9 Pentecost/Year B – July 21, 2024
Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Opening Prayer: (adapted from a Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals)
Lord, grant us the ability to think with your mind, to hear with your ears, to see with your eyes, to speak with your mouth, to walk with your feet, to love with your heart…so that we too can be compassionate instruments of your healing for those around us and for ourselves. We ask this through Jesus Christ, our loving and compassionate Shepherd of our souls. Amen.
It is so good to be with all of you today. It’s been quite a few weeks for Loyd and I with travelling long-distance for the general convention, and for another long-distance trip for a shorter trip to visit with family. It’s been quite a couple of months, for all of us here, with the death of 4 St Peter’s related loved ones…as well as several beloved community member deaths. It’s been quite a year, looking back on others who have been affected by the loss of their close loved ones, and for those struggling with ongoing health issues this past year.
All of this, mixed in with the collective grief and division that is playing out across the world…is a lot to bear…is a lot to comprehend…is a lot to even know where to begin… and so we are often left to wonder if there’s anything we can do to help ease the pain and the worries of so many folks, or if there is really any possibility of hope to restore peace in the lives of those that continue to be shattered by violence of every kind.
The good news is yes…there is hope…healing is possible, peace can be restored in our hearts and in the lives of all God’s people…
Yes, to all of this…when we strive to set aside time on a regular basis, to rest awhile with Jesus. Not just learn from him, and follow him in going out to offer healing to others…but to set aside time to just be with him and let the healing grace of his love and compassion heal our grieving hearts, soothe our worries, and remind us…that we don’t walk alone in this world…and we weren’t created to live in such a way…
We were created to live in love with God and one another…so this also means continually discerning ways to ensure that all people have this same opportunity to rest awhile in the presence of a loving and compassionate Shepherd for all of our souls…
We live in such a time, where a lot of folks think we can just fix everything that is broken quickly or even worse…just set aside our grief, bury it, and just keep on keeping on…Yet that’s not how true healing can ever happen…
In the gospel reading today Jesus invites the apostle’s to come away with him to rest for a awhile…and yes, after a very short time…they were approached by those who needed healing once again…and this pattern comes up throughout the gospels, with Jesus modeling a time to set aside for prayer, to draw on the strength and Spirit of God, to be able to go out and attend to the ongoing needs of the world…
Yet, even though there will always be interruptions…the key to restoring our souls for the work we are being called to do, is in our returning over and over again to a time of rest by the still waters…
So, striving to balance time to be with Jesus, and time to be like Jesus in how we go about bringing true healing to our collective lives…is a life-long way of love, walking in this world with one another…not just something we commit to for a day, a week, a month, a year…
The good news in Psalm 23, which is an excellent daily prayer to use, reminds us that God’s goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives…and that we will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
So, let us pause today, and use this time to be with Jesus and pray for healing for ourselves and all of God’s people…
I will offer up a closing prayer using the words of a hymn entitled “Heal me, hands of Jesus”, and as I’m playing the music to these words, I invite you to go to the baptismal font for a short prayer of healing and anointing with oil by Mim and Nancy Jo.
Let us pray:
Closing Prayer/Hymn: (WLP) 733 - Heal me, hands of Jesus
1 Heal me, hands of Jesus,
and search out all my pain:
restore my hope, remove my fear
and bring me peace again.
2 Cleanse me, blood of Jesus,
take bitterness away;
let me forgive as one forgiven
and bring me peace today.
3 Know me, mind of Jesus,
and show me all my sin;
dispel the memories of guilt,
and bring me peace within.
4 Fill me, joy of Jesus:
anxiety shall cease
and heaven’s serenity be mine,
or Jesus brings me peace!
Heal me, hands of Jesus, #773 from Wonder Love and Praise — Words: Michael Perry. Music: Sharpe, Carl Haywood (b. 1949), from Tunes for Grace.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church