Luke 13.10-17  

Dr. Daniel N. Sansbury

August 29, 2010

She attended synagogue on the Sabbath because she always attended synagogue

            on the Sabbath.

Even though it meant standing in the back with the other women,

            behind the partition separating men and women,

                        as was the Jewish custom at the time, she attended every Sabbath.

Still, very few people spoke to her.

She spoke to very few people.

            How could she?

She was so bent over that she could not look up.

            She could not look anyone in the eye.

Sometimes she recognized people by their sandals, or their feet.

She was always looking at people’s feet.

She could never see anyone’s face.

They all knew her simply as “the crippled woman.”

Most of them did not even remember her name as she had been crippled so long.

They simply referred to her by her handicap, “the crippled woman.”

One synagogue attendee might say to another,

            “I saw the crippled woman at worship today.”

The other might reply,

            “Yes, I took the crippled woman a loaf of barley bread the other day.”

She joins that long list of people in the New Testament without names.

She joins the man born blind,

            the man with the withered hand,

                        the leper, the prostitute, the woman at the well.

We do not know them as Sam or Joe, Rachel or Jean.

We do not know the person behind the handicap.

We only know them by their condition.

What must it have been like to go to synagogue week after week

            and to be seen but not heard, to be present but to be ignored?

What must it have been like to go to market on the first day of the week

            and to have people turn away from you?

I mean, what was there to talk about?

            What was there to say?

What must it have been like to go eighteen years so bent over, so handicapped,

            so ignored?

How slowly the days of her life must have passed by.

How lonely, too.

People who study such things point out there are three types of loneliness. (1)

One is called “transient loneliness.”

Everyone suffers that feeling sometime.

It happens due to a temporary separation.

A small child feels it when his mother makes a quick trip to the grocery store,

            or is left at church on the first day of Mother’s Day out.

A long-married couple feels it when one spouse has gone to help out the daughter

            with the new grandchild.

It is temporary loneliness, however – you know it will end soon.

There is also “a situational loneliness.”

Your situation isolates you for a time.

That happens when you move to a new city or start attending a new school..

Or, there was a death in the family or a divorce.

There can be physical and mental effects to this loneliness.

You may feel anxiety or suffer sleepless nights.

You cannot be sure when this loneliness will end.

There is, third, what psychologists call a “chronic loneliness.”

It lasts longer than a year, and may last a lifetime.

It may never end.

The one suffering chronic loneliness may turn inward and blame herself.

She may ask herself questions like, “What is wrong with me?’

            “Why can’t I make friends?”

                        “Why am I always the one left out?”

She has felt this way so long that, even when entering a new social situation,

            she expects rejection.

Then, when it does happen, she finds fault again with herself.

“See, there must be something wrong with me . . .”

The likelihood of such chronic loneliness increases dramatically 

            if you have some debilitating condition, like being crippled for eighteen years.

So, how warm and welcoming, sudden and surprising it must have been for Jesus

            to summon her, and to touch her.

She always hid in the back for fear of further embarrassment.

No one touched her.

In their thinking, people were rewarded for good and punished for evil.

So, a crippled person, or someone blind from birth, must be suffering as punishment.

That tended to drive people away, lest they get too close to the supposed wrong-doer.

Jesus, however, would have none of that!

He healed a man with a withered arm on a Sabbath.

He refused to condemn his disciples for picking grain on the Sabbath.

He summoned and touched and healed this crippled woman on the Sabbath.

The synagogue leadership accused him of disrespecting the Sabbath.

Sabbath rules were one of the key ways, like circumcision and kosher foods,

            to separate themselves from Gentiles.

That way, they showed the world that they were different, were God’s chosen,

            were keeping covenant.

They could quote scripture straight from Mt. Sinai:  “Remember the Sabbath day,

            to keep it holy, for in six days you shall labor . . .”

Every Jew learned those commandments in childhood, and could quote them easily.

Sabbath was social custom as well as religious rule.

There would be no violation of Sabbath rules in this synagogue!

Yes, there would, said Jesus.

Sabbath was made for rest.

They agreed on that point.

However, there were long-standing exceptions to those Sabbath rules.

You make sure your ox or donkey, sheep or cattle, are fed and watered on Sabbath.

Surely this woman, made in the image of God, is worth more than farm animals!

And if this woman had been crippled these eighteen years,

            and had an infirmity that could be healed,

                        then it was wrong to make her wait even one more day to be healed.

No one can rest until everyone can rest!

No one can enjoy Sabbath until all can enjoy Sabbath!

Jesus broke rules that needed to be broken because people are more important

            than rules!

Then, having gone this far in full awareness of how upsetting to the synagogue leaders     his actions were, Jesus did not hold back.

He even called this woman “a daughter of Abraham”!

That’s the same thing he would later do in Jericho for Zacchaeus –

            call him “a son of Abraham.”

Jesus thereby reminds his listeners that God welcomes far more than we welcome.

God includes far more than we include.

God does not discriminate as we discriminate.

The power of God is not present in the rules, customs or traditions.

The power of God does not work in customary obligations or social etiquette.

Rather, the power of God works through a gracious, healing touch of Jesus

            on a woman crippled eighteen years.

It all raises the question, doesn’t it, of how our rules or customs might

            prevent people from being touched today by Jesus.

I mean, the unwritten rule of 11:00 worship services is that we must end by 12:00.

Why?

So we can get to the area restaurants before the Baptists and Methodists?

            Because God only gets 60 minutes of our time?

                        Because it has always been that way?

                                    Why?

What if God wants to touch somebody at ten after twelve,

            and your hurry to the parking lot prevents that person from being touched?

What if a lonely person here needs a friend, but you can’t see it because

            you are hurrying down Hixson Pike?

Likewise, our presbyteries are governed by manuals and our officers by a Book of Order.

We run our meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order.

I like that – most of the time.

I like being organized instead of disorganized.

I like having a schedule and following a schedule.

Yet, how can we pray for God to do a new and creative thing among us,

            to pour out God’s Spirit on us like a new Pentecost,

              and insist it only happen on our schedule, when it is convenient to us?

Maybe God acts more in the interruptions than the predictable routine.

And we organized church people have to listen carefully, or we will miss God.

I am still frustrated by what happened in Cincinnati at a General Assembly meeting

            there fifteen years ago.

I was attending as a commissioner from this presbytery.

Along with great worship services and meeting people from all over,

            there was a lot of hard work.

Monday and Tuesday of that week of hard work was given to committee meetings.

I was a part of what I still consider the worst committee meeting of my life –

            all due to the abusive and manipulative chair of the committee.

We had our two days of agenda materials and were hurrying through them.

We were interrupted on the second day by a mission worker from Guatemala.

He wanted to ask us for $15,000 to purchase a new jeep that would greatly augment

            his mission work in Guatemala.

Now, many of us on the committee were more than willing to allocate part of our

            budget funds for this jeep.

We also knew the next item on our agenda had to do with an annual report mailed

            out to every pastor.

The printing and mailing costs of this report would also cost about $15,000.

I was pretty sure this report would end up in the round file of most pastors’ offices.

So I voted for money for the jeep for the mission worker.

However, bureaucracy won out again.

The request for the jeep was refused,

            and the money was spent on printing and mailing the report.

I felt like it was Sabbath and there must be a rule somewhere that would not allow us

            to do something outside the box of our agenda.

And mission work in Guatemala continued to be crippled by a lack of transportation.

It is easier to separate than to dare to be close with those we do not know,

            and those who are unlike us.

It is easier to say to the world around us, “You come over and act like us

            and we will welcome you.
It is easier to hide out in middle class sanctuaries

            than to get to know people crippled by poverty, fear or mental illness.

In a country where racial and religious divisions are being exploited,

            we have to consider again how welcoming we are.

The mess in New York City about where to build a mosque raises fundamental

            questions for all of us here.

A constitutional right, freedom of religion, collides with the question of right use

            of space so close to the site of the former Trade Center.

The nerves of 9/11 are still raw, and easily inflamed.

Still, the gospel asks the uncomfortable question of us:  how welcoming are we?

Are there limits to who is welcome here?

Will we dare put on our church sign, “Hindus are welcome here”

            or, “Buddhists are welcome here?”

I don’t mean “welcome” in the sense of giving this Christian sanctuary over

            to any purpose other than the worship of Jesus Christ.

I do mean “welcome” in the sense of “you will be loved and treated kindly here.”

If we are going to do anything truly evangelistic, in the best “good news” sense

            of that misunderstood word, we are going to do so by loving those

                        who are different, and loving those with whom we differ.

You can still catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

The Spirit of Jesus Christ is still the spirit of welcome.

Christ still tears down walls and fences.

Christ does not build them up.

It was New England poet Robert Frost who inserted the line into his poem,

            “Mending Wall,” that “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”   (2)

Still the response comes back as the old proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

I don’t believe that is true anymore.

I see what has happened in our own neighborhood to two families living next door

            to one another, but not very well.

One family is Jewish, and one Greek Orthodox, but it is not yet a religious battle.

It had something to do with the property boundary between these two suburban homes.

Something was said that should not have been said.

Someone’s feelings were hurt.

Something may have been taken out of context.

To make his point about the property line – and not to be told what to do

            by a nosy neighbor – a man parked his black truck in his side yard

                        as close to the line as he could.

That side of his neighbor’s house just happens to be closest to the neighbor’s bedroom.

That way, the neighbor can look out her window every morning and

            see her neighbor’s truck just a few feet away.

It has been that way for months.

Now the neighbor has a fence constructed in her front yard – from near her house

            (and near where the truck was parked) right down to the street.

There were supposed to be neighborhood covenants about such things,

            but covenants are being ignored.

Of course, the pretty side of the new wooden fence faces the neighbor who had it built.

That way, the neighbor with the truck parked at the line gets to see the back side

            of the fence.

One of the neighbors from our side of the Circle dubbed it the “fence to nowhere.”

It accomplishes nothing, except as a testimony to spite.

How silly!

            What a waste of good labor and good lumber.

It reminds me of rules keeping a crippled woman from being healed on the Sabbath.

Some people, even in the church or synagogue, like rules and fences that way.

The only problem is that Jesus apparently does not like such rules.

The Spirit of Christ touches the woman, and heals her.

And the woman is able to stand up straight for the first time in eighteen years.

And in a scene that will bring a tear to the eyes of everyone,

            the first face the woman sees is the face of Jesus, the Christ who heals her.

And so she offers her voice and her life in praise to the Healing Christ.

And all those rules, and all those traditions, mean nothing compared to the surpassing

            greatness of being finally, completely, healed.

How do you want to spend your time and energy?

Building fences to nowhere or bridges to somewhere?

Jesus is our bridge to all that God is doing in us and through us.

And Jesus interrupts our routine as the kingdom of God comes ever closer.

In that kingdom the sinners are forgiven, the blind can see, the crippled are healed,

            and everyone – everyone! – knows the liberating, gracious touch of Jesus.

___________________

END-NOTES

1.  See Keith Miller’s book, The Becomers (Waco, TX:  Words Books, 1977 ed.).

2.  “Mending Wall,” Selected Poems of Robert Frost (New York:  Holt, Rinehart

            & Winston, 1963), p. 23.

          The words of that contemporary song are our theme for this month’s stewardship emphasis.  While it has become familiar to the CrossCurrents worshipers, it is still new to many who worship at the 11:00 traditional service.  So, the Chancel Choir will help everyone to learn it for the three weeks of September 12, 19 and 26.  While its words are contemporary, it expresses the same insight as the more familiar response to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism:  “the chief end of mankind is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

            Especially this summer, we have so many reasons to glorify God for his greatness, and give thanks to God for many blessings upon this congregation.  Just the beginning of the list of thanks and praise would include completion of the latest Habitat for Humanity House funded by this congregation (our 15^th!); seven new members all under 40 in just seven weeks; a Rivermont Retreat attended by over 80 people; a mid-summer women’s retreat at Heritage Landing; donations running ahead of the budget through July; extra donations to buy clothes for Bethel Bible Village children and backpacks & school supplies for Rivermont Elementary School children; one of our elders (Jack Danner) serving as moderator of the presbytery; plans to bring a Honduran child to the U. S. this fall to help her with a prosthesis; planning underway for the latest mission trip to Haiti in January, and a youth (Will Ruch) receiving the Eagle Scout award – and that’s just in the last two months!

            As a part of our continuing openness to doing traditional things in new ways, our stewardship emphasis supper will be the opening night of Wednesdays Together on September 15 (meal reservations due Tuesday, September 14).  Co-chairs Marion Keiss & Toria Williams, along with the pastor, are planning an inspirational and fun program for that evening.  (Supper will be served 5:30-6:10 and program will last about 6:25-7:15.)

            Then, on those three Sundays of stewardship emphasis, the pastors will preach on the greatest commandment, the Great Commission, and great faith – suitable topics as we remember and give thanks for the greatness of God!

            The usual variety of Wednesdays Together activities will actually begin on Wednesday, September 22.  Children’s Choir and activities, youth small groups, women’s & men’s small groups, bell choir, service projects, Stephen Ministries on-going supervision sessions and more will happen on Wednesdays from September 22 through November 17.

            The Food Services Committee of Molly Burr, David Varnell and Steve Snyder will continue to lead in food preparation, serving and kitchen clean-up, along with Rivermont volunteers.

            The usual cycle of Wednesdays Together will be interrupted on October 27 for our Church’s annual Fall Festival, a great outreach opportunity.

            Chancel Choir rehearsals follow Wednesdays Together at 7:30 p.m.

Banzai Nights: Sunday Nights from 4:30 – 7:30

August 22, September 12, 19, 26, October 10, 17, 24 November 14, 21, December 5

Small Groups: Wednesdays.

Open House at 4:00. Dinner at 5:30. Small group time 6:20-7:20

September 8, 15, 22, 29,  October 6, 13, November 3, 10, 17, December 1, 8

Pool Party: August 15 (6-8)  (Stuart Heights Pool)

Rivermont Retreat: August 28-29

Lock-In: September 17 (7pm—8am)

MS Retreat: Camp John Knox :October 1-3

Zombie night! Halloween Outreach:

October 29 (7-11)

Scavenger Hunt and Bonfire Night: Nov. 7 (4-8)

Candy Caning: December 12 (5-8)

Holly Jolly Christmas Party: December 19 (4-7:30)

Our Fall Bible Study will be Beloved Disciple: The Life and Ministry of John by Beth Moore.  We will begin September 13, 2010 9:30 am – 11:45 am.

Training begins!

   The Stephen Ministry Leadership Team is very pleased to announce that a training program for a new class of Stephen Ministers will begin in late August. If YOU have been feeling a nudge to explore this ministry opportunity, please speak with one of the pastors or a member of the team by August 5 as materials must be ordered and reading begun before classes gear up.

    A Stephen Minister commits to over 50 hours of training in listening and caring skills. S/he is then assigned, as the need arises, to a care receiver of the same gender as the care receiver walks through a life crisis such as bereavement, divorce, unemployment or family difficulties. Although not “counselors,” Stephen Ministers can provide a listening ear and a caring presence as a brother or sister in Christ. The care giver and care receiver meet at least weekly for as much as a year, although the length of the relationship is dependent on the circumstances.

    A Stephen Minister makes a two year commitment to be available as a care giver, but may continue for a longer time. Stephen Ministers also agree to regular supervision meetings and continuing education with a Stephen Leader and a peer group. However, care receivers may be reassured that strict confidentiality is maintained by each care giver.

    If you or someone you care about may need a referral to receive a Stephen Minister, please speak with one of the pastors!

    If you are an inactive Stephen Minister and wish to return to “active duty,” please speak with any member of the SMLT.

   Our Stephen Ministry Leadership Team is: Marcia Biggs, Ruth Ann Honeycutt, Beth Russell, Dan Sansbury, Carol Secord, Jim Secord, Diane Stocker, Connie West and Joe West.

NEEDS YOU

    Hello to all of you who are fans and supporters of Hope 808, the Presbyterian Campus Center for UTC.  We have had a very busy summer.  We have already been present for 6 orientations where we have collected 292 names of incoming freshmen, and we still have 2 more orientations to go.  This has been hot, hard work for me and for the board members that have volunteered, but it will all be worth it when freshmen move onto campus on August 19^th.

    Unfortunately, when the last orientation is over on July 29^th the work is not over because the work to prepare for the students just begins.  We have the best campus center that I have ever seen, but it needs work before August 19^th.  We want the students to walk into 808 Vine Street and feel so welcomed and so at home that they decide that this is where they will be spiritually fed and nurtured for the next four years.  To do this we will be hosting a Work-Day on Saturday August 14^th at 8 am.  We will need people who can paint, people who can do wood working, people who can weed and do a little landscaping, we need people who can help clean the inside and the outside of the campus house.  In short, we need you!  No matter your age, if you are a man or woman, if you like to be inside or outside, we need you!  If you would like to support us but you cannot attend the work day, we need supplies and resources.

    If you can help us by working at the work day or by donating supplies or if you need more information please call me Bob Hill (cell 423-903-1871, work 423-265-2227) or email me ( HiBobM@gmail.com).

Thank you

Rev. Bob Hill

Campus Pastor for Hope 808, the Presbyterian Campus Center for UTC

    If you have not turned in your commitment cards, you may do so by completing a pledge card available in the Narthex and Atrium.

Of course, we also had afternoons of games, beach swimming, hang out times, and challenges. This was a fantastic trip and all of us are looking forward eagerly to next summer!