February 23, 2003

Sixth Sunday of Epiphany

Mark 2:1-12

 “Hand-Me-Down Faith”

     This being 2003, this congregation is now at least over 360 years old.  I know some of you are founding members…but believe it or not, some of us weren’t always Congregationalists.  Kay and I used to be Lutherans!…O Lord, please forgive us.  Oh, Lutherans are OK…they’re sort of like Congregationalists without the Mayflower.  I think they had to swim across.

     There was a point in my circuitous faith journey when we didn’t have a church home.  Disillusioned at one point, I left the Lutheran seminary and wasn’t too sure just where I belonged.  So we skipped church, and not just because it was a stormy day like today, either.  I didn’t know where to go and Kay was patient with me, so we didn’t go anywhere for a while. 

     That is, until Mildred came along.  Mildred was our landlord and she asked us to go to church with her.  Actually, I think she insisted.  That’s how we became part of little old Mt Olivet Church on Guernsey Rd.  It was a church of only 32 members, but on the average, 28 of them were there every week.  A retired pastor, Rev. Merle Slaybaugh led the flock.  Our second child, Jon, was baptized there.  My faith was rekindled there.  It was during worship at Mt. Olivet that I felt the Lord’s call upon my life and knew it was time to return to seminary and go into the ministry. 

     And all this happened not because my faith led us to Mt. Olivet, but because Mildred‘s faith carried us there.    

     This is how churches grow.  This is how lives are touched.  Consider the story of a certain paralyzed man.  He couldn’t get where he needed to go on his own.  He couldn’t get to Jesus.  The crowd that filled the place made matters worse.  So what did his friends do?  They hauled him up on the roof, dug a hole through the thatch (I imagine they had to answer to the owner for that move!) and lowered the man down to Jesus.  Jesus was moved to heal the man, not because he had exhibited great faith, but because the faith of his friends had carried him there. 

“And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and when they had made an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘My son, your sins are forgiven.’”

     We pray for others in church every week and I hope you do the same at home.  Sometimes we pray, as we do today, for people we don’t even know.  We do this on their behalf.  We are their advocates.  We pray so that the lord will see our faith and be compassionate toward those for whom we pray.

     Recently I heard that research scientists are beginning to believe there really is power in prayer.  Much to their surprise, they‘ve discovered that people who are prayed for (even when they are unaware of it) have a better chance of regaining their health. 

     So pray, pray for healing and wholeness and hope.  Pray for each other, pray for strangers.  Pray for this church.  Pray for peace.  Pray, knowing that the Lord hears, the Lord sees your faith and is moved to act for the sake of those you bring before him.

     I know the Trustees are going to cringe when I say this, but I wish this place was so crowded that people had to tear a hole in the roof to get in!  Maybe our roof is a little too high for that anyway, but wouldn’t it be great to see a crowd in this place?  Is this just wishful thinking or can it really happen?  If we play the right music, preach good enough sermons, design a powerful enough program, will they then swarm in?  I don’t think so.  I think they have to know Jesus is here, they have to know his healing, saving touch awaits them here and I believe our faith will have to carry them here. 

     There are people all around us paralyzed by fear, doubt, disillusionment, hurt, you name it.  Their faith ain’t got legs.  They don’t know the way.  Who will bear them?  Who will carry their needs, their brokenness, their hopes before the Lord?  Who will be their advocates?

     You should have seen us at Council this past Tuesday evening - we got all tongue-tied over the word the Bible uses to describe reaching out in faith: “evangelism“.  There…I said it….right in the middle of a Congregational church:  evangelism!  Why do we have so much trouble with that word?  Does it conjure up images of slick TV preachers and annoying people knocking on our door?  That‘s unfortunate, because evangelism is the work of all Christ’s followers.  It is the first thing he called the first disciples to do: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of people!“ and it was the last thing he commanded them to do before he ascended to heaven, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  From start to finish - evangelism.

     The word is “euajjevlion” in ancient Greek and it means sharing glad tidings of God’s kingdom, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ.  The word means being a faith advocate for the sake of others, inviting, welcoming, bringing them into Christ’s presence, tearing a hole in the roof if need be so that people can find their way.  Christ calls us to this.  So maybe it’s time we reclaimed the word.  Maybe it’s time we saw ourselves as the friends of those who, for whatever reason, can’t get here on their own.

     Faith is a hand-me-down, from one person to the next.  Each of us received the Good News, the glad tidings at some point in our lives from someone else, perhaps someone who loved us very much and wanted us to know the joy they knew. 

     The promise of forgiveness and everlasting life through the Savior Jesus Christ is such Good News, the best news, and in these challenging times, especially precious news, news of real and lasting peace.  And as incredible as it may seem, it has now been entrusted to us so we can fish with it, so we can go therefore and make disciples and baptize and teach, so we can carry others to the Lord.