PLYMOUTH UCC CHURCH
Sermons
  • Home
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Download Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
    • Share the Plate
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Church Blog
    • eNews
    • Special Events
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • Youth
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Foraging for Faith
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
    • Labyrinth
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Church App
      • Text Connection >
        • Fun Text Question
        • Text Responses
        • Wellness Check-In
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online >
      • Increase Your Pledge
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
      • Share the Plate Giving
    • Statements
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu
    • New Members

2/4/2018

Ripples of Healing

0 Comments

Read Now
 
​The Rev. Jake Miles Joseph
Plymouth Congregational UCC of Fort Collins, Colorado
Mark 1:29-39
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
 
Will you pray with me this morning, Plymouth? May the words of my mouth (as fully inadequate as they will be) and the meditations and prayers of all of our hearts (as speechless as we are) be good in your sight, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
 
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there prayed.” Mark Chapter 1, Verse 35 is a moment of absolute stillness, silence, and deep loneliness in the middle of a chapter (a passage of Scripture) filled to the brim with over-activity: healings, expelling of demons, travel, and crowds of endless pressing need. This morning, friends, we are really living in a still very dark morning at the deserted place—and it is exactly where we need to be. It is okay.
 
Today was scheduled to be Jane Anne’s monthly Sunday to preach. I know that, like myself, Jane Anne treasures the opportunities she has to come before you in this pulpit and share a Word of Gospel and grace. All of the words this week of common prayer: The Call to Worship, our hymn selections, the Unison Prayers, and even the sermon title, “Ripples of Healing,” come from my colleague, The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson. She finalized this worship bulletin only hours before indescribable tragedy would touch the Ferguson-Chorpenning household.
 
The loss of a child at any age and for any reason is a source of grief and pain that stays with a parent in some form or another for a lifetime—with a brother, with a stepfather, with stepbrothers. Our work, brothers and sisters/ siblings in Christ, here in this congregation in the days, weeks, years to come is to allow the work of the Holy Spirit through grief and bereavement to flow through us—to be ripples rather than waves of healing. Ripples rather than waves because it requires patience, boundaries, awareness, and finesse.
 
Jane Anne’s original sermon title, which I retained, could not be a more accurate depiction of the way grief and loss process works. I know this from my time as both a hospice and hospital chaplain. Starting from a sudden and unexpected impact on the surface of the waters of life, the process of recovering equilibrium does not come in waves but rather ripples of healing. Continuing with the image of the ripple, we should also remember that ripples continue to exist in the system of the water well after they are no longer visible to the human eye.
 
This will be a long process for both Jane Anne and Hal—one that they will both define in their own way. We will need to wait for them to define their needs. So far, as a congregation, I want to commend you all for understanding the boundaries of space needed. You all have responded with so much love and care, and I know that they feel the ripples of healing your prayers are sending. Likewise, I want to thank the Leadership Council for providing meals for the family. We will let the congregation know if more are needed.
 
I also understand and need to name that for many of you, some have spoken with me and some haven’t and maybe won’t, the ripples of your own healing processes intersect and overlap (magnified) with the ripples of this event. Hal shared with us by email, vulnerably and authentically, that Colin probably took his own life. While brave and hard to say, it helps remove stigma and bring this conversation to the light.
 
I know that for many of you, this has brought up your own grief, fears, loss, guilt, and feelings of helplessness even decades old. The ripples of this event in our church family system have brought up a lot of things for many of you from your own families and histories. I want you to know that even as busy as I will be perceived to be “holding down the fort” in the coming weeks, your pastoral care, the conversations you need to have, the questions this might raise about God always come first for me, for Mark, for Mandy, and our team of pastorally-trained lay people. I want to be as explicit as I possible can be (no vagaries today): do not hesitate to reach out if you need to talk, or process, or grieve. This is true even if the triggering event is 50 or 75 years ago or even happened in your family system a 100 years or more ago. The ripples of healing are a promise from God, we see God’s great power of healing in this passage, but that doesn’t mean that you have to do it alone or that it is easy. This brings me back to our Scripture (good news) even this dark morning:
 
“In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.”
 
The word translated from Greek here in our translation as “a deserted place” is hotly contested in different Christian translations. Other words frequently used in lieu of deserted include: secluded place, solitary place, desolate place, uninhabited, or most interestingly it can be translated as a vulnerable place… a place that is deprived of the protection of others—the rawness, realness, and pain of the human experience. In the early hours of a new day, when it was still very dark and dangerous, Jesus got up and went out alone to a place of vulnerability and there he prayed.”
 
One of my favorite theology books is called Vulnerable Communion: A Theology of Disability and Hospitality. In this book, the author and father of son living with disability, Dr. Thomas Reynolds, argues that good theology starts with looking for the places in the Bible and in Systematic Theologies where strength comes from brokenness, wholeness comes from authenticity, where community/ church/ all of this Christianity business really is rooted in one word: Vulnerability.
 
This is entirely counter-cultural and is essential for understanding what a grief process, ripples of healing, means for us now. Christianity is not a normal religion or normal way of living where safety and comfort are the arguable norms. Normal life is life where we suppress pain. In normal life we ignore healing. In normal life we rush bereavement. In normal life, strength is the ultimate virtue, right? In fact, in this book, and I love this and reference it frequently because it is at the core of my belief in Christ, is that normal is a cult. The Cult of Normalcy dictates that we always need to be strong, always need to be progressing, always need to have it all figured out, always need to “get over it fast,” always look happy, healthy, and wise. This normal business isn’t Christian…heck it isn’t even possible. It is a false idol. The Cult of Normalcy.
 
Vulnerability, deserted places, lonely and hard are the source of our faith in a God who accompanied and accompanies all of humanity in the hard parts of life and death. God and Jesus Christ don’t end when things get hard, when we need to be vulnerable with each other, when healing doesn’t even seem remotely possible, but that is where faith starts.
 
In the early hours of a new day, when it was still very dark and dangerous, Jesus got up and went out alone to a place of vulnerability and there prayed.”
 
A couple of closing remarks: I want us to look to the last three words of this fascinating verse: “And There Prayed.” What Hal and Jane Anne shared in vulnerability with you by email, what many of you have since shared with me, what we do by worshiping God (mystery, universe, creator) together, sharing in admitting our own brokenness, admitting that none of us looks anything like normal (AMEN!) is dangerous, risky, and vulnerable.
 
It is, yes, all of these things, but it is never hopeless. In denying the power of normal and embracing the rawness and realness of vulnerability and finally turning to the source of life in prayer (even in the midst of the darkest morning in the scariest places of our souls)—we find hope eternal in a God who will not let us go, a God who accompanied humanity even unto worst. This is the importance of the cross even for progressive churches to understand. God accompanies humanity in even the worst circumstances.
 
While vulnerable in a deserted and lonely place, Jesus was far from alone. And there he prayed. Sometimes, like now, that is all we can do. Grounded in a calling to vulnerable places and spaces of life and death, we together come before God in prayer. There is no normal way to grieve a loss like the loss of a child, but we can come alongside in prayer, in knowing our own vulnerability is a gift that starts the ripples of healing from a core of hope.
 
Deserted (vulnerable) places have no map, no normal, no yelp, no timeline, no Google to tell you how to find them or exactly how long you will need to be there. They just are and need to be. Amen

Author

The Rev. Jake Miles Joseph ("just Jake"), Associate Minister, came to Plymouth in 2014 having served in the national setting of the UCC on the board of Justice & Witness Ministries, the Coalition for LGBT Concerns, and the Chairperson of the Council for Youth and Young Adult Ministries (CYYAM). Jake has a passion for ecumenical work and has worked in a wide variety of churches and traditions. Read more about him on our staff page.

Share

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

Details

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016

    Visit our sermon podcast site

    Categories

    All
    Abundance
    Accountability
    Advent
    All Saints' Sunday
    All Things Together For Good
    Antiracism
    Apostle Paul
    Ascension
    Ash Wednesday
    Authority
    Awakening
    Baptism
    Baptism Of Christ Sunday
    Beatitudes
    Beginnings
    Being Saved
    Belief
    Beloved Community
    Bent Over
    Blessings
    Book Of Acts
    Book Of Deuteronomy
    Book Of Ecclesiastes
    Book Of Exodus
    Book Of Ezekiel
    Book Of Genesis
    Book Of Habakkuk
    Book Of Isaiah
    Book Of Jeremiah
    Book Of Job
    Book Of Joel
    Book Of Jonah
    Book Of Joshua
    Book Of Leviticus
    Book Of Micah
    Book Of Numbers
    Book Of Proverbs
    Book Of Psalms
    Book Of Revelation
    Book Of Ruth
    Book Of Samuel
    Book Of Wisdom
    Books Of Kings
    Breath
    Call
    Celtic Christianity
    Centering Prayer
    Change
    Choices
    Christmas Eve
    Christmas Season
    Christology
    Church
    Comfort
    Coming Out
    Community
    Compassion
    Complaining
    Conflict
    Congregationalism
    Consecration Sunday
    Courage
    Covenant
    COVID-19
    Creation
    Dance
    Depression
    Desert Fathers & Mothers
    Dialogue
    Difficult People
    Discipleship
    Divine Love
    Dominion
    Doubt
    Dreamers/DACA
    Dreams
    Earth Day
    Easter Season
    Easter Sunday
    Elijah
    Emptiness
    Environmental Sunday
    Epiphany
    Epiphany Season
    Epiphany Sunday
    Eulogy
    Fairness
    Faith
    Fear
    Following Jesus
    Forgiveness
    Friends & Family Sunday
    Gardening With God
    Generosity
    Gifts
    Giving
    God
    God Is Still Speaking
    Good News
    Good Samaritan
    Good Shepherd
    Gospels: John 01 To 05
    Gospels: John 06 To 10
    Gospels: John 11 To 15
    Gospels: John 16 To 21
    Gospels: Luke 01 To 06
    Gospels: Luke 07 To 12
    Gospels: Luke 13 To 18
    Gospels: Luke 19 To 24
    Gospels: Mark 01 To 04
    Gospels: Mark 05 To 08
    Gospels: Mark 09 To 12
    Gospels: Mark 13 To 16
    Gospels: Mathew 16-21
    Gospels: Matthew 01 To 07
    Gospels Matthew 08 To 14
    Gospels Matthew 15 To 21
    Gospels Matthew 22 To 28
    Grace
    Gratitude
    Grief
    Guest Preacher
    Gun Violence
    Harvest
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Hero's Journey
    Holy Spirit
    Holy-week
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Immigration
    Inclusion
    Independence Day
    Instant Sermon
    Jean Vanier
    Jesus
    John Dominic Crossan
    John The Baptizer
    Joseph
    Journey
    Joy
    Jubilee
    Jubilee Sunday
    Juneteenth
    Justice
    Kingdom Of God
    Labyrinth
    L'Arche Communities
    Lay Preacher
    Leadership
    Learning
    Lent
    Letters: Colossians
    Letters: Corinthians
    Letters: Ephesians
    Letters: Galatians
    Letters: Hebrews
    Letters: James
    Letters: John
    Letters: Philippians
    Letters: Romans
    LGBTQ
    Liberation
    Life
    Light
    Lineage
    Liturgical Year
    Living In Exile
    Living Water
    Loss
    Lost
    Love
    Luke 07 To 12
    Lynching
    Magnificat
    Martin Luther King
    Maya Angelou
    Meditation
    Membership
    Memorial Day
    Memorial Service
    Mental Illness
    Metamorphosis
    Metanoia
    Middle Way
    Mission
    Newness
    New Year
    New Year's Resolutions
    Older-sermon-audio
    Palmpassion-sunday
    Palm Sunday
    Pandemic
    Parables
    Paradox
    Patience
    Pause
    Peace
    Pentecost Sunday
    Pilgrimage
    Pilgrims
    Podbean Link
    Possibility
    Prayer
    Prodigal Son
    Prophecy
    Protestant Reformation
    Rebirth
    Reclaiming Jesus
    Reformation Sunday
    Reign Of Christ Sunday
    Relationship With God
    Render Unto Caesar
    Repentance
    Resurrection
    Rev. Carla Cain
    Reversals
    Rev. Hal Chorpenning
    Rev. Jake Miles Joseph
    Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
    Rev. J. T. Smiedendorf
    Rev. Laura Nelson
    Rev. Mandy Hall
    Rev. Mark Lee
    Rev. Marta Fioriti
    Rev. Ron Patterson
    Rev. Sue Artt
    Righteousness
    Road To Emmaus
    Sabbath
    Salt
    Salvation
    Sarah
    Season After Pentecost
    September 11
    Sharing
    Showing Up
    Singing
    Soul
    Spiritual Practices
    Stewardship
    Storms
    Taizé
    Ten Commandments
    Thanksgiving
    Thanksgiving Day
    The Cross
    The Gospel
    The Last Week
    The Sower
    The World
    Thorny Theological Themes
    Totenfest
    Transfiguration
    Transfiguration Sunday
    Transformation
    Transitions
    Trinity Sunday
    Trusting God
    Truth
    Unity
    Vision
    Waiting
    Welcome
    Where Is Jesus?
    Wilderness
    Wisdom
    Women
    World Communion Sunday
    Wrestling With God
    Yeats

916 West Prospect Road Fort Collins CO 80526

Sunday Worship

9 & 11 a.m.

Contact Us

970-482-9212

​Members, log into F1Go here.

Subscribe

* indicates required
  • Home
  • Welcome!
    • I'm New Here
    • I'm a CSU Student
    • LGBTQ+
    • How Do I Join?
    • More Questions
  • Worship
    • What is Worship?
    • Worship Online >
      • Streaming Worship
      • Download Bulletins
      • Digital Pew Card
    • Share the Plate
    • Learn More >
      • Faith Statements
      • Sermons
      • Music Program
      • Worship Sign-Ups
  • News & Events
    • Church Blog
    • eNews
    • Special Events
    • Calendars >
      • Today's Schedule
      • Full Calendar
      • Calendar Request Form
  • Living Our Faith
    • Christian Formation >
      • Children
      • Nursery Care >
        • Child Care Handbook
      • Youth
      • OWL (Our Whole Lives)
      • Foraging for Faith
      • Adults
      • Visiting Scholar
    • Outreach & Mission >
      • The O&M Board >
        • Grocery Card
      • Climate Action
      • End Gun Violence
      • FFH
      • Immigration
      • Student Support
    • Labyrinth
  • Connect
    • Find Your Place at Plymouth
    • Contact >
      • Contact Us Form
      • Clergy & Staff
      • Lay Leadership
      • Building Rental >
        • Church Use Payments
    • Our Community >
      • Fellowship
      • Gallery
      • Calling & Caring
      • Meal Signups
    • Online Connections >
      • Church App
      • Text Connection >
        • Fun Text Question
        • Text Responses
        • Wellness Check-In
  • Give
    • All About Giving
    • Pledge Online >
      • Increase Your Pledge
    • Other Ways to Give >
      • Text to Give
      • Sustaining Gifts
      • Planned Giving
      • Share the Plate Giving
    • Statements
  • Member Info
    • Member Menu
    • New Members