Thank you everyone for the wonderful turn out for pancakes, sausage, fellowship and jazz. Thank you to Pam for decorations. Thank you to Jim, Thom and Page for the wonderful cooking. And thank you to the jazz players – wonderful music.

St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church has welcomed the students in the DePauw Community Service program as partners in the work of the Putnam County Non-Food Pantry.

Students Sharon Maes, Courtney Crosby and Sandra Bertin helped out in late January. These students encouraged other DePauw students to join them in supporting the project. At the DePauw Community Service Fair, 23 students expressed interest in the program.

These students will help transporting cases of items for the pantry, as well as organizing the pantry, preparing the bags for the clients and distributing items. They also plan to have a drive to collect donations to the pantry from the DePauw students.

Maes, Crosby and Bertin will serve as the coordinators of the DePauw group.

The organizers of the pantry appreciate the students’ willingness to work with this project.

In the month of January the Pantry also had help from the 4-H group led by Gayle Hansen and donations collected by the FFA at North Putnam and South Putnam High Schools and Putnam County Hospital led by Jennifer Bedwell, along with several contributions and donations by individuals in the community.

The poverty level in Putnam County has grown to 13.1 percent overall and 17 percent among children 18 years and younger. In the month of January they pantry served more than 130 households, so community assistance is always needed.

The pantry needs items such as paper products, household cleaners, personal toiletry items and baby and toddler care items.

Pantry volunteers are happy to receive donations at the church office, 520 E. Seminary St., Tuesday through Friday. They will also pick up items.

Monetary donations are welcome as the pantry is then able to purchase products at lower prices by buying in bulk.

Contact persons include Mary Mountz at 655-2113, Joan Davis at 653-3445, Martha Rainboltat 653-8060 and the St. Andrew’s Church office at 653-3921.

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2 Kings 5:1-14; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45; Psalm 30

Truth, justice and the American way.  All will be well if only we seek truth and justice and the American form of democracy prevails throughout the world. All of us know that it isn’t really so, even though we may want it to be. Justice is too often what we think is fair – even if others don’t share that same sense of fairness.  Justice too often is mixed up with vengeance or revenge. “Someone once said, ‘Life after all is fair. Ultimately it breaks everybody’s hearts.”[1] We are in a place and time when, as a president said at his Inaugural, “it is time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.”[2] It is our turn to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off and continue the work of building God’s realm here on earth.

For many, these are hard times. It might be because the husband of a friend lost his job and with it the family’s sole source of income. Someone else is, in the words of the hospital staff, engaged in “active dying.” And another friend’s life has gone skidding off the rails of her life in rather  spectacular and harmful ways. Life is fair- it breaks all of our hearts at different times and at different places and in different ways.  So where is God in these situations – and in the situations many of you live with? What do you hold on to when life gets tough? Why isn’t Jesus – or even Elisha – here now to heal our loved ones?

The lessons today contrast strength and weakness. Illness and health.  Belief and unbelief. They also remind us that healing is ultimately God’s work. Healing and curing are two different things even though we often use the words as synonyms. Naaman was a great man and in high favor with the king. This passage reminds us that even the great and the favored get sick. And, leprosy was an especially difficult illness. If you were an Israelite with leprosy, you were cut off from society because you were considered ritually unclean. That might be why Elisha did not come out to meet Naaman. It might also be to remind us that God works in ways that we do not always understand. Naaman’s pride was hurt because Elisha did not come out to see him – but Elisha did not need to do so for the cure to be effective. Elisha did not need to pander to Naaman’s pride or because Naaman was admittedly a great man in high favor with his master. God is present whether we see God or not.

We are often like Naaman, I suspect. We want fireworks or at least special treatment because of who we are in this world. And when we don’t get the response we think is due us, we tend to pout or to slough it off with an “it doesn’t matter” attitude. It does matter. It matters greatly that we understand who and whose we are. We each have gifts and talents – and sometimes even spectacular gifts and talents. But each of us is just the same when God looks at us. God loves each of us just as we are. We are the ones who have such trouble believing that God loves us, warts and all. That God loves us even as we hide our failings from others and, too often, even from ourselves.

Naaman finally comes to his senses when his servant speaks to him. If what we are asked to do is difficult, we will – generally and for the most part- dust ourselves off and pick ourselves up. We’re important. We’ve been asked to do something difficult. But what if what we’re asked to do is to trust? What if what we’re asked to do we consider to be simple and not difficult? Do we distrust something because it appears to be simple? Have you ever said: that can’t be right; it’s too simple. Or it’s too easy.  And yet, doing what we define as simple can be the most difficult of all.

To be present with someone who is dying. We can’t make it better. We can’t fix everything. Sometimes we are to be silent and to sit with one another through the tough times. And sometimes the tough times don’t get better like Naaman did or the leper that Jesus healed.  Sometimes people we love die. And sometimes people we love do things that we just don’t understand. Part of what we need to learn is to distinguish between what is God’s work and what is ours.

You may remember the scripture about Jesus being asked about paying taxes: to God or to Rome. And Jesus asked for a coin of the realm- a coin that had the image of Caesar on it. Jesus said to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s – and to God what is God’s. The catch is that everything is first and foremost God’s, not ours.  When we are tempted to fret because life isn’t fair, we are called to pray and to remember Jesus’ words:  not my will but yours.  To trust that servant voice that lets us know that there is one who can heal us. To hear that servant voice that reminds us that “pride goes before a fall.” Or, in the inimitable words of T.D. Jakes “get over yourself.” Have you ever failed to listen to the voice of someone you thought couldn’t possibly know what they were talking about because you had the experience or the expertise or the education?   And somehow, looking back at a later point in time, you see that they were right after all. And you kick yourself because you were too prideful to listen.

Earlier I reminded us that healing and curing can be two different things. Curing is the realm of medicine. We seek a cure for illness. Curing essentially and fundamentally deals with our physical bodies. We do depend, and rightly so, on those who have studied medicine- those who are experts. We trust them to figure out what is wrong with us and to prescribe treatment. But sometimes those treatments don’t work. Sometimes doctors and nurses do all they can and the patient dies. Curing is limited – it is human work. Healing is God’s work. And sometimes healing is not the curing of the physical body or mind. Sometimes the healing is our repentance and God’s love and forgiveness.  Sometimes healing is washing in the waters of the Jordan River – apparently not as mighty a river as the Abana and the Pharpar. Sometimes healing doesn’t come with fireworks or an affirmation that we are a great man or woman and held in high favor by those around us. Sometimes healing is a quiet act in obedience to the voice of one we trust.

Naaman was told to go and wash in the Jordan seven times. If he did so, his flesh would be restored and he would be clean. He could be part of society once again. The River Jordan was part of God’s creation. It provided the means to cure his illness and to heal his break with society. Naaman would be restored if only he listened to the servant voice. Naaman would be restored to his community if he followed the words of the prophet Elisha. In the case of the leper that Jesus healed, the man was cured by Jesus stretching out his hand and touching him. The man asked.  Jesus acted. In this case, the washing came after the cure. The man was to show himself to the priest and to offer for his cleansing what Moses had commanded. Ritual cleansing was an important part of the man being restored to his community. The man was truly healed only after he was restored to his community once more. He was healed once he was able to worship God in the manner of the Israelites at that time.

Each week we come to the Table. We partake of bread and wine that represent the body and blood of Jesus. Through these acts we are offered the chance to be healed. We are encouraged to come to the Table for strength as well as for solace. All that we need is here at this Table- the bread and wine of true and ending life with God. Doctors may cure. Jesus heals. Come, all you that are heavy laden – God is waiting for you. God offers forgiveness and redemption. God chooses, like Jesus did in the story of the leper, to make us clean – and we will be made clean if we so choose in response. Will you join me at the Table?

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“I’m so sorry, but you can’t see and you can’t walk, so you can’t be an acolyte.” A knee-jerk reaction that too often is “we can’t do that” or “we’ve never done it that way.” It’s comfortable to do things the way we have always done them. It’s safer to do things the way we were taught- we don’t have to think. We don’t have to stretch. We don’t have to trust God to show us a new way.

The prophet Isaiah chides us: “Have you not seen? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? (Is. 40:21). God is not stopped even if we are blind and even if we can’t walk. Even when all appears lost and we are in despair, God is present and can do wonderous things. Imagine, for a moment, that you are expecting guests for dinner and you take sick. There’s no time for you to call and tell your son, “Simon, go to John’s house. I’m too sick to prepare the dinner.”  The guests are already here and you’re stuck in bed, too sick to even get up and go downstairs to greet them.

Jesus, the stranger for all we know to Simon and Andrew’s mother, comes to her bedside and raises her up. How many of us would let someone we don’t know into our bedroom when we are sick? The embarrassment and shame of not being able to do our part to welcome our son’s friends must have been great. But Jesus comes in anyway. Don’t you just hear the mother (or yourself), “oh, I’ll be fine; you just go ahead and have dinner. Don’t worry about me.” Jesus ignores her and goes straightaway to her bedside. And he raises her up. And she then goes to serve them. She is restored to her place in the family and as host.

It would have been easy to say “I’m so sorry, but you’re sick so you can’t host this dinner.” But that’s not what Jesus is willing to hear or to let happen. Jesus goes to where there is need and he raises her up. She is restored to health and to her role as mother of two of the disciples.

One of the ways in which we can live out the gospel is to look beyond the norm – to look beyond the initial and often automatic knee-jerk “so sorry, but we’ve never done it that way” (with the unsaid: “and we’re not going to change for you”).

So often in the gospels we read about Jesus’ healing ministry. He heals the sick, the lame, the blind and the ones possessed by demons. Healing is good- but it’s not all the Jesus accomplishes with his touch or with his words. He heals in mind as well as in body. He restores people to independence and to their place in their family and their society. He looks for ways to say “yes” rather than “no.” He is willing to take a chance to give someone life.

Victor is blind and Victor can’t walk. But Victor is a faithful member of his parish who wanted to serve. Who wanted to be an acolyte- a person who carries the cross or the torch, who serves at the altar, who is recognized in a role that is important in our worship. Victor wanted a chance to glorify God despite his physical limitations. Fortunately for Victor, the acolyte master saw possibility where others might not have taken the time – or had the love and the faith in God – to look for what Victor could do rather than focusing on what he could not do. Fortunately for Victor, the rector, too, was willing to look into what might be rather than be constrained by what had always been done.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard?” Isaiah reminds the Israelites captive in Babylon that God is present even in the darkest times. God is transcendent – above all the earth and who can make the rulers as nothing. God is immament – or close by us and here and now, “giving power to the faint and strength to the powerless” (Is. 40: 29). “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint (Is. 40:31).

Eagles are symbols in many different ways. An eagle is one of our national symbols because it is perceived to be strong, fearless, and a ruler of the skies. It is also a religious symbol. In many Episcopal churches, the lectern base is of an Eagle with outspread wings- symbolizing the spread of the gospel. It is also the symbol of St. John.

One of the hymns that celebrate the words of the prophet Isaiah is by Michael Joncas, the first verse of which is:

You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: ‘My refuge, my rock in whom I trust’. And I will raise you up on eagle’s wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand.[2]

No matter what your challenges, no matter that we haven’t done something that way before, if we dwell in the shelter of the Lord, then God will raise us up on eagle’s wings and bear us on the breath of dawn and make us to shine like the sun all the while holding us in the palm of God’s hand.

Remember Victor, the young boy who was blind and couldn’t walk – but still wanted to serve the Lord by being an acolyte? Well, thank goodness for people who looked for a way through. Thank goodness for people who see the Lord’s hand in the challenges before us. Victor is an acolyte. Yes, accommodations had to be made to give Victor his dream. But people saw a “yes” where so many others might have simply said “no” because that was easier.

Victor carries the cross on Sunday mornings. Someone thought to make a holder at the bottom of his wheelchair into which the cross could be placed. And someone else volunteered to push Victor’s wheelchair. And someone else helps Victor receive the bread and the wine. The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The cup of salvation for one who though weak in body is yet strong in faith. The bread of new life for one who knows God is his refuge and his rock. One who has trust that God will raise him up on eagle’s wings and bear him on the breath of dawn to shine like the sun. Victor is held in the palm of God’s hand.

Verity Jones reminds us that the “meaning of life is not often revealed on a mountaintop . We get to know how God works in the world through years of living with God and God’s people.”[3] I give thanks for the people of St. Aiden’s, Milton, GA who saw in Victor someone who loved God and wanted to serve – and worked to find a way to “yes.” Trusting in the Lord that the dream of this young man – challenged in so many ways- could come true. And they are blessed and we are blessed because someone said “yes”.

As you leave this place and go forth into the world, keep your eyes and ears open for ways that we are being asked to say “yes.” God is our strength and our refuge. God will raise you up on eagle’s wings and you are set free through your faith in God to be a witness to the healing power of God’s love – even in the most unlikely persons and places. Even in you!

Moses is near the end of his time with the Israelites. He knows that he will not enter the Promised Land with them. His role was to take the people out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness where the people began to cohere into a community that worshipped one God, and to the next point of their lives together as a people. Moses has served as the intermediary for the people throughout this time. He has been a prophet in the sense that God has communicated with Moses and Moses has relayed those conversations to the people. The people had earlier decided that they were not strong enough to speak with God directly and had asked Moses to fill the role of intermediary. Moses is a prophet in the best sense of the word.

In Hebrew, one of the words used in connection with a prophet is “nabi” which means “to bubble forth.”[1] The Word of God spoken to Moses bubbled forth from him to the people. The people’s response was to listen and to respond. It reminds us of Jesus’ saying “those with ears, listen” which often was the closing line of a parable.

One writer puts the role of prophet as follows: “the great task assigned to the prophets whom God raised up among the people was ‘to correct moral and religious abuses, to proclaim the great moral and religious truths which are connected with the character of God, and which lie at the foundation of his government.’ The whole Word of God may in this general sense be spoken of as prophetic, inasmuch as it was written by men who received the revelation they communicated from God, no matter what its nature might be. The foretelling of future events was not a necessary but only an incidental part of the prophetic office.”[2]

The Jewish faith views prophecy not as a gift that is arbitrarily conferred upon people but rather as the culmination of a person’s spiritual and ethical development. Likewise, the prophetic gift leaves a person if that person acts in ways contrary to their spiritual and ethical teachings or knowledge.[3] Abraham Joshua Heschel, one of the great writers and thinkers of the 20^th century said that prophets are characterized by theotropism – God turning towards humanity”.[4] Think of the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling with its famous fresco of God reaching out towards Adam. God reaching out to us – then and now. So, prophets old and today are persons raised up from their own community who: (a) know the community’s mores and needs, and (b) who can see where their own community has gone astray and call that community back to right relationship with God. In many ways, our Search Committee is our very own Prophet- a committee raised up out of this community who knows us and is discerning what we need to remain in right relationship with God and who is seeking a rector who will help us live into that relationship in ways that are healthy and fruitful.

There is a downside to being a false prophet, though. God tells Moses, and Moses tells the people: those who prophesy falsely shall die. Beware, then, when prophesying that what you are saying is consistent with what you know about God. This is not a time to be saying things to guild your own pocket – for your own advancement. This is not always about the future- and indeed today we probably don’t listen very well to those who foretell the future. Indeed, we look with skepticism and sorrow as so-called prophets who led their followers to death and destruction. Think about Jim Jones and those who drank the poisoned kool-aid. Or David Koresh and Branch Davidian. We have plenty examples of so-called prophets-gone-wrong where they and others suffer death or destruction.

And, we have examples of those who are true to the God we know, in so far as we can ever know God. For me, I have only to think about Martin Luther King, Jr. who called us all to a better world where one day little Black boys and girls could play with little white boys and girls. We have not reached the fullness of his vision, but we are moving in the direction he called us to. To be a prophet does not mean you are other than human, and with being human come flaws. To call someone a modern day prophet does not elevate them to divinity. Rather, to call someone a modern day prophet means that, as far as I can tell, that person is calling me to account for where I have strayed from the vision of God. To call me to account for those instances where I have been less than just or less than merciful.

Moses has been a faithful prophet to the people of Israel. But he knows that his time in this role is passing away. He is preparing the people for their new life in the Promised Land by warning them to be aware of new prophets. To think for themselves, to analyze and ponder what a new prophet says. To ask the hard questions: is what this person entreating me to be and to do consistent with what I know about God and God’s desire for humankind. This is not about whether we will prosper- whether we will always have a good job and health and our families grow strong in. A prophet is sometimes- but infrequently- about the future. A prophet is about calling us to account for today’s actions and beliefs so that we might be righteous before the Lord.

Do not be afraid to speak out. Do not be afraid when others speak to you. Prophecy can be hard to hear when we have gone astray. But the benefits of metanoia- of turning around, of repentance for actions that have taken us from God- are worth everything. Come to me all you that are heavy  laden and I will give you rest. The finger and the hand of God are outstretched – God is waiting for us to listen to true prophets. To respond to the call to live with justice and mercy towards all.

And, not recognizing God’s voice, Samuel runs to his mentor, Eli. “Eli, what do you need?” Eli, puzzled I’m sure, says to Samuel: “I did not call you. Go back to sleep.” And this happens a second time – and then a third. Like Moses, Ezekiel and Isaiah, we don’t often hear God when called the first time. We’re often asleep- literally or figuratively. But the third time, Eli realizes it must be God calling Samuel. Eli instructs Samuel how to respond to God’s call: “Here I am, Lord.” Famous words – the response each of us should give when God calls. And what God, and then Eli, asks of Samuel is a hard thing sometimes: to tell the truth even though it may be hard to hear. Eli hears that God will punish Eli and his house because Eli did not act when he knew his sons were profaning God’s temple. Perhaps the first test of Samuel: Listen. Tell the truth even when it is hard to hear. Tell the truth with love and compassion.

“To be called by God is an act of spiritual intimacy” according to Joseph Price.[1] To be called by God “means that God knows one’s name and in knowing one’s name, exercises a powerful influence on the person. To be called by God also indicates a need for immediate response because the Almighty has indeed summoned one to a specific vocation or course of action.” Who are the ministers of the church today? Our catechism says that the ministers of the church are first the laity and only then priests, deacons and bishops. So it is right that you have selected from among yourselves a group to work on your behalf to search out and then for the Vestry, the elected leadership of the parish, to call the next rector for St. Andrew’s. Today we celebrate the five lay persons that have heard God’s call. We are raising up leaders – yes, people who have served this parish in leadership roles in the past but who now have accepted new positions of leadership and who have said “yes” to God.

Those of you nominated by the parish, and those of you who accepted that nomination, have heard the call of God and of your peers to step into a new ministry and into new leadership roles. The work you are about to undertake is extremely important to the future of this parish. You are working, not solely on your own behalf, not solely because you represent one of the diverse segments of this parish, but in response to God’s call to discern the needs of this parish going forward and then to search out a priest who can lead the parish as the next rector. You are deliberately a diverse group. Younger – older. Female-male. Long-time member and newer member. Ones with children grown and ones with children at home. Town or gown. Our hope is that this diversity will enrich the work you are to do on behalf of this parish. Listen carefully to the opinions of others. There is wisdom in each of you- more than you perhaps know.

To those on the Search Committee, one of your tasks will be to envision the future of St. Andrew’s. To discern the traits and qualities needed in the next rector. You are not a head hunter in the typical business sense because you are not seeking a CEO but rather a spiritual leader. The tasks to be performed and the qualities needed have some similarities to those sought in a business but they also go far beyond a traditional business model. The person you will be seeking must be a spiritual leader and a pastor to the parish, not simply one who can read a financial statement and who focuses on the bottom line (although these can be part of the package). To do your job as a member of the Search Committee will require time, patience and prayer.

For those not on the Search Committee, you are also being called by God. Be present at events designed to assist the Search Committee. Be willing to share your stories, your hopes and your dreams. Have the courage to speak the truth with love about what draws you to St. Andrew’s and what keeps you here. Have the courage to speak the truth with love to share also what frustrates you about St. Andrew’s. How has this church and its mission changed over time and how does that impact you? Where has the church let you down? Both pros and cons are important to ensure that when the Parish Profile is completed it is an honest account both of the strengths and the growing edges. This will take time, patience and prayer.

Like Samuel’s life after he answered that call in the night, our lives will most likely have ups and downs during the time period the Search Committee works. There will most likely be disagreements and disappointments. There will be times we are called to speak the truth with love- with care and compassion for the one to whom we are speaking when we know our thoughts, our wishes, our hopes for this parish are different. That doesn’t make them wrong. In fact, our differing dreams for this parish work to make it stronger and more representative of the body of Christ. Legs and arms and eyes and ears are not the same – but they are each a necessary part of the whole.

During the time of first exploration to the time of ordination, a candidate is likely to hear the phrase: “trust the process” more than once. This, too, is a time where you may hear the phrase: “trust the process.” It works although we may not see exactly how until after the new rector is called. The Search Committee will be keeping us apprised of their work in general, although not in specifics. It is important to honor the need for confidentiality, especially when the Search Committee moves into the period when they evaluate and interview potential candidates and then recommend one candidate to the Vestry.

Whether on the Search Committee or not, prayer is necessary to our work together. Whether the time from today until the new rector is called is long or short, prayer is necessary for each of us in our varying roles and responsibilities as well as for those who are interviewed and then the one who is selected. None of us knows, at this point, whether the Search Process will be long or short. We can trust, however, that God is walking with us. That God requires of us that we love our neighbors – those sitting next to us in the pew or those who are unable to join us in the pew- who have differing hopes and dreams for this parish. Trust the process. It works.