Be Set Free

It’s now an all-too familiar scene: people walking down the sidewalks, sitting in their cars or even pews - bent over. Sitting at the dinner table, in Bible study, at work – bent over. Crippled by the hunger to be connected 24/7, the  need to be needed, and the desire for information, these modern day bent over people are in bondage to their smart phones, their iPads/Kindles, handheld video games. When was the last time you were set free from these technology devices – when were you set free to stand up straight and get a new perspective?

by Barrie Maguire

Read Jeremiah 1:4-10 & Luke 13:10-17.

A young boy and a bent over woman – not usually the people we would think of as chosen by God. Yet young Jeremiah was claimed by God to be his messenger, and Jesus called the bent over woman close to him that she might be set free. As seems to be the biblical case, God works outside of the rules, outside of the expectations of society to do God’s work.

Imagine spending 18 years bent over. Add to that, you’re a woman in a time where you really are treated like an animal, like a piece of property. Who talks to you? Who would marry you, much less give you children? Who takes care of you? Who runs into in the street like they never even saw you? Who gets frustrated because you’re moving too slow? Being bent over, the scenery rarely changes on those dusty roads. And yet one morning, bent over, you hobble to church to hear this guy Jesus say something profound.

No one really wants to be near you at church – you’re too different, too unclean. You can’t see what’s going on, but you’re guessing it’s something special – there’s an unusual hush. Suddenly your name is called out by this Jesus! And before you know it, you have been set free and are standing up straight, getting a new perspective, taking in hundreds of shocked faces – shocked by your healing, shocked by the work on the Sabbath, shocked by the humiliated look on the synagogue leader’s face. All you can do is start praising the Lord.

If we’re honest, we’re all a little bent – maybe physically over our computers, or emotionally crippled from a hard relationship. We could all use a perspective shift – to see people more as God sees them, to look out beyond our own two feet. Maybe one reason we come to church on Sunday mornings is to hear God speak to us. Maybe we need this compassionate God to set us free once more from the ailment of internet addiction or crippling fear and doubt. Maybe we need to witness one more time someone else’s healing. Maybe we need to hear that God values life over rules, that God doesn’t care about cultural expectations.

God is calling your name, calling you for a purpose beyond being bent over. So come, be set free that you might rejoice in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and get a new perspective.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Proclaiming the Word of God

When was the last time you heard something that made your ears tingle? Something that made your ears perk up? Was it someone calling your name, shouting the score of the latest bowl game, or whispering a funny joke?

Our Scripture this week comes from John 1:43-51 and 1 Samuel 3:1-11.

I wonder how Eli must have felt at the beginning of this passage, since he certainly wasn't hearing anything that made his ears tingle. Did he feel like a failure? He had failed as a parent - his sons (the leaders of Israel) were corrupt, using sacrifices for their own personal gain and exploiting women. He had failed as a priest - the word of God was rare, a complete communications shutdown between the people and God. Even his own body was failing him – he was pretty much blind, dependent on others to help him do his work and his mundane tasks. I imagine him crying out, “Lord, speak to me! Speak to me that I may speak! Lead me so I can lead! Teach me so I can teach! Use me, use even frail, broken, old me!” And he heard nothing in return.

It’s in the middle of this despair that he is called to care for a young boy, Samuel. In the middle of this hopelessness, he is called to care for the hope of a new life. In the middle of feeling like a failure, he is called to help a new young boy succeed. In the middle of the night, God calls by name, and calls Samuel to proclaim the Word of God.

Have you ever felt broken, like a failure, completely useless? Have you ever felt that nothing was going your way, that there was nothing left for you? The Good News is that it is not the end. The Good News, as we see in the Gospel reading as well, is that God uses us and knows us, despite our skepticism, despite our own feelings. The Good News is that we are all called to proclaim the Word of God, whether we are old or young or somewhere in between.

Samuel could not have responded and grown in his faith without Eli. Nathanael could not have known Jesus without the invitation of Philip. The kingdom of God calls for collaboration, the kingdom of God begins with an invitation, begins with an epiphany as God reaches into our hearts and begins a transformation.

It is never too late to embrace your call as a proclaimer of the Word of God. The Lord calls you by name – how will you respond? Are your ears open, ready to tingle?

Grace and peace, Pastor Kate