Loving God, we hear about what you have done for people in the past, and sometimes find it hard to believe that your power is still at work today.  Grant us the vision to see what you can do through us and the faith to allow you to do it; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Sometimes I wonder if we truly believe in what the power of God can do.  Sometimes I wonder if we are even aware of the marvellous things that God would just love to do through us.  Sometimes I wonder how our vision has become so small.  We see problems instead of opportunities.  We see every difficulty as being somehow God’s personal attack against us, rather than seeing it as a time when in our weakness we will witness God’s strength.  We see what’s wrong instead of seeing how God has blessed us.

    This summer I heard a couple of presentations by Pastor Claude Houde from Montreal.  He spoke about renewing our vision, and he told a story about the congregation that he serves in Montreal - Église Nouvelle Vie, or New Life Church.  The leaders of that church gather every year for a time of prayer and fasting, seeking God’s vision for the coming year.  One year, during this gathering, there was a woman there who usually didn’t say too much, but who suddenly felt moved to pray.  She prayed that people in Montreal would know about their church and would be drawn there and would hear the good news of Jesus Christ.  She prayed that even the mayor of Montreal would come to their church.  Pastor Claude thought, “That’s good.  She’s thinking big!”, but he had no idea how this would actually happen.  At that time, they were a very small congregation.

    The very next day, their retreat time got cut short, as an ice storm hit Montreal and the surrounding area.  They all went home to be with their families, and soon the many needs of the people without electricity became apparent.  Since their congregation was meeting in a shopping mall at the time, there was a backup generator providing power.  Pretty soon they had people sleeping in their worship space and were providing whatever hot food and drinks to people that they could muster.  All kinds of people were coming to their church and receiving food and shelter in the name of Jesus Christ, and many of those same people came back later on to worship with them.

    A few months later, the congregation was presented with a thank you from the city of Montreal for all of their work during the ice storm – and guess who was there to present the thank you!  The mayor of Montreal came and joined them for worship – an obvious answer to a prayer spoken in faith and in hope.  Even though nobody had known how this woman’s prayer might get answered, her vision of what could happen there was absolutely fulfilled.  Once again, do we truly believe in what God can do?

    There are some people in today’s gospel who certainly believed.  The Syrophoenician woman who came to Jesus knew in her heart that God’s power was at work through Jesus and that he was the one who could heal her daughter.  She believed this so strongly that she crossed all kinds of barriers to get to Jesus.  Jesus was trying to keep a low profile, but that didn’t stop her.  In order to keep their purity, or cleanness, Jews were not supposed to be in the same house as Gentiles, but that didn’t stop her.  Respectable Jewish rabbis weren’t supposed to speak to women, either, but this didn’t bother her any.  Even Jesus’ indication that he is first to go to the Jewish people does not deter her from her request.

    This woman knows in her heart what God can do.  She knows that Jesus can heal her daughter, and she is going to get to him and make her request.  And Jesus sees her great faith, and heals her daughter.

    The others who come to Jesus with similar faith in today’s gospel are simply referred to as “they.”  “They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him” (Mk. 7:32).  They beg Jesus.  They will not take “no” for an answer.  They know that Jesus has the power to do what they ask.  And Jesus opens up the man’s tongue and his ears, and at once he can both speak and hear.

    The readings that we have for today contain some absolutely amazing statements of what the power of God can do.  According to Isaiah (35:4-7a), God has the power to save people.  God can open the eyes of the blind and open the ears of the deaf.  God can heal the lame and give the power of speech to the speechless.  God can bring forth water in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  Our God can do amazing things.

    And then, there is still more in Psalm 146.  God gives justice to those who are oppressed and food to those who are hungry.  God sets the captives free and lifts up those who have been beaten down and worn down.  God cares for those who are strangers and sustains those who are alone and in need.  Because of all this, the psalmist says, “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help, whose hope is in the Lord their God” (Ps. 146:5).  And as James reminds us, sometimes God uses people just like us in order to give that help (Jas. 2:14-17).

    Where have we placed our hope, and where do we go for help?  “Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help, whose hope is in the Lord their God.”  Do we truly believe what God can do?  Are we able to hear the words of Isaiah that tell us, “Be strong, do not fear!” (Isa. 35:4)?  Do we know that God loves us and has our best interest at heart?  Do we know that there are no limits on what God can do through us when we open ourselves up in faith?

    There seem to be many times when our God is, quite simply, too small.  We see things only from our limited point of view and fail to see the bigger picture.  We see a specific situation or a specific request which we feel that God did not satisfactorily answer or resolve, and we conclude that God is no longer trustworthy, or is somehow against us.  We fail to see what good might have come out of that situation, or how God answered us in a different way from what we were expecting.  There is a reason that God is God.  We are not always operating with the full picture.

    What we do have, however, is the picture that we are given through the Scriptures.  In the Scriptures, God consistently uses ordinary people in order to do great things.  God uses people in spite of their flaws and mistakes and sins.  God uses people in order to reveal his power and his great love.

    God has acted through Jesus Christ in order to bring healing and wholeness and salvation to all of creation, and ever since, God has been working through people like you and me in order to share this message of God’s great love.

    Our God is not small.  Our God is an awesome God who can do so much more than we could ever ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20), and who loves and cares about each and every person.  Given this truth, let’s start enlarging our vision.  Let’s give the Holy Spirit room to work, asking what God is wanting to do through us.  What great thing is God just waiting to do through you and through me?  What great thing is God just waiting to do through this congregation?

    We are being invited today to both see and believe what God can do.  God is not limited, but our vision often is.  Let us continue to put our trust in Jesus Christ and live by the power of the Holy Spirit.  And as we do so, may we also be given the eyes to see and the ears to hear.  Amen.

Lectionary 23(B)                                Mark 7:24-37
September 6, 2009                                Isaiah 35:4-7a
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                        Psalm 146
Pastor Lynne Hutchison                            James 2:1-17

© 2009 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved