On June 28, 2009 Pastor Keith and Pastor Abiot (Abby) Moyo from the United Methodist Church of Woburn exchanged pulpits as a way to celebrate the partnership of our two churches in the After School Club and Vacation Bible School.

This is the audio recording of Abby’s sermon at Redeemer:

This is text of Keith’s sermon at the UMC:

Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Redeemer and the UMC

Well, it is wonderful to be here with you this morning.  I want to thank Pastor Abby (who is worshipping at Redeemer right now), Carolyn, and Steve, and each of you for having me here as we celebrate our two congregations’ long standing relationship and shared ministry in the After School Club and Vacation Bible School – giving thanks to God for one another, for the lives that we have touched through these ministries over the years, and for the way our own lives have been transformed in this work together.  And so, this morning we gather to give thanks, to reflect, and to remember how the story of your church and my church, Redeemer and the UMC, intersect and intertwine.

Mark’s Story Within A Story

The Gospel reading appointed for this morning is very fitting for this occasion.  For, it is one reading with two stories.  And this is how it goes:  a man named Jarius, a leader in the synagogue, tells Jesus that is daughter is sick and dying, and begs Jesus to come and help her.  Jesus agrees, but then, on the way to Jarius’ house, the crowds begin press in on him, and, in the midst of the chaos – all that jostling around – an old woman, who had been sick for many years, sneaks up and touches the hem of his garment.  And she is healed.  Jesus doesn’t see it, but he feels it.  And so he asks, “Who touched me?”  And when she comes forward, he blesses her, saying, “Go.  Your faith has made you well.”  In the meantime, the little girl has taken a turn for the worse.  People from Jarius’ house say it is too late.  She is dead.  But Jesus says, “Do not fear.  Only believe.”  And when he finally arrives at her bedside he says to her, “Talitha cum!”  “Little girl, get up!”  And she does.  She is saved.

The stories of the old woman and the little girl are each wonderful stories in their own right, stories that could each give rise to any number of sermons.  However, Biblical commentators point out that what is especially unique in this reading is the way that Mark puts these two stories together, placing the story of the woman within the story of the little girl, a story of healing inside a story of resurrection.  They say that Mark combines these  two stories in such a way that they reinforce one another: and we see this in the way that the persistence of Jarius is mirrored in the courage and faith of the old woman, in the connections between healing and resurrection, and the sheer power of faith.  Together, these two stories tell a larger truth than either one could fully tell on its own.

Likewise, in our shared ministry, our two congregations’ stories are intertwined.  Your story that began in 1845, and ours in 1893.  And because God has woven our stories together, through VBS and After School Club, our congregations, our community and its families, are stronger than they would be on their own.  And for that, we give great thanks to God this morning.

Our Story Within God’s Story

On the theme of stories…I’ve just begun reading a novel called In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje, the Canadian author who wrote The English Patient.  The book is about 20 years old, and there’s no particular reason you would have heard of it, but its a good book.  In this book, Ondaatje paints a picture of the city of Toronto in the 1920’s and 30’s, as the city was in the process of becoming the great metropolis it is today.  Although the story itself is interesting, what’s really fascinating is the way he tells it.   For, he tells the story of this huge city by telling, in minute detail, the stories of the individual people that live in it: the little boy that helps his father herd the cows on the outskirts of town, the man that helps to build a bridge that will bring two parts of the city together.  What Ondaatje does is weave all these individual stories together to tell the story of the whole city, and the effect is that this larger story is then richer, deeper, stronger, and somehow feels more real, more true.

When you think of it, it’s kind of like the Bible.  For, the Bible itself is a collection of stories of individuals and families, nations and communities, all woven together to tell a greater story, to speak a greater truth.  The stories of people like Jeremiah and Esther, Mary and Peter all combine to tell the larger story, the greater story, about God’s love, grace, and mercy.

And our lives are the same way.  Our lives are a collection of stories: the stories of our ancestors, the stories of our parents and how they met, the stories of our childhood, the stories we tell when we come home from work or school, stories that make us laugh and cry, reflect and dream.  All these stories, like threads, weave themselves together to create the fabric, the context, the meaning of our lives.

And just like the Bible, there is one story, one red thread, that weaves in and out of all those other stories – and it is God’s story – God’s story of love and grace, next to and in and around and under all our stories of joy and loss, hope and struggle, achievement and disappointment – through today’s story, which we are writing here together, and tomorrow’s story, which is just waiting to be written.

God’s story is the thread that holds it all together, that connects the past and the future, and guides and binds all those other threads in our lives together.  It is God’s great story of resurrection running its way through our lives.

In another book called Writing for Your Life, Deena Metzger offers this observation about stories.  She writes, “Stories move in circles. They don’t move in straight lines. So it helps if you listen in circles.”  She says, “There are stories inside stories and stories between stories, and finding your way through them is as easy and as hard as finding your way home. And part of the finding is the getting lost. And when you’re lost, you start to look around and listen.”

I have seen in my ministry and I have known in own my life that stories are powerful, and that when one story line in our lives becomes predominant, whether its a story of how we are right and everyone else is wrong, or a story of how we just must be meant to suffer, or a story of how no one could possibly love us, not even God…or when a story from our past seems to threaten our future…or when we find the stories that give us life contending with stories that would steal that life away,  we do get lost.  And that’s when we “start to look around and listen” and what we hear through the din of all those stories is God’s story, and God’s words, like some of my favorites from Isaiah 43: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  …Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you….”  In those moments when we feel lost, God’s Word, God’s story reminds us of who we truly are – God’s beloved – and that our lives are being lived within the story of God’s love and Jesus’ resurrection, the story of love begetting life.

That is why we have come here this morning -

- to hear along with the old woman that it is never too late to be healed,

- to hear along with the little girl that death is not the end of life.

And, this is why we have set aside this particular day to share our pulpits and our worship, just as we share other parts of our ministry: to remember and retell the story, to find that red thread running through all we do together: in our planning for VBS, in supporting the After School Club, holding one another in prayer.

And so, I want to thank you deeply for this opportunity to preach and be with you today, to celebrate how the story of our two churches are intertwined, and to give thanks for the way God’s story of life, grace, and resurrection runs through them and binds us together.

And I just want to end with this: at the beginning of Ondaatje’s book, he has a quote from John Berger and it says this: “Never again will a single story be told as though it were the only one.” “Never again will a single story be told as though it were the only one.” May that be our prayer today and in days to come for our ministry together: that the stories of our two congregations may not be told as if they were singular and separate.  But instead, let them be spoaken together, as we work together in Christ. Amen.

Sermon by guest preacher Shaundra Cunningham

Text:                         Mark 9: 14-29

Topic:                        A Father’s Cry

When it comes to pomp and circumstance, it’s probably safe to say that father’s get the short end of the stick! In terms of the business of holidays, its hardly the kind of commotion and fanfare that accompanies so many of our other holidays. Just think about it, mother’s day, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, and oh yeah—father’s day! Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of commercialism but don’t be fooled by the Hallmark cards one glance at a salespaper speaks volumes about the way we celebrate fatherhood. Simply look at the type of gifts that get advertised. If you want to tell Dad you love him, buy him some new socks! Buy him some new cologne! Or, the all-time favorite, buy dad a new tie to add to the collection. Based on the marketing of the day, Father’s Day is indeed a celebration but it’s really an excuse to give dad a makeover. In the news, we are inundated with civic leaders, pundits, celebrities, and even presidents delivering speeches on the significance and responsibility of fathers. Many of society’s ills—from incarceration rates to high school drop out rates on down to a child’s self-esteem and self-respect—have been empirically proven as well as casually posited to stem from the presence and role of fathers.  Beyond the studies, however, there are plenty of examples of great fathers. Of men who take their daddy duties seriously, my own included.

This is the case in the text before us. We have the familiar story of a boy who was possessed by a spirit and he was having convulsions and foaming at the mouth. His father does what any good father would do and seeks help for his son. First, he seeks the disciples but when they were unable to rise to the occasion and cast the spirit out then the father goes to Jesus. Before the crowds, he recalls his son’s symptoms and condition to Jesus and tells him that he’s been in that state since childhood.  But then he asks Jesus an innocuously intended yet insulting question and says “if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” Notice the “if”…where did this “if” clause come from?  He’s no longer talking to the disciples but he’s talking to Jesus, the one who is fully human and divine. And so Jesus responds by shifting the focus back to his faith by saying “if you are able!—all things are possible to the one who believes.” And the text tells us that immediately the father cried out “I believe; help my unbelief.”

Now, this father is in a vulnerable position. This father embodies the lectionary readings because like Job and like the disciples on the boat he’s in a storm. His storm is a matter of life and death; his son’s health and wellbeing are on the line. This is serious business and as a loving father he seeks help in one of the most profound statements of the passage: “I believe; help my unbelief.” This daddy provides a window into the inner turmoil that many of us have—faith tinged with doubt. We all have experienced what this father feels—I believe, BUT. I want to see this happen, BUT. I know I have a gift that I’m not using, BUT. This father cries out I believe that you can heal my son but, at the same time, I’m not so sure about this and I need your help. Unlike many of us, he freely admits his struggle and because of it proves that he actually has faith because only the strength of his faith would have revealed that to him. This father recognizes that he needs a source mightier than himself to solve the problem, to quell the storm, and to heal his son.

This father reminds us of the tenderness and care that good fathers provide; a father that will stop at nothing to help his child. Our society makes verse 24 hard for all of us but especially for men. But God honors this father’s cry and will honor ours too.

Sermon by guest Preacher Rakesh Peter Dass

Dear friends,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
My wife, Sharon, and I are delighted to be here.
Thank you for the invitation to preach and to spend this time with you.
Sharon and I look forward to meeting you after service!
A special thanks to Pastor Anderson and Prof. Thiemann for organizing this visit.

Today I want to draw our attention to a single theme – how God speaks through bizarre and wacky things. In today’s readings, there are codes, gestures, concepts that are full with meaning, don’t really mean what they say, and completely confuse a casual observer. It’s like a baseball fan watching a cricket game for the first time. Of course, a lot of the game is missed if the outward gestures and the commentary confuses rather than informs. If we cannot see through them, we may not know what is going on. Every gesture and term has a history and layers of meaning that needs discovering to enjoy the full flavor of the game. Today’s texts also ask us to look deeper to enjoy the full flavor of the texts, to make meaning out of the strange and wacky because that is how the game is being played.

Of course, what I say comes from who I am and today’s sermon has its roots in a personal story from my early days that I will share at the end of the sermon. But before that, let’s turn to our readings for today.

The book of Ezekiel is filled with things that seem wacky and bizarre, and Ezekiel, along with Daniel, is probably one of the few prophets who has a lot to share through visions and symbols. For example in the first chapters of Ezekiel, God asks the prophet to eat a honey-sweet scroll, shave his hair and beard, and divide it into three parts. God then asks him to burn one part, hit another with a sword and, and scatter the rest. Similarly, in the passage we read today the prophet speaks of a twig planted on a lofty mountain that grows into a tree that shelters all kinds of beasts and birds. Eat a scroll, hit your shaved hair – a tree that is large enough to shelter all kinds of birds and beasts? We know this is symbolic and not literal language because God explains the visions to Ezekiel. Once we know that Ezekiel speaks of Judah’s destruction and restoration we are able to make sense of things.

We find that the scroll represents God’s promise and shaving hair a sign of loss. We find that the division of the hair foretells that when Jerusalem is destroyed some will die in flames, others will suffer under the sword, and yet others will be scattered into exile. When the prophet speaks of the mighty cedar tree, we are able to see that he speaks of hope and restoration because cedar trees symbolize Judah’s kings, that a messiah will restore Judah to her glory in God. In a way we are able to understand Ezekiel only if we are able to grasp the meanings behind the strange imagery. A cedar tree is of course a tree but it also means a king and Ezekiel uses the tree to say something else. A different game is going on.

Now, Paul was also concerned with the fact that the Corinthians were focused on outward signs – and in doing so were forgetting the gospel. The church in Corinth was getting bogged down in a concern for bodily practices, things like were the apostles ecstatic in public, were they powerful, could they do miracles, and so on. Paul is speaking of those who have been telling the Corinthians that an apostle’s status matters, that one’s actions and appearance matters, that they should live by sight and not just by faith.
In response to this, Paul reminds the Corinthians that to live according to the body is to live away from Christ. He reminds them of their new existence in Christ. He asks them to focus on the gospel rather than outward appearances. This means seeing not “from a human viewpoint,” as verse 15 says. This is both a reminder to live in newness and to remember the gospel above all else. I do not think Paul is against visible expressions of faith like social work or public displays of ecstasy like those we usually see in Pentecostal churches. Rather, it seems to me that Paul is asking his readers to see everything, whether outward or inward, through the faith of their new life in Christ.

Finally, we turn to Mark’s passage and immediately return to the world of symbols and parables we found in Ezekiel.

In the parable of the unattended seed – the reign of God is as if someone sows a seed and forgets about it and it grows into a great harvest. Three things can be said here. First, God’s reign is compared to the sower and not the seed, as in the parable of the mustard seed. Second, Jesus makes a wacky claim, and third Jesus was certainly no farmer! There is one seed (sporon) but the result is a qerismov or harvest, which no farmer would confuse with a stalk of grain produced by a single seed. How can a seed produce a harvest? Not only is Jesus clueless about proportional results, he also seems to think farming can be done from a Lazyboy chair! You plant you forget and then viola a harvest is ready. Who plants and forgets? Especially in Jesus’ time – before Miracle Grow seeds and those water-releasing aqua globes advertised on TV all the time! We can be sure that Jesus was certainly no farmer; it’s good he stuck with being a carpenter as a career!
But when we look deeper, we find that Jesus may not be saying what it seems like he’s saying. Recall the parable begins with the sower and that between sowing and harvesting, all the man does is “sleep and rise night and day.” The unattended growth of the seed may suggest that the kingdom’s growth is inevitable, that even in the absence of human effort, God’s kingdom is growing and bearing harvest. Given that the sower sleeps through the growth, this passage also seems to suggest that the kingdom arrives mysteriously. Finally, like in the parable of the mustard seed, a small beginning leads to great things. “Great oaks from little acorns grow,” as the saying goes.

Now, parables certainly help Jesus make his point. But they also create insiders and outsiders – as Mark reminds us in verses 33 and 34. Jesus spoke with many parables and many were able to hear it, but he explained things in private to his disciples. While I am suggesting we look for deeper meaning, I am aware that not everyone may want to do so or be able to do so and there may be cases where some know more than others. Now, knowledge can certainly empower but it can also lead to pride and abuse. What I am suggesting today can be taken to mean that those who look for meaning are somehow better positioned than those who don’t. Interestingly enough, Mark seems to anticipate this danger and writes a gospel in which those in the know are constantly being humbled by the outsiders. Recall that it is a Roman centurion who is one of the last people in Mark’s gospel to witness to Christ. The abuse of knowledge does not survive Mark’s gospel. We see that Jesus is playing a different game in Mark. It is not really about farming but about God’s kingdom.

For Ezekiel, the absurd illuminates and meaning is layered. For Paul, faith is more crucial than plain sight and new eyes are needed to see the wonderful things God is doing. For Mark, parables reveal and God is in control. These authors coax us to keep our senses open to how God may be revealing. They ask us to find God’s communiqué in shaved hair, tiny seeds, and cedar trees. They offer hope and meaning through strange things and wacky claims.

I will conclude with a personal story that has partly inspired this sermon.
When my parents got married some forty years ago, my mother gave my father a ring and my father offered my mother a ring and a mangalsutra. The mangalsutra is a Hindu religious symbol that is a type of “auspicious band” worn as a necklace. The mangalsutra consists usually of a string of black beads and a pendent in the shape of a family deity. It is supposed to invite prosperity and remind the couple of their marital oath in the presence of the fire and other gods.

For a long time I did not know of my mother’s mangalsutra. She wore hers but I saw a necklace. Then during a Hindu friend’s wedding, I saw him offer a similar necklace to his wife. So, I asked by mother, a devout Christian woman, about hers.

Conversations with my mother revealed the sutra’s religious import for her and her seamless merging of a traditionally Hindu practice with her Christian faith. I learnt her family was upper caste landowners before conversion to Christianity. I learnt how centuries old Hindu practices shaped her Christian upbringing and why she agreed to have a sutra. She explained its religious value in her house and her family’s hope that she would wear one too.

For my mother, the sutra’s religious value was in the way it connected her to her roots, her family, and to those in whose presence the marriage oath was taken. For me, the mangalsutra was challenging and unfamiliar. It made me see with new eyes and to struggle with how the God of Christ may be speaking through something that was a multilayered religious symbol.

Of course, it is important to know when not to read too much into something or even worse abuse something for one’s purpose. My work with churches in Asia has taught me to meet others in just and careful ways. When meeting texts that seem wacky, I believe context and care can guide our interpretation. When meeting people or practices that seem bizarre, context and careful listening can enrich our communication.

Today’s texts ask us to look beyond the bizarre, to seek and find meaning in strange things and uncommon ways. They show that God speaks in symbols and codes, in hidden yet revealing ways. Maybe it is a far stretch to compare finding meaning in biblical codes to finding meaning in non-Christian things. This may be so if one is trying to make everything Christian and to poach by ignoring genuine theological differences. However, I believe it is appropriate to be open to God’s revelation around us, to be inspired, to find meaning for ourselves in the texts and practices of people of other faith, to be comfortable with sharing and receiving in interfaith meetings.

It is when we remain open to the many ways in which God can speak to us that we are able to enjoy the full flavor of all that God has to offer, to be inspired and challenged by things that may otherwise remain hidden in plain sight. On that note, I am a cricket fan. But I would love to learn the ins and outs of baseball so that I can also enjoy the full flavor of that game too!

Thanks be to God. Amen.