[Propertalk] Fwd: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 6B

[Joe Parrish]

Forwarded:
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Judy <judy_boli at ecunet.org>
To: Propertalk <propertalk.topic at ecunet.org>
Sent: Sat, Jun 16, 2012 8:11 pm
Subject: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 6B


Dear Friends,

This Sunday’s sermon is entitled “Our Father” or “I Was Going to Ask
You the Same Thing” and deals the Gospel (Mark 4: 26- 34).  Here it
is:

Happy Fathers’ Day!  This morning I’d like us to think about one of
the touchier questions we face as life problems begin to press upon
us; and as fathers (or mothers or mature friends)- they will.  We
heard Jesus promise that if only we had the faith of a grain of
mustard seed, we could make mountains move- or whatever.  Now maybe
we’re not interested in mountains moving, but maybe we are interested
in seeing positive change in a young man or lady or perhaps our own
father or mother or someone.  I KNOW we’re interested in stopping the
violence in Saginaw!  We pray, but it seems like nothing happens.  So
my question to you today is- so why aren’t our prayers answered?  How
come we pray for healing, but our cancer remains; we pray for the
deliverance of a son or daughter or husband or wife from addiction to
alcohol or gambling or abusive relationships and nothing seems to
happen; we pray for peace, instead we get violence; and on and on and
on.  But it’s not just us.  Paul prayed for deliverance from his
“thorn in the flesh”, but never got it.  Even Jesus prayed that “this
cup pass from me” but he had to go through with crucifixion.  What’s
happening?  Sometimes we get what we pray for and sometimes we don’t.
Why?
	I don’t have any firm answers, but I’ve got thoughts that I’d like to
share with you this morning.  Obviously, many times our prayers are
answered just as we would choose.  Years ago, an amazing double- blind
(i.e. no one knows who is being prayed for, not doctor, not patient,
not family, no one) Harvard Medical School study with heart patients
show a measurable positive difference between those prayed for as
opposed to those not prayed for.  This study confirmed a smaller study
done ten years earlier by a San Francisco cardiologist and reported in
the Southern Medical Journal.  So sometimes our prayers get answered
with a wonderful “YES!”  Sometimes, however, the answer seems to be
“no.”  What then?  Here are six possibilities for you to mull this
week:
	1.  If you are praying for a change of behavior in someone else, keep
going, be persistent.  However, keep in mind that God won’t force
himself on anyone, but God will allow life to present the need for
change in that person.  Even God, as the perfect parent, did not force
righteousness on his children Adam and Eve.
	2.  Is your problem a direct consequence of past behavior?  God
seldom removes the consequences of sin, but he does walk with us
through those consequences, giving us the power to overcome.  In fact,
what started out as a negative often turns out to be a blessing to
ourselves or someone else.  King David’s adultery with Bathsheba
resulted in the death of their infant, but the gift of Solomon as
king.
	3.  Maybe you are suffering because of someone else’s sin.  Dr,
Martin Luther King, Jr. expanded the theology of the power of
redemptive suffering- it was the backbone of the civil rights
movement.  It works when we love our enemies and pray for those who
misuse us.  Furthermore, their evil doesn’t infect us with bitterness
and bring us down to their level.  Example: what could be more evil
than crucifying the Son of God on a garbage dump, yet that evil
redeemed the whole creation.
	4.  Perhaps you are doing something to block God’s action or not
doing something that needs to be done.  If you pray and nothing
happens, check out your behavior.  Are you poisoning your spiritual
life with the bitterness of refusing to forgive an enemy?  (“Forgive
us our trespasses AS we forgive those who trespass against us.”-
remember Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving servant in the Gospel of
Matthew.)  I heard a fictional story from one of my internet
colleagues about a man we shall call Jim.  Jim had a serious problem-
he had lost his job and was broke.  In fact, he was about to lose
everything he owned.  Being a faithful Christian, he knew just what
he’d do- he prayed fervently that he would win the lottery.  The next
day when the winners were announced- nothing.  He prayed harder-
“Please God, let me win the lottery!”  The next day he listened again-
nothing.  Once more he prayed, this time reminding God that he had
promised to answer all prayers, but to no avail.  Kneeling at his
bedside, he pounded his hands in his pillow, when he heard a mighty
clap of thunder and a voice- “Jim, Jim, how about meeting me half way
on this.  Buy a lottery ticket!”  In other words, do your part.
	5.  This world isn’t a vacation spot; it’s a training ground.  (Where
do the Detroit Lions train?  Like that.)  God’s intention isn’t to
make us happy, but to make us strong.  Would you really want your
child to grow up in a world with no pain or discomfort?  What kind of
human would this produce?  How would your child ever develop
compassion, endurance, spiritual power, prayer power?  Helen Keller
was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. She
earned it at Radcliff and then went on to be a well-known author and
speaker.  She once said: “We could never learn to be brave and
patient, if there were only joy in the world.”  That has a real
probability of being true.
	6.  Here’s my last possibility.  Do you remember reading in “Forward
Day by Day” a while ago of the writer who had heard of a terrible
disaster?  I don’t remember what it was, but perhaps it was a tragic
famine with pictures of dying children with swollen bellies looking at
the TV camera every time you turned on the news- anyway it was that
kind of thing.  He asked God why God allowed such atrocities, and he
felt the answer came back loud and clear: “I was wondering the same
thing about you!”  Perhaps our prayer isn’t being answered because
someone else isn’t being faithful to their ministry, or more to the
point, perhaps someone else’s prayer isn’t being answered because we
aren’t being faithful to our ministry.  Cancer is a terrible curse on
humankind, but perhaps the person who was intended to lead the team of
scientists as they developed the cure is flipping burgers or bussing
tables somewhere because we didn’t put enough time, energy, and money
in his or her education.  We plead for a cure for AIDS, but maybe the
person designed for that ministry is doing time in prison because the
church down the street didn’t reach out and touch.  I’d like to close
by passing on a story that changed my life- that reminded me of the
importance of keeping the faith in the hard times, because God may be
counting on us to be the answer to someone else’s prayer.
	Bishop Quintin Primo (now in heaven with his Lord) told this story on
himself many years ago in the basement of Grace Episcopal Church,
Detroit.  As you recall, Bishop Primo was the first African-American
suffragan bishop of Chicago.  He told of the day he had so much to do
that he wondered how it would ever all happen.  He and his wife were
getting ready to go on vacation, and you know how long it takes to get
all those loose ends wrapped up so you can get away.  As you would
guess, the phone rang.  On the other end was the distraught voice of
one of his newer priests.  The young man said that his wife had just
been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas.  She was
extremely upset and was asking for Bishop Primo- would he please make
a pastoral call as soon as possible.  Bishop Primo told his secretary
what had happened and started on what would be a very long day.  The
hospital was a good distance away in one of the very distant, very
white suburbs- remember, this was a good while ago.  He missed the
freeway exit, had to double back through all the traffic.  To make
matters worse, the rain that had been forecast turned to slippery
sleet.  When he finally found the hospital and drove up to the parking
lot, the attendant told him it was full.  When asked about clergy
parking, he was told there wasn’t any.  Bishop Primo said he thought
that was strange, because this was a Roman Catholic hospital, and such
hospitals always provide clergy parking.  He ended up parking a few
blocks away and walking through the slush.  In response to his inquiry
about the young woman, the receptionist looked him over and stared in
disbelief that he wanted to make a pastoral call.  She told him that
this particular patient was in intensive care, so he would have to get
permission from the chaplain.  Bishop Primo’s next stop (as he sloshed
along with his wet socks and cold feet) was to the chaplain’s office
where he waited and waited and waited.  When the chaplain finally
appeared, he was embarrassed by the receptionist’s rudeness and
wondered out loud why he hadn’t been paged.  “You did find the clergy
parking spots, didn’t you?” he asked- trying to make positive
conversation.  Obviously, Bishop Primo had permission for his pastoral
call, so he started on to find the intensive care unit.  This was an
unfamiliar hospital with many additions, twists, and turns, but no one
would help him find his way.  He finally spotted a cleaning lady, who
directed him to the intensive care unit.  Bishop Primo said that the
whole experience was finally beginning to get to him.  He said that he
thought to himself: “She probably really doesn’t want to see me.  That
was most certainly just a courtesy call.  I am going where I am not
welcome, not wanted, and I am going to look like a fool.”  At that
moment, he saw the door to the intensive care unit.  He rang the
buzzer and the head nurse came to the door.  When he explained that he
was the suffragan bishop of Chicago and was making a pastoral call,
she responded, “Oh no- you can’t see her!”  But Bishop Primo had
spotted the room number.  He walked right past her and entered the
room.  On the bed lay a very pale, very thin, very blond young lady
with tear streaks going down her cheeks.  She heard the sound of his
entrance, looked up, smiled, raised her hands to him as a child would
to a parent, and said, “Oh Bishop Primo, I knew you’d come.  God
answers prayer.”  And Bishop Primo thought, “What if....what if I
hadn’t come?”
	So now you know the story too.  I hope you remember it when a
neighbor knocks at your door (or the door of your heart) at an
inconvenient time, because when you ask God why he allows such
terrible things in his creation, you really don’t want God answering,
“I was going to ask you the same question.”  Think about it.

For anyone who is interested, this sermon and updated African-American
wisdom statements are posted on our parish web site. The address is:
http://www.stpaulsepisag.com .

Blessed preaching,
Judy Boli
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Saginaw, Michigan

 
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