Scripture: Luke 13

            She walked in to the synagogue same as she had for years.  She walked in and took her place among the others.  She never expected what happened next. 

            He was there teaching, preaching when she caught his eye.  Who knows why - there were lots of people there that day, but she stood out.  Maybe it was because she wasn't like the others.  Maybe it was because she was tired and worn out and he could sense it.  He hadn't planned on making such a scene, but there she was and it just happened.

            For at least 18 years she looked at the world differently than others - not because she wanted to, not because she chose to but because she had to.  Something had happened to her back and she was permanently bent over.  She walked as if she was carrying an enormous burden and because she was so hunched over, when she looked straight ahead she looked at people's knees.  She saw the world at that level.  And if she wanted to look at you, she had to turn her head in an akward way - sideways and up.  It was a strange vantage point really.  Her perspective had become warped from looking sideways for so many years.  But she couldn't really imagine anything else anymore - this had been the way it was for so long, she had forgotten what it felt like to stand up straight and see people straight on. 

            He saw her and wanted to talk to her.  He wanted her to come to him, but there was no way he was going to get her attention.  She couldn't really see him and so trying to motion to her was useless.  He didn't know her name, so he couldn't call out to her.  He had to go to her.  He had to go to her, bend low at the waist and twist his head so that he could see her eye to eye.  So he did.  He went to her, contorted his body to match hers and told her she was set free from her ailment.  He touched her and it was so.

            She hadn't stood straight for more than 18 years.  Yet here she was.  Immediately after he had looked her eye to eye, touched her and told her she was free, she felt different.  She felt free, lighter somehow and she stood up straight.  She didn't even have to think about it  - it was as if it took no effort, as if she hadn't been bound by that ailment for all those years.  She stood straight and looked him in the eye and the praise tumbled from her mouth.  She couldn't contain herself - she was free and God was great.

            He didn't plan on starting an argument that day.  He didn't even think it would be a consequence of freeing the woman from what bound her.  But all the same, it happened.  He goes to the woman, touches her, liberates her from that bent over posture and the religious guy yells 'you're breaking the rules.  Don't heal on the Sabbath.  Wait until the next day.'  Are you kidding me?  That is just what he thinks and then he lets loose.  He reminds the religious guy that it is lawful to untie the ox, to let him have a drink on the Sabbath, so why is it not ok to free this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been bound for 18 years, why is it not ok to free her on the Sabbath.  His point was made and everyone began rejoicing about this man and what he was doing.

            The woman was burdened by a physical ailment, what burdens you?  What burdens do we carry every day?   What weighs you down so much that you feel bent at the waist?  Cares for family, concern for friends, unhappiness, a lack of fulfillment, financial stress, uncertain futures?  What is it that has us so bent over that our perspective is out of whack?  Wouldn't it be great to hear, you are free of that.  Whatever it is that ails you is now gone, you are no longer bound by that fear or uncertainty, by that regret or dissatisfaction - YOU are FREE. 

What burdens the church?  What weighs down the church so that it, we, are bent under the weight of the burden?  Are we weighed down by maintaining the institution or by expectations of money or numbers in the pews or by the need to survive?  Maybe we are bent over by longings for yesteryear and fears of the future.  Does our unease with the direction of the larger church or our desire for something different have us weighed down so that we can only see our feet?

What would it be like to be set free from all of that? To be unbound from all that holds us captive, holds us back, keeps us looking down.  Stand up - you are free.  That is what Jesus says as he bends over to look in our tired, crooked eyes.  You are free - stand up, Jesus says as he touches the tired back of the church.  You are free from all that weighs you down, all that burdens you.  You are free to be the church, to follow me, to praise God. 

When we stand up we can see clearly, we can see where God is leading, we can see what work God has for us to do.  We can see and we can go and we can be the Church of Jesus Christ that offers compassion and care, love and healing, companionship and nurture.   When we are unbound we are able to see beyond our fears, our longings for a past day.  We are able to imagine the future, to try the new thing, to give of ourselves in Jesus' name. 

When we are unbound, individually and corporately, we are free.  We don't have to carry the burdens any longer - we don't have to walk hunched over.  We don't have to hold onto grudges or focus only on the differences we have.  We no longer are bound to certainties of doctrine or practice.  We are freed from the worries of who is in and who is out, of how many people are or are not in the pews.  We are free from all of that and we are unbound so that we may praise God.

We don't have to be afraid of what is in store for us when we stand up and let go of our burdens, of what God has for us to do because God will give us all we need to do the ministry, to care, to share, to love.  God will inspire us to worship and sing praise in new ways as well as old.  God will open us up to all that God has in store for us when we are unbound. 

But be ready for just as quickly as Jesus unbinds us, as we let go of that which weighs us down, as we stand up and begin to praise God, just as quickly someone will come and say we can't do it.  We can't stand up straight.  We can't offer praise in this way.  We can't do church this way.  It is not the way we do it here.  We have never done things that way before.  That is not how the church works.  So be ready for those who are afraid to be unbound, those who have become so used to their bindings that they can't imagine life without them. Be ready for they will rush over and try to bind you, us, back up. 

Jesus comes to us and tells us we are free, but we have to choose to stand up, to give up those burdens. We have to let go of them to experience the freedom that is ours, to know what it feels like to be unbound.  Let go and imagine the church unbound.  Praise God!

Wendy Neff, August 22, 2010