Feb 16, 2003

Mindekirken
Feb. 16, 2003

Pr. Jens Arne Dale

In the Bible commentary I read for today’s text, a whole chapter described how awful leprosy was. The symptoms might begin with little nodules which went on to ulcerate. The eyebrows fell out, the eyes would stare. The vocal chords became ulcerated, and the voice became hoarse and the breath wheezing. Hands, feet and after a time the rest of the body ulcerated. It might take nine years before mental decay, coma and finally death freed the sick from their suffering.

There was a version of leprosy which was even worse. The nerve trunks were affected, the patient lost sensation and the body ulcerated and parts of the body might drop off. In these cases, the sickness could last for up to 30 years. In all these years the sick would be regarded as dead by others. Lev. 13:46 describes how there were banished. It’s even told that they might read the burial service over the sick. With this background it’s a good and humane thing that at the time of Jesus, they had a little isolated chamber for the lepers at the synagogue. They were not allowed to go into other houses. The person had to keep a long distance from other people and shout a warning "leper, leper". William Barclay ends the chapter about leprosy with the words: "to a Jew, there would be no more amazing sentence in the NT than the simple statement: And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched the leper."

We live in a world where people long to be touched and healed. One doesn’t need to be a leper to have wounds that need to be healed. One might have experienced rejection as a child, parents and others who didn’t show the care and love one needed. To some, moving to another place became traumatic. Others can’t get past the grief of a beloved one passing away.

It might be felt as a burden not to have gotten married. Or one might have the wounded feeling of not being loved, or not loving one’s spouse. Even if love is there, it may hurt that it’s never put into words.

Did you receive special attention on Valentine’s Day? Maybe there’s some thing typical in the story about the Norwegian who loved his wife so much that he almost told her. Or what about she who complained that her husband never said he loved her. And he answered: I have said it once, and I’ll let you know if I change my mind.

Living together as a couple is to enter an arena where one can hurt each other deeply, but also experience wonderful touch and healing.

To be a human being means to be vulnerable. We long to be appreciated, to hear that we are accepted and loved. Psychologists have tried to explain a child’s need for security as a container which has to be filled. That happens by concentrating attention, eye contact, physical contact and discipline. When those things are there, the container of security fills up, and the child develops into an independent and harmonious human. The teenager needs his or her dose of attention, to feel that he or she is all right and loved, even at the time that they are supposed to be in the process of getting free from their parents. Thinking back on how we ourselves were brought up, I’m sure some of us might have mixed feelings. But I’m also sure that many of us our grateful to our parents and others who gave us the most important thing in life: Love and confidence.

Today’s text describes how Jesus touched the sick man and healed him. Isn’t faith, to live as a Christian, to stand under the impression of the touching and healing hands of Jesus? And if the love of all others should fail, the love of God is the ground which is always trustworthy. Sometimes healing by faith happens here and now.

Other times, we would have to read texts like this as a text of hope, predicting the reconciliation of everything in the Kingdom of God.

I remember, my Sunday School teacher proudly told us that it was a Norwegian, Armauer Hansen who discovered the leprosy bacteria. Now there is treatment for this sickness which at is worst affected 10% of the population in some African countries. In Norway, one might learn about this disease at the leprosy museum of Bergen. Today, other diseases threaten our health. Some decades ago, the HIV/AIDs epidemic came. The infected and sick were met with some of the same fear and isolation as the lepers has previously. AIDs is still a scourge for millions of people. But our knowledge and possibilities for treatment have increased. Some important things have been done to prevent the epidemic: getting less expensive treatment and giving care to the sick and their families. The president deserved thanks for proposals he has come up with recently.

Jesus crossed social barriers by touching the leper. The church is called to a healing ministry in the world. To which extent are we able to meet the despised, the banished and the needy people of our time? The church has a history of power and privileges which have often been suppressing to others. It’s a paradox that so many have experienced more of moral condemnation than of the grace of the gospel and its power to set people free.

We have striven to read the things Paul writes about woman and man. It has been really difficult when it comes to the question of women pastors. In Norway it’s now been 10 years since Rosemarie Köhn became the first woman bishop. We shouldn’t be uncritical, but the gospel is also liberating for women. And I’m glad this is made visible by the right of women to serve as pastors and bishops.

The debate about homosexuality isn’t over. The church is in a process when it comes to understanding this. But among others, thanks to gay people who have paid the price of stepping forward, we now understand that love between two of the same sex may be a moral commitment. The Minneapolis Area Synod of the ELCA has both in 1999 and 2002 approved the "Reconciling in Christ" program which is an open welcome to gay and lesbian people. I hope and believe that Mindekirken is a place where everybody feels welcome, regardless of sexual orientation.

Norway has traditionally been the country in the world that has sent out the highest ratio of missionaries to their population. Thanks to Norwegian missions, amongst others, the church of Ethiopia is growing. In the last decade some of their members have moved to our neighborhood. Pr. Melhamu tells that the Ethiopian Oromo congregation is the fastest growing in our synod. They have their services at Bethany Lutheran Church on East Franklin. The Amahara are another people of Ethiopia. At our last congregation council meeting, Pr. Sileshi Tisfay shared his congregation’s wish to celebrate services here at Mindekirken on Sunday evenings. There are approximately 50 people who are members of this non-denominational congregation. A lot of questions and work remains, maybe work with our own attitudes, also. But let’s pray for this pastor and his congregation and for the further dealing with this question.

In today’s service we celebrate Holy Communion. I picture before me the leper who knelt down before Jesus and asked for help. We also come to Jesus with a prayer for being cleansed. Holy Communion is a visible expression for what Jesus said to the sick, I will be made clean!. Jesus touches us, and he gives all heaven’s grace.

Glory be to God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716