No Need To Be Ashamed

Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19

(Look these up at bible.oremus.org or biblegateway.com)

Today we hear in the prophetic book of Jeremiah words of counsel to the people who have found themselves in exile, far from home, not to give up but to find a way to ‘bloom where they have been planted.’  Perhaps that’s an odd bit of advice, or perhaps it’s very timely, to people who are feeling so very uprooted.

We also hear in the continuing conversation in Paul’s letter to young Timothy some sage advice not to get entangled in wars of words with people who might try to prove him less experienced or too young for this kind of work, but to not be ashamed and to speak the truth.  And in the Gospel, we hear of how Jesus heals ten lepers and sends them to the Jewish priests to be admitted back into the community, but the Samaritan who realizes his healing returns to Jesus alone.

And today in the life of the church we observe Domestic Violence Awareness Sunday.  This is something relatively new in the life of the church and in the self-understanding of Presbyterian Missions.  However, it’s an integral part of what our mission agency and several of our ministries do.

The Church (meaning the church universal) has really failed on this point for as long as anyone can remember, and only recently started teaching that no one should have to experience violence in their homes, even if they are married to the person that abuses them.  So the first thing that I want to say today, and on every other occasion where I have the opportunity to do so, is that abuse is not, and never has been, part of God’s plan for our lives.  Abuse is sin, and the shame for it rests solely on the abuser, and not the abused.

I was also reminded this week that as the Church, (meaning the church universal), we’re not terribly good at defining what abuse is or who might experience abuse.  Perhaps that doesn’t surprise anyone here after a decade or more of abuse scandals.  But let me tell you how I was reminded, because I was really impressed.  I met several students at the high school who are involved in a group called Imagine, which teaches awareness, prevention and intervention for domestic abuse.  They were active in discussion about allowing men into the group.  This is because we often think of abuse being caused by men against women.  However, in recent years we’ve been increasingly aware that men can also suffer from domestic violence, whether their partner is male or female.  And women can suffer whether their partner is male or female.  Truly no one is immune from a situation such as this.  I thought to myself that even though I was in a similar group in high school and college, I was not nearly so wise.

From PADV Packet: (www.presbyterianmission.org/padvn)

Violence in any form is a destructive force that damages and destroys life and well being.  When violence is woven into the fabric of family relationships it distorts and destroys not only the violence between the victim and the perpetrator but the well-being and sense of self of each and every family member.  So often, families enmeshed in violence have lost a sense of hope and the prospect of healing and restoration seems to be a remote possibility.

I think that you can be at home, and still feel like you are in exile, that you have no home.  I think you can also have a church home that doesn’t really feel like home, a place where you find yourself all alone in a room full of people, because of whatever it is you are wrestling with or don’t want other people to know.

So then, you have a choice, albeit a difficult one:  do you stay where you feel you have no true home, and try to make the best of it, or do you pack up and go?  Sometimes, just such questions really are the biggest ones of our lives.  

Well then, when is it okay to bloom where you are planted?  When is it okay to go?  Actually, the same Bible and the same God tells the same group of people different things at different times in their journey.  And so it is with us.

A lot of people facing abuse don’t leave because they fear what may happen to themselves, or their children, or their pets.  And that is a legitimate fear demonstrated far too often--the deadliest time in an abusive relationship is often when the abused person tries to leave.  However, others get out because they realize what’s going to happen to them or the children or the pets if they don’t go.

At this particular point in the Israelite’s lives, so recently exiled, so weakened from the journey, and so traumatized, God tells the people to bloom in exile.  Find a happy home.  Raise a healthy family.  Thrive, don’t just survive, and don’t give up.  A day will come when there will be healing and joy.  Even if you’ve had to leave everything behind just to save your own life, there is hope.

Now God is not being Pollyanna about this, God’s just being realistic.  God knows they’ll never physically make it back home, or anywhere good, in the physical state that they’re in.  They have to get their strength back.  They have to build up a few resources, build up their numbers, and multiply--surround themselves with a supportive community that will be a force to reckon with when it is time to get up and go.  They’re going to have to be wise about this, and prepare for the journey.  They’ll get home someday, we’ll cover that story in a few weeks, but for now, it’s time to figure out a plan for the meantime, even though they are faced with difficult truths.

Alright.

Now for something a bit different...let’s talk a bit about leprosy.  We’ve talked about it before: that nasty flesh-eating disease that makes you look like a zombie; no easy cure back then like there is today; nobody wants to be around you because you stink and look awful and they don’t want to catch it from you, so you’re in exile, (see a theme here?) living in a leper colony until you die.  You can’t even go to worship, because the priests don’t want you bringing your mess in there.  But then Jesus comes along and heals these ten lepers he meets.  Why does the Samaritan come back?  The lepers whose spiritual home is in Jerusalem are begging to be freed from their stigma.  When they go to the priests, the priests will admit them back into the community, and that’s what they desire most.  The Samaritan isn’t going to be accepted into that community anyway; that’s not his people.  Because there is no fear of stigma in him, because he is not ashamed, he can recognize the truth and come back praising Jesus.

There is no need to be ashamed when speaking the truth, especially when the truth heals you and sets you free.  This is the philosophy behind the new shelter being built here in Dane County, that the women who live there have no need to be ashamed, and that by being in the light, they are safer, than trying to hide in stigma and fear.

I want to share with you something else from our Presbyterian Mission website on this issue, because it’s so well put: When domestic violence occurs, hope and restoration are never easily attained.  Sometimes they are decades in the making, especially if the victim or survivor of domestic violence and her family have no community of support to assist them on their long journey.  This is precisely where the Church should be.  As Christ’s agents of hope, we are charged to be “a light, shining in the darkness,” to those whose hope has been thwarted and do not know where to turn.

The Psalm today says, “we went through fire and water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.”  Ours is a God who turns the sea into dry land, who has kept his people among the living, and has not let our feet slip.  Ours is a God who will not let us be lost, no matter in what situation or where we find ourselves.  And our God is a God of justice, a God of compassion, a God of healing.  We are not alone.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Prayers this Week

For all who are caregivers for loved ones struggling with extended illness, that they may find respite, courage, and strength for the journey.

For those struggling with illnesses that have not yet been fully diagnosed, that they may find the answers and the treatments they need.

For all who are suffering from domestic violence, that they may find safety, hope, and healing.

For ministries of healing and hope in the PCUSA and around the world.

For families of children with special needs, that they may find the support, welcome, and access they need for full inclusion.

For families who are homeless, whether living with a relative or friend, living in their car, or living in a shelter or on the street, that they may find a true home.

Healing, Temptation, and the Lenten Journey

Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13

[Image:  Tall glass vases filled with stones, branches stripped of foliage and painted white]

First of all, I would like to express my thanks to Shirlanie and Jacques and Nancy N. and Tana for coordinating the Lenten decorations for our worship space.  I walked in Friday and thought, ‘now that is a really good illustration for Lent, and especially for today’s Gospel:  you can really see the wilderness in these stones and branches.’  And the funny thing is, they are both stark, and beautiful. 

Wandering Alone

Today we hear about wandering in the wilderness of Egypt; as well as wandering in the wilderness of Holy Land--granted, both places have lots of areas which are flowing with milk and honey, or at least water and green plants; yet others are unending miles of rocks and desert.  I learned to appreciate both when I was living in the Middle East.  The desert wilderness, in which it is difficult to sustain life, tends to be empty of people.  After a while, I realized that emptiness is a sojourn; the emptiness gives you a blank slate to start reflecting on the things that are going on in your mind and in your life.  There’s a reason the desert fathers, the mystic monastics, and Jesus, head out to the wilderness for long periods of time; it’s a good place to get clarity.

Now, this could also seem to be a lonely time--and we usually start out the season of Lent with this gospel passage of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.   We might feel like we are expected to make Lent an extremely personal and lonely, somber journey.  However, I’m going to recommend for this year, that perhaps we don’t think of it quite as such.  After all, we are most easily tempted when we’re alone.

And Jesus was tempted out there, alone--separated from his family and friends, perhaps even feeling separated from God.  He was just at that point of gaining real fame and notoriety in his social circles.  People knew that he possessed some gifts and power, even if they didn’t quite understand it all.  And, indeed, the temptations the devil presented him with are temptations to exploit that power.  

We know every time we see the news that people in power are always succumbing to temptation to exploit power, to exploit others, to get wrapped up in one scandal or another.  It seems almost inevitable.  I think part of the reason is reflected in the saying, that it’s lonely at the top.  When you are put on a pedestal, it’s easy to lose perspective; it’s easy to lose touch with the people who help keep you grounded.  And then, it’s all too easy to fall off that pedestal, be put to shame and public ridicule, and have to figure out how to put your life back together again.

Wrestling With The Devil

Now, today is Health and Healing Sunday in the PCUSA--and I think there are so many things from which we need healing, that cause us to feel isolated and cut off from our circles of support, whether family and friends, or even feeling that we have been separated from God.  

Yesterday at the presbytery gathering, we talked a little about the devil--and, how we don’t talk about the devil that much in Presbyterian circles.  However, we know that sometimes people who struggle with addictions, or mental illness, find that the image of wrestling with the devil is very poignant for their lives.  Other people may find it to be a good way to describe the shame they feel over something that happened in their lives a long time ago, whatever it might be.  Perhaps what Paul has to say about shame in today’s epistle speaks to that experience.  At any rate--these are all painfully isolating things in our lives, that lead us down a lonely journey.  And other situations too come to mind--such as any illness that has us homebound, or even keeps us in bed a couple of weeks, or even the grief we feel over losing our loved ones, even long after it might seem the world expects us to have moved on.

There is one more thing that I’d like to say about the devil this morning, that seems to be a theme in scripture when he shows up--whether it’s in the Garden of Eden, or in the heavenly courts while considering the righteousness of Job, or here in this Gospel story.  The devil is that one which brings all the questions:  Not the good, constructive, wise kind of questions to ask, mind you.  Instead, the devil seems to bring all those nagging, undermining questions inside your mind that never let you rest, never let you truly enjoy whatever is going on in your life, or being present in the moment.  The things that you know you’d be better off not asking, or not even considering, but which can bring you extremely low, make you terribly insecure, and tempt you to do everything in your power to protect yourself against the perceived dangers--whether by exploiting others in your life, or exploiting your privilege, or manipulating people and situations to your advantage, or drowning everything out in the oblivion of destructive behavior.

Hope For Deliverance

So what would it mean, in the face of any one of these situations, to be delivered or healed?

I think, it’s not always in ways we expect.  Sometimes, we want to be completely physically healed of our illnesses or disabilities, and medical science simply can’t do that for us.  Sometimes, we wish painful memories could simply be erased from our psyches, but even the best psychologists or even strong pharmaceuticals, can’t do that for us.  

Sometimes, the healing comes in the realization that we are more than whatever seems to be destroying us or consuming us at that point in our lives.  That our lives have more meaning and value than whatever is afflicting us.

And we might realize that both because of our connections with one another, or that the realization allows us to find community with others and be at least healed of our loneliness and isolation.  Support groups that meet to deal with particular kinds of illnesses, addictions, or other life situations recognize this, and many people find them helpful.  

In some ways, you could even speak of church congregations as places where we join together at the end of one long week in our individual lives, to find re-connection with God and one another, in order to be renewed and equipped to get back out there for another week of our lives.  How often do we find some kind of healing in scripture, or prayer, or in the words of a favorite hymn, or even afterwards in the coffee and a cookie and a chat with a friend? After all, it all matters.

And, how many people have found healing from life’s burdens by turning outward and helping others with their own difficulties, especially through volunteer service?  How many of us have been transformed through mission trips or group projects or the opportunity even to build relationships, short or long-term, with people in very different life circumstances from our own?  After all, we know that we may not be the greatest painter or house-builder on the planet, but we find ourselves transformed by the journey, and the traveling companions, and these very relationships, even as our presence gives encouragement to people facing such difficult challenges of their own.

Jesus took that time away in the desert.  You could say he took the time to contend with his demons out there.  Perhaps we all need a little time like that.  But he didn’t let the isolation and temptation overpower him.  He came back, and he used whatever gifts and power he had to help others, to bring healing to painful and broken lives.  His disciples were healed of the things in their lives, and became helpers and healers to others.  And the story goes on and on, even until today in our own congregations.

Our scriptures today speak of God being our refuge and strength, but what exactly does this do for us?  What is our refuge and strength?  I might say that this is whatever we find that does allow us to move out past our own isolation and fear, to re-connect with others, to get beyond our own difficulties so that we may even be a blessing to others through our own lives and the gifts which we have.  Maybe when we envision it, it is like a rock to us.  Maybe it is like a flowing river that gives us that life and growth back where we thought all was lost.  Maybe it is simply that place into which we duck when we don’t know how else to cope with whatever it is life throws at us.  But in all these things, we come back to God being our source of hope and comfort.  We are not alone, because we are always in God’s presence.  Who we are, and what we do, matters to God.  After all, this is a God who answers the loneliness of death, with the community of Resurrection.

My hope for you today, and always, is that you would not languish in isolation--whether due to illness or injury, or even anger, or shame, but that in all things you would know that trust in God as our rock and refuge, and from that place of safety, step forward in loving hope, as disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.