Mark 1:21-28

Who needs healing? I do! I do! The day of Don's service I should have stayed home in bed, but of course I didn’t. By Thursday I hit bottom and got a doctor appointment. Here’s something I learned from the doctor: the warm, wet winter has meant a lot of respiratory sickness. And here’s something else: when your sinus is running full throttle, how much of that yucky stuff is produced each day? "One liter", the doctor said. I didn't know that, but now I believe it. And when I prepared this worship bulletin on Monday who knew that I would be sick when Sunday rolled around, with this Gospel reading about healing? I may need to pay closer attention than usual to what I will be saying this morning!

In our house healing these days is usually pretty simple. If you have a boo-boo all it takes is a kiss and it will go away. You can even do it from a distance by blowing a kiss in the right direction! So I wouldn't mind at all if you would send a kiss my way.

I really wish it was that easy. Some things take more than a kiss, because they are much worse than a simple boo-boo, but thanks for trying. Because it’s not just a bump on the knee, or a scrape on the arm, but matters more serious, like the flu, broken bones, measles, diabetes, or cancer. And then a whole range of other things, less easily defined but just as painful: a broken heart, trauma, depression, or addiction. Sometimes the kiss to cure a boo-boo just doesn't seem enough, but, just the same, maybe it’s a good start? It helps us feel less isolated, and more a part of a community of care.

There is a lot happening in chapter 1 of Mark's Gospel, and we're only half-way through it. Jesus announces that God's time is at hand in verse fourteen and launches his ministry. In verse 16 he finds his disciples among the fishermen, and then gets immediately to work in the story we have today.

Right off the bat, it is a tough situation. Not a simple boo-boo, but a severely disturbed man in Capernaum. Now keep in mind the medical care was something very different in Jesus' time.

First, there is the obvious point that medical care was just not available to most people. Skilled healers were only available to the 1% of that day. The 99% had a separate medical plan. It was called, "Don't get sick, or you might die and probably will". So when Jesus came into town, and offered healing to anyone who needed it, well, that grabbed everyone’s attention!

The second point we need know about is that there was a different understanding of the causes of sickness. Runny nose. How did I get mine? A virus or a germ, probably passed on to me from Robin or Ellieana ... or one of you! But in those times the real cause of sickness was what Mark calls an "unclean spirit". If you look at the Gospel parallel, Luke uses the word "demon" to explain what an unclean spirit is. Got a runny nose? It’s because a nasty demon has gotten inside of you! So the medical cure was not a doctor visit, bed rest and some pills, it involved chasing the demon away, and that might include anointing with oil to draw God close, and the laying on of many hands of your family and friends to add to the power of God, to force that demon to begone! As you can guess, not too many people were healed in this way. So when a healer was effective, like Jesus was, that grabbed everyone’s attention.

There was a third point that we need to know about concerning medical care in those times. There was no distinction between physical sickness and what we would call mental health. If you became manic, depressed, schizophrenic, epileptic or disturbed, the cure offered was the same – chase the demon out! No psychiatrist, no counseling. Though, in a way, Jesus seems to have anticipated something in his approach that we now take for granted, because many of the healing stories involve him giving his full attention to people who were pushed away or avoided by the people around them. The worst cases were those affected by leprosy, they were driven out of town and forbidden by law to have contact with any other people. Jesus seems to go out of his way to seek out the worst cases, and that grabbed everyone's attention.

And a fourth point is that those demons try to fight back. So when the demon sees that Jesus is invading its turf it starts shouting and threatening. In the struggle that follows between the power of Jesus and the power of the demon the poor man convulses. I can relate to this. Though I don’t think a demon is behind my sickness, it sure feels like something is fighting hard to keep me sick! So when Jesus could go nose-to-nose, with a powerful demon, and succeed, that grabbed everyone’s attention

Here's something that sent chills up my spine when I first read it some years ago. They've actually dug up bones buried in those times from that area. In some skulls there is a little hole drilled in the back of the skull. Just imagine having a hole drilled in your skull! They didn't have anesthesia in those times and the reason was that since there was a demon banging around in your head, what we would call epilepsy, the best solution was to drill a hole to let the demon out! That solution reminds me of an old Three Stooges film, where the boat springs a leak, and the three geniuses on board decide to drill a second hole so the water can empty out.

So in Capernaum Jesus meets a man with an demon. It's a huge scene, right in a crowded synagogue, and Jesus sends the demon packing! The crowd is astounded and amazed. The cure, the crowd understands, is because Jesus has demonstrated authority, power over demons.

Years ago in college my friend George had some friends outside of my circle and on occasion I would hang with them. I started noticing that they called each other by the nickname of "Binder". It seemed a bit confusing for everyone to have the same nickname, but they wouldn't say much about it. It took some years, but I finally figured it out. They had all read a science fiction book that I eventually read by the name of "Lord of Light". In the story, the main character Mahasamatman, Sam for short, has a God-like power, and those who witness him in action give him the nickname "Binder of Demons", because he was able to defeat hordes of demons on a far planet. I instantly knew that those guys had read that book, and were trying to honor the important skill of binding demons. I suppose that there weren't any actual demons floating around the campus at Colgate University, but there was certainly a fair amount of demonic temptations available from all directions, so having a few binders of demons on hand could be a big help.

The scripture is all about healing. Not just possessive demons, but every hurt and pain from the worst disease down to the tiniest boo-boo. It's in John's Gospel that Jesus asks the question, "Do you want to be healed?" He asks a man who has been suffering with an ailment for 38 years. The man tries to give all kinds of explanations, tries to express all of his doubts, but Jesus just asks that one question. Maybe it doesn't solve all of our hesitations and doubts about Jesus authority, about Jesus' power, but can we at least answer Jesus' question with a "yes"? Do you want to be healed? We need a starting point, he needs a starting point, so let's try answering. What would be a good answer? How about "Yes!" It’s a good start for little boob-boos, and much worse.

Let's get to it, binders!

Mark 1:14-20

Those of you were here two weeks ago and took the Mark Quiz, or who found it in our recent newsletter, learned some interesting things about the Gospel of Mark: that it is the shortest of the four Gospels, that it does not include even a hint of the traditional Christmas story, that it was probably the first of the Gospels to be put in written form, and that Matthew and Luke used Mark as the outline for their own Gospels. These are important things to know about Mark’s Gospel; because we will be spending a lot of our time during the next year reading from it on Sunday mornings.

Now, today, I want to add something else about Mark that you may not have noticed before, even if you have read the Gospel multiple times. Mark seems to be in a big hurry! It’s because Mark uses a three letter Greek word over and over again at the start of many, many verses. The word is “kai”. You might translate that word as “and”, a word that you and I use all of the time, too. But you may recall being taught in school never to start a sentence with the word “and”. It would be fine in the middle of a sentence, but not at the start.

The word is not simply translated in the English Bible as “and”. Because it has a sense of urgency about it, the English translation of Mark’s Greek often uses the word “immediately” or the phrase “as soon as” instead of a plain old “and” to move the story along. The word “immediately” appears twice in our reading for today. Verse 18: “Immediately Simon and Andrew left their nets and followed Jesus.” And verse 20: “Immediately he called James and John and they left their father Zebedee and followed Jesus”. And it goes on in the same way, as the rest of the story unfolds. Every single one of our verses this morning begins with the word “and”, as if to emphasize that the story is continuous, without a break, without a rest, without a siesta, without a day off, the entire Gospel of Mark moves ahead breathlessly to reach its Easter conclusion.

It reminds me of Sandra, a thirteen year old girl who came to the Presbyterian youth group I ran in Rochester after school. She would burst into the room at 3:05 and then launch into a spirited recitation of all of the drama of the school day. “And then the teacher caught me passing a note. And then the teacher sent me to the office. And then the principal told me to listen to the teacher. And then the principal sent me back to the class. And then the teacher gave me extra homework. And then Margaret made a face at me when the teacher wasn’t looking. And then when I giggled I got sent back to the office a second time. And then the principal called my mother on the phone.” She could go ten minutes like this, without pausing to take a breath. And it is that same breathless quality that I hear in the words of Mark’s Gospel.

Mark is full of those breathless phrases. Not just “and”, but “immediately”. It adds a striking quality to the narrative, a great sense of urgency. It’s not just the speed of the plot, but Mark appears to be seeking an immediate response from you and me, the readers. Jesus saw the fishermen, so he goes up to them, says he will teach them how to fish for people, and then invites them to follow him as disciples. How would you respond? “Let me think about it”. Or “I need to ask my parents or my wife”, or even this more obvious response, “Leave my job?, I don’t even know who you are!” But right there in the text of the story, Mark tells us that the four fishermen left their nets immediately. They left their partners immediately. John and James left their father Zebedee immediately!

Of all the Bible scenes I wish could have a chance to look at as it actually unfolded, you know, an authentic live video from the past of the crossing of the Red Sea, the tumbling walls of Jericho, Sampson pulling down the temple of the Philistines, David standing before Goliath, I think I would most like to see the look on old Zebedee’s face when he sees his two sons walk off from the only job they’ve ever had. “You’re going to do what??!!”

Mark wastes no time in telling how the fishermen respond: immediately. It’s quite a contrast with the way we generally practice our faith. Most things are gradual, incremental, one step at a time, an inch here, and inch there. I have to admit that I often compare the life of faith to a slow journey, where over time we gain experiences, form relationships, and face challenges that slowly shape a mature faith for a complicated world.

Some of you have been asked by the Nominating Committee to serve as an elder, deacon or trustee. How did Pam Kenward approach you. “Think about this, pray about this, and I’ll call you in a day or two to see what you think”, or was it Eric George who confronted you with a demand for an immediate response, “I need to know yes or no, right now! Don’t dawdle, decide!”.

So I admit that the fast pace of Mark’s Gospel is a bit unsettling, and maybe even jarring. I like to slowly digest new ideas, talk them over, test them out, and talk them over some more, before I make a commitment. But the truth is I need to hear Mark’s version more often because too many people of faith would rather turn what Jesus says into something “later”, “eventually”, “down the road”, or “when we get around to it”. We manage to remove all of the urgency, all of the immediacy.

Let’s give some attention to verse 15, the very first words Jesus speaks in the Gospel of Mark: “Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of the God, and saying ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news’.” Or in another English translation, “The time is at hand, the kingdom of God has come, turn away from your sins and believe the good news”. What kind of church, what kind of community of faith would we be if we added even a little more immediacy to our ministry. I’m not talking about the tasks of ministry, like paving the parking lot more quickly, or singing the hymns a little faster, or doing the peace greeting in less than two minutes. I’m talking about an attitude, an orientation, a perspective in which what we offer to one another and to the world builds anticipation for the powerful presence of God, rather than patient delay.

What would we be like as a congregation if anticipation for the new things that God is doing was at the front of our thinking rather than at the back? I love how Jesus says that the right time is at hand, not somewhere down the road. I love how people responded to him. I love it when I respond more quickly!

Mark 1:14-20 (SBL Greek New Testament)

14 Καὶ μετὰ τὸ παραδοθῆναι τὸν Ἰωάννην ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν κηρύσσων τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τοῦ θεοῦ 15 καὶ λέγων ὅτι Πεπλήρωται ὁ καιρὸς καὶ ἤγγικεν ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ• μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ. 16 Καὶ παράγων παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν τῆς Γαλιλαίας εἶδεν Σίμωνα καὶ Ἀνδρέαν τὸν ἀδελφὸν ίμωνος ἀμφιβάλλοντας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, ἦσαν γὰρ ἁλιεῖς•17 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς• Δεῦτε ὀπίσω μου, καὶ ποιήσω ὑμᾶς γενέσθαι ἁλιεῖς ἀνθρώπων. 18 καὶ εὐθὺς ἀφέντες τὰ δίκτυα ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῷ. 19 καὶ προβὰς ὀλίγον εἶδεν Ἰάκωβον τὸν τοῦ Ζεβεδαίου καὶ Ἰωάννην τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ καταρτίζοντας τὰ δίκτυα, 20 καὶ εὐθὺς ἐκάλεσεν αὐτούς. καὶ ἀφέντες τὸν πατέρα αὐτῶν Ζεβεδαῖον ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ μετὰ τῶν μισθωτῶν ἀπῆλθον ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ.

Luke 2:1-18

When did you first begin to set out your Christmas decorations this year? Was it before Thanksgiving? Or sometime after? How many wait until the very last minute? I saw that trees were still for sale yesterday as I drove back from Rochester. I suppose there’s even time to find a tree for sale somewhere after our service is over tonight. By the way, where do you store your decorations in-between Christmases? Into which part of your house did you have to go to find those bags of tinsel, those boxes of ornaments and lights? In a closet, in the basement, in an attic, in an unused room, out in the garage, or the barn? What are some of the decorations you have? And which ones do you especially love? A tree, lights, ornaments, wreathes, candles, manger scenes, candy canes, nutcrackers, drummer boys, angels, stars? I remember how my Dad using a big sheet of plywood, cut out the shape of a snowman family singing Christmas carols, painted in bright colors, set it out on the front lawn, and aimed a floodlight to illuminate it. No one else in our neighborhood had anything like it. When he put that up each year I knew Christmas was getting close.

So when do you take down the decorations? Right after you open presents tomorrow morning? Before the New Year arrives? Do you keep the decorations up until your true love sends you those last presents – 12 drummers drumming - on the twelfth day, January 5th. Some go even later than that. The traditional date celebrated for the arrival of the Magi is the Day of Epiphany, January 6th, and in some Christian traditions Epiphany – also called Three Kings Day, El Dia de Los Tres Reyes – is when gifts are exchanged. I even knew someone who loved her tree so much that it stayed up until the last needles fell out in March. I won’t identify who that was, except one of those years I didn’t finish sending out Christmas cards until about the same time. I called them “March cards” that year.

Is there anyone here who does NOT take the decorations down after Christmas? Is there anyone who leaves them up year-round?

Our hopes for peace, justice and love rise with the coming of Christ, and we all commit ourselves on this night to work with Jesus to make these hopes real. The angels sing “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to all” and we enthusiastically add our own voices to the angels’ songs. Some of us sing our hearts out because we mean every word of it.

But too soon these hopes and commitments are put away, like decorations, and life goes back to the way it was. And Christmas, rather than a starting point for a new world, is left as a vague wish for better things that never really happens. And the same cycle is repeated year after year.

So the big question I ask of all of us, including myself, is this: What will we NOT put away after Christmas? OK, you can leave your Christmas lights along the eaves at the roof line, saving you the trouble of putting them up next year, but of course I’m not talking about decorations at all! It’s the spiritual treasure of Christmas that I’m talking about, it’s about all of those hopes and dreams that we sing and pray about this night in particular. What has your heart risen to discover and experience this Christmas, and how will you sustain that after the formal Christmas celebrations are over? What will you NOT put away?

Or think of it this way: it’s not just you by yourself that has to answer this challenge. How can the rest of us help you hold on to what you discovered or experienced this Christmas? How can we encourage you, pray with you, sing with you, and roll up our sleeves to work with you, so that what you found is not put away.

Our granddaughter Ellienna, now nearly two and half years old, experienced Christmas for the first time this year. For her Christmas has been an unexpected joy that has come out of the blue. Of course, she has now lived through three Christmases, but this time is the first that she has been aware of something special happening. She loved decorating the tree in our sanctuary, but, later, she was astounded that we would have a Christmas Tree in our home, too! Wow! And how much she enjoyed seeing the lights in the neighborhood! The wonder and joy she has experienced is amazing, especially when compared to those of us who have celebrated Christmas so many times that we find few surprises in it any more.

I think Ellieana has also grasped the idea of “time” in all of this. As teens were climbing the tall step ladder to put the decorations on the higher branches of our tree in the sanctuary, I’m pretty sure I saw in her face the understanding that someday, down the road, she will get her turn to climb the ladder, too … but not yet! She seems to know she will be growing up. So as she grows up, how will we help her hold on to that joy and wonder and generosity she experienced this Christmas . The worst thing we can do with that is to teach her to put it away! And not just younger children like Ellieana, Austin or Annabelle, but all of us!

Let’s encourage one another in every way that we can to not put Christmas away until another year! This is something to talk about with your friends and family when you open gifts, when you visit the relatives, when you enjoy delicious Christmas cookies, something to talk about as you begin to put the decorations away.

Isaiah 40:1-11

So I was disappointed to learn on Thursday that this afternoon’s Buffalo Bills game will not be televised. I did not see any of the four games they lost in November. I figured I must be the critical factor. If I don’t watch, they lose. If I do watch, they win. So I wanted to watch the game today so they could win. But, unfortunately, the game will not be televised. Only those who are there will see it!”

This sad situation reminded me of a song that I haven’t heard in many, many years. The song’s title is “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. It was performed by a poet by the name of Gil Scott-Heron, and I doubt any of you have ever heard of it. I first heard it around 1970 or so. Have you ever heard of rap or hip hop music? I’m going to claim that this was the first rap song recorded. I’d play it for you, but it could be a bit jarring for a church service, so I’ll just dwell on the song’s title, a phrase repeated over and over again in the song, “The Revolution will not be Televised”. You can look it up on You Tube if you want to hear it.

“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”. That phrase gives me an insight about what God is doing during the weeks of Advent. It’s a revolutionary season in the life of the church in which two things are happening. The first thing happening is that God is trying to get your attention. God is turning towards you, and, believe me, that is a revolution. You thought, maybe, that God barely takes notice of you, or that God focuses judgment on all of your mistakes. But God is turning to you in hope and love. Six billion people in the world, and God is turning towards you, eager to get your attention. It is a revolution - what we thought we knew about God has been turned on its head.

The second thing happening is that we feel change in the air. We don’t know exactly what that change will be, or where to find it, but we anticipate something different, something life-changing, something revolutionary. It’s about to happen, and we can feel it stirring. Advent is the anticipation that something is about to change. The changes we yearn for are not superficial or cosmetic, they are revolutionary because they get to the heart of all things. God is trying to get your attention, and our attention is shifting away from all of the distractions as we seek something new. In the intersection of these two things miracles are possible, miracles begin, miracles are celebrated.

As I was reminded by Gil Scott-Heron’s song, neither of these two things is likely to be found on your television or in any other obvious way. What God is doing during Advent and how we reach out to touch what God is doing, is most likely not going to be found on your television. Your television is the last place.

So, first, God is trying to get your attention. How is God trying to do that? With loud advertisements, with big billboards along the road, with busy shopping malls, with bright lights? I think that God is trying to get your attention in ways that are much more subtle than that - quiet, sometimes barely noticeable to anyone, well off the beaten track, unexpected. Isaiah gets it exactly when he describes God trying to get our attention as “a voice crying in the wilderness”. It’s not a voice easily heard, it comes from the margins, from far-off, and it is so easily drowned out by all of the distractions around us. Are we listening for that voice? I hope so!

One day Arline Marshall came to my church in Rochester and handed me a brown paper bag. She waited until no one was looking and then she slipped the bag to me, along with her stern whisper, “don’t tell anyone where you got this!”. What was in that bag? Illegal narcotics? Government secrets? Stolen property? Had Arline robbed a bank? I opened it. It was a bag full of kazoos, clearly meant for the children of the church. Arline was the last person in the world that I would have expected to do something like this. She rarely smiled, didn’t seem to like children, and she always looked at me like I was set on making her life worse. Yet, in my hand I held this unexpected gift from an unexpected person. God was getting my attention in an unexpected way. I thought I had God all figured out, and then Arline came along to surprise me. God really blind-sided me that day with that bag of kazoos. At the end of that afternoon’s Advent party, with all of the kazoos blasting away you would have agreed that the revolution had come, and it was decidedly not happening on television! No one in the whole world knew about it except those of us in the dining room of that little church.

And, then, second, we are hoping and dreaming to apprehend and locate the change that is in the air. We know God is up to something new, but how to identify it, how to even begin to know where to look. I think Helen Hulburt ran right into this, as she told us a story last Sunday about an abused baby that Child Protective Services brought to her daughter’s home for care and safety. The little boy was so injured by an abusive parent that the lower half of his body was in a cast. Helen described it with such vivid poetry that we could picture the scene in our minds, a little boy trying to crawl with a body cast, but smiling at the caring people he had just met. Helen went to her daughter’s house for dinner, and was hit right between the eyes with a change that is badly needed. And she could see the change already happening as that little boy received the love and care that was missing from his life. What Helen told us about is not on television, but she saw it with her own eyes. Unexpected, but real. Overwhelming, but not beyond help or hope. And as she told the story, those who heard it were developing their own schemes to reach out to children with even more love and energy than before. I love the revolutionary vision of Isaiah, who sees the intersection of the human and the divine in such a dramatic way: God calling out to us, trying to get our attention, saying “comfort, O comfort, my people”. Will we hear this? “A voice cries out in the wilderness - prepare the way of the Lord.” Are we hearing that voice? Hearing our hopes and deepest aspirations, God promises, “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.” Are we seeing more clearly the places where God is about to act? I am worried about the world, very worried, but I am excited to be a part of what God is about to do in Jesus!

Now, a footnote: When I served a church in Rochester, I was always bothered by how Christmas Eve was covered in the news. Every year on Christmas Eve, for the eleven o’clock news, the news cameras would bring scenes from the biggest churches and cathedrals in Rochester. The churches with tall steeples, huge choirs, every seat filled. “Why don’t they ever come to our little church on Lyell Avenue? We don’t have a steeple, we have no choir, and most of the seats are empty for Christmas Eve. Why don’t they ever come to a church like ours?” I vented my frustrations to our secretary. To my surprise, that year, as we gathered for our Christmas Eve service, the TV camera crew came into the sanctuary and our little congregation was on the eleven o’clock news that night. Twenty little flickering candles and twenty faces lit up with hope. That night the revolution was being televised, but for those of us there the revolution was live!