Reflection and Poem for 6th Sunday after Pentecost Church of the Holy Trinity, Hertford, NC
Thomas E Wilson, Guest Celebrant June 30, 2024
What Is In The Way, Is The Way
2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27 Psalm 130 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 Mark 5:21-43
A couple weeks ago, I was leading a Dream Group, where people come together to share their dreams. We tend to believe that dreams are what what one author called “Unopened Letters From God” There are so many times in scripture when a person is given a dream from God to help them find a new way of responding to occasions in life. Years ago, my wife and I took some educational time off and attended some conferences and workshops about Dream Work within the context of a spiritual journey. This week Joanne Seibert, who went to these conferences, wrote:
Many believe God is the dream maker who speaks to us in the language of dreams at night. However, my experience is that only in a dream group can I find meaning. Looking back on what I thought this dream meant, the answer was obvious, but only other people could see it.
experience is that only in a dream group can I find meaning. Looking back on what I thought this dream meant, the answer was obvious, but only other people could see it.
We set up dream groups in our parish and Pat took a couple groups of women and I took a group of men The task to share your dream and the other members listen and ask questions and then share, “If this were my dream, I would hear the message as . . . .!” Notice we do not act as experts and say what the other persons' dreams means, but what it would be saying to a member of the group who was hearing the Spirit speak to them. Women were better at sharing and growing deeper in the Spirit; men usually competed on who was the smartest and what “SHOULD” be the correct answer; generally wasting time.
Pat's groups continued to grow and thrive. But, much later, when she got weaker, she cut back. When she died, I was asked to take over a remaining group. I stalled in mourning, but after awhile I agreed. This last meeting, one of the women, reflecting on what she was hearing said, “It is just like what I was told once, 'What is in the way, is the Way.'”
I thought about that phrase the rest of the day, the rest of the week. To use that old British slang I was “Gobsmacked”. “Gob” is a British slang for “mouth” and “smacked” meaning “hit”: It literally left me breathless, as if I was slugged in the mouth I was reminded of the time in the mid 1970's, when I was in Grad school and when I first heard that Lyric from Suzanne by Leonard Cohen; in the second chorus after referring to Jesus. I had been attending church but sneeringly avoiding faith, but then I understood that my own so-called wisdom was getting in the way of understanding the Jesus message.
And he spent a long time watching
From his lonely wooden tower
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see him
He said, "All men will be sailors then
Until the sea shall free them"
But he himself was broken
Long before the sky would open
Forsaken, almost human
He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone
“What is in the way is the way!”
When I looked at these lessons, I realized that a theme that spoke to me was these lessons are about people waiting for healing. In the Gospel, Jesus the sailor, is dragged off the boat and dragged through the crowds. The officials in charge want the people to deal with the reality of death and despair. They want Jesus to stay on the boat. But the crowd longs for Jesus to get off the boat to heal them or the people they loved. There are those who find themselves blocked by grief, or pain, or whatever, from moving toward healing; wanting their bodies or the bodies of those they loved to be healed. But the blockage of the crowds IS the door to go through if healing is to begin. “What is in the way, is the way!”
And in the way, that is the way: a woman is healed because because she thinks if only she can, only touch the hem of his garment, she will be healed. And, she stretches, and pushes and yells, for all she is worth; for her life is her worth; she is healed. Just the hem of his garment is all she is able to touch; but it is enough. The touch is the commitment for life, making the effort to live, or die, in hope, “What is in the way, is the way!”
Jesus makes it to the young girl's house; and all the people who are in charge tell him it is too late. Like the Doctor in the office who says we are no longer seeing patients. But office hours, or crush of patients, or the advice of experts melts away and the girl hears the phrase of healing “Talitha Cum”, “Rise little girl!” an invitation to be made whole: “What is in the way, is the way!”
In the Psalm for
today, 130, De Profundis: “Out of the depths have I called to you,
O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice; *let your ears consider well the
voice of my supplication.” This is the call of many of us when we
want God to listen and fix the problem. When nothing seems to be
fixed according to our time table, we tend to get angry about God
not acting fast enough and we spend so much time and energy,
complaining about God that we just don't get around to listening. The
healing is in the listening. In is in the entering of the present
moment of prayer that healing finds a way in. “What is in the way,
is the Way.”
Joan Chittister, an American Benedictine nun, Spiritual leader and author, urges that we use silence to listen in the present moment. She quotes a Sufi master of living intentionally in the present moment. “Awareness of the power of the present is the essence of the contemplative life. ‘Oh wonder of wonders,’ the Sufi master says, ‘I chop wood, I draw water from the well.'”;even in the mundane task of chopping wood, but being fully aware of God's presence, he is able to fill his spiritual well in his once empty heart. “What is in the way, is the Way.”
We see this in the story of David, who has been fleeing from Saul's mania and now two people whom David loved, Saul and his Son Jonathan, are both dead. David laments the loss of his dear friends, from whom he was so estranged and cries out in pain in his heart; “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished!' When he enters into the awareness of God's presence with him; he praises their valor and mourns their loss. He is losing people who were his enemies; but they were the same people he loved and knew that, underneath, he was loved and beloved by them. “What is in the way, is the Way.”
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians reading for today, is urging his congregation to be generous in helping others and he refers to the Exodus miracle of the Manna in the wilderness. The word “Manna”, which is the Hebrew word for “What is it?” was the word they used to refer to the bread like substance that looked unappetizing laying on the ground. The manna was all over the ground. It was blocking their way, they can't even walk without stepping on it; BUT when they picked it up; it tasted like honey and filled their hunger: Paul quotes the writer of the Exodus story: “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” God gives us what we need to get through what we go through. “What is in the way, is the Way.”
In my own life. I wanted Pat to be healed and back in my everyday life. Death comes to us all and it is not a sign of sloth in faith. I miss her every day, but we loved each other. It is not the number of days that is as important as the love shared in the days we have. Each day we are to love each other, “for richer , for poorer, in sickness and in health.” The vow to love usually ends “until we are separated by death”. To which I would add, what I have learned “ . . . and even beyond being separated by death.” “What is in the way, is the Way.”
What is in your way? May you find; “What is in the way, is the way.”
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