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Wednesday, 01 February 2012 |
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What Happens with Authority? The last few Sundays we have looked at being called by God to do things that we might never had ever thought we would or could. We have looked at Jesus’ call by God and the call by Jesus of his followers. This past week I felt very called to journey with my aunt Dorothy in her last days of life in a care centre in Saskatoon. I felt that she should not be alone. Her younger sister Beth who died last October would have been with her as much as possible. Both aunts had no children and so we nieces and nephews are their children. Dorothy has been living with Alzheimer’s for over 15 years and so has lived more and more in her own world. The staff of the care centre where she has lived for 10 years have loved and cared for her so well. On our visits we have had glimpses of Aunt Dorothy in her quiet and funny retorts to something we would tell her about in the past or something in the present moment. First my sister from Vancouver was able to be with her on Monday and Tuesday. Carole, our church office administrator, can attest to the fact that on Tuesday I was praying as I hummed and hawed about when I should go. I knew from past family deaths a person can be dying for a long period of time even though she/he is neither eating nor drinking. By the end of the day it was clear I needed to get to Saskatoon as soon as possible. I took the earliest flight I could on Wednesday and arrived to be with her for her last three hours of life. My brother in Red Deer did not want me to be alone so had called the minister for our aunts’ church to see if David could join me. He came about 20 minutes before and we were by her side as she took her last breaths. This past week many of us felt very called by the Holy One to leave behind what we were doing and to take whatever action needed. By whose “authority” did we do these things? We all consulted each other- the nurses and doctor, our family and the minister - prayerfully considered our priorities, all in community and with the Holy surrounding us and our aunt Dorothy with love. We used our authority. We could do nothing else but answer God’s call. I have often felt uncomfortable with the word “authority”. It sounds bossy and a top-down use of power. But when we take action in consultation with the community and God in full consideration of the needs of weak, oppressed, sick, and dying-that action supersedes the norm. In the gospel reading that Theo read this morning, we hear the word “authority” used by some who had gathered for worship in the synagogue where Jesus was teaching. Jesus stopped his teaching and was able to heal the troubled man who would have been called “unclean” in those days due to his mental illness. Jesus could have let people send the man out of the synagogue because of the noise and disruption. After all the man was designated as unclean according the Jewish law at that time. Thus he had to live outside of the town away from others. Instead Jesus took hold of his call by God as God’s beloved to treat others as God’s beloved no matter if they are unclean. Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath and in a synagogue. He took the authority of God’s call and brought about wholeness of life for that man. The community no longer would shun the man. He no longer was unclean. Jesus did not follow the laws about the unclean because he believed that everyone was beloved by God. He showed God’s love by healing him and helping him again become connected to the community and included once again. We are called by God to use the authority as shown by Jesus to care and make right the homeless, those mentally challenged and ill, those who are poor, those who are hungry. It might mean saying “No” sometimes to government policies that keep people in these situations and instead propose new ways of being of the people for the people as our governments are to be. May we as individuals and as a community of faith seek ways to bring about God’s way of life of love and justice in this world; all with the authority of being God’s beloved. We cannot do anything else but that. Blessed Be.
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