Because of the rules then in place in the United Methodist Discipline, back in the days of my student pastorate up in beautiful Central Texas I wasn’t able to serve communion even in the small church to which I was appointed.The practice of the day stated that a pastor wasn’t really and fully a pastor until some form of ordination had happened.For two years between the time of John Clifford, and ordained Elder, and Leroy Reeves, an ordained Elder, the church was served by a student pastor, namely me.So for that period of two years in order for the church to receive communion I had to invite in an ordained retired pastor or would depend upon a visit from the District Superintendent.Generally this meant about two or three times a year and not during the high moments such as Maundy Thursday and Christmas Eve.
Having communion on such an occasional basis meant that the event took on far more of a significant nature than at other times in the life of the church.At that particular church it was the practice of the communion stewards to set out the glasses full of juice in the little holes on the communion rail.The bread, aka the tiny United Methodist wafers were set in small indentations at various intervals along the way interspersed between the cups.When the people come forward to receive the elements they would receive the cup by picking it out of the hole on the rail and then by doing the same at the appropriate time with the wafer.
One Sunday we were blessed to have Brother Roy from Waxahachie come our way.He had retired some years before and in order to be of service filled pulpits when pastors were out of town and also come for communion in churches such as mine.On the day he came to us Brother Roy did a fine and meaningful job of setting the elements aside as holy.He then entered into a marvelous extemporaneous prayer for the sacraments.
Well on that Sunday things were a little more interesting than usual.As we were in pray along with Brother Roy all of the sudden there was sort of a motion in the sanctuary.I felt that something was happening.I’ll admit it at this moment I peeked and watched as one of our youngest participants, age three maybe, was helping herself to the content of the communion cups by sipping the juice out of them one at a time.She started at the left and about the time several of us noted she was fast approaching those on the right.
About the time the mother grabbed the kid the communion steward went into action.She hastily acquired the bottle of juice which was strategically situated in the pulpit and quickly filled the cups that were empty.In short order the process was finished and at just that same moment Brother Roy said “Amen!”I wondered if anybody else noticed.My silent question was answered when I saw that everybody who received communion that day headed immediately to the right side of chancel area.They were intentionally avoiding the left side.It was a fun thing to watch.
In a little reflection on that event at a later time I came to a realization which helped me decide to move to Dallas and concentrate on my seminary training in preparation for ordination.My thinking went something like this; If people come expecting the fullness of God’s presence as we have become use to it in our worship experience, and since the Discipline of the United Methodist Church (in those days) limited me from consecration of the elements, I was not able therefore to offer that which someone might have been seeking in order to bring the experience of God home.Fortunately at that little church the challenge was easier to alter than at some other even small congregations in the area which also had student pastors who were in the process of seeking ordination.The church to which I was assigned had the resources to acquire a full time ordained pastor.All I needed to do was to present the vision and they saluted.In retrospect that was probably my greatest gift to the congregation.
Even though the decades have pas since then I still keep the memory.I am pleased to say that General Conference somewhere between then and now has adjusted the official understanding of ministry.There are specific provisions in place which allow people in the position I was in back then to consecrate Holy Communion.Honestly I haven’t studied the issue.I only know it can be done.Today a student pastor appointed to a local church, no matter his or her status within the “system,” has a further spiritual tool to offer to the community of faith, one that helps bring God and humanity together in the way we shall next Sunday right here at Fair Haven.
Now reading through our passage for the day I find myself remembering my own experience of years past.There are times for what are generally the wrong reasons that something or some practice may be forbidden, one which in its limiting hinders the power of the Kingdom of God.So it was in a far greater and much more extensive way for Jesus.Can you imagine anybody wanting to call Jesus’ hand on what he did for God’s Kingdom?Of course those who did so didn’t understand or perhaps didn’t choose to believe what was right before them.
The Sabbath day recalled in Luke 13 started out as most every Sabbath day probably did.The people gathered with men in a more prominent place than women and children.Incidentally Jesus would be the one to start to change such practices by challenging the misconceptions that there are those of lesser value in God’s Kingdom.Anyway, the people would gather and would come expecting to hear a teaching from the Law of God, one which would apply to their practices of religion.
According to the tradition of the day visiting rabbis were given the courtesy of what we would call today an open pulpit.So Jesus took advantage of the opportunity and must have been speaking at the time of the incident we are about to consider.There was in the crowd that day a woman who during the time of Jesus’ teaching must have been gradually moving closer toward Jesus.Because she wasn’t where women were supposed to be she would have been even more conspicuous.According to the text she was suffering from a health challenge which had left her in great pain for eighteen years.Basically it sounds like osteoporosis.Luke, a doctor, called it “a spirit that had crippled her.”In his writing Luke is remembering how some assumed that ill health of any sort was caused by demons.Doctors of that day had such a healing arsenal, not only things of medicine, but also spiritual gifts and insights to offer for healing as well.It is good to note as an aside that we are realizing the strength of the same in our times as well.
Jesus himself called upon the power of the spiritual to bring her health.All Jesus did was touch her and free her from the ailment.It must have been a great thing to see and a new teaching us well.The visiting rabbi used every power God had given to show exactly that, the power of God.Perhaps Jesus used a few words of explanation that we haven’t received.Certainly he wanted the people to understand that the healing was of God and was God’s desire for the people of the world.Or maybe Jesus left the miracle to speak for itself.Whatever the case, certainly few in the synagogue on that day had seen such a thing before.And what was the immediate response?Was it thanksgiving?Was it a celebration of the woman’s healing and the salvation which came through it?Were the people amazed?I’m sure many were amazed, and I’m sure as well that there were those who praised God for the great gift they had beheld.But not all were in these categories.There are always those who no matter what respond from other motives.
I recall, for example, the story I heard a few days ago on one of the local talk radio stations.A typical Yankee grandmother, whatever that means, was with her grandson at the ocean.As they walked the seemingly calm beach front all of the sudden a huge wave came and swallowed up the child.Needless to say the grandmother was beside herself.She prayed to God asking for a safe recovery of her only grandson, her prize.She prayed sincerely and with intensity.Just then another big wave came to shore.This one deposited the child at her feet.She studied the situation for a few moments, and then turned toward heaven with her fist pointed upward and said, “Hey God, he had a hat.”
Gratitude is often left out of such miraculous events.In response to Jesus’ decision to heal the woman at that time and in that place one of those who must have been a ruler in the synagogue was openly critical.He didn’t have the courage to address Jesus directly but he spoke instead to the crowd.He said that there are seven days in a week.There are many opportunities for such a good work.It could have been first thing the next morning, the day after the Sabbath.He criticized Jesus for doing work on the Sabbath something that was expressly forbidden by the law.It didn’t matter that the woman had her health back.It didn’t matter that a great sign of the holy work of God had been set before the congregation.He was incensed that Jesus had the nerve to break the law of the Sabbath.
In case you are wondering the thought mighty have followed this pattern; First healing is the professional call of physicians. Second, it is their work to heal.So when Jesus healed he was dong the work of a physician, at least so the leader of the synagogue thought.Unfortunately it didn’t enter into his mind that Jesus just might be not only doing work, but doing the good and saving work of God.It was Jesus’ experience that the law was far to restrictive and needed to be changed.It was also Jesus’ opinion and experience that the time for someone to know healing and forgiveness is when the time to receive it arrives, no matter the day or location.
After all of this, after Jesus listed to the critics for a while, he pointed out to them that they were hypocrites; that even they would show kindness on the Sabbath to an animal under their care.Not even the livestock would go thirsty or hungry on the Sabbath.They would pull the ox out of the ditch for example in order to keep it safe and away from harm.The point of this part of the discussion speaks of how much more he, which is Jesus and others of the community of faith, should be faithful to caring for the sister who for 18 years had a condition that could be healed and healed immediately.Why would one wait?
This translates back in a far lesser way to my time in the country back as a student pastor.Anybody who is called to offer God’s saving grace, and that is in some way or another all of us, must have the opportunity and the tools to do so.If Jesus had followed the rules of the day the woman with the back trouble would have had to un-necessarily suffer another night.The moment to change a life, the moment to do the good work of God, the moment to offer someone God’s love in a real sense, isn’t tomorrow but happens when the opportunity presents itself.There is nothing in the entire world that is more important than making life the best we can for someone else in Jesus’ name.
The church is here for beautiful worship.Those of you who were here years ago and the others who helped plan this facility did a great job in offering one of the most beautiful worship spaces in the community.We are here to worship God.We are here to listen to God’s word.We are here to come face to face with the sights, sounds, smells, and overall inspiration of God’s love.The church is here for the privilege of learning about God’s love and as a way to experience a community of faith whose one goal ought to be perfecting the love of God.
But the church is also here to be the presence of God.We are here to offer to the world a new hope.We are here to pray for those in need and also to respond as we are able when the needs are presented to us.The world is full of pretty churches that are now museums or places of historic note.What the world needs are churches and church people who are boldly willing to be about the business of Kingdom building through the offering of God’s love and through working, even on the Sabbath, to find those whom we can invite and those we can touch in some unique way with the tools God has set before us.We have faith.We have prayer.We have the facility of worship.We have offerings we can present through self help agencies.We can sponsor someone who chooses to immigrate to the United States for the first time.We can share God’s goodness in word as well as in action.And especially we can offer hope and healing;sometime with words and prayers which point the person in God’s direction, but also with the opportunity to volunteer time in a place where healing is the gift.
I don’t know how far back it has been now, easily ten or more years.It was at a gathering at the UnitedMethodistCenter that a table full of people sat down and discussed the possibility of bringing a mobile health care unit into the city of Houston.The base for this unit was Shalom Zone Ministries of the Texas Conference of the UnitedMethodistChurch.The idea was pursued, funds were located, and the first unit was purchased.In time that medical unit was moved to East Texas and another larger unit was placed in service in Houston.Just last year this second unit was sold and the ministry of Shalom Zone established and then settled into several clinics throughout the city of Houston.This was done in order to be close to where the need is.
Today we United Methodists are involved in health care world wide.Many places in the world would not have hospitals if it weren’t for those that we Methodists established in years past.Over a hundred years ago the Methodists in Houston started a little hospital which is now one of the largest and most highly rated in the world.Churches today offer flu shots and sponsor health fairs.We also support those who have specific gifts to assist with spiritual health as well as physical health.Our medical work exists not just during the weeks but is carried on even on the Sabbath because there is no time when healing someone is wrong.There is no time when we should keep the love of the Lord to ourselves.There is no moment when we should be selfish with the Kingdom God, especially on the Sabbath.
We who gather today to worship do so with a whole bunch of personal expectations.We do expect to come to follow a familiar order of worship.We do come expecting in some way or another the Word of God presented to us.We gather to a greater or lesser extent expecting to behold the Kingdom of God.We present ourselves to each other as friends and fellow Christians because we know that here in the church we are called not to judge but to love.It was all of these expectations which caused the woman we remember in Luke 13 to go to the synagogue and to go to Jesus.She had expectations for worship on that day and she went away satisfied.
Worship you see isn’t just something we receive; it is something that we do.We are in worship whenever we who are the church can present to another the saving grace of God’s love and some gift which makes life better in Jesus’ name. Worship we might say is more than being “correct.”Worship means sometimes being corrected and often times being directed.And at the very least worship should be something which encourages us and directs us to look beyond ourselves and our traditions, practices and personal expectations, and causes to see what the world places before us as opportunities for ministry and service as persons who are committed in all ways at our disposal to the love of God as we experience it and share it through Christ, in His name and as His people alive and well and worshipping here and everywhere.Amen!!
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