THE CALL TO FAITHFULNESS
In late August, I was stunned to hear of the ghastly attacks on
the people of Syria from their own leader. What I saw on the television screen
was unthinkable. Never in my life did I think I would be aware or see the pain
of those who had been hurt physically, emotionally, and dare I say spiritually.
The body bags of children and adults that lined the streets
which I saw on the news were a very stirring example of that which happens when
people’s lives are turned upside down, and destruction is at their door.
While I do not know the reason this leader decided to declare
such mass violence on his people, I do know that the people of Syria cried out
"where is our help?" "Where is our healer?"
I observed the same experiences and feelings during a worship service the Sunday after the violence which
occurred in Newtown, Massachusetts in which 26 people lost their lives at
the hands of a disturbed gunman - the second deadliest shooting in American
history. Here in Phoenix, some in Sunday worship were people who came from
Newtown and knew the families that were impacted by the unjust violence.
Even this week, multiple victims loss their lives in a mass
shooting at the Washington Navy Yard – another senseless act of violence.
We have experienced tragedy at the communal, state, national,
and international levels. So, too, have the people in our lives experienced
that same destruction on a personal or individual level. Injustices in society,
Destruction of families, homelessness, poverty,
drug violence, and murder - the list goes on and on and on.
As Jeremiah spoke - as a leader serving with God’s church, I hurt;
I mourn, and am challenged by what I see. I mourn with you when I see
atrocities that take place on our streets and in our towns. I hurt and I grieve
when I see people in crisis.
In this part of the Grand Narrative of the Hebrew Bible, we see
the destruction of Jerusalem. Throughout the book of Jeremiah, he is calling
the people of Israel to faithfulness, to worship God alone. He prophesies the
impending fall of Jerusalem, with all its horrific implications. The condition in
which our text is written is a hopeless circumstance which is how Jeremiah
perceives the situation at hand.
In the overall text, these people have experienced more than
just devastation and loss of their land and property. They have also
experienced utter disillusionment with their leaders and with God.
Jeremiah in this reading expresses God’s lament over His people.
God’s heart is wounded. God’s joy is gone; God is grieving for His people. He
hears the cries of people. God identifies so closely with the people that their
wound is His wound. God is taking over the pain and bearing the wounds.
However, there is an answer hidden in the text – the balm of
Gilead. A balm is an aromatic, medicinal substance derived from plants. Gilead
was an area east of the Jordan River, well known for its spices and ointments.
The "balm of Gilead" was, therefore, a high-quality ointment with
healing properties.
What we see is both a concrete and abstract answer to the
healing required. There is a call to faithfully using resources and people in
healing the tragedy at hand.
What are we as Christ’s church supposed to do about the
challenges we face? How can we as the Church be like the balm of Gilead in a
time of sadness and lament in our society? In our General confession, we state that
we have not loved our neighbors and that we have not heard the cries of the
needy.
I firmly believe that God has changed our lives and transformed
us so that we are called to faithfulness – to be the hands and feet of Christ
to our world. We need to be society’s balm in Gilead.
We have demonstrated time
and time again as a community of faith that we will stand and be counted as
those who are willing to stand in the gap for those in need.
What I am describing is what Ron Sider calls a holistic ministry.
He refers to 6 characteristics – I will mention 4. These are faithful acts in
service towards those around us so that we can be the balm of Gilead for a
world in need.
First, we need to focus on ministries of personal spiritual
transformation as a path to social change. Next, we need to focus on ministries
of reconciliation that witness our unity in Christ. We also need to focus on spiritual community
development to express God’s love for whole persons and communities. Finally,
we need to focus on justice ministries – doing the right thing embodying the
message of the gospel.
What Sider is seeking is church which is a center of healing and
hope in the community; providence in a time of need; breaking the bonds of
injustice, racial and other forms of prejudice; restoring families and
communities; being advocates for justice while sharing the Good News of Christ.
I would like to share a story from my childhood. I was raised in
Montana as a teenager in a pretty challenging house to say the least. Our
family was quite dysfunctional. I lived in an unsafe environment and needed the
great Physician that our story talks about.
In 1987, I accepted Christ into my heart and became a part of
the local Christian community. That decision would serve me well as I entered
high school and began attending a church school. There, I found healing from
what was happening in my household. I not only was able to escape what I was
experiencing, but I felt the healing that comes when God’s people faithfully
engage in the love of Christ with our sisters and our brothers.
On a trip to the DC area for business and as an opportunity to
visit with family, I stopped by the Methodist building located in downtown DC,
and across the street from the Supreme Court and the US capital. Inside the
building, the General Board of Church & Society is housed. The job of GBCS
is to uphold and engage in the social principles, which are adopted by General
Conference to "speak to the human issues in the contemporary world from a
sound biblical and theological foundation." Throughout the social
principles are statements that advocate for the safety and self-determination
of all of God's creatures.
In their foyer, their mission is embodied in the words of Micah
6:8, posted on the wall: to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with our God.
In the Hebrew Bible passage the question is asked - where is our
help? Where is our healing? Where is the love? The people of Israel had
experienced life in horror at the destruction of their land. They were crying
out for resolution.
We are collectively being called to faithfulness - to use our
time, our talents, our gifts, our service and our witness to express our
individual and communal love to those in need. Examples include what we are
already doing – feeding the homeless, supporting the family promise program, the
gleaning of citrus, and other service projects.
However, collectively we can do more. We can advocate for a
living wage for all of our citizens, we can work for education reform through
our schools for our children, we can work to address terminal and chronic
illness in our community, and we can continue to take additional steps to resolve
hunger and poverty.
Will you take that step with me? Will you be the hands of the
great Physician? Will you go wherever God calls you to go and do what God asks
you to do? Will you share the love of God to a world that is crying out for healing?
