Reflections on "Desperate People" Mark 5: 21-34; Psalm 130

I realized Saturday night that on Pentecost I preached about the desperate people wanting to hear about the resurrected Christ; then last week I used a quote about being desperate when going to church; now I have desperate people in the title and mention desperate people coming to our Lord's Table.  Not sure what to make of the recurrence of that image.

I like the image from the introduction.  Not sure if the transition to the rest of the sermon worked.  The Archbishop of Canterbury quote and the Sara Miles quote probably work better in print when being read than when spoken.  They both were fairly subtle.

I thought the image of a baby crying that I used in the Time with Young Disciples was a good one to describe "out of the depths I cry" from Psalm 130.  That was a last minute thought, but I wish I had included it in the sermon.  

“Desperate People” FPC, Troy; Mark 5: 21-34; Psalm 130; October 2, 2011; World Communion Sunday

Introduction: World Communion Sunday – a Sunday when we gather around our Lord's Table and declare our connectedness with our brothers and sisters in Christ and imagine that we all are coming to our Lord's Table together.

We know that we do not arrive at our Lord's Table together. Some Christian traditions do not acknowledge this connectedness; but, we look toward the day when all our brothers and sisters in Christ will be united around our Lord's Table.

Imagine what it would be like to come forward to receive the elements today with brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world.

You might see the minister wearing a stole like I am this morning that was a gift from Mar Inong, our minister friend from the Philippines.

Or wearing a cross like the one I wear from the Presbyterian Church in Cuba.

In front of you might be a Korean man. Good chance he would be a Presbyterian. Notice how differently he looks and when he speaks how strange his native language sounds to our ears.

Directly behind you might be an African woman, dressed in brightly colored clothing. Perhaps she is from the desert areas of Africa with her black skin well worn from the blowing sands.

Behind her is a Colombian. Maybe he looks something like Mario and he is from the North Coast presbytery in Colombia, our sister presbytery. His rhythmic Spanish rolls of his lips.

Up ahead are two Italian Catholic girls. They have recently celebrated their first communion and today is their first time to come forward during a regular mass. They anxiously look around to make sure they are doing it correctly. The excitement of youthfulness flows out of them.

As far as you can see, the parade of people coming to our Lord's Table broadens the image of God in which we were created beyond anything we could imagine.

World Communion is about claiming our connection to all those people.

Move 1: But I want to reflect for a few moments on a subset of that larger group.  A group not connected by their common look or language, but a group connected by their hunger.

a. A group of people who, to quote the Archbishop of Canterbury, are “really hungry and can smell fresh bread a mile a way.” (59) Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, Sara Miles

1. People who are coming to our Lord's Table because they are starving to find some hope.

2. People who come to our Lord's Table desperately seeking the Risen Christ.

3. Maybe you know someone like that.

4. Maybe you are someone like that.

b. Someone like the hemorrhaging woman we read about in the Gospel of Mark.

1. She has tried all the physicians, and none of them can heal her.

2. She has used all her money to find help, but has not found it yet.
   
   
   3.  I suspect that Jesus is not the first person whom she has visited in hopes that they could heal her.

100. maybe she has heard about Christ.

1. that he is the son of God.

2. that he has been performing miracles and healing people.
   
   
   3.  We do not know why she has chosen Jesus, but there she is pushing through the crowds, desperately seeking his healing powers,.

4.  She is not even asking for him to lay on hands or perform some ritual. She just wants to touch his clothes.

5. And she does. And she is healed.

Move 2: This is his Table.

a. This the Table of the one who heals her.

1. This is the place where we meet the Risen Christ.

2. This is where we receive by the power of the Holy Spirit, the life transforming gift of Christ's body and blood.

b. We cannot explain it.

1. I cannot explain to you how the hemorrhaging woman was healed.

2. I cannot tell you how the Risen Christ will transform the lives of those who meet him at this Table.

3. But I can invite you to join with other people who desperately need the power of our Risen Lord to transform their live; to join with them as we come to our Lord's Table.

Conclusion: For some, the journey to the Table is merely an exercise.

I suspect for some who stood in the crowds that day with Jesus, it was just an afternoon wasted.

But, for some, the journey to our Lord's Table will bring them healing and hope.

Let me finish with Ara Miles description of the first time she came to our Lord's Table. She writes: “I still can't explain my first communion. It made no sense. I was in tears and physically unbalanced.: I felt as if I had just stepped off a curb or been knocked over, painlessly, from behind. The disconnect between what I thought was happening – I was eating a piece of bread; what I heard someone else say was happening – the piece of bread was the “body” of “Christ,” a patently untrue or at best metaphorical statement; and what I knew was happening – God, named “Christ,” or “Jesus,” was real, and in my mouth – utterly short-circuited my ability to do anything but cry”(59) Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, Sara Miles

come, the risen Lord invites you to his Table.

Amen.