An unusual morning prayer. 36 in attendance but there were numerous friends of parishioners so a good number were missing. Some no doubt were making preparations for Hurricane Sandy. The approaching storm provided a backdrop for the service. The bulletin is here.
Woody and Cherry brought two grandchildren from Boston and Kimberly brought a friend.
This was Stewardship Sunday and we had three different presentations for the sermon.
Catherine was on retreat in Massachusetts at a Jesuit retreat center. She left a sermon that Linda Beck as officiant read. Catherine took on the personna of the Church. "In less than 25 years, I’m going to be two hundred years old, but I’ve aged well, thanks to the generations of people who have made sure that they have a special place to gather so that they can worship God and then go out and serve the Lord.So many people have done so much over the years to make sure I’m in good shape. And they’ve made sure that I’ve kept up with the times". It is not just about the building but the outreach of the church – " I love the fact that you have donated money for new hymn books and prayer books, you’ve bought Bibles for the jail, you’ve worked to feed the community with donations of food and the community dinners, and you even went on a mission trip last summer."
Jim Anderson, our stewardship chair, spoke of the importance of pledging in helping the church budget effectively in 20-13. Currently 41 donate to the church with 21 pledging. He suggested we could get to 30 this year. He said that the pledge is not a contract you can’t move away if emergencies come up. Nationally 2.6% of Americans pledge.
Service is also important in itself especially when it helps the church save money. He provided an example of BJ providing the communion bread which is glutten free which cuts down on the cost of wafers. Pledge cards are due on Nov. 4.
Nancy Long took the outreach theme of the sermon and playing several videos of Samaritan’s purse, Operation Christmas, child in action. She put it into perspective of the other activities, such as the jail ministry and dinners. The boxes provide not only a gift; they provide a prayer for families in distress, a sense of hope. She provided a story of a Romanian girl who received her favorite gift, hair clips which she filled her hair. Now, grown up she has her own child and she completes boxes.
Samaritan purse shoeboxes were be collected on both Nov 4 and 11.
We were sorry to hear that Tierra broke her arm but she was not shy in displaying it. Apparently, she can still sing with the choir!
Now to the lectionary. One of the dramatic moments of Apollo 13 is when Gene Kranz (played by Ed Harris), boldly declares, "Failure is not an option" when this was a possibility with the damanged spacecraft on route to the moon. This week we see failure written in the Gospel but the real failure is not readily apparent. We face failure this week with an approaching tropical storm Sandy. How do we deal with it ?
Mark’s Gospel today is about Bartemaus, a blind person who because of his affliction was ostracised by the society in which he lived. As Peter Lockard indicates, the name means close to "Son of Poverty." He is a symbol of those poor and afflicted.
Now Bartemaus must have heard something about Jesus because when he hears that Jesus is passing by he calls out to Jesus, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” The words Son of David are obviously a title and recognition by Bartimaeus that Jesus was a man of power and as the Book of Hebrews suggests "he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever." The contrast been the Son of Povery and Son of Man is telling.
Bartimaeus persists in calling out. He probably witnessed failure more than one time in trying to get help. This time he is in luck.Jesus responds to Bartimaeus request calling him over. Jesus asks him, “What do you want me to do for you?” Bartimaeus asks, “My teacher, let me see again.”
In the story:
we see the willingness of Jesus to respond to those who are sidelined by the community;
we see Jesus care and concern for an individual;
we see Jesus desire to renew people’s lives through healing;
we see the power of Jesus displayed;
we see the truth of Jesus identity; and,
we see something of the nature of true discipleship in Bartimaeus.
But there is a failure here. Leading up to this story in Mark’s gospel there are a series of interactions between Jesus and his disciples which demonstrate their ‘blindness to who Jesus is and what he is on about.
Jesus asks exactly the same question of Bartimaeus that he had of James and John last week- "What do you want me to do for you? This recognition by Bartimaeus of where true power lay is a contrast to the disciples who, although they appear to know who Jesus is, keep bumping into things because of their blindness to what Jesus is really on about.
For instance the disciples are more interested at times in who will be the greatest in heaven and who will get to sit in places of honour when Jesus comes again in glory. This is a contrast to Bartimaeus who recognised his affliction and his need of Jesus mercy. Earlier we had the rich young ruler who could not follow Jesus since he didn’t want to give up his wealth
Even in our failed endeavors it offers a time of growth. Our failures tend to play on ourselves more than successes..
This week is Reformation Day in Germany, Oct. 31 the anniversary of Luther’s act to start the Reformation, the nailing of the 95 Theses to the Church door at Wittenbach. Despite his successes and credit in starting the Reformation in 1517 he preached his last sermon in his life to 5 people in his hometown. The great Luther preaching to 5 ? He wrote a friend about the event, despairing over what they feared was a "failed" reformation.
In the midst of failure we often forgot our successes and forgot about lessons leaned.
As David Lose writes – "He’d forgotten that is, Paul’s reminder that we have all sinned and fallen short … and will keep sinning and falling short. “Moreover, he’d forgotten that our ultimate hope rests not in our successes but in God’s great failure on the cross, the failure that redeems all failures and successes, binding them together in the promise of resurrection.
God can use our failures as well as successes – and we can too! Learn and grow from them – and open your eyes!. As the General Thanksgiving says "We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone."