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The Reverend Gretchen Zimmerman |
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The Episcopal Church of St Raphael the Archangel |
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FROM THE PRIEST
Welcome to the online home of St Raphael’s Episcopal Church. We are glad you have clicked onto our website. Here you will be able to find our service schedule, read about our Outreach Ministry, and check our calendar for other services and events.
As we prepare for the holy season of Lent, I am excited by our service event March 11th. We will be joining with other people of faith in Brick for a Food Packing event with STOP HUNGER NOW, a not-for-profit organization that coordinates the delivery of humanitarian food relief in 76 countries around the world, including the USA. The idea for this event came out of my experience, along with several members of our Youth Group, at a similar event in December at Trinity Cathedral in Trenton.
Lent is the church’s springtime. Days get longer. We emerge from winter’s doldrums, and look for ways in which to live into the holiness that is our Lord’s invitation to us. We even know how to do this: “by prayer, fasting and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” There will be special services on Ash Wednesday, February 22nd, and a Lenten Quiet Morning on Saturday, February 25th. Please check our newsletter and calendar pages for details.
If you are looking for a church home, please come by in person. Our services schedule is listed under the button marked SERVICES.
God bless you.
The Reverend Gretchen D. Zimmerman Rector |
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Sermon : First Sunday after Epiphany Mark 1:29-39
In today's Gospel, we learn a couple of things. One is that the news about Jesus is getting out….You will remember that as the tag line of last week’s Gospel reading: his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee (Mk 1:28) Jesus continues to preach and heal.
One such healing is that of Peter’s mother-in-law. We don’t even know this woman’s name. What we do know, is that Jesus was told of her illness, and “that he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.” Mark tells us that she was healed, AND “she began to serve them.”
He “lifted her up.” The Greek verb used : egeiro [egg-ear-row] can also mean raise, arouse, relieve and restore to life. When Jesus heals, a person is indeed restored to life. Peters mother-in-law literally is raised up, set on her feet, and begins to serve. I’ll come back to that.
Here it might be important to talk about what happens when Jesus heals, because Mark reports that all the sick of the region were brought to Jesus as evening came on. One can only imagine the ailments that were healed. But more important, Jesus casts out demons — just like our previous Gospel lesson — and forbids to speak. Why is it important to Mark’s story that Jesus forbids the demons to speak? I think it has something to do with Jesus’ identity. He is still at the beginning of his earthly ministry, and whatever may have been revealed to him about his identity in the desert, it is not yet time for him to tell others. AND, the demons are the ones who KNOW his true identity.
He heals, and people are drawn to him as a healer. He preaches and people are drawn to him as a preacher. He has become a celebrity. We know this because while he is at prayer in the early morning, the proto-apostles find him and announce that "everyone is looking for you!” I just guess. If the people of Capernaum had been looking for a new rabbi, they would have put up with posters with Jesus’ face on them: “:WANTED! Rabbi for Galilean town. The successful candidate will be: Personable. Excellent in Preaching. Must love work with children and youth. Healer a bonus.” The people want the physical gifts that Jesus bestows, and no one can blame them for that. However, such a view of Jesus is short-sighted.
Jesus could have settled. He could have had a base in Capernaum, and a thriving evangelical ministry. He could have been domesticated, and had a nice life...maybe a wife and kids. Who knows? Instead, the disciples find him at prayer with God, and choosing the future that God has before him. It is a future that is edgy, taking him to hostile environments , and pitting his preaching and healing against evil and every illness that besets the human race. It is a future that will be changed by Jesus' very presence in the world, not backing down in the face of those who wield power, or those who are greedy, or those who are eager to curry favor from those who are powerful and greedy. It is the future that will take Jesus into other towns, preaching the good news and casting out demons. It is a future that takes him to Jerusalem and the Cross. Jesus chooses to continue to serve God and God’s purposes.
Now, let’s go back to Peter’s mother-in-law. After being “lifted up” by Jesus, she begins to serve them. Shed of her fever, she sees that serving Jesus is the appropriate way to offer thanksgiving. She shows that she understands the importance of her healing by taking her place in the community again. She has both experienced and appreciated the restoration Jesus bestows. Her demonstration of gratitude is unmistakable.
Now I know that sometimes we fall into the dumps, or are sad. Sometimes this leads to depression or other illness. Medicine has advanced in very specific ways to try and deal with the depths of depression, some of which are effective. For those less chronic sadness, people have given and received other treatments, all to good effect. How many of you have sat down, and had a good cup of tea, and thought it was just the thing to “lift” your spirits? Or, how many of you have received a telephone call, unexpectedly, and been cheered by the sound of someone's voice? I know this is true, as I experienced a “lift” in my spirits a couple of weeks ago when I was able to talk with my son Sam on the phone from Afghanistan. And I wasn’t feeling down to begin with!
Here is one even more powerful thing you can do. If you are feeling a sense of sadness or loss, HELP SOMEONE ELSE. Research has shown that the mere act of helping another is the quickest to start feeling better yourself. The smallest movement, or service, will multiply the effect in your body before anyone else is feeling better. You be the voice on the other end of the telephone. You be the one, to help with the groceries, or ride to the doctor, or pick up someone’s kid after school. Whatever the service, you will be enhancing you own well being first.
Now I haven’t said all that to be Captain obvious, if you already know it. Nor have I said it on behalf of a New Age spirituality . I have said it to remind us, each and together, that it is in acts of service that we show each other that we understood the Good News of Jesus.
Jesus kept choosing what God held out to him. He walked the length of Israel, from Nazareth to Qumran, from Capernaum to Jerusalem preaching, teaching and healing God’s chosen people as God’s Messiah.
And at first they came because they were healed of the physical infirmities. Only afterwards, having been restored, could they live into the new reality Jesus was preaching. That's the second thing we learned this morning. For most of us, the pain of loss or the debilitation that comes with illness needs to be healed before we can move into a deeper faith. Those who were forgiven much, or healed of the ravages of disease were among the first to understand. Their lives were transformed in a wonderful and sometimes dangerous ways. Some we know as Apostles, some as unnamed disciples —like Peter’s mother-in-law. But ALL of them, having been “lifted up” and restored to their communities, moved into service as a response to healing.
Jesus kept choosing an itinerant life — “no place for the Son of Man to lay his head…” so that as many people as possible would have the opportunity to be healed, to hear, and see and having heard and seen, to believe in the Good News. He could not settle for JUST the people’s healer.
Our faith teaches us to enter into the kingdom through the servants’ gate. Just so will we be the bearers of the Good News to others.
__ The Reverend Gretchen D. Zimmerman Rector 5 February 2012
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