19th After Pentecost 2024

Blessed be God.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Blessed be God.

Now let's pray together.

Almighty God, under whom all hearts.

The Lord be with you.

Let us pray.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity.

Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Amen.

Please be seated.

Now Samuel was ministering in the presence of the Holy Roman.

A boy dressed in a red cloud, a little robe that his mother would make for him, and bring up the offer for the early sacrifice.

And Eli would dress like the blessed Alcana and his wife and say, May the Holy One repay you.

And then they would return to their home.

And the faithful one attended Hannah, and she conceived and gave birth to two daughters and three sons.

And the boy Samuel grew up there in the presence of the living God.

Now the boy Samuel went on and grew in goodness with the Most High and with humanity.

The word of the Lord.

The psalm for today is Psalm 144.

We will read responsibly by the half-verse.

Or the woman born that you think of them.

Humanity is like a breath.

Our sons in their youth are like plants full grown.

Our daughters are like our building of a palace.

Our barns are full for produce of every kind.

Our sheep are thousands.

Many thousands are.

Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall.

Happy are the people who God is the Lord of life.

Although rejected by humanity, we have chosen and precious son of God.

And I myself, like living stones, have been built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, and to offer spiritual sacrifice that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

And thus scripture contains the following.

See, I am laid in Zion a stone, a cornerstone, a chosen, a precious, and whoever believes in that stone will not be put to shame.

To you all who believe in it, a precious honor.

But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cause, and a stumbling stone and a rock overheads.

They stumble over the word disobey or disobedient by design.

Yet you all are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own possession, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of God who called you out of shadow into God's marvelous eye.

Once I'm not a people, and now I am God's people.

Once I reft of mercy, and now I'm a rich of mercy.

Now when they, Jesus, John, and Peter, came to the disciples after the transfiguration, they saw a great crowd around them and some scholars arguing with them.

And the whole crowd of women, children, and men saw Jesus.

They were immediately overcome with awe and they ran forward to greet him.

Then Jesus asked them, What are you all arguing about with them?

Someone from the crowd answered him, Teacher, I brought my child to you who has a spirit of speechlessness.

Whenever it overtakes my child, it throws them down and they foam, they grind their teeth, and my child becomes paralyzed.

And I asked your disciples to cast it out, and your disciples were not able.

Then Jesus answered them, saying, O faithless generation, how much longer must I be among you all?

How much longer must I bear with you?

Bring the child to me.

And they brought the child to Jesus.

When the Spirit saw the child, immediately it threw the child into convulsions, who then fell on the ground rolling and foaming.

Then Jesus asked the parent, How long has this been happening?

And the parent said, For childhood, often has it cast the child into fire and into water to destroy the child.

Yet if you are able to do anything to help us, have pity on us.

Jesus said to the parent, If you are able, all things can be done for the one who believes.

Immediately the child's parent cried out with tears, I believe, help my unbelief.

And when Jesus saw that a crowd of women, children, and men came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, You spirit of speechlessness and deafness, I command you, come out of the child and never enter the child again.

After crying out and throwing the child into more convulsions, it came out.

And the child was like the dead, so much so that many said he is dead.

Yet Jesus took the child by the hand and lifted the child up, and the child was able to stand.

When Jesus had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why were we not able to cast it out?

And he said to them, This kind can come by nothing but prayer and fasting.

Praise be to thee, Lord Christ.

I've been involved in church since before I was born.

That's a true statement, and it goes uninterrupted.

Like nine months before I was born, I was involved in church.

And I have to say, I've never seen this play out in front of people.

I've never seen somebody with chromistic seizures.

Somebody is missing a limb.

Uh you may, I've never seen somebody in my presence dramatically.

I've prayed for people to be, but I haven't seen anything like this.

So what I want to share with you is what I'm trying to do with this, that I have not seen.

If you've seen it, you probably don't need to hear anything I have to say.

You may not need to anything, but that's what I want to share.

Because for me, this is a struggle.

How do I do this?

Do you do it?

Do this.

And if you've been coming for a while, it's probably uh I don't need to introduce, but I've been struggling with ethnic theology of disability for at least a year and a half.

And particularly in this story, there are a couple of interesting elements for me through study on this.

The child has no agency story.

The parent says that this is a problem.

And I'm not saying it's not a problem.

I'm just saying that the child is an object lesson, not a subject lesson.

I have somebody this week who told me that their mantra would be not my will, yours be done, and I appreciate that.

This story has mine, I believe, helped me overcome my unbelief.

I treasure that phrase greatly because I don't know your background.

I can just speak to my own.

And by no means am I blaming anybody in my background for that I have this impression.

But I grew up with the idea that God owes us health.

God owes us functionality.

It's our right.

So if something is physically not right in us, however we use that word right, God ought to fix it.

And God will.

Our brains are not supposed to be neurodivergent.

They're all supposed to be like the same and really efficient and work really hard.

And if we just believe, God will give it to us.

If you don't believe enough, it's your fault.

It's this brilliant circular logic.

Because it's always weird that God wants our bodies to be perfect.

It doesn't make any sense to me anymore.

Particularly because this man has faith that he has done.

Isn't that compelling?

I believe and I don't, and I know I don't.

And I do and I don't.

And that's where I live most of the week.

That's where I live most of the times.

I want to be somebody who follows Jesus.

I believe and I don't.

Help me overcome my unbelief.

And this is exactly what I think Peter reminds us of Jesus is a living cornerstone, and sometimes we get to be built up, and sometimes we trip over it.

We stumble.

And I want to share, I've said this before, sometimes I think one of the things that we trip over is the idea that God wants us to be fully able to do.

And if we had enough faith, God would do it.

I don't think that's a living cornerstone.

I think it's a stumbling block.

Or else I just don't have enough faith.

You see how it goes?

Sometimes I'm afraid we build the dead cornerstones, not living ones.

Because the truth is, if God wants us all perfectly abled and you see somebody who isn't, what can you have for them except pity?

Pity that they don't believe enough.

Because if they did, then they'd be normalized and functional, and they wouldn't have neurodivergence, and they wouldn't have ADHD, and they wouldn't have you prone to seizure.

Because God doesn't want any of that stuff.

And I'd like to suggest that's a stumbling block because you, like nobody else, want anybody else's pity.

What you'd like is somebody else's consideration.

Well, I think that's right.

I don't want your pity, because that means I'm less than you.

What I'd love is your consideration, because then we get to coexist on the same plane.

And again, this story is not predicated on whether Dad believes enough.

He doesn't believe enough.

I mean, that's what he says.

I don't believe enough.

Help me with what I don't believe.

I want to say that's where I find myself as somebody who would like to be a disciple.

So I've been talking to a few folks offline for the last couple of weeks about this other idea I got that has been a stumbling block for me for a long time.

And maybe you're familiar with it, and maybe you love it.

I don't want to take it away from you if you love this.

The idea goes like this: God has a perfect plan for your life.

One perfect plan.

And you need to make sure you don't miss it.

Because if you miss it, you'll never get back there.

Sort of like this line, and if you miss it, the best you can do is just be support.

Now, maybe God's plan isn't predicated on what you pick at the salad bar today.

Maybe those are insignificant choices.

But it sure is based on what you choose to major in or where you go to college.

You better get that right.

Or you're going to live for less than perfection, because perfection means there's no mistake, there's no margin of error.

It's either one way or it's wrong.

And I sure think that's a stumbling block.

Because me as a person, as a parent, as a colleague, I'm better than that.

If my kids make a decision I don't like, it doesn't mean their lives are over, does it?

It means what are we gonna do now?

So instead of God having one plan that you better get right, I mean, really, maybe God looks at every decision we make and charts an infinite catalog of possibilities that happens next.

Alright, so you pick to major in film.

We can do something with that.

Okay, you chose to major in math.

Maybe we can do something with that.

Okay, you pick the garbanzo beans and not the Fava beans.

Alright, what's next?

This idea of perfection, meaning there's no variance.

Well, I've decided that's a stumbling block for me.

And boy, that makes God really weak, doesn't it?

Really weak.

Follow that to its logical conclusion.

If you ever make a mistake, why try anymore?

You already blew it.

Instead of wow.

Like there's hope.

And I'm telling you I believe this and I don't believe it at all.

Because when my kids make a mistake, it's over.

You know?

That's my reaction.

I'd like it to be true.

God help my unbelief when somebody cuts me off in traffic.

God help my unbelief when my neighbor puts on a political sign that makes me think you just want me to know you're dumb.

I believe.

Help me overcome my unbelief.

The God of infinite possibilities.

Now I have this friend who you heard from a couple weeks ago, Sean Steele, and we got together this week, and he said, What are you preaching on?

And I said, Well, I'm preaching a different lectionary from you.

And uh, so we really didn't get to have the conversation we normally would have had.

But what was really great is I said, but what are you doing?

And Sean, unlike me, he really likes to use old words that in some ways I've found real abusive and have a hard time with them.

But he likes to redefine them and continue using those words like sovereign.

I learned as a kid that God is sovereign.

And I struggle with that because the truth is 40,000 children are gonna starve to death this week.

And I have a really hard time reconciling my idea of sovereignty with that fact.

By the way, that's a fact.

22 veterans are likely going to kill themselves today.

I have a really hard time reconciling sovereignty with that.

I hope you do too.

And of course, what Sean said that is so fantastic is that we stumble over sovereignty when we conflate it with control.

Control is my version of sovereignty.

That's when my kids do exactly what I tell them, because I do know better than they do.

And by the way, I probably do.

They'd be at least as miserable as I am if they did everything I told them.

Sovereignty is about getting your way.

That's how you show you're really in control.

Of course, the scriptures offer us a different version of sovereignty.

One in which, to quote Paul's epistle to the Romans, God is able to work all things to the good of those who love God.

So, what if we stumble over the idea of control when instead we're invited to build a living temple in which no matter what you do, God is sovereign enough to fix it?

Maybe fix this with the right word.

Maybe God is sovereign enough to turn it to your good and to the good of the world.

Which definition of sovereignty takes more power for you?

Somebody who has to have their own way in everything you do, or someone who can take anything you do and have their own way.

I stumble over sovereignty as control.

But I think God is greater than that.

I believe it.

God helped me overcome my unbelief when other people stumble in my eyes, when I don't meet my own expectations.

Otherwise, what are we left with?

God gives leukemia to a child to teach us a lesson?

That's gross.

I hope you'll agree.

That's gross.

Leukaemia happens, and it's catastrophic.

And what I'm saying doesn't take away from it.

But what I'm saying, I think, is some good news.

There is nowhere we go where God isn't going with us.

And there is no thing that happens that God cannot.

Rede's not quite the right word, is it?

Work to our good.

Otherwise, we're left with a puppet master in the sky who does things we know are wrong.

We know are wrong.

I believe.

But God helped me overcome my unbelief.

Now, I've mentioned this story before.

I have this friend who uh works at a big uh big firm as a corporate attorney.

And even years ago, she would say to me, you know, I make more money than I know what to do with.

And I thought, I'd love to have that problem.

Uh so she would say this, right?

And she wasn't making millions of dollars, but she was making doing great, you know.

And uh then a couple weeks later, she asked me, she said, Do you give 10% of your income like to church?

And I said, Yeah, I do, actually.

And she said, Well, I look at how much that would be, and I can't give that away.

But I make more money than I know what to do with.

I believe.

Did you see?

God help me overcome my unbelief.

I don't have a good object lesson for this right now, but I will tell you, 8 o'clock.

We had this little baby in here who has been pretty quiet, but today was being alive, you know?

Today was being alive.

And this is a gift of this congregation, whether you know it or not, it's a gift, because nobody does this.

You do this, right?

I believe that children should be in church.

Sometimes I worry about when I hear that.

You have helped me overcome my unbelief, especially when it was my kid.

Because it was.

You were right.

And if I had to say why we do this at all, it's because of that.

Because without you, I wouldn't have this community that perpetually helps me overcome my unbelief.

I wouldn't have this group of people that I want to be like when I grow up, if that ever happens.

Because there are the things I believe, and there's this unbelief.

And we help each other with God's help overcome our unbelief, which is why I come back most weeks.

It's why I need to come back.

Because I don't do a very good job overcoming my own unbelief by myself.

I don't know what it is that you believe and don't.

I don't know what it is that you believe and don't.

But I do know that probably each of us, like the man in this story, is desperate for something.

He's desperate.

Do you see it?

And maybe desperation is enough to believe him.

If we can't admit that we're desperate, I think we're lying to ourselves.

But if we can say, yeah, I'm desperate for this, help me overcome my unbelief.

Well, then I think we can start on something.

I think we can start, and as I've often found the case to be, and Jesus concludes this section, he says, This kind can only come out through prayer.

Do you see that word?

Through prayer.

Through prayer.

And I'm not silly.

I'm really not silly on this.

Because all the mystics that I've read, I mean the people who know way more than I do, knowledge-wise, wisdom-wise, faith-wise, they say the purpose for prayer is not to change God.

The purpose of prayer is to change us.

I believe that and I don't believe it, because I want God to fix all my problems, don't you?

And I pray that way.

Fix my problems.

Take away my grief.

I don't want a ticket.

Let me get an A on this test, I'll be a nun.

This is the kind of stuff that we do.

Jesus reminds us that when we see somebody who's different from us, we only fix that problem through prayer.

Here's somebody that maybe is having a seizure.

Do I pray for God to fix them?

Or through prayer, might God fix the way I relate to them?

And when people are in pain, we go to the doctor.

There's nothing redemptive about suffering.

But I think we always have to ask ourselves, is this person who seems different from me actually in pain?

Or am I imposing pain on them because they're different from me?

I've said this before.

If you don't have the power of speech, should you be pitied?

God, I hope not.

Because there is nothing wrong with somebody who does not have the power of speech.

They have as much love and dignity from God as they will ever have.

When you see a child with Down syndrome, should they be pitied?

Because their brain doesn't work like yours.

God, I hope not.

Because if I approach them in pity, it means I approach them as less than myself.

Are we invited to approach them with consideration and empathy, God?

I hope so.

When we can't stuff as many envelopes in an hour as our neighbor, are we to be pitied?

When we can't clear as many pumpkins off the truck as our neighbor in ten minutes, are we to be pitied?

God, I hope not.

Which is why we pray.

We don't pray for cures.

We pray for healing.

Because the difference between cure and healing is that you become the way I need you to be when I cure you.

Healing is when you are who you are and we love you for who you are.

And in this story, boy, maybe it's easy for Jesus to cure a boy's symptoms than to heal the way the community treats him.

Maybe it's easier to cure somebody's apparent problems than to heal ourselves of pitying other people because they appear different.

And isn't that too bad?

Isn't that too bad?

I believe.