Water-Washed and Spirit-Born:
Share the Message
Sermon preached by Rev. Patricia Farris
February 5, 2006

At the conclusion of this brief homily this morning, I will call forward persons who have accepted leadership in the life of our congregation and who constitute our Church Council. As they stand before us, we will commission them for the ministry God and this church have called them into this year.

With our Lay Leadership Committee, we want you to know these folks, to connect names and faces, to know whom to call on for information or where to take your ideas or your concerns. We want you to pray for them regularly, that God might give them wisdom and compassion and energy for this extra service they have taken on, on our behalf and for the sake of the kingdom of God.

It’s awesome to think of the things we do as Christians as somehow contributing to the kingdom of God, isn’t it? Most of us are appropriately humble. We know that the part we play is quite small and seemingly insignificant. And yet, part of what we’re learning from the very first chapter of Mark’s Gospel is that God in Christ takes ordinary people and commissions them and empowers them for the work of the kingdom. And as we realize that THAT’S what we’re doing in the name of Christ in the church and in the world, we realize that we are each vitally important. That what we say and how we live matters, big time. As those who are water-washed and Spirit-born, we have been called into the kingdom of God, to live it NOW.

From today’s stories in Mark, let me pull out just three things to note this morning, three insights that give us some clues about how to live as Christ’s water-washed and Spirit-born disciples. We pick up where we left off last week, with another healing miracle. This time it’s Simon’s mother-in-law, sick with a fever. Jesus “lifts her up,” literally “resurrects her,” and what happens? She’s healed, yes. By now, we should expect that. It’s what she does AFTER her healing that is of note. “She began to serve them.” Mark uses the verb form of diakonia, from which our word “deacon” comes. She is healed and she takes on the ministry of deacon. Her healing leads her to ministry in the Christ’s service.
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"Share the Message" by Rev. Patricia Farris, February 5, 2006

First point: Healing is manifest in service to others. Healing is not for its own sake. Jesus does not heal us to make us feel better or happier or at peace, although those gifts are all ours to receive. The healing Jesus brings is for the purpose of healing our relationships, our community, our world. To be servants in that kingdom, to be disciples, all those who serve must first receive healing ourselves. There must be, in the heart of every disciple, especially those who would lead, continual spiritual formation, continual growth in faith—John Wesley called it justifying and sanctifying grace—the dynamic interplay of healing and service to others, healing and service to others, that fits us for Kingdom.

Second point: The disciple, like Jesus, must be rooted and grounded in prayer. This service into which we are called is not easy and will often demand more of us than we can muster on our own. We need to be in constant relationship with God. In Mark’s story, after Simon’s mother-in-law is healed, word begins to spread and crowds gather for the healing, the whole city, it says. And what does Jesus do? Long before the sun is up the next morning, he goes away to a deserted place to pray.

The text says that Simon and his companions had to hunt for him, literally “searched desperately for him.” Jesus was on a serious spiritual retreat. It’s clear that he had turned his cell phone off and was not checking his email. He was praying. Jesus himself needed that prayer time. And he was modeling for his new disciples how they, too, were to live. In service and in prayer. Again, you see, a vital inner spiritual life is part and parcel of a life poured out in service to others.

Third point: To coin a phrase from popular culture—“Just do it!” Get out there, Jesus says. Proclaim the message and cast out demons. Let’s go. This is so great for us to hear, because we have all kinds of excuses as to why, Jesus, we’d really like to be part of your kingdom…but not right now. Not just yet. We don’t have time. We have too much to do. We don’t feel competent. We don’t feel adequate. We don’t know enough about the Bible. We’re not comfortable in front of people. We hope that showing up in church and tossing a little something in the offering plate is enough. We feel like church is about “what’s in it for us” instead of “what can I do for others.” We figure that service to Christ is about the big stuff, being a missionary or something, and we’re just living our lives, thank you very much.

Don’t you figure that Simon and Andrew and James and John and Simon’s mother-in-law felt all those same things? Ordinary people. Let’s go, Jesus says. Proclaim the message and heal people. Do the kingdom work. NOW.

This morning, all you who are water-washed and Spirit-born, this morning hear Jesus saying this to you, in the midst of the very ordinariness of your life. What would it mean for you, today, in this coming week, to realize that my work this week, my real work, is to partner with Jesus to bring about the kingdom of God? What would it mean if each morning when you get up, before you do anything else, like Martin Luther you say to yourself: “I am baptized.”
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"Share the Message" by Rev. Patricia Farris, February 5, 2006

Might it change how you talk with others, what you say to them? Might it nudge you to look for places when you might offer a healing word or a loving gesture? Might it help you with your own demons within? Might it strengthen your relationships in your family and with your friends, your co-workers? Might it cause you to pray more deeply? Might it push you to re-order your priorities and your stewardship? Might it invite you to make more time for service to others, through civic groups or church?

Seek healing. Pray. Get on with it! There’s no time like the present to live as a disciple of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

As we sing quietly and prayerfully “Take My Life and Let It Be,” I invite all those elected to church leadership in this new year to come and join us on the chancel steps.

©Patricia Farris , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution. All other rights reserved.