7/19/15
Jeremy’s gone this weekend
and Andre unreachable by phone which for me is a bad sign, so I’m on my own
this weekend. The chapel is cozy, but
too filled with too many things related to Noche and others. Today as we continue
our Life in the Spirit
series, the topic is Rest Awhile and the
question is
What do you need to get away?
We sing Every time I feel the Spirit acapella.
Our opening hymn is
Great is Thy Faithfulness. We
begin the service of the word with
Gospel is Mark 6:30-34,53-56.
So I’m going to Dublin in
August. I haven’t had a real vacation in 3-4 years. It’s always, there was
always, pressing work. Now it can be
fun to be around the city in summer. Especially in August. The city is almost
empty. But when you don’t get away,
there’s a relentlessness to time, one day after another. After another.
And your effectiveness suffers.
Our gospel lesson this
morning has always been one of my
favorite passages, because of its encouragement to rest.
It’s an introduction of Jesus
as a successor following John the
Baptist…this story immediately follows his death. Jesus figures he and the disciples need a
retreat before the heavy stuff begins to happen…it’s time to come away to a
deserted place and rest awhile. But…there’s a crowd there already…
Jesus acts out of
compassion…and what does he do? He teaches
…His is a ministry of teaching. I
was trying to explain to a friend the difference between Presbyterian and
Catholics..Teaching is big with us…Jesus’ Teaching
ministry, where teaching is healing. In
our tradition, I used to be called a
minister of word and sacrament…Today
I’m called teaching elder, I
administer, not consecrate the
sacraments…a priest is more of a magician…There’s
nothing wrong with that…sometimes we need magic…Art, itself something of magic
Medicine is magical and magical is art…Paul Simon. OK, so where are we?
OK, so like Hogwarts,maybe…?
Dumbledore as a model of ministry?
Our passage leaves out two big stories:
* The feeding of the 5000
* Jesus walking on the water
That’s hard work, no wonder
it was time for a break…
I’m going to finish with my
song, Rest Awhile….When I wrote my song, I took all of this chapter of Mark
into account…(it’s hard for me to write original religious songs…)
I wrote this to remember
Teddy Mapes. Teddy came to us during Occupy.
Not everyone knew this, but he worked all night at City Hall, came back here
and worked all day at West-Park. Because he believed in what we were and what
we could be and sought to live that out in every way.
And I felt that at last he
could rest. We all need rest.
What do you need now? How
will you get it?
Rest awhile
We sang Dona Nobis Pacem in
Latin, Hebrew and Arabic.
Dona nobis, pacem, pacem, dona nobis pacem
Sim shalom, sim shalom, sim shalom, sim shalom, aleinu.
Rabu habna slamann tamman, rabu habna salamann.
And finished with Great is thy faithfulness
And as our closing song Go With Us
Lord in canon style.
After worship, the session met to discuss a plan created by Don to help us manage our building’s burgeoning arts activity.
A hot and sunny summer’s afternoon awaits.
30The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they
had done and taught. 31He
said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a
while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to
eat. 32And they went
away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. 33Now many saw them going
and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and
arrived ahead of them.34As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and
he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.
53When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and
moored the boat. 54When
they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, 55and rushed about that
whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. 56And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and
begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.
No comments:
Post a Comment