A Healing Presence
Stories
Object:
Contents
Sharing Visions: "A Healing Presence" by Lynette Metz
Good Stories: "Naaman's Story" by John E. Sumwalt
John's Scrap Pile: "One In Need of Healing"
We send you mid-winter greetings and pray that these words find you well in this season of cold and flu viruses. If you are in need of healing as a result of one of these seasonal bugs, or some other dread disease of the body or spirit, you may find something in this issue that will bring a bit of comfort. We believe in the healing power of stories. Jesus healed as much by his stories as by his touch. Do you have a healing story or sermon to share? Have you known a woman like Grandma Gerken in Lynette Metz's touching story below? Send it to StoryShare.
Sharing Visions
A Healing Presence
by Lynette Metz
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
Mark 1:40-41
During the late winter of 1992, the house was its usual hectic scene while getting the family out the door for work and school. My daughter Jolene was leaving for school when she poked her head back into the kitchen to say that Dirty Snowball, one of the three-week-old kittens, was out of his basket in our garage and lying under my car.
Knowing that he was too young to be out on his own, I immediately went out to check on him. His little body was fairly stiff, but as I cradled and turned him over in the palms of my hands, I could see his tiny chin quivering. I wasn't sure if he was moving it, or if it was from the movement of my hands. I ran into the house with him and grabbed a hand towel to keep him warm. Sometime in this sequence of events, I managed to call our veterinarian and ask him a couple of questions. He told me to just give up and let the kitten die. I couldn't do that.
Grabbing the hairdryer, I turned it on low and let it warm his tiny little body while I prayed for guidance to know what to do. Suddenly, I felt something over my left shoulder and turned to look. I instinctively knew that it was Jesus, although I truthfully could not have described him, even a moment later. As I looked at him, I felt another presence over my right shoulder. I turned to look, and immediately recognized a woman from Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Richfield, Wisconsin, who had died several years before. Everyone took wild birds to Wilma "Grandma" Gerken when they were wounded. She would care for them and release them back into the wild. Immediately, I knew what I had to do. I began abbreviated CPR on Dirty Snowball. With two fingers, I massaged where I guessed his heart was located, and blew short puffs of breath into his mouth from an inch or two away. After just a short time, he was back to life. Since I had college classes that morning myself, I called my neighbor and asked if she would be willing to watch the kitten for the day, and she could hear him meowing over the phone.
I believe that Jesus and Grandma Gerken came to give me the help I needed and to show that even the tiniest of God's creatures are being watched over and loved. None of us is ever alone.
Lynette Metz was transplanted from Virginia to Wisconsin after she met her husband, Paul. After the births of their five children, she graduated from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee. Besides God and family, Lynette's true love is youth ministry. She is a member of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship. Write to her at twometz@nconnect.net.
Good Stories
Naaman's Story
by John E. Sumwalt
Naaman, commander of the army of the King of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
2 Kings 5:1
Naaman was a man like Norman Schwarzkopf or Colin Powell of our own time, a hero of the nation, a commander of the army, held in high regard by the commander-in-chief because of his victories in battle. Imagine the reaction of the American public if it became known that such a man, though a mighty warrior, had AIDS. And can you imagine what the reaction would be if the President of the United States sent our Naaman off to visit the President of Cuba, let's say, carrying a letter like the one the King of Aram sent to the King of Israel? Do you think Mr. Castro might have reason to wonder about our President's intentions?
The general would arrive in Havana on Air Force One, carrying a trunkload of American dollars, a couple of Cadillacs, and several tickets to next year's Super Bowl game. A limousine would whisk him off to the prophet's house, where he would be met by a secretary wearing latex gloves and bearing a message from the prophet telling him to go wash in the Bay of Pigs. We can understand why a general of the United States Army might be infuriated by such a suggestion. The Persian Gulf or the Panama Canal maybe, but not the Bay of Pigs!
John's Scrap Pile
One In Need of Healing
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
2 Kings 5:10
You may recall that when Jesus preached on this text in his home synagogue, they chased him out of town and tried to throw him over a cliff. And all he said was:
"There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman, the Syrian."
(Luke 4:27)
But that was enough.
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
(Luke 4:28)
We would all be well advised to be careful where and how we tell this story. I stand before you today as one in need of healing, as Naaman was, as we all are.
We come here in our brokenness, suffering as we all do from the diseases of racism, sexism, nationalism, denominationalism, and homophobia. Some of us come bearing the scars of dysfunctional families: sexual, physical and emotional abuse - both abusers and abused - some of us hurting from wounds we have received from brothers and sisters sitting in these same pews.
We come with all of our pathologies: physical, emotional, and spiritual, with all of our fears and griefs, into this community of recovering, forgiven sinners, this sinful and holy, dysfunctional and redeeming church - seeking healing. And I, for one, am glad to be here in this community where I have been both abused and loved, where I have both sinned and been forgiven. And where I have been healed.
The young, captive girl who served in Naaman's household, were she alive today, could confidently send the Naamans of our time to this body of Christ. This is a healing community! And it is a community in need of healing. For we healers are also sinners, and we are continually wounding each other and being wounded by the sin-corrupted systems which plague our institutional life.
There is one corrupt system in particular which causes us more pain than anything else in our beloved church, and if it is not healed it will certainly be the death of United Methodism. That is the appointment system, our peculiar method of marrying pastors and congregations. It is more than a little ironic that we United Methodists, who are so much committed to egalitarian principles in government, in the marketplace, in education, and in the arts, as well as to democratic reform around the world, should cling so assiduously to such an autocratic method of choosing servant leaders. I think our late brother John Wesley, who had no wish to leave the Church of England or to break its rules, who was repulsed by the thought of preaching in the fields and streets, who was most reluctant to allow lay persons to preach and to ordain lay preachers on his own authority, who resisted to his dying day the formation of a separate church - I think John Wesley would understand our reluctance to break with familiar traditions. But as he could not deny the spirit - the holy, healing spirit - neither can we.
We cannot be whole and healthy and joy-filled in this United Methodist movement until lay persons and pastors in our local churches share appointment power equally, and in a fully collegial way, with district superintendents and bishops. No, I am not suggesting that we adopt a call system. Connectionalism is our strength. Let bishops and district superintendents continue to be strong advocates for shared mission. The world is indeed our parish, now even more than it was for John Wesley. But we will not be able to minister effectively in the world of the twenty-first century if we perpetuate the eighteenth-century hierarchical power structures that cause so much suffering among pastors and local congregations who are left out of the power loop. (The reader is invited to apply these ideas to the peculiar diseases of his or her own particular denomination.)
How can we be healed?
Perhaps in the same way that Namaan was healed.
Naaman would have been well aware that it was just east of the Jordan, in the time of the Israelite King Ahab, that his nation had suffered one of its most ignominious defeats. One hundred thousand Aramaean soldiers were slaughtered by the Israelites and the Aramaean king was captured. Wash in the Jordan indeed! But somehow his advisors were able to convince him to do it. And he was healed, as he had hoped, but not in the way he expected.
Naaman, whose power in Aram was second only to that of the king, could find no healing there. The Spirit, through the most unlikely voice of a young slave girl, sent him to another nation, to the prophet of a God he did not know.
Through whom will the spirit speak to us? In what dirty little river will God have us wash our leprous church?
(Excerpts from a sermon John preached at The Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church's School For Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Appleton, Wisconsin, August 18, 1992.)
StoryShare, February 16, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
Sharing Visions: "A Healing Presence" by Lynette Metz
Good Stories: "Naaman's Story" by John E. Sumwalt
John's Scrap Pile: "One In Need of Healing"
We send you mid-winter greetings and pray that these words find you well in this season of cold and flu viruses. If you are in need of healing as a result of one of these seasonal bugs, or some other dread disease of the body or spirit, you may find something in this issue that will bring a bit of comfort. We believe in the healing power of stories. Jesus healed as much by his stories as by his touch. Do you have a healing story or sermon to share? Have you known a woman like Grandma Gerken in Lynette Metz's touching story below? Send it to StoryShare.
Sharing Visions
A Healing Presence
by Lynette Metz
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!"
Mark 1:40-41
During the late winter of 1992, the house was its usual hectic scene while getting the family out the door for work and school. My daughter Jolene was leaving for school when she poked her head back into the kitchen to say that Dirty Snowball, one of the three-week-old kittens, was out of his basket in our garage and lying under my car.
Knowing that he was too young to be out on his own, I immediately went out to check on him. His little body was fairly stiff, but as I cradled and turned him over in the palms of my hands, I could see his tiny chin quivering. I wasn't sure if he was moving it, or if it was from the movement of my hands. I ran into the house with him and grabbed a hand towel to keep him warm. Sometime in this sequence of events, I managed to call our veterinarian and ask him a couple of questions. He told me to just give up and let the kitten die. I couldn't do that.
Grabbing the hairdryer, I turned it on low and let it warm his tiny little body while I prayed for guidance to know what to do. Suddenly, I felt something over my left shoulder and turned to look. I instinctively knew that it was Jesus, although I truthfully could not have described him, even a moment later. As I looked at him, I felt another presence over my right shoulder. I turned to look, and immediately recognized a woman from Emmanuel United Methodist Church in Richfield, Wisconsin, who had died several years before. Everyone took wild birds to Wilma "Grandma" Gerken when they were wounded. She would care for them and release them back into the wild. Immediately, I knew what I had to do. I began abbreviated CPR on Dirty Snowball. With two fingers, I massaged where I guessed his heart was located, and blew short puffs of breath into his mouth from an inch or two away. After just a short time, he was back to life. Since I had college classes that morning myself, I called my neighbor and asked if she would be willing to watch the kitten for the day, and she could hear him meowing over the phone.
I believe that Jesus and Grandma Gerken came to give me the help I needed and to show that even the tiniest of God's creatures are being watched over and loved. None of us is ever alone.
Lynette Metz was transplanted from Virginia to Wisconsin after she met her husband, Paul. After the births of their five children, she graduated from Mount Mary College in Milwaukee. Besides God and family, Lynette's true love is youth ministry. She is a member of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship. Write to her at twometz@nconnect.net.
Good Stories
Naaman's Story
by John E. Sumwalt
Naaman, commander of the army of the King of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
2 Kings 5:1
Naaman was a man like Norman Schwarzkopf or Colin Powell of our own time, a hero of the nation, a commander of the army, held in high regard by the commander-in-chief because of his victories in battle. Imagine the reaction of the American public if it became known that such a man, though a mighty warrior, had AIDS. And can you imagine what the reaction would be if the President of the United States sent our Naaman off to visit the President of Cuba, let's say, carrying a letter like the one the King of Aram sent to the King of Israel? Do you think Mr. Castro might have reason to wonder about our President's intentions?
The general would arrive in Havana on Air Force One, carrying a trunkload of American dollars, a couple of Cadillacs, and several tickets to next year's Super Bowl game. A limousine would whisk him off to the prophet's house, where he would be met by a secretary wearing latex gloves and bearing a message from the prophet telling him to go wash in the Bay of Pigs. We can understand why a general of the United States Army might be infuriated by such a suggestion. The Persian Gulf or the Panama Canal maybe, but not the Bay of Pigs!
John's Scrap Pile
One In Need of Healing
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean."
2 Kings 5:10
You may recall that when Jesus preached on this text in his home synagogue, they chased him out of town and tried to throw him over a cliff. And all he said was:
"There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman, the Syrian."
(Luke 4:27)
But that was enough.
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.
(Luke 4:28)
We would all be well advised to be careful where and how we tell this story. I stand before you today as one in need of healing, as Naaman was, as we all are.
We come here in our brokenness, suffering as we all do from the diseases of racism, sexism, nationalism, denominationalism, and homophobia. Some of us come bearing the scars of dysfunctional families: sexual, physical and emotional abuse - both abusers and abused - some of us hurting from wounds we have received from brothers and sisters sitting in these same pews.
We come with all of our pathologies: physical, emotional, and spiritual, with all of our fears and griefs, into this community of recovering, forgiven sinners, this sinful and holy, dysfunctional and redeeming church - seeking healing. And I, for one, am glad to be here in this community where I have been both abused and loved, where I have both sinned and been forgiven. And where I have been healed.
The young, captive girl who served in Naaman's household, were she alive today, could confidently send the Naamans of our time to this body of Christ. This is a healing community! And it is a community in need of healing. For we healers are also sinners, and we are continually wounding each other and being wounded by the sin-corrupted systems which plague our institutional life.
There is one corrupt system in particular which causes us more pain than anything else in our beloved church, and if it is not healed it will certainly be the death of United Methodism. That is the appointment system, our peculiar method of marrying pastors and congregations. It is more than a little ironic that we United Methodists, who are so much committed to egalitarian principles in government, in the marketplace, in education, and in the arts, as well as to democratic reform around the world, should cling so assiduously to such an autocratic method of choosing servant leaders. I think our late brother John Wesley, who had no wish to leave the Church of England or to break its rules, who was repulsed by the thought of preaching in the fields and streets, who was most reluctant to allow lay persons to preach and to ordain lay preachers on his own authority, who resisted to his dying day the formation of a separate church - I think John Wesley would understand our reluctance to break with familiar traditions. But as he could not deny the spirit - the holy, healing spirit - neither can we.
We cannot be whole and healthy and joy-filled in this United Methodist movement until lay persons and pastors in our local churches share appointment power equally, and in a fully collegial way, with district superintendents and bishops. No, I am not suggesting that we adopt a call system. Connectionalism is our strength. Let bishops and district superintendents continue to be strong advocates for shared mission. The world is indeed our parish, now even more than it was for John Wesley. But we will not be able to minister effectively in the world of the twenty-first century if we perpetuate the eighteenth-century hierarchical power structures that cause so much suffering among pastors and local congregations who are left out of the power loop. (The reader is invited to apply these ideas to the peculiar diseases of his or her own particular denomination.)
How can we be healed?
Perhaps in the same way that Namaan was healed.
Naaman would have been well aware that it was just east of the Jordan, in the time of the Israelite King Ahab, that his nation had suffered one of its most ignominious defeats. One hundred thousand Aramaean soldiers were slaughtered by the Israelites and the Aramaean king was captured. Wash in the Jordan indeed! But somehow his advisors were able to convince him to do it. And he was healed, as he had hoped, but not in the way he expected.
Naaman, whose power in Aram was second only to that of the king, could find no healing there. The Spirit, through the most unlikely voice of a young slave girl, sent him to another nation, to the prophet of a God he did not know.
Through whom will the spirit speak to us? In what dirty little river will God have us wash our leprous church?
(Excerpts from a sermon John preached at The Wisconsin Conference of The United Methodist Church's School For Ministry at First United Methodist Church in Appleton, Wisconsin, August 18, 1992.)
StoryShare, February 16, 2003, issue.
Copyright 2003 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
