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Sunday April 25, 2010
“Surely Goodness and Mercy shall Follow”
Psalm 23, Isaiah 42: 5-9 & Acts 9: 36-43. ----------------------------------------------------------- Let us pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be blessed in your sight, O God, our Healer, Our Strength, and Our Love. Amen.
It was a spring vacation treat. We were off to NY on the Metro-North train to the Big Apple. We had lots of time, a whole two days to spend together with our nieces to talk with, to listen to, and share their latest news. “What birthday parties have you gone to lately?” we asked our 9 year old niece, Keriann? My niece told of a special party in her neighborhood and how she liked her school in Swampscott. She then asked, “Have you been to any parties lately!” Oh yes, I replied our dear friend, Mrs. Elizabeth turned 100 last week .Kerianns eyes widened-100? Then the questions followed could she see very well? With her glasses, yes. Could she. walk? Yes. Could she talk? Elegantly I replied! Does she drive? Well no, she rides now .Is she sick?-no, she is well. Keriann replied “I thought everyone got sick when they got very old and then they died.” Well yes and no, everyone dies eventually, that part is true. But Mrs. Elizabeth is feeling fine now. She did have a broken hip two years ago. But now she is mended and continues to walk very well. (with a cane). And as proof of her good health, I held up her very recent book hot off the press. Here’s her book: she writes, she gardens with the help of her friends, she visits, she makes up poems, and keeps journals, she travels, she serves tea, and she rests! Mostly Mrs. Elizabeth, our centenarian is a wonder. She looks at each person with kindness, courtesy, compassion and sweet friendship. By now Keriann had figured out, she, herself, would be 100 in the year 3000! Wow! Elizabeth was a tiny woman, but huge in the eyes of the local world. Two weeks ago, almost the whole town gathered at the Guilford library to celebrate her 100th birthday., People streamed from near and far to honor her .The town historian , the local poets’ society, the book clubs, her neighbors, her visiting family members, her friends from church, the town’s First Selectman , the butcher, the baker, the doctor, the nurse. All had made space in their busy lives to honor this woman: so dignified and so lovely, so concerned and connected to other people from the local area and the global world. The library staff proudly provided the candles-all 100 candles! At another grand celebration last week, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee after the defeat of Apartheid in South Africa, preached at the consecration of a new bishop in New Haven’s Episcopal diocese. Archbishop Tutu spoke of God’s Mission to us .He called us back to a familiar mission: to love everyone. Tutu spoke of the preciousness of each person , how each of us is a member of God’s family and all people are loved by God, blessed by Jesus life and death and connected one to the other by human compassion, dignity, trust, goodness and mercy Imagine the preciousness of each person! He kept repeating. The world needs to hear this message again and again. Tutu carried a huge statement to the newly appointed Bishop Douglas! You only need to be caught in rush hour traffic on the subway near Times Square to really understand how huge our commitment is structured to be if it concerns all people. Yet we know all are blessed, all are valued and all are children of God. “Imagine” all the people-indeed! Where would we begin? In our own town of Old Lyme or in our meeting house, maybe we begin by simply saying one to another, how are you? And stopping and listening to the answer. It is amazing how people will answer if we give them a chance. We give a grand chance to people around the world by our connection and caring: in Haiti, with the Green Grass community on the Dakota Reservation, in South Africa, in Palestine and Israel, at Koinonia Farm in Georgia, in the Storefront School in Harlem, and at our own soup kitchen and pantry, and at the Homeless Shelter and Soup Kitchen in New London, and at pur Habitat locations. We are a group of fabulous Global connectors and vital local connectors. We live out the preciousness of all these people, our friends around the world. Maybe we can stop for a moment ,and take time to pat ourselves on the back, saying well done! Being available to those who lie close by is difficult, very difficult. Hearing others who surround us might demand too much attention. You know this way of being open could result in our own FCCOL healing ministries being magnified, full of more mercy and kindness. We would visit right where we are and we would listen. We could stop what we planned to say to the other and with a certain patient manner remind our neighbor how sacred we know them to be. We as disciples could follow in the way of Peter one of the first disciples of Christ who in his journey of faith and action detailed in the Book of Acts, brought others new life in tiny and great ways. Just look around, there are people here, already following this way of living by stopping, listening, acknowledging the specialness of those here at home with us. Before she became so ill, Tabitha, whose story we hear in Acts was a great influence on her neighbors, an influence of goodness and mercy. Tabitha was a weaver who made clothing for the women prisoners and beggars. Her mission was known far and wide from Joppa to Lydda. She was a strong woman of the day. Her band of mourners were so proud of her, they kept displaying her works while keening loudly over her death. Peter, as the miracle worker in this early Bible story needed some space to be able to pray in silence .Tabitha’s wounded heart was touched by his prayers, his prayers to God for mercy and healing. She was healed, awakened to new life and sat upright! Often we too need peace and quiet to help another come out of the shadows into new light. Some around us here are experts at this mission. Certainly Carleen Gerber and David Good and Rebecca Crosby are! But some of us can learn by listening closely to them for news on what could make us a more patient person, a good visitor and a surprising healer of the spirit. Most of us seem to learn by doing. Just yesterday, I was driving by my neighbor and casually said “How are you?” She stopped abruptly and really answered! Previously, as a new neighbor she had been so kind to us through a daily, quiet, deed of caring. (She brought in the newspapers to our doorway regardless of the snow and ice. For two months, she continued her self-assigned mission, while my husband, Richard unable to walk safely outside, healed from his fall.) Hers was a beautiful gift of kindness. Anyway, our neighbor stopped to tell me how she really was- her pain still so bad, resulting from a car accident of two years ago. In her story she tells of the awful pain throughout her back and now in her feet. She asked us to pray for her. So Mary from Guilford, I hope will be part of our prayers for healing. Mary has requested a place in our hearts so we can help her walk into tomorrow. The magic question that began the conversation with Mary was an ordinary phrase, how are you? But then comes the sincere pause waiting for a real answer. It is indeed our choice, an elegant choice to acknowledge the other in our lives. Our neighborhood, our community could also offer each one a way to live in the land of goodness and mercy. It could be a way to include the lonely, the newcomer, the stranger. Each person might then be more clearly seen, in the words of Elias Chacour as a child of God, a cousin of Jesus. Years ago now, my husband, Richard and I were with a group of wanderers trying to visit Palestine and Israel.. Of course, our church group ended up at Mar Elias, where Elias Chacour has developed a center for building schools, libraries, community centers throughout the Israel’s Galilee region. Elias Chacour was the first Palestinian to earn a degree from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem .His is a remarkable life, lived among the strain of the occupation but with a faith that completely leans on Jesus Christ whom he dares to call his neighbor! Recently, Chacour was named a Melkite Bishop to the people of the Galilee. For some of us, we already know of our own Rev. Sam Baez’s mission to teach tennis at the school at Mar Elias. Stories about Mar Elias l sound very familiar to us .Also you may remember Elias Chacour was one of the featured speakers at the Tree of Life conference about three years ago, so maybe his voice still rings clear . . Hearing Elias Chacour tell the story of how for him it seems like only a few years ago ,when Jesus walked in his neighborhood and taught in his neighborhood and visited with his grandmothers His is quite an artistic, sacred recollection. Like the Psalmist, Bishop Chacour is reminding us that a thousand years is but a day in God’s time. His story is really remarkable! Listening to Jesus in prayer, in Scripture and in his work life taught Chacour to see the other as a child of God. “Each one we see in the world was once a tiny baby, a child of God”, so Elias Chacour preaches. He is determined not to see an enemy but a child of God in each person he meets. Living on the edge of the Palestinian territories, his is quite a feat, to accept the other. His life has been anguished yet he is healed from hatred and given new life. Goodness and mercy do seem to follow him. Fearlessly, he gives others new hope. Take the time to read about his life in his small book, BLOOD BROTHERS. (It is here and in our library). Try to hold onto that incredible discovery that we, when we come face to face with another are looking into the face of a child of God. Our Scripture story tells of how a woman named Tabitha was a woman full of good deeds. Her life was restored to her by a miracle of healing which Peter through the power of Jesus was able to give. Our friend, Elizabeth is not unlike the first woman disciple from Acts, Tabitha, Tabitha began a renewed life after Peter’s miracle occurred, giving her back her life. She apparently was a bridge to all kinds of people, friends, prisoners, poor people and the needy. Elizabeth shares this bias for the wounded ones with Tabitha, Bishop Tutu and Elias Chacour and countless others here and around the world whose good work fills our lives. Yes! WE share so well a bias for the wounded ones. Elizabeth’s kindnesses and friendships helped many people find the way. Her blessing reflects her love of life and of Christ. Elizabeth‘s book to celebrate her 100th year is titled, Centennial Memoirs.
We listen to her wisdom: from a poem named, Benediction
It is God who is with and in each one of us, and whom we choose to follow. We dare to partner with God. We accept our specialness and share in the giftedness of the others nearby. As a partner with God, we begin fresh each day. Getting up in the morning, we are invited to take the time to wonder where God is mending the world. We choose to join God in the mending, and healing, We pray for the strength to rise to new challenges. I know you do miracles already! Who can take on the whole world? I invite you to try to expand what you are doing: Love one another in new ways, simple ways, maybe looking out for one another at coffee hour, in the meeting house, at rehearsals, even in the A&P! maybe even think about sending a card to someone you haven’t seen here or someone who is homebound. Try to be aware that some members of our congregation are alone most of the week. This is the highpoint of their week.! They can use a little of our love and attention as well. Try to remember Each of you is special, Each of you is good, Each of you is needed here, Each of you belongs with us. We pray simply for mercy. We share in a travelling prayer: Have mercy on us, O God, In your goodness have mercy on each one!
As ever, we begin where we are, and search for sacred ground. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow…
Elaine McNally Fitzpatrick
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