2017-05-02
Brooke Strong
Based on Scripture: Luke 24:13-35
Have you ever had one of those weeks? You know – one of THOSE weeks? One where maybe the beginning of the week started so well that you had no clue it would go so badly by the end? The two travelers in our scripture reading have had such a week. The week had started off great – magnificent in fact. Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the crowds had gone wild! They had loved him! He was being praised, worshiped, honored. Everyone was showing their support and enthusiasm, waving their palms, laying down their coats, calling to him “Hosanna, Hosanna to the Son of David!” His disciples were probably thinking – “Yes! At last! All this following him and learning from him while people mocked us. We’ve finally been vindicated. Here’s the validation we need that this man, this Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah, actually is!”
And then, even as they were still basking in the glow of all that adoration, a mere four days later, FOUR DAYS – this same Jesus is captured, taken prisoner, and put on trial, only to be crucified the next afternoon. How is it that he could go from hero to zero in less than a week? How is it that this beloved teacher, healer, and friend could be riding the wave of popularity on Sunday, only to be walking the via dolorosa, the way of sorrows, to the cross on Friday?
And if that weren’t enough to throw the lives of these disciples into turmoil, it is now Sunday, the third day of his death, and they hear a story from some women that Jesus’ body has disappeared out of the tomb. And it’s rumored that an angel appeared and told them he had risen.
What are these followers of Jesus to do with all these emotions, all these events, all this drama of the last week? With their heads spinning, their hearts spiraling, their emotions swirling, they begin to walk. Scripture tell us they were walking the Road to Emmaus. I think a better description would be that they were walking the “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” (Song title by the band Green Day.)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams is exactly what describes their journey at this moment. And who among us has not walked this - this route of ruined plans, this fairway of fractured hopes, this path of perished wishes? The heart-breaking phrase “We had hoped,” says it all. It is one of the saddest sentiments, and we hear it over and over again as people tell stories of their lives. We had hoped for a loving, lasting marriage. . . , We had hoped for different results from the medical test. . . , We had hoped for a good outcome from the job interview. . . People’s life journeys are strewn with the debris of dashed hopes: Spouses who betray too often or die too soon; degrees, jobs, or investments that fail to produce the desired financial security; diagnoses of cancer, or Alzheimer’s, or other diseases that put an end to dreams of happily ever after.
Cleopas and his companion were disciples who had given a lot of their energy, devoted much of their time, pinned many of their hopes on the one they thought would be the one to save them from the oppression of the Romans, who would free them from the clutches of their persecutors. But then, it all fell apart. And they had had so much hope.
And so, these two friends go walking, or maybe put another way – they practice some “self-care.” Perhaps they have taken to heart the adage coined centuries later by St. Augustine “All problems can be solved by a walk.” They are journeying together, heading to a place called “Emmaus”, which literally means “warm spring.” And as they walk, suddenly a stranger comes alongside and joins in their conversation. This companion invites them to share their story. And that is what they need for the restoration of their souls. They need the soothing warmth of friendship, the calming chance to talk about their loss, the nourishing affirmation of being listened to so they might begin to heal their broken hearts. They don’t know who this person is, they just know that telling their story, that being able to put their sorrow, their shattered dreams, their loss into words, is the beginning of the journey towards wholeness, restoration and healing.
I have reading the book: Becoming Wise – An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living by Krista Tippett. In it she shares a story about healing told by a wise woman and physician, Rachel Naomi Remen, Rachel recounts this story told by her Hasidic rabbi grandfather, about the Birthday of the World.
“In the beginning there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. In the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident, and the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. The wholeness of the world, the light of the world, was scattered into a thousand thousand fragments of light. And they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.
“Now, according to my grandfather, the whole human race is a response to this accident. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift it up and make it visible once again … and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world. … This task is called tikkun olam in Hebrew. It’s the restoration of the world.
And this is, of course, a collective task. It involves all people . . .We are all healers of the world. . . . It’s not about healing the world by making a huge difference. It’s about healing the world that touches you, that’s around you. . .
She goes on to say . . . I think that we all feel that we’re not enough to make a difference, that we need to be more somehow, wealthier or more educated or otherwise different than the people we are. And according to this story, we are exactly what’s needed. . . . [W]onder about that a little: what if we were exactly what’s needed? What then? How would I live if I was exactly what’s needed to heal the world?”1
How, indeed, would I live if I was exactly what’s needed to heal the world? That is the question for all of us. Our task as healers is perhaps to do what Jesus does, to turn broken hearts into burning hearts, into hearts that beat once again with the desire to live, to love, to care. And one way to do that is embody the love of Jesus, to simply walk beside and journey with those who have been broken and defeated by life. We, like Jesus, can invite those who are grieving to tell their stories. As nineteenth century poet and novelist Dinah Mulock Craik says: “Oh, the comfort -- the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person -- having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.”2
The art of listening, the gift of taking in someone’s words, their experiences, emotions, stories, is so often the beginning of the healing. And this call to healing, is a call to restoration of the world that is for all of us. But today we celebrate and recognize those who have been called to a specific way of healing, a way of journeying intentionally and consistently offering distinctively Christian Care in a one-on-one relationship with a care-receiver. These are our Stephen Ministers. They are ones who have been summoned to care-giving through the power of listening, balm of being present, the gift of non-judgmental response as a way which helps another pick up the fractured pieces of their lives. They seek to embody and make real the presence of Christ as they help those whose world has been torn apart by crisis find a way back to put it back together again. Using the image of the broken vessels of light in our earlier story, or the image you see as the Stephen Ministry symbol on the back of the bulletin – Stephen Ministers are trained in ways of making whole the lives that have been shattered. And while we may help pick up the broken pieces, and gather them, we also firmly believe that God is ultimately the one who then actually binds them back together again. As we say – we are the care givers, God is the cure giver.
Stephen Ministry is a national program that was begun over 40 years ago by minister named Kenneth Haugk. He had hurting people in his church, and realized that he himself couldn’t possibly offer them all the help they needed all the time. But he saw that he had capable people in his congregation who had gifts of caring and compassion, and only needed some training to hone those gifts. So, he trained a group of lay people to offer comfort and care in one-on-one relationships with those who were hurting, and called this program Stephen Ministry.
At Federated, we have been training people in this ministry since 1982 – that’s 35 years! We have trained 189 people, and we currently have 15 active Stephen ministers and leaders. After going through the 50 hours of training, Stephen Ministers can enter into a one-on-one relationship with a care-receiver, someone who is going through a difficult time. They meet with this person for about an hour a week to provide comfort and care. So Stephen Ministers make a huge commitment of time to the training, and then also give the gift of time to their care receivers. We ask those who are trained to remain active in the ministry for at least two years after their training, and many remain active much longer than that. So at this time, I would like to invite all our active Stephen Ministers, and Leaders, who are here today to please stand so the congregation can see who you are. And now I invite all trained Stephen ministers who are retired from that ministry to also please stand. On behalf Federated Church, I thank all of you for the time and the caring that you have provided and continue to provide in this community and beyond. You are truly a blessing to our congregation, and to the world. Thank you. (You may be seated).
We are planning to offer Stephen Ministry training again this year, beginning in September. We’re hoping to keep this ministry going as an active, vital part of Federated Church, so we can care intentionally and deeply for those who are grieving losses, going through crises, feeling beaten down by the world. And if you talk to those people who stood up, who have been trained in Stephen Ministry, they will most likely tell you that caring for others is a gift not only for the care-receiver, but that it becomes a gift for themselves as well. So if you have even a spark of interest in becoming a Stephen Minister, or if you have any questions, please let me or Darlene Nichols know. We ask that you pray about whether God might be calling you to this caring ministry.
And while we are not all called to Stephen Ministry, God does summon all of us to do our part in the healing of the world. Believe that Jesus walks beside us as we answer this call, that he gives us the strength, wisdom and grace to bring wholeness to broken lives. And in living out this call, not only will we change the lives of those who hurt, but our own lives will be changed as well. So let us travel together this journey of life, following Jesus, and companioning and supporting each other in love, that the world may be restored through the light of Christ. Amen.
1Tippett, Krista. Becoming Wise – An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living. New York: Penguin Press, 2016.
2https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/166852.Dinah_Maria_Mulock_Craik