Opening Act

Dr. Jon Burnham preached this sermon
on Mark 7:31-37 at Batesville Presbyterian Church
on September 10, 2006

Tomorrow we mark the fifth anniversary of the tragic events of September 11, 2001. In the days immediately after the horror, we felt united as Americans in a way I had never experienced. I'll never forget the packed worship services on the Sunday after nine eleven. As a people we were tuned to the frequency of compassion. As I look consider where we are today, we seem to have changed frequencies along the way. We are now operating on the frequency of fear instead of the frequency of compassion. The good news is that Jesus can heal the ears of our heart by tuning the frequency back to the compassion frequency. In order to receive such healing we must open ourselves to the Christ within.

Jesus own ears were tuned to the compassion frequency even as he traveled around the northern coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon. Then, as now, these were Gentile cities. Both were heavily bombed by the Israelis in their recent war with Lebanon. As he visited these coastal cities, I wonder if Jesus heard the wind blow on the shores of the Mediterranean. Perhaps he saw a wild flower blooming along the Roman roads he traveled on his way back down to the Sea of Galilee. Somewhere along the way, Jesus encountered a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. They begged Jesus to lay his hand on him and heal him. We don't know if they were the deaf man's friends or family or a crowd that was following him. What we do know is that Jesus heard their petitions because his ears were tuned to the compassion frequency.  Jesus took the deaf man aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, 'Ephphatha', that is, 'Be opened.' And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.

Would that we could be healed as well. Would that our ears and tongues were cured so that we could hear and speak with compassion. Of course most of hear well enough with our natural ears. The healing we need has to do with our spiritual ears. The healing we need is an opening of ourselves to hear what I'll call the compassion frequency. A radio can play different frequencies such as A.M. and F.M. Our spiritual ears are also able to tune to different frequencies. For example, we may tune our spiritual ears to the frequency of fear or the frequency of compassion. Sometimes even when we want to change our spiritual frequency we cannot because we are paralyzed by fear. Fear keeps us on a negative frequency. Perfect love casts out fear, giving us the grace to tune our spiritual ears back to the compassion frequency.

Cynthia Bourgeault tells a story about her friend, Hank, who was an old and fierce fisherman in Maine. Shocked describes how his friends felt when they learned tough old Hank had contracted pancreatic cancer. Not long thereafter Hank and Cynthia were engaged in a broad conversation that landed on the subject of fog on the ocean and making passages in zero-visibility conditions. Hank described several techniques for keeping fear at bay and navigating through the fog. Then Cynthia blurted without thinking: "Yes, or else you can just let the fear come up and fall through to the other side ..." And Hank looked at her as if she had pierced him in the side. Over the next few weeks Hank began to die and Cynthia was amazed at how his soul grew large and she could feel the energy of love radiating from him almost as a force field. She says he faced his death with open heart, utterly trusting and utterly serene.

Three days before the end Cynthia went for what turned out to be her last visit with Hank. Hank was curled in bed, his body totally broken yet somehow radiantly powerful. They hugged each other and said farewell. And then his last words to her--so muffled and unexpected that she did not catch them at first: "Are you fearless yet?"
"Not yet, Hank, " she said. "I'm trying."

Then came Hank's last words to Cynthia, words that it took her another ten years to fully understand. Hank said: "Fall ... fearless ... into ... love." (The Wisdom Way of Knowing, 68-71) The Christian life is a process of falling fearless into love. Hank experienced this as a human being at the time of his death and all of nature seems to know this basic truth of life.

Consider the flower. The flower seed is planted into the ground like a dead body. The seed is cracked open and out of it springs forth new life. It grows up through the soil. It opens to the sun and receives energy. It opens to the soil and receives nourishment. It opens to the wind and receives exercise. It opens to the rain and its thirst is quenched. All this opening makes the flower strong. The power of the flower is in its opening. So it is with us. We open our mouths and eat food and drink water and our bodies are nourished. We open our hearts and receive love and our emotional life is nourished. We open our ears and receive truth and our souls are nourished. All this opening makes us strong. For, as the psalmist says, "Our strength comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth." Lord, open us, like a flower, to the softening of your Spirit so we may be strengthened to carry your Word into the world. Give us the courage to fall fearless into love. Grant this grace to our country and grant this grace to us as individuals. The grace to fall fearless into love.

The baptism of Warren, infant child that he is, reminds us of the mystery of human birth. From among the millions and millions of possibilities for human life only one solitary sperm survive a difficult journey and implant an egg. So each of us and every human being from the moment of conception is literally one in a million. In the recently rediscovered Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says, "I choose you, one from a  thousand, two from ten-thousand, and you will stand to your own feet having become a single whole." (The Gospel of Thomas, Logion 23) I think Jesus could have said that to this man whom he had just healed. He chose this man, one among many, one among thousands, to heal and make whole. He opened his ears so he could hear. He fixed his tongue so he could speak. The healed man could now stand on his own feet. Jesus had made this man a single whole.

Jesus wants to say that to us, too, each one of us. "I choose you, one from a thousand, two from ten-thousand, and you will stand to your own feet having become a single whole." That is God's desire for each of us--become a single whole. United within and without. Healthy in body, mind and soul. Wealthy in love and rich in relationships. Secure and safe. The Christian life is a continual opening to the Christ within. 'Ephphatha', that is, 'Be opened.'