St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
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Interdependence! Mark 5:21-43 July 2, 2006 (Click the date to see the bulletin)
1. We are in the midst of a great celebration! It actually began last Friday. I started seeing short sticks stuck in the ground with American flags waving from their tops. People all up and down the streets (including us) began hanging American flags on their homes. The man across the street from us had a party last night. We at St. Andrew’s will have a picnic after worship. And by Tuesday, there will have been more picnics and parades and concerts and fireworks. Independence Day! A celebration to mark the day our young country declared its freedom from the tyranny our forebearers suffered under the rule of England. Independence! It’s a great thing! 2. Or is it? If independence is such a great thing, then why is there no model of independence in the Bible? Can you think of anybody who was a champion of independence? I can’t! Even God did not encourage independence. Over and over again, God said "I will be your God, and you will be my people." In fact, a thorough search of all the words in the Bible does not reveal even ONE instance of a word which means independence. Freedom and liberty, however, pop up everywhere, because they are inter-dependent. When God called Moses to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt, he made them free by teaching them how to cooperate, how to be interdependent. 3. If you still have your Bibles open, look again at these healing stories Mark recorded for us. Notice how many people become involved, and how their interdependence finally results in the healing of Jarius’ daughter and the unnamed woman who risked her own life to reach out and touch Jesus. God is the unseen essence in it all, of course; God, life itself; God, whose Spirit filled Jesus and enabled him to touch and heal. God is behind and between and over and above everyone in these stories, and together they work to make these women well. 4. Friday night we went to see the new Disney animated movie Cars. Have any of you seen it yet? If you haven’t, you must! It’s about cars, automobiles, as you might expect from its name. And the hero is a racing car, Lightening McQueen, who fancies himself ahead the rest, and doesn’t need anybody to help him win – "Get outta my way! He doesn’t need anybody . . . until the end of the Piston Cup race when two of his tires blow out and there is nobody to change them because his pit crew had gone home. He didn’t need them, why should he stay? No reason they could think of, so they left. Well, Lightening managed to cross the finish line on two good tires and two sparking, smoking wheel rims . . . at exactly the same moment as the two remaining cars. A three-way tie! The marshals decided they must have another race to determine who wins the Piston Cup. I won’t spoil it for you by giving away the ending, but suffice it to say that Lightening McQueen finally learns that interdependence is the way to live the good life, not independence. 5. I saw some of the same dynamics at work at our Presbyterian General Assembly two weeks ago. Not only did it take an enormous number of people work together just to solve the logistical nightmare of hosting three Presbyterian denominations . . . at the same time . . . in the same place. It also took over 500 commissioners from all 173 presbyteries to consider the business before this assembly. The ‘hottest" item was the Report of the Peace, Unity and Purity Task Force that I mentioned before I left. Those 20 people had spend four years, working together, to come to an agreement that keep our beloved Presbyterian Church together. Their first recommendation was that we stay together. Although we approved all their recommendations, I don’t know if everyone will stay together. There was one particular commissioner who was the "Lightening McQueen" of the Assembly. He is a New Testament professor at Pittsburgh Seminary, and he thinks he knows it all! He is not willing to listen to anyone else. He is totally independent. His is an exclusivist translation, one that fits his own prejudices that place some people "in" and others "out." His interpretation of the Bible is certainly not mine! His is independence at its very worst. I do not find independence anywhere in the Bible! God needs people, people need God, Jesus needs disciples, disciples need Jesus. We all need each other! For the Church to be true disciples of Jesus our Christ, we cannot leave anyone out! 6. There are some who will leave the Presbyterian Church, because in our freedom they can leave. There are some who have left St. Andrew’s over the years because their own needs were not being met. I always feel incredibly sad when that happens. Being Church is not about meeting my needs, or yours either, for that matter! Being Church is about following Jesus, the very image of God, of life as it should be lived. Being Church is about us! It’s about US staying together to make this congregation one that prays without ceasing, praying as if it all depended on God, and working together as if it all depended on us! 7. It took a lot of "usses" to free our country from the tyranny of England. It is right to celebrate that independence. And we will, together, right after we celebrate our interdependence around this table. The last sentence we read from Luke is the icing on the cake, so to speak. "Jesus said, ‘Give her something to eat.’" (Mark 5:43) So let’s eat. First around this Table of our Lord, and then around the tables of St. Andrew’s, with our Lord in our midst. |
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