, I mean that the aim theology is not just armchair speculation, but the transformation of our lives and communities. Healing goes by many names – salvation, conversion, curing, reconciliation, wholeness, unity, forgiveness. All of them point to a change in our hearts, often reflected in a change in our social relationships, vocation, emotional well-being, spiritual priorities, and physical condition. Over the past several weeks, I have been pondering the healings of Jesus and the healing vocation of moderate and progressive Christians. Healing is about meaning (and I hope to address the interplay of meaning, imagination, and truth later this summer), but it also about whole person transformation that may literally change the cells of our bodies as well as our spiritual lives. The postmodern world is about connectedness, relationship, and holism, in which the transformation of the body changes the mind, and the transformation of the spirit or social location has an impact on physical existence.

Now, the strange story of the man who was healed gradually (Mark 8:22-26) is perhaps one of the most helpful healing stories for contemporary persons; perhaps, it was transformative in the first century as well. I have a strong sense of the literary and imaginative power of scripture: there are no throw-away lines or unnecessary stories in the remembered history (Borg) of Jesus’ life. But, why would this story be included? There is no dramatic healing; in fact, it begins in failure and disappointment. Jesus touches the man and he can see a little bit, but not yet well enough to see clearly. Jesus touches him and his sight is restored.

In a time in which healing and curing are dominated by quick fix technologies and quick fix televangelists, this story reveals the everyday realities of God’s healing movements in our lives. Most of us are not healed immediately, but need to go through a process of transformation until the wounds of body, mind, and spirit are healed. I have often noted that the flamboyant healing ministries of Benny Hinn, Richard Roberts, Gordon Robertson, (Pat Robertson’s son) and others may do more harm than good to the average congregation seeking to initiate a healing ministry. The televangelists only show us the successes – the people who get up from their wheelchairs, the cancer cures, and the glasses tossed away. While I do not wish to challenge the integrity of these televangelists, these programs present an inaccurate picture of divine healing that often prevents people from trusting God’s gentle, naturalistic healing over the long haul. The majority of people who attend televised healing services do not experience dramatic healings; and, for some, the cures are short-lived. Often, participants in congregational healing liturgies in moderate and progressive churches wonder why their healing services don’t produce such dramatic results; indeed, people can feel guilt and failure when a dramatic cure does not occur after an anointing or laying on of hands. (For more on progressive and moderate healing services, see Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice and God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus).

I believe dramatic changes can occur in the mind, body, spirit, relational, interdependence of life. I believe that God moves toward wholeness within all things, but most of the time, the divine quest for abundant life is revealed in gradual, almost imperceptible ways. Our health and illness, and the healing process occur in the context of factors such as DNA, physical condition, economics, health care accessibility and treatment, faith, and community support, along with our prayers and the prayers of others and movements of God in our lives. When a cure occurs, God is always the ultimate source, even though God works relationally and persuasively through the many factors of life, from meditation to medication, and contemplation to chemotherapy.

In the story of this man’s gradual healing, a cure emerges, but not immediately. When the man is not immediately cured, Jesus does not blame him. Rather, he continues the healing process. This is an important healing moment for the man and his culture: Jesus defies the acts-consequences approach to health and illness and success and poverty. People are not always sick because of immorality, negative thinking, or inadequate faith. Though these factors enter into our health and well-being, they are part of a larger psychosocial-physical-spiritual-economic matrix.

Jesus continues the healing process, ministering to the man’s spirit as well as to his eyesight. Freed from guilt and blame, the curative processes continue to operate, bringing healing and wholeness of body, mind, and spirit.

The story ends with Jesus sending the man home, with the admonition, “don’t even go into the village.” Perhaps, like the story of Jairus’ daughter that we explored last week, this man needed to return to an environment where he would be known as healthy and whole, rather than in terms of his blindness. Perhaps, he needed to gently grow into the cure that he had received. Moving too quickly physically, relationally, and spirituality can actually impede the healing process.

This story of gradual healing is important for people today. First, it portrays God’s aim at healing as naturalistic, occurring within the causal interdependence of life. Second, it portrays Jesus using a first-century healing media, saliva, which reminds us that we can take our medication prayerfully and that God is working not only through Western technological medicine, but also through prayer, global healing techniques, laying on of hands, energy work, and social transformation to restore persons to well-being. Third, it reminds us that gradual healing and curing is just as revelatory of God’s grace as dramatic healing. A God who works for wholeness in all things primarily works gently in the world, using the media of our daily lives; but, God also works persistently to transform our lives, body, mind, and spirit, lovingly and without blame.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.

Persons interested in progressive approaches to healing and wholeness may consult his God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus; Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice; and Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus, written with Katherine Gould Epperly. He can be contacted at bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu.

Did Jesus Cure Anybody? (Bruce Epperly)

In today's installment of Bruce Epperly's reflections on a Spirit-centered Progressive theology, he takes up what are to be at least two essays on healing.  Bruce believes that Progressives are missing the boat by ignoring this important aspect of spiritual life.  I myself struggle with what to make of this idea, so I welcome Bruce's reflections.

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Did Jesus Cure Anyone?

Bruce G. Epperly

For a number of years, I have challenged my fellow progressive Christians to recognize the importance of mysticism, spirituality, paranormal normal experiences, and healing for a holistic faith for the future. A recent Pew Center Report notes that 50% of persons who identify themselves as mainline Christians report having experiences of self-transcendence. The fact that every other mainstream or progressive Christian reports an encounter with the Holy suggests that a holistic and spirit-centered progressive theology must take mysticism, spirituality, and healing seriously. Too often, we progressives have separated spirituality from social action and personal faith from social concern. Happily, Marcus Borg and Barbara Brown Taylor have joined Diana Butler Bass, Dorothy Bass, and me in affirming the importance of spiritual practices for energizing and transforming progressive Christianity.

The area of healing and the significance of Jesus’ healing ministry for first century and twenty- first century persons still remains a barely-charted frontier for progressive Christians. For example, the Center for Progressive Christianity’s “eight points” makes no mention of healing or spirituality. The Phoenix Affirmations recognizes in an understated way “the benefits of prayer, worship, recreation, and healthiness in addition to work.” With few exceptions, progressive Christians interested in healing and wholeness must read the works of holistic physicians such as Larry Dossey, Deepak Chopra, Candace Pert, and Herbert Benson to discover the connection between faith, spirituality, and healing.1 Progressive Christians have written little or nothing about complementary medicine, despite the fact that many progressive pastors and laypersons practice, receive, or sponsor in their buildings, holistic modalities such as reiki healing touch, massage therapy, Qi Gong, healing touch, therapeutic touch, Tai Chi, and yoga.2 For many progressives, spirituality is connected with other worldliness and healing is connected with supernaturalism and the bombastic theatrics of televangelists. While there is much truth in these connections, a healthy faith does not live by what it denies about God, wholeness, and mysticism, but by what it can affirm about divine activity, personal transformation, and the relationship of spirituality and healing.

I believe that progressive Christians need to reclaim the healings of Jesus as part of their embrace of today’s growing movements in global and complementary medicine. Healing can be understood as natural, rather than supernatural, and can involve the transformation of energy in the dynamic interdependence of mind-body-spirit rather than the violation of predictable causal relationships.

I suspect many progressive Christians are daunted in their quest to reclaim the healings of Jesus by comments by leading progressives such as John Dominic Crossan and John Shelby Spong. In Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography, Crossan denies that Jesus’ ministry involved curing physical ailments. After correctly noting the distinction between healing and curing, and illness and disease, articulated by contemporary medical anthropologists, Crossan notes: “This is the central problem of what Jesus was doing in his healing miracles. Was he curing the disease [leprosy] from an intervention in the physical world, or was he healing the illness through an intervention in the social world?” In response to his question, Crossan boldly asserts: “I assume that Jesus, who did not and could not cure that disease or any other one [emphasis mine], healed the poor man’s illness by refusing to accept the disease’s ritual uncleanness and social ostracization.”(82) Although there is much to commend in Crossan’s understanding of Jesus’ healing ministry as a political and sociological phenomenon, why not take a more holistic – and, dare I say, more progressive – approach to the question and answer “yes” to both healing and curing, social and physical transformation. Jesus’ healing ministry transformed people’s social location, bringing them from marginalization to full humanity, as Crossan rightly asserts, but Jesus’ acts of compassionate care also transformed the whole person in the dynamic interplay of body, mind, and spirit.

Progressive Christianity needs to go beyond “modern” mind-body dualism to a more holistic, relational, and constructive post-modern approach to healing and wholeness. Progressive Christians are challenged to consider the possibility that Jesus was able to achieve what many contemporary holistic and spiritual healers as well as faithful Christians at liturgical healing services regularly experience - the transformation of the whole person through healing touch, anointing with oil, reiki, prayer, or laying on of hands. Isn’t it possible that Jesus tapped into the deeper energies of the world, working within the causal relatedness of life?

In contrast to the modern world view’s separation of mind and body, sacred and secular, person and environment, and spirituality and social transformation, a truly holistic progressive theology affirms the insights of complementary and mind-body medicine and contemporary physics, both of which describe the relationship of mind, body, and spirit as part of one whole, interdependent reality in which spirituality shapes embodiment and embodiment shapes spirituality. In light of this, when Jesus touched persons with leprosy, he may have done several things simultaneously: affirmed their humanity, welcomed them into the reign of God, deepened their spiritual awareness, transferred healing energy (dunamis), and awakened the healing energies resident in their bodies. As fully aligned with God’s vision, Jesus may have experienced a special connection with the divine power that continuously creates the universe and gives life to every cell, variously known as chi, prana, and pneuma.

Crossan rightly challenges magical and supernatural understandings of curing and appropriately recognizes that healing, involving the sense of personal meaning and social connectedness is essential to our well-being. But, perhaps, we need to ponder more appreciatively the unity of healing and curing in Jesus’ ministry. Jesus touched persons with leprosy and reached out to persons with chronic and socially stigmatized diseases; but in the processes of welcoming them to God’s realm, Jesus may also have encountered them in ways that energized God’s healing presence within their lives, transforming cells as well as souls. This is not magic or supernaturalism but a process of awakening people to the omnipresent movements toward abundant life in the quest for justice, in mystical experiences, and in moments of physical transformation. As truly progressive Christians, we don’t need to choose between healing and curing – our hospitality to the marginalized and stigmatized, advocacy for universal and accessible health care, and action for healthy environments can be joined with liturgical healing services, anointing at the bedside, and global and complementary healing practices.

1. Some progressive-oriented writings on Jesus’ healings include Robert Webber and Tilda Norberg, Stretch Out Your Hand and Bruce Epperly, God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus and Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice.
2. Some progressive-oriented writings on complementary medicine include Bruce and Katherine Epperly, Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus and Flora Litt, Healing from the Heart.

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary, pastor, theologian, and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. HisTending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy.   Persons interested in progressive approaches to healing and wholeness may consult his God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus;  Healing Worship:  Purpose and Practice; or Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus, written with Katherine Gould Epperly. He can be contacted at bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu.

Resurrection and the Nature of Salvation

We have been thinking about the resurrection of late -- both that of Jesus and more generally.  Resurrection fits in with other related issues, including judgment and salvation.  I'll leave off the discussion of judgment for the moment, except to say that in one form or another judgment does take place.  But more to the point of salvation.  

In today's study groups, we'll be looking at N.T. Wright's consideration of the "Hope of Salvation."  In that context we must ask what salvation entails?  Does it mean, being pulled off the earth to live in some "heavenly estate," most likely disembodied - a sort of Caspar the Friendly Ghost?  For our discussion, I'd like to throw out a statement from Wright's book Surprised By Hope.

As long as we see salvation in terms of going to heaven when we die, the main work of the church is bound to be seen in terms of saving souls for that future.  But when we see salvation, as the New Testament sees it, in terms of God's promised new heavens and new earth and of our promised resurrection to share in that new and gloriously embodied reality -- what I have called life after life after death -- then the main work of the church here and now demands to be rethought in consequence.  (Surprised by Hope, p. 197)

So, the question is -- how does our view of salvation impact our view of life before death?

Wright notes that the New Testament understanding of salvation starts with life here and now.  We enjoy it partially, but it is there for us to experience and live out.  As Wright ruminates about salvation, I'm reminded of the Disciples of Christ identity statement:  "A Movement of Wholeness in a Fragmented World."  What we do and say, the invitation we give, is a means to bring wholeness/healing/salvation to a world that is broken and fragmented.  We do not bring this in its fullness, but we work toward it.  

Wright offers:  

For the first Christians, the ultimate salvation was all about God's new world, and the point of what Jesus and the apostles were doing when they were healing people or being rescued from shipwreck or whatever was that this was a proper anticipation of that ultimate salvation, that healing transformation of space, time, and matter.  The future rescue that God had planned and promised was starting to come true in the present.  We are saved not as souls but as wholes.  (pp. 198-199).   

 Wholeness for a fragmented world -- salvation!

Miracles without Supernaturalism (Bruce Epperly)

We continue our Tuesday series of essays by Dr. Bruce Epperly.  Bruce has been gracious to provide for this blog insightful and challenging essays that help define what it means to be progressive and spiritually centered.  Last week's post focused on the difference prayer makes.  This week Bruce extends that conversation by thinking through the tricky question of the miraculous.  That is, in what way is God truly active in the world?  I think you'll find this an intriguing message. 

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Miracles without Supernaturalism

Bruce Epperly

Walt Whitman once noted that all is miracle. As a spirit-centered Christian of a progressive bent, I agree with Whitman – life is miraculous, God-filled, and adventurous. Last week, I reflected on the difference that prayer makes in our lives from a progressive Christian perspective. I suggested that in an interdependent universe, our prayers support the well-being of others and create a field of force that enables God to be more active in achieving God’s vision of Shalom for the lives of others, ourselves, and the world. In this essay, I will consider the question of prayer in terms of the contrasting perspectives of naturalistic and supernaturalistic theism. I want to reflect on the questions, “Can we have miracles without supernaturalism, that is, without unilateral divine interventions temporarily nullifying the laws of nature?” and “Can we appropriately speak of naturalistic miracles, that is, dynamic expressions of God’s presence that transform our lives and the world, congruent with the laws of nature?”

I take prayer seriously: I pray for persons in need, participate in liturgical healing services, prayerfully lay hands on anyone who wishes prayer, and practice a form of energy healing, known as reiki healing touch. I believe in life-transforming answers to prayer and have experienced them. I have written three books on healing, focusing on how we can embody Jesus’ healing ministry in our lives today.1 Though I affirm the insights of biblical scholarship and appreciate the work of Crossan and Spong, I believe that the New Testament healing stories reflect the life-transforming love present in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus healed persons, body, mind, spirit, and relationship, and we can participate in that same healing energy today.

But, still the question of supernaturalism remains open both biblically and theologically. The term supernatural is of relatively recent origin in theological discourse and seems to have gained popularity in the wake of Newtonian physics. If the universe is basically material and God works from the outside, it is reasonable to speak of divine action in our lives as supernatural in nature. Since nature, including our bodies, is essentially unfeeling and self-contained, God must act from outside the normal cause and effect relationships to achieve God’s goals.

My own understanding of divine activity is based on a very different understanding of the God-world relationship, in which God is present within each moment of experience, working within the world and our lives, mind, body, and spirit. Further, God is not an outsider – all things “live, move, and have their being in God” and thus are touched by God. In a world described by Isaiah – “the whole earth is filled with God’s glory” – God works within causal relationships and creaturely freedom and creativity to bring about God’s vision. Acts of power, transformations of body, mind, spirit, and relationships, accordingly, are not contrary to the laws of nature, but these evolving God-inspired laws are constantly influenced by Divine Creative Wisdom, such that God’s prevenient grace and healing presence is at work in every situation. While there are limits to what God can do in an interdependent and creative universe, God can choose to be more present in some moments than others, such as the incarnation, the healings of Jesus, the resurrection, and our own mystical and life-changing experiences. These are not contrary to nature, but reveal the deepest intentionality energies of a God-influenced universe in which every event, to greater or lesser degree, reflects Divine Wisdom.

As one of the few progressive Christian theologians open to claiming the resurrection story as a historical occurrence, I suggest that the resurrection reveals what can happen in the interplay of divine vision and creaturely (Jesus) openness in terms of the emergence of unexpected bursts of healing energy. While no one can fully describe the mechanics of resurrection – in the same way that the origins of the big bang will always be somewhat mysterious - Morton Kelsey, one of the leading figures in the revival of healing in mainstream Christianity, saw Jesus’ resurrection body in terms of a leap of quantum energy, evidenced in a lighter, livelier physical body, able to go through walls and appear and disappear at will. From this perspective, the resurrection reflects God’s initiative working through deeper laws of cause and effect.

Supernaturalism, as unilateral divine activity, does appear in scripture, even though the biblical worldview sees all events reflecting divine activity in some degree. However, naturalistic as well as supernaturalistic divine actions are affirmed in scripture. For example, the majority of Jesus’ healings, as I suggest in God’s Touch, were relational in nature and, thus, could be described as naturalistic – God’s prevenient or prior grace elicits the response of faith, which opens the door to Jesus’ healing activity. Mark’s gospel suggests that Jesus could do no great work because of peoples’ unbelief, but was enabled to do great things when people (the woman with the flow of blood, Jairus and the disciples) were open to new possibilities for personal transformation. In a God-filled universe, in which grace shapes each moment, even when we turn away from God, there is a God-orientation which enables human freedom and divine initiative to join in personal transformation.

In scripture, descriptions of divine unilateral (supernatural) activity are often morally ambiguous – a flood that destroys the human and non-human population, the killing of the Egyptian first born children, the projected divine destruction of the earth (popularized by the Left Behind series). Ironically, such bursts of divine unilateral power reflect divine failure, rather than divine power, in which God – like an exasperated parent at the supermarket – punishes creation severely because of God’s lack of patience or persuasive power. In much of the Hebraic scriptures and New Testament, in contrast, God’s relationship with the Hebraic people seems to be dialogical, rather than unilateral. When miracles, or acts of divine power, occur, there usually is a human openness to divine initiative.

In summary, in a living universe, in which God is moving within all things, providing possibilities and the energy to achieve them, acts of life-changing power are congruent with the relative stability of nature and our physical bodies, and the causal relationships which make life somewhat dependable. God is not an outsider trying to get in as supernaturalism suggests, but an insider working from within. Creaturely creativity and freedom are real, and can thwart God’s vision in the present moment, as scripture suggests. But, creaturely creativity and freedom can never overcome God’s patient and ongoing aim at wholeness. God constantly works within our lives, seeking reconciliation, repentance, a change of heart, and openness to healing, even when we don’t notice it. God touches each of us personally, moment by moment, bidding us to wake up to the reality that healing, salvation, and beauty are within and all around us. God has a vision and can choose to be more active in achieving that vision in certain contexts, just as some moments reflect who we are and our character more than others. When God’s energetic and empowering vision is met with openness then great things happen – not contrary to the laws of nature – that reflect God’s vision of divine-human partnership. Lives are changed, bodies transformed, hearts opened.

We can expect great things of God and ourselves. We can “expect miracles,” lively naturalistic events that transform the world. Perhaps, when we – as one bumper sticker says – “accept miracles,” we will discover that “all is miracle,” that life is wonderful, that loaves can be multiplied when we let go our possessiveness and open to generosity, and that we can be God’s partners in healing the world. In conclusion, I believe that divine-creaturely synergy presents a more worshipful, hopeful, and more dynamic of God than images of supernatural and unilateral divine intervention.

1. God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus (Westminster/John Knox); Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice (Pilgrim); and Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus (Northstone, with Kate Epperly).

Bruce Epperly is a seminary professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary; pastor at Disciples United Community Church, Lancaster, PA; theologian and spiritual companion. He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. His Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry, written with Katherine Gould Epperly, was selected Book of the Year by the Academy of Parish Clergy. (http://www.bruceepperly.com/)

Healing for the Nations -- Sermon

Revelation 21:22-22:5

    In The Last Battle, the final volume of The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis picks up on an important theme in Revelation.  Like the author of Revelation, Lewis describes evil as a consuming power that lives off pain, suffering, and destruction.  In this story, an imposter poses as Aslan, and speaks to the people of Narnia who long to hear Aslan’s voice.  The imposter is controlled by the Calormenes, a rival nation that serves the evil god Tash.  The Calormenes want to control Narnia and so they exploit the Narnians’ longing for Aslan.  Jill and Eustace, two travelers from our world, help expose the imposter, but not before Narnia is destroyed.  There is great sadness in this book, but there is also good news.  That is because Narnia gives way to a new creation, the land of Aslan, into which those who are faithful to Aslan are invited to enter.   Like Revelation, The Last Battle describes what theologians call eschatology.

    What is interesting about Lewis’ story is that he offers a rather inclusive vision of the future.   You see, it’s not just the Narnians who get to enter this new world of Aslan.  Both Ermeth, a Calormene warrior, and Puzzle the donkey, who in his innocence allowed himself to be used as the fake Aslan, are invited into this new world.  In Lewis’ mind, God has a much more inclusive understanding of reality than we do many of us.    

    Before we can get to the vision that the author of Revelation and Lewis offer us, we must first recognize that there are a multitude of voices calling out to us, not all of which are wholesome and life giving.  Sometimes, when we feel uncertain and afraid, we allow ourselves to listen to voices that claim to be godly, but are not.  We live in a world where evil resists the justice and mercy of God.  Nation rises against nation, people against people, family against family, neighbor against neighbor.  Out of fear, we seek safety and security in ever tighter groups, making us susceptible to a message of “us against them.”   Iraq, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Darfur, Israel/Palestine, Sudan, Somalia, Mexico, and the Congo are all torn apart by tribal, ethnic, or religious strife, but they’re not alone.  We see it here in our own communities, where nativism – just to name one example – is on the rise. 

    In our text this morning we hear a word that exposes the darkness that is present in our midst, and welcomes us into the light.  It is a message of healing – not just for individuals, but for the nations.  I know this doesn’t sound much like a Mother’s Day sermon, but I think there is a connection.   You’ll just have to wait and see!

1.   A LIGHT IN THE WORLD

    The promise of Revelation is that no matter what happens God is present with us.  It’s in this promise of God’s resolve that we find  hope, and this morning we hear the promise that healing will be given to the nations who make their way into the New Jerusalem, where God and his Lamb serve as both Temple and Light.  

    In this passage, the symbol of evil is the darkness that seeks to extinguish the light, for if the light can be extinguished then the people will be lost.    But no matter how encompassing the darkness might be, we hear the promise that the light of God will continue to shine into the darkness.  Therefore, there is no need to fear.   In fact, In this vision of God’s new creation, there’s no need for walls or gates, for that which is evil has no place in this new creation.  That which is unclean and false – whether it be hatred or anger, self-centeredness or rebellion, shall be burned away in the refiner’s fire.     
  
2.  GOD'S HEALING PRESENCE

    The vision moves from the light that shines into our darkness, to the healing waters of the river of life that winds its way through the city.  Along this river stands the Tree of Life.  The leaves of this Edenic Tree, which is sustained by the River of Life,  provides healing to the nations, even as the leaves of an aloevera plant brings healing to our bodies.  These leavers are a salve to the wounds brought on by human strife.

    Now these nations aren’t just political entities, for the Greek word ta ethne, which  gives us the word ethnic, speaks of every group, tribe, and race that inhabits this world of ours.  Yes, everyone is invited to experience healing in the city of God.   As Paul suggests in Galatians, in Christ “there is now neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free” (Gal. 3:28).  Our physical distinctions may not be erased in the kingdom, but these distinctions will no longer decide our place or our relationships, for in Christ we have all been made one body.  Therefore, there are no second class citizens in the kingdom of God. 

3.  TOWARD THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS

    The words "the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations" (22:2) can be found in Ezekiel (Ezk. 47:12) as well as here in Revelation, and as I consider these words I think about our cities and our neighborhoods, which often are ethnic powder kegs, ready to blow at any time.  We know about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what about the walls that divide us here in Southeast Michigan?   I’ve been told many times about the invisible wall that divides Detroit from Oakland County.

    When we read a text like this, it’s easy to assume that God will make everything right on the far side of eternity.  But, what if the new creation, the new Jerusalem has implications for life in the here and now?  If the kingdom of God is already present in our midst, initiated by Jesus in his life, his death, and his resurrection, how might we participate in God’s work of transformation?  How might we be part of the solution?

    The text speaks of the waters of life and the Tree of Life, which offer healing to the nations.  If we can move beyond seeing nations as political entities and see this as describing tribes and families and groups, then perhaps we can better grasp what God is calling us to do.  We live decades after the Civil Rights era, but many of us still live in self-imposed ghettos and enclaves, where suspicion, jealousy, and even hatred are present: African, Korean, Arab, Persian, Latino, Native American, Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Anglo, Indian, Jewish, Romanian, and on and on.  Color, language, and culture remain divisive.  Many of us fall prey to fear of the other.  And often, as illustrated in Lewis’s book, this fear breaks out into violence. 

    We may feel overwhelmed by the news, but there is a word of hope in this passage of Scripture.  The church has been called to serve as agents of healing and reconciliation.  God desires to use us to pour out the living water into the world, so that the dry lands might once again bear fruit.    In our discussions over the last year or so, using the Unbinding the Gospel materials, we talked about prayer and faith sharing.  As the living waters take hold in our lives, we are freed to speak and live God’s healing presence in a broken and hurting world. 

    Consider what Martin Luther King told moderate Southern whites many years ago.  He said that the greatest tragedy of the Civil Rights era wasn’t the "strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."   Indeed he wrote: 

    No social advance rolls in on the wheels of inevitability.  Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals. [Martin Luther King quoted in And Don't Call Me a Racist!  9th edition, (Argonaut Press, 1998), 141].

    And so how does this call to join in the work of bringing healing to the nations fit into our Mother’s Day celebration?  Well, before Mother’s Day was a big consumer bash, Julia Ward Howe, the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” made a proclamation that  called on women to honor mothers by becoming peacemakers.  Writing in the aftermath of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, she called for an end to the seemingly endless conflicts and wars that plagued the world.  She called on the women of the world to rise up and bring healing to the nations, declaring:

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And at the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace. 

There is a connection between Revelation and Mother’s Day, and it is found in this call to bring peace and healing to the nations.    May we all heed this call to be agents of healing in the world! 

Preached by:

Dr. Robert D. Cornwall

Pastor, Central Woodward Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

Troy, Michigan

May 9, 2010

Sixth Sunday of Easter