“Soul-Sized Healing”

by Bruce J. Johnson

February 9, 2003

Scripture: Mark 1: 29- 30

At 2 p.m. this afternoon, family and friends will gather here is this sanctuary for a memorial service in honor of Arlene Brunnel-Gergler. Just diagnosed with leukemia in November, it hardly seems possible that she has died in such a short period of time. In her own special way, she was an extraordinary lady, and among the many things that were beloved and will be remembered this afternoon is the pride with which she decorated and kept her home on Rt. 32 in Mansfield. Unique to her decorative planning was the room with the angel on the door- an angel that bore the inscription--- “Angels Gather Here.” Inside was one of the many shelves built by her husband Ray for her various collections of pitchers, baskets, birdhouses and crocks filled with dried flowers. It provided a fitting platform for the presentation of her collection of angels.

Would anyone like to guess what room that was? ---- That’s correct--- the bathroom!

Now, would anyone like to guess why it was that room? Correct again! The only room where, generally, one can be alone!

That, of course, is very biblical. It is during those times and in those places when we are alone that the angels minister to us so that we can deal with the demands of life, and love and faithful service in the world.

In today’s lesson from the gospel according to Mark, we get the sense that Jesus could have used such a room! But alas, no bathroom as yet! Instead, we are told that sandwiched between the day he healed Simon’s sick mother-in-law-, taking her by the hand and lifting her up from the fever that had put her down for the count and an evening at home, made somewhat of a mad house by the sick, the depressed and deranged who had gathered there in search of healing---- and their hitting the road again at daybreak--- sandwiched between those days, we find Jesus off by himself, alone in prayer --- before anyone else was up.

He knew where to go and to whom!

And he went there to be renewed and restored and made ready for another day on the road and its extraordinary demands. I imagine that every day in His life might have been best described by the line used in today’s passage:

“Everyone is searching for you!” (v. 37)

Of course, the ‘everyone’ really meant all those who wanted something from him, although I’m sure that there was also the simply curious. In today’s lesson, he is hounded by the sick, the possessed, the unclean--- people who because of some kind of illness were at least feeling and in some cases, were, in fact, separated from community.

Passages like today’s always get me asking a question such as: What was it that people saw in the man and heard in his voice and came to know in His message that promised to make all the difference in their lives?

The answer, of course, is their hope for healing but more importantly, what healing brings--- a restoration--- the getting back of one’s life and one’s place in society or in some cases, a whole new life.

Diana Neu says that healing has twin aspects: restoration now and empowerment for the future.

(The Living Pulpit, April, 1997, p.42.)

Illness, physical, mental and spiritual, isolates and can steal away with so much that is so essential to living quality lives—life itself, our sense of self and possibilities for the future.

I’m sure that this is the central dynamic of what is happening in today’s passage—people desperately seeking healing for sure but more importantly what it brings—restoration and empowerment to live again – with purpose and participation, with promise and productivity.

Of course, first century Jews don’t have a corner on that market. We too are a people in need of healing--- some might say, soul-sized healing. I’m just not sure we know where to go or to whom. Perhaps we are simply lost or have forgotten.

I don’t often read much from Billy Graham but he said something in his book, Hope for the Troubled Heart that has stayed with me:

“Loneliness is the disease of our time.”

And because we are feeling so alone, so vulnerable and because of this talk of war and the heightened alert on terror (Isn’t that something, how they call our malls, schools, airports soft- targets!) we’re so afraid. We are all the more in need of something and someone who can offer us healing. Where do we go and to whom?

In his book, Life After God, Douglas Copeland writes essentially about the same issue. He thinks that the unique issue for our generation is first that we’ve become a culture without a sense of the sacred. From soccer to skiing, Sunday has gotten lost and so have we.

And then as a result, loneliness, that intense feeling that we are lost and alone in this world, without anyone “out there’ or “in here” to dialogue with us, is our peculiarly modern affliction. Our communication between video and computer screens, phones, cell phones and faxes, leaves us longing for human connection, the real human touch, but many have grown up not knowing how to share in meaningful conversation, even when its offered. This is our conundrum, that we long for that place like in the bar of the sitcom, ‘Cheers’ –

“where everybody knows your name.”

and there are all kinds of wonderful personalities and interactions!

(My thanks to the Rev. Gary Smith for this reference and reflection.)

Of course, the essence of our faith is that we are known and called by name. This same Jesus, who reached out his hand to Simon’s mother in law and lifted her out of her fever and healed others calls to us and reaches out to us--- to restore us and renew us and give us ourselves and our lives.

Interesting, I just mentioned last week how important it was for Jesus to have his say in the dialogue over Iraq. I said too that these times challenge us all to ‘find our own voice.’ The recent issue of “O” magazine is all about what she calls ‘the thrill of finding your voice’ and there is wide assortment of articles on the rules of communication in marriage and how to connect verbally with an audience. ( I was looking for tips on how to connect with a congregation—a tough one at that!) Well, in the section titled “Live Your Best Life,” she quotes Muriel Rukeyser:

“Speak to me. Take my hand. What are you now?

I will tell you all. I will conceal nothing…

if we could touch one another,

if these our separate entities could come to grips,

clenched like a Chinese puzzle…… yesterday

I stood in a crowded street that was live with people,

And no one spoke a word, and the morning shone.

Everyone silent, moving … Take my hand. Speak to me.”

“O Magazine,” March, 2003, p.53)

That’s precisely what Jesus wants for us all—that we live our best life, together and talking, connected and committed to one another in concern and care and in love.

There is a place where angels gather and healing happens and that’s wherever Christ is sought out, heard, understood, accepted and experienced.

Amen