Tag Archives: Mary

Living with Helplessness (Sermon) April 3, 2015 (Good Friday)

Posted on by

Sermon – April 3, 2015

The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW

St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Good Friday   Bulletin 4-3-2015 (Good Friday)

Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. John 19:25

Please be seated.

In the 2008 Presidential campaign, Sarah Palin said the hardest thing about the campaign was when the media said things about her children.  In an interview with a New York City TV station, she said, “They’re my kids. The mama grizzly bear in me comes out, makes me want to rear up on my hind legs and say, ‘Wait a minute.’”

And there have been times, especially when my children were little that I was the mama grizzly bear.  One incident I think I’ve talked about before, is one I’d forgotten, but my son has always remembered.

We were trick-or-treating.  We lived in the city, so there were lots of houses and lots of kids and people out having a good time.  All of a sudden, a kid ran up from behind and snatched my son’s bag of candy right out of his hands and kept running.  Well, just that fast, mama grizzly came upon me and I ran as fast as I could, yelling at the kid who stole my son’s candy.  I was incensed at the injustice of it all.  It was easy for any kid to get candy that night.  This was an act of meanness.  I was incensed at the cruelty and hurt the act caused my son.

But I acted.  I could do something.  And after a block or so, the kid dropped my son’s bag and we retrieved it and went on their way.  My son has never forgotten how I sprang into action and took care of him.

So, I honestly do not know how Mary stood at the foot of that cross, helpless to help her son…helpless to stop the inevitable…helpless to stop the terrible torture and death.  Recently I found this hymn, which I think says it all, At the Foot of the Cross by Carol Petersen, Hymn 43 in our Voices Found hymnal.  We’ll sing verses of it during our services the next couple of days.  Tonight, let’s sing verses 1-3.

(sing)

At the foot of the cross Mary sat weeping and gazing with love at her Lord.

He hung there bleeding and suffering and dying.

She could not help him.  She could not carry him home.

 

Blessed Mary, his mother bore him and rocked him and bathed him with love for her son.

Saw him in childhood and growing to manhood.

She could not help him. She could not carry him home.

 

Now with love in their hearts Mary and John sat together and poured out their grief.

“Look, John, you mother” and “Mary, your son, John.”

She could not help him. She could not carry him home.

“She could not help him.  She could not carry him home.”  Yes, tonight is a night of helplessness.  Tonight we need to remember all people everywhere who have a loved one they cannot rescue.  There are family and friends loving someone who is addicted to drugs or alcohol or sex and they cannot help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends loving someone and warning someone about the path they were on and watching as that person was arrested and sent to jail for many years.  They could not help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends loving someone who is being treated unjustly, but can’t seem to get the help they need to get justice.  They cannot help their loved one.  They cannot carry their loved one home.

There are family and friends grieving tonight because they watched their loved one die from a dreaded disease.  They could not cure the disease nor stop its progression.  They could not carry their loved one home.

What can we do when faced with this helplessness…this inability to make things right and just and okay?

What strikes me in our Gospel tonight is that Mary was physically present, even as hard and awful as that must have been.  Even as she must have wanted to hold him and touch him, she couldn’t do so, but she was there.

And we can be there.  We can offer our presence.  Just like Mary, we can stand there with our loved one.  We can be witnesses to their pain and suffering, as hard as that is.  While Mary couldn’t hold Jesus, we may be able to hold our friend.  I worked in hospice and we always told people that the last thing to go was hearing.  We’d encourage people to hold the hands of their loved one and to talk to them.

We can create and reach out to a supportive community.  In our Gospel, Jesus tells Mary she has a new son, the disciple John.  He tells John that he has a mother, Mary.  Even in his dying, Jesus encourages us to find supportive and loving communities to be family and friends.  Mary and John shared many experiences of Jesus.  They would be able to comfort each other in their grief.  They’d be able to tell stories and share memories about Jesus.  Isn’t that one of the hardest things when someone dies…to find others who love to hear your best memories of that person when you so desperately need to remember?

I don’t know about you, but I hate feeling helpless.  Yet, there are times when we just are and we must accept that.  We can be witnesses and be present during those times and most of all, we can help each other and find those friends and loved ones who will walk with us.

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Servant of the Lord (Sermon) December 21, 2014

Posted on by

Sermon – December 21, 2014
The Rev. Rebecca S. Myers, CSW
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Corbin, KY

Advent IV Year B

For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:37-38

Please be seated.

When I lived in Washington, DC, I was on the board for the Countertop Quartet, a group of sopranos and counter tenors.  One Friday night, we had a concert at a church in Northern Virginia.  The President of the Board asked me to welcome everyone to the concert.  I wasn’t nervous at all.  I was used to talking to groups of people.  At one point, I thought maybe I should write some notes to guide my welcome, but I decided against it.

At the prescribed time, I got up and thanked everyone for coming and thanked St. Luke’s church for hosting the concert.  I noticed a man in the audience giving me a funny look.  You see, we weren’t at St. Luke’s Church; we were at St. Paul’s Church.

Later in the evening I discovered my error.  I was so shocked at having said St. Luke’s and decided I needed to pay attention to that.  You see, the Quartet was often connected to another St. Paul’s church, so I shouldn’t have gotten the church wrong at all.  There was no reason for St. Luke’s to be in my mind…none at all.

I began asking questions of God.  “Am I supposed to read the Gospel of Luke?  God, what does this mean?”

The next day was a lovely March Saturday.  I attended a meeting in the City that ended at 11 and decided I’d walk the ¾ of a mile to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch.  I started walking and there it was… an Episcopal Church sign for …you guessed it – St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

I had to go check it out.  It was just around the corner.  A woman came out from the church as I was standing there and told me more about the church.  As I left, I was talking to God.  “Am I supposed to start attending church here?  God, what do you want me to do?”

Well, I was looking for a spiritual director at the time, and what I discerned from God was that I was supposed to ask the Rector of this church to be my spiritual director.  Now, understand, I’d never met her and knew nothing about her.  My attempts to find out more about her failed.

So, I just emailed her at the email address on the website, telling her I thought I was supposed to be in touch with her about being my spiritual director.  Can you imagine getting an email like mine from someone you’d never heard of and did not know?

I didn’t hear back until early May.  She apologized, but she’d been busy.  She said she’d be happy to meet with me, but couldn’t be my spiritual director, because she was on her way to South Africa and then an 8-month sabbatical.

Hmm….well, I still felt God nudging me to meet with her, so I set up a time later in May to meet her.  It turned out she was on the Commission on Ministry for the Diocese.  They’d just re-done the process for discernment for the priesthood.  I mean, it was just completed, and hadn’t even gotten to the website yet!  She told me all about the process, including a retreat I’d need to attend that was being held in June and some of the other details.  She also gave me names of some others who could be possible spiritual directors, one of whom I worked with for awhile.

I was astounded because I was truly led to her and if I’d met with her any earlier, the Commission on Ministry process wouldn’t have been completed.  The timing was so perfect.

In today’s Gospel, we hear the familiar story of the Annunciation.  An angel comes to this young girl, Mary, and tells her she will bear the Son of God!  Did you hear the picture of the angel painted in our hymn, “his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame.”  I don’t know about you, but I’d be very frightened.

When Mary is astounded, perplexed and I’m sure frightened by this encounter, the angel explains some more and ends by saying nothing is impossible with God.

This is so implausible, isn’t it?  And don’t many of us question the details?  It just seems too impossible and too difficult for our brains to comprehend.

Interestingly, Mary is the only woman named in the Koran, so Mary and her story is important not only to Christians, but also to Muslims.  In other words, this person of Mary is key in two major world religions.  So, something amazing must have happened for this woman to be so remembered, especially by name.

As if the experience wasn’t frightening enough, her response is also astonishing.  I mean, if you heard what she heard, wouldn’t you be saying… “hmmm…. Let me think about this?”  Or wouldn’t you be angry… “Gee, I had other plans for my life.”  “God, how are you going to protect me?  Don’t you know my community might stone me to death?  What am I going to say to Joseph?  Do you know how hard it is to raise a child?  This is no small task you’ve asked of me, God.”

No, Mary just says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  You see, Mary knows the central truth of our lives.  Mary knows her purpose on earth is to serve God.  There is no other purpose for her life and thus, she accepts what God has for her to do, “let it be with me according to your word.”

And if we are truly followers of Christ…if we mean what we say during this time of Advent…of hoping and preparing for Christ’s return, we know deep in our being that our purpose is to serve God…to serve God with all of our God-given talent and skill…to serve God with all of the treasure God has given us…to serve God with all of the time God has given us.

Serving God is our purpose.  Serving God gives us meaning.  Serving God serves the world.

The Angel Gabriel with his wings of snow and eyes of flame may not visit us and so clearly tell us how we are to serve God, but I believe God does send us messages in many ways.  We need to be aware and to listen for those messages.  They may sound crazy to us.  They may not make logical sense to us, especially in the moment.  I mean, wasn’t my story about St. Luke’s crazy and nonsensical?

In our skepticism and disbelief, we hear the angel’s words to Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then we respond like Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Amen