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“Human Wholeness”
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10;
Psalm 19; Luke 4:14-21;
1 Corinthians 12:12-31
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time -
Camp and Conference Ministries
January 21, 2007
In this present world we live in,
with its social changes, economic times that are in constant flux, let’s face
it, there is an ever-present and widespread seeking for the spiritual life, for
working and living that resonates with our souls. We Christians yearn, we strive
for a way of life that is attuned to the presence of God. Parker Palmer, a
widely respected author, lecturer and activist living in Madison, wrote his
seventh book recently, A Hidden Wholeness, (2004), where he based his
work on helping people to discover and claim once again their human wholeness.
It’s a soul-searching book I’d
recommend to you for food for thought in your own active lives; he believes that
we benefit in the ‘life-giving, world-healing power of communities that welcome
the soul.’ He said writing the book gave him more life than any other
professional activity of which he has been involved. Palmer ‘bleeds’ community
in a very special way, after pursuing its meaning for forty years, as do our
texts today–they disclose to us the deeper meaning of our human
wholeness; our human bodies being a part of a larger body, the church, the body
of Christ.
In pondering Jesus going forward
in his early ministry and being provided for, by his own words (v. 12), we know
and trust that he returned to the Spirit and went into Galilee and Nazareth to
the temples to teach; Jesus was a part of community! In Palestine in Jesus’ day,
worship was fellowship, as it is today; any ruling elder, any competent member,
or visitor could stand to read the scriptures and then as they did in the
synagogue, be seated to preach the word.
Jesus was becoming ‘public’ in his
ministry and in his own spirit he recited the Shema in his Aramaic language, his
prayers, any or all in this highest of places. Jesus was in the custom of going
to the synagogue, which meant fellowship, a place where Jesus’ spirit was
en-flamed; these were his values and his virtues. But what’s different is that
Luke’s version is of the good news of Jesus Christ for all peoples, not
primarily for the Jews, for Jesus’ ancestry was back to Adam, not Abraham ( in
Matthew’s lineage). As we know later, Jesus’ ministry in Nazareth was also the
beginning of his rejection as a prophet in his own town. What was important for
these communities though was Jesus’ gracious words from Isaiah ( 61:1 ), his
inward and invisible powers in bringing release to the captives, and sight to
the blind, freedom to the oppressed; good news for all people.
As we are baptized into one body
in the one Spirit and made to drink of one Spirit, we hear of the body images by
the apostle Paul, where he seems to go overboard with eyes, ears, hands, and
feet in the unity and diversity of the body of Christ–we as Christ’s followers
as our unity in the body as the church. In the N.T. the body is in relationship
to the body of Christ.
We find Paul uses the word ‘body’
nineteen times and more than a couple dozen times in all of his letters–an
indication the body as the church is an important image to him. But here he uses
the bodies anatomy to press an important point–in the diversity of our bodies,
we can be directed by Jesus Christ as the Head of the Body, our bodies
physically, and our bodies spiritually in the life of the church. The clincher
here is respecting and responding to our wholeness and the wholeness of
other members of the body. We learn from our own human wholeness as we need our
eyes, ears, nose, hands and feet to function in our togetherness.
At this time two years ago,
(2/3/05) during these winter doldrums, I went to hear Parker Palmer as a part
of the Dane County United Delegates Winter Assembly over at Mount Olive Church
in Madison. I heard him talk on our faith and moral values in our public life
and I came away en-flamed in a similar spirit of the text for all that community
can provide for one another. Community defined by Palmer includes a group of
people with a shared commitment, and then following through to make a
difference. Coming from a Quaker background, Palmer helps us seek to know our
hidden souls as we become wise, hopeful, creative, and powerful in finding our
human wholeness. He told us that people walk around with one of three lives;
they are in layers. Layer one is political, bearing heavily on our lives from
government controlling our lives, and layer two is the private, symbolic of our
individual lives, where frailty and fragility abound. But the middle is the
public life where it all happens; on the streets, parks, squares, cafes,
museums, libraries, schools, churches, voluntary associations, our work places,
and our neighborhoods.
In our society, Palmer stresses we
‘flip-flop’ into these areas alright, but what’s missing is this middle area,
the public layer–they are the ‘hidden in plain sight’ areas where life is the
most critical; where we are most empowered by our reflection in small groups. In
these public areas is really where life happens, in community, and where we seem
to take this public life so much for granted, we must have an eye for it for our
own common good! He said, “What excites me about public life is we think
differently than we do in the halls of power. We are feeling our commonality in
the public, and it’s kind of thinking when our mind is descended into the
heart.”
It’s a kind of thinking, he says,
that takes something longer than ideas into account–into their well-being. It’s
like being alone together as a community of solitudes, he says, as we broke up
into small groups of perhaps five and asked two questions, “What’s breaking your
heart these days?” (what is our pain today?) and, “How are you holding that
heart-break?”(how can we make it constructive, not explosive?). What gave me a
glorious and huge picture about human wholeness in this evening was that our
words inform our actions. We retold the story of Rosa Parks, our heart-felt
thoughts, and Palmer sent us forth with blessings and reminders that our values
need to be witnessed to; we must be in conversation and in community with one
another. It really is our inward heart-felt solitude with others, coming into
community. Dietrich Bonhoeffer warned of our being one or the other, alone or in
community, saying, “Let who can not be alone beware of community. Let who is not
in community beware of being alone.” (Bonhoeffer,
Dietrich, Life Together, 1954, New York, Harper Collins, p. 78).
We are having our annual meeting
of the membership next Sunday after worship and I urge, I recommend you stay to
elect our new officers as elders and deacons in the years ahead. We will have a
potluck dinner to follow for sharing fun and fellowship. But most importantly,
we will present the church’s highlights, our inward insights to assess our
strengths for the year in youth practice, adult education, and our financial
status for the future. I’m convinced already that you will be rewarded by the
many activities in our church and how to us church community brings
closer to us our relationship to God. In our sharing with/in the community we
are the wonderful body of members that we are in Christ and continue to become
in being guided by the Holy Spirit. Truly, in being the Body of Christ, the
church. God gave us a greater gift enabling us to grow spiritually. We are built
together in our work of ministry–individually and together.
As Jesus knew the value in
trusting in the Spirit in his own ministry, he was not alone but with all in the
community. The good news for us in the gospel is our trust in coming together
and in sharing those inward and invisible thoughts, we as community are lead by
Jesus Christ, as the Head of the Body, and sustained in fostering our human
wholeness. Our virtues and values that are witnessed by each other are the
greater gifts in life in which to strive with action and faith; for our
families, the church as the body of Christ, and in the world.
Thanks be to
God. AMEN.
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