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| Homily - August 17, 2008 Scripture: Ps 133 When we think about healing, we often think about personal healing. But in the Christian tradition there is much more to it. Corporate healing is as important as personal healing. Psalm 133 speaks to that corporate healing. How good it is when kindred live together in unity. It is like blessings overflowing; it is like being anointed with healing oil that pours down over us. Unity is like the dew in the morning, fresh and life giving. That is indeed what God has promised us – life forevermore. And unity gets us one step closer to that life forevermore. This unity is wholeness for all of God’s people and all of creation. When we are unified, then there can be no hatred, no them versus us, no violence, no war. There is only peace, justice, love and joy. How good it is when kindred live together in unity! We need unity in our community, in our country, in our world. We need the goodness that results from our living in wholemaking ways with each other. We need the kindness, the sharing, the abundant life that comes with unity. We read in Romans that all of creation is groaning for this unity and so it is right that as we gather to pray for healing and wholeness, that we remember the healing of the world. And so today as we pray for the world and for ourselves, we will pray for healing and well-being. As we do so, we will join the host of saints who have sought healing and wholeness in the church since the beginning. As we pray for healing and wholeness – that which brings well-being and health for all people – we will stand in the line of the faithful for generations. As we come forward or remain in our pews, we will do what the church does because we follow Jesus the great healer and because we love God, the one who desires unity for all of creation. May our prayers this day, be gathered up into God’s outstretched arms and held close. And may God bring hope, healing, and the binding up of our wounds so that we can in turn bind up the wounds of the world. Thanks be to God, Amen. Wendy Neff, August 17, 2008 |
Presbytery of East Tennessee