The Adventurous Lectionary – Pentecost 18 – September 26, 2021
Esther 7:1-6, 9-10: 9:20-22
Psalm 124
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
This week’s lectionary readings deal with the various sides of therapeutic each divine and human. God heals in some ways and thru numerous folks. There is no such thing as a one therapeutic path or modality, nor does any explicit spiritual or medical custom have a monopoly on divine therapeutic. God heals via prayer, but additionally Prozac, as my pal Dale Matthews says; via remedy and meditation; and thru chanting and chemotherapy. Wherever therapeutic and reality are current, God is the supply, no matter whether or not God’s or Jesus’ identify is talked about. That is the sensible implication of Jesus’ affirmation, “I’ve come that they may have plentiful life.” (John 10:10) We’re challenged to be God’s therapeutic companions in private and political relationships.
By specializing in therapeutic this week, I’ll give temporary consideration to the Ebook of Esther. To do Esther justice, it must be the first passage of the day, together with another passages from Esther, and the preacher wants to inform the story of Esther, her sense of vocation, and God’s look after the Jewish folks. Right now’s studying speaks of therapeutic via vacation and competition; on this case, the celebration of Purim. It’s a outstanding story; one which I evaluation in my textual content, “Ruth and Esther: Ladies of Company and Journey.” Esther reminds us that even unlikely folks could also be known as to acts of therapeutic and liberation for simply such a time as this.
Can there be therapeutic via violence? Or, should liberation contain loss to sure members of our group? Definitely, we don’t hope for the destiny of Haman, however we all know {that a} simply world requires sacrifice, and that whilst peace seekers, we should take part in coercive actions to guard probably the most weak.
Psalm 124 speaks of Israel’s utter dependence on God. “Our assistance is in God.” If God had not been our facet in occasions of trial, we’d have been vanquished. The Psalm, in addition to being a recitation of Israel’s understanding of God’s providential care, invitations us to ponder these moments when God has delivered us from calamity. The place have you ever skilled God making a approach the place there is no such thing as a approach? The place have you ever encountered therapeutic companions on the time you wanted them most? The place have you ever felt God’s windfall while you had nothing extra to present or felt hopeless?
Each breath and encounter is usually a name to prayer. Not public prayers or prayers to disclose your piety, however the second by second prayerfulness and intentionality to see your self on holy floor and ask for steerage to carry therapeutic and wholeness, blessing and hope, to every encounter.
The studying from James focuses on the life-transforming energy of prayer. James counsels us to hope about every little thing and in each season of life. Each way of thinking or temper is a name to prayer. In illness and in well being, pray. While you really feel disgrace and guilt, pray. If you find yourself glad, give thanks. If you find yourself depressed, ask for therapeutic. Certainly, the totality of our lives ought to be prayerful. James additionally introduces the function of anointing within the therapeutic course of. Laying on of arms and anointing with oil create a therapeutic area of drive that opens us to an awesome influx of divine power. Liturgical prayer can remodel our lives and relationships.
With Paul, the writer of James counsels us to hope with out ceasing. Prayer ought to be as pure as respiration and will accompany each motion. Nothing is off limits for prayer, and the prayer of the righteous can remodel cells in addition to souls.
Are we dedicated to therapeutic and life-transforming prayer in our church buildings? Do we predict prayer makes a distinction and might actually alter our bodily and emotional situation? What are the practices of prayer in your congregation? And to pastors, what are your beliefs about prayer? Do you consider that prayer makes a distinction? Can our prayers change climate patterns, as James suggests? Definitely James’ concept of prayer might be recognized with the butterfly impact; the affect of small actions – just like the flapping of a butterfly wings on climate patterns throughout the nation. Is it doable that our prayers create a constructive area of drive that may remodel bodily and political occasions? We should proceed with prayer even when our prayers don’t assure the outcomes we need. Prayer modifications us, connecting with God, even when our prayers are apparently not answered.
James reminds us to not choose the sinners in our midst. Our calling is to embrace the misplaced and damaged, to encourage them to admit their sins, after which get proper with God as a part of their – and our personal – therapeutic course of. Within the spirit of Jewish mysticism, James affirms that while you save a soul, you save the world; while you carry a soul again to God, you’re sharing in God’s Shalom imaginative and prescient. (For extra on the Letter of James, see Bruce Epperly, “Holistic Spirituality: Life-transforming Knowledge from the Letter of James.”)
In at the moment’s pluralistic age, the phrases of Mark 9:38-41 remind us to increase the circle of therapeutic and inspiration past our personal communities. The disciples are fairly happy with themselves for preserving the purity and orthodoxy of the Jesus’ motion, by silencing the therapeutic ministry of an outsider. They’re shocked when Jesus rebukes them for his or her narrowmindedness and restricted understanding of Jesus’ therapeutic mission. Jesus is just not parochial in perspective; nor does he exclude different healers, together with non-Christian healers and therapeutic practices. Jesus’ phrases open us to utilizing with integrity therapeutic practices similar to Reiki therapeutic contact, Qigong, indigenous approaches to therapeutic. Anybody who promotes plentiful life is on God’s facet, no matter her or his pedigree. Divine therapeutic is discovered exterior the church; grace is current in all kinds of disguises. Wherever there’s therapeutic, God is its supply.
In mild of at the moment’s scriptures, we will affirm God’s therapeutic contact in Christian worship and laying on of arms and likewise in Western drugs. We will additionally discover therapeutic in conventional Chinese language drugs, Reiki therapeutic contact, yoga and Qigong, and meditative and stress discount methods. God’s quest for plentiful life takes many types and we have to discover a wide range of therapeutic practices earlier than critiquing them. Furthermore, we have to present steerage for Christians who’re fascinated by complementary medical practices. Different healers and therapeutic methods, together with religious practices from different traditions, can deepen our Christian religion when they’re interpreted within the context of Jesus’ therapeutic ministry and the custom of Christian religious formation. We should do our homework to keep away from superficial syncretism – in addition to superficial and theologically-parochial critiques of non-Christian therapeutic practices – and to open ourselves to therapeutic in its many dimensions as a mirrored image of divine care.
(For extra on therapeutic, see Bruce Epperly, “The Vitality of Love: Reiki and Christian Therapeutic”;” Reiki Therapeutic Contact and the Means of Jesus”; “Therapeutic Marks: Spirituality and Therapeutic in Mark’s Gospel;” “Therapeutic Worship: Goal and Observe,” and God’s Contact: Religion, Wholeness, and the Therapeutic Miracles of Jesus.)
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Bruce Epperly is a pastor, professor, and writer of over sixty books together with WALKING WITH FRANCIS OF ASSISI: FROM PRIVILEGE TO ACTIVISM; MYSTICS IN ACTION: TWELVE SAINTS FOR TODAY; 101 SOUL SEEDS FOR PEACEMAKERS AND JUSTICE SEEKERS; PROCESS THEOLOGY: EMBRACING ADVENTURE WITH GOD; and PROPHETIC HEALING: HOWARD THURMAN’S VISION OF CONTEMPLATIVE ACTIVISM.