2025-03-31
Brooke Strong
Sermon Text...
I’ll never forget that phone call. I was serving as a pastor for the very first time while still in seminary when a member called me to share that her daughter, who was pregnant with twins, just learned that the babies had twin to twin syndrome. She explained that this was a condition where one twin received all the nutrition while the other starved. Both were at risk so they had to be taken by c-section immediately. Could I please come to the hospital that evening to pray with the family?
It only took a couple seconds for me to process all of this before panic set in as I realized the first funerals I might ever do could be for two newborns! I could hardly breathe!
After many shaky prayers, begging God to calm me and help me find words of reassurance, I arrived at the hospital where the family gathered around mom’s bedside, seeking peace from my prayer. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more terrified or clueless!
As soon as we finished praying, mom was immediately whisked off to the delivery room and, after a period of anxious waiting, dad came out to announce that both babies had arrived safely weighing in at 1 pound, 12 ounces and two pounds. Their mother asked for me and, as I entered her room, she tearfully thanked me for “praying them to life.” I was overwhelmed!
Two months later, I received a call from another family. Their 93-year-old matriarch was dying and could I please go to the nursing home to visit her? When I arrived, the woman was agitated and trying to climb out of bed but settled down when I offered to pray. I opened my eyes when I finished to find her calmly staring at me. When I urged her to do so, she laid down quietly on the bed. An hour later, the family called again to let me know she had passed away peacefully and then they thanked me for helping her die. Again, I felt totally overwhelmed!
Were my prayers responsible for either the babies being safely born or this elderly woman dying peacefully? I’m not sure in either case. But theologian Dr. Bruce Epperly, who has written extensively on mysticism and prayer, among other things, would say that prayer can bring peace, pushing people a bit closer to healing and wholeness. “Faith opens the door to more possibilities,” he says, “not compelling results, but opening us up to the results. Prayer brings something good into the universe,” he concludes before sardonically noting that it does not guarantee survival. “Everyone who Jesus healed is dead now,” he quips.
Our bible story today is one of more than 40 instances in the gospels of Jesus healing someone. A woman who had hemorrhaged for more than twelve years believed that if she could just make physical contact with Jesus she could be healed. She was a woman with no agency. A female in a male-dominated society, someone deemed ritually unclean due to her bleeding, she was rendered invisible. She was forbidden entry to the synagogue and hadn’t had physical contact with another human for the entire twelve years. Her very body had become a source of isolation and disgrace.
Lonely beyond comprehension, she was an outcast, an embarrassment, a pariah.
Despite knowing all of this, in a desperate and stunning act of civil disobedience, she reached out for Jesus. She knew her very presence polluted the crowd and that her touch would defile Jesus. But she touched him anyway.
Her deep faith gave her the courage to be vulnerable, to break through social, cultural and religious barriers to take the initiative for her own healing. And she was rewarded by being healed instantly. Jesus, recognizing her extraordinary faith, offered her gentle acceptance as he called her daughter, acknowledging her with a blessing no one else would give her.
But Jesus insisted on more than just healing her, calling her forward to tell her whole story. Seeing her reduced to a caricature and denied the spiritual nourishment and empowerment that was her birthright as a child of God, he restored her to fellowship, dignity and humanity. “Daughter,” he told her, “Go in peace.”
UCC pastor and theologian Eric Elnes calls prayer quantum entanglement, noting that when we pray for someone, we become entangled with both them and God. I love this description because it rings so true to my experience. As people open themselves up to others, getting to know one another more intimately, perhaps in a small group here at church, they become more entangled and their relationships are deepened.
Throughout this Lenten season, we have been offered challenges to listen more closely to God. This week, during your quiet times of listening, I invite you to pray for someone with whom you think God is calling you to become entangled, perhaps someone in need of your positive energy. While we can never be sure what or how something might happen, we can be certain that as we become entangled, God will affect us. Because in God’s beautiful arithmetic, when we pray for healing for others, we also end up healing and benefitting ourselves.
Are we truly able to affect change simply by prayer? That question, for me, will always be shrouded in mystery because the power of prayer is always enigmatic. But I’ll keep on praying, hoping that my words may offer peace and uplift to those for whom I offer them. Will you join me in trusting in the mystery and continue to pray for others too? I hope your answer is a resounding yes! Amen.