Scripture: Mark 2:23 – 3:6
Sermon: Sabbath – celebrating the presence of God
Catholics know
it. Every time they gather for Mass with
a priest who knows how to do the rite of the eucharist correctly, their
theology and their faith experience make it possible for them to know the Real
Presence of Christ in their worship.
Eastern Orthodox
know it. When they meet for holy worship
everything about their sanctuary and their style or worship – the gold and
silver, the candlelight and sunlight, the statues and icons and paintings, the
incense and the chanting and the ritual – all combine to let them know that in worship
they are in the anteroom of heaven, touching the very hem of the glory of the
God of all heaven and earth.
Pentecostals know
it. In the way they create a space of
freedom for uninhibited speech, movement, action and song, in their worship
they are able to know the movement and vitality of holy Spirit in their midst.
Quakers know the
same thing in a different way. Learning
to be at rest in body and mind, in quietness they bring to silence the chatter
of the human heart with all its thoughts and opinions and agendas, until one or
two, maybe three are able to bring to humble voice something of the Word and
Wisdom of the eternal God for that moment in their life.
Jesus knows it,
too. In the synagogue on a sabbath with
others to pray and hear the Word of God, he knows the Word as something that
God is speaking in the present moment, knows Spirit as something filling the place
where he is, knows God as alive and active right where they are for the sake of
healing and making whole, forgiving and setting free, calling and empowering
for kingdom life in the world.
And it scares the
heck out of the Pharisees, because this is not what they have been trained
for. They have been trained to read the
Scriptures and interpret them to the people.
They have been educated to know the tradition, and help the people carry
it on. They are practiced in following
the law, and helping the people do the same as much as they can.
For the
Pharisees, the presence of God is mostly past and future. In days of old, God acted in great and
marvelous ways to save our ancestors and make us a people. In days to come God will act again and we
pray for the day to come; we fervently long for it. And to help in its coming, in the present
moment we do what we can to be faithful to the tradition, to keep it alive, and
keep it pure.
That concern for
the purity of the tradition is why in the story we’ve read today Jesus doesn’t
do anything to heal the man with a withered hand. He knows the Pharisees’ concern not to break
the law about not doing any work on the sabbath. Keeping sabbath is one of the things that
sets the people of God apart from the rest of the world. It’s central to being a Jew, so the Pharisees
are very fussy about it.
Jesus isn’t very happy,
though, with the way they go about it. Verse
5 says he looks at the Pharisees in anger for the way they understand the
sabbath and what God desires. It also
says he feels sorry for them, that he grieves their hardness of heart and the
way it limits what they can accept and be open to.
But aware of what
they feel, and not wanting to cause offence about the wrong thing, he simply
speaks two words of command to the man – first, to come forward and stand in
front of everyone in the synagogue (nothing wrong with that), and then to
stretch out his hand (nothing wrong with that).
The problem for
the Pharisees is that when the man stretches out his hand, his withered arm is
no longer withered. It’s healed. Jesus has not touched him, massaged his arm,
lifted him up, put paste on his arm or done any of the things often done in
acts of healing. It’s not Jesus but God
who has done this thing. It’s
God who is in their midst and doing great and marvelous things to heal and save
in the present moment.
And this is not
something they’re ready for, not something they’re trained to manage, not
something within their control. So they decide
pretty quickly to put a stop to it.
Which brings us
to the question of us, and how we prepare for and respond to God’s presence in our
worship – of whether the God we know in worship is God of past and future, or
God who is moving and doing great things here and now in our church and in the
world in the present moment?
Sometimes we’re
anxious about the future of the church, and I wonder if our anxiety makes us
think maybe God isn’t here, or makes us forget to focus on how God is present. We focus instead on things like finances and
membership and programs and trends in society.
But while it’s good that we talk about these things, and about what we
need to learn, and how maybe we need to change and grow into something new as a
church, do these things and our need to change and to grow mean that God is not
here right now?
A few weeks ago
Gary Patterson, our church’s moderator, was at a gathering in Naramata at which
the precarious future of the church as we know it was being considered. In the midst of that conversation, though,
Gary asked to participants to reflect for a few minutes on some recent
experience they may have had of the church really being the church – of
“church” really happening even in the midst of all our concerns about its
future. And what people had to offer was
really quite amazing – it was “good news” story after story
where people have experienced “real church,” a moment in the life of their
faith community when they felt connected with the Spirit, with God; where they
have been consoled, or stretched, or forgiven and supported, inspired or
filled; moments when they were thankful that what they dreamed of, as church,
actually happened.
I’ve also
mentioned here the story in The Hamilton Spactator just over a week ago about
the church that happens on Sunday afternoons in the sanctuary and on the
grounds of St. Paul’s Presbyterian in downtown Hamilton – Eucharist Church,
that’s made up of a few hundred mostly-youngish people who gather to share the
presence, the promise and the love of God together. The article mentions that it’s not any flashy
program that attracts them – no rock music, praise bands, high-tech shows, glitter
and glitz, or ultra-smooth performance.
Their worship and the liturgy they follow is actually quite traditional
– even more traditional than ours in their use of ancient prayers and
rites. What attracts them is quite
simple – the experience in that setting and with those rites of being able to
be honest and open about who they are, what they think, and what they wonder
about, with one another in the presence of God.
Sabbath is
a time to celebrate the presence of God with us – not just the past of God, not
just the future of God, but the presence of God – the God who is here with us
right now in this place, at this time, to heal
and make whole, to forgive and set free, to call and empower us and others for
kingdom life in the world.
Sometimes we fear
God is not here, or we act as though God is not. We talk about God as though he’s not right
here listening to us.
So within our own
liturgy, what is it that helps you know God is here? Let it do its work.
Within this
sanctuary and our style of worship, what is that helps open you to the Spirit
that is given? Let it do its work.
Within our
liturgy and pattern of worship, what is it that helps you hear the Word that God
is speaking to us for our life and our living right now? Let it do its work.
Pharisees are
never quite ready to be in the presence of God.
But God is here. And sabbath is a
time for celebrating together the presence of God.
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