YOUR SPIRITUAL PREPAREDNESS KIT

Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1

Dr. Dan Hale and Dr. Richard Bennett are revising their book that came out ahead of it’s time in 1999: BUILDING HEALTHY COMMUNITIES THROUGH MEDICAL-RELIGIOUS PARTNERSHIP. In the revised addition, due out in 2009, the first chapter will be about this church and how I and dozens of others have been helped by our Body, Mind, and Soul health ministry. Dr. Hale and I have sat down twice in the last two months to go over the programs that have literally changed people’s lives. Because of Billy Walter and David Corcoran, we have had skin screenings that have helped catch melanoma and carcinoma cancers in early stages and treatment has brought healing. Because I discovered I had diabetes, we continue to feature people describing the symptoms and having people see if they or someone they know might have it and not know it. In fact, the wonderful diabetic educator, Janet Connors, who sat across from me in our fellowship hall and gently told me, with blood sugar numbers of 355, that I should see my doctor because she suspected I had diabetes, will be here next month to speak again on that topic. Because we learned that strokes are sometimes called “brain attacks” and quick treatment is vital to healthy recovery, people like Woody Starrett are fine now after getting prompt treatment and prayers after a stroke. And with the offering of flu and influenza vaccines and information on topics ranging from colon cancer to home safety and avoiding scams, the Body, Mind, & Soul ministry of this church continues to bring good physical results. In addition, speakers such as Dr. Lex Baer from our Presbyterian Counseling Center, who spoke last week, help us with our emotional well-being, while DISCIPLE Ministries stretch our spiritual lives and Biblical knowledge. We have learned what power we have in preparedness.

As hurricanes and tornadoes have still hit or threatened to hit Central Florida, some of you have your hurricane kit ready, some have one from an earlier year and, like bread that has gotten moldy from being kept too long, it needs to be refreshed. Others live by the seat of their pants and plan to hit Home Depot or Lowe’s a day or two before a storm comes near. Those who are ready with batteries, food, tarps, or even generators are the ones who will make it through that dreadful day, and the ones who feel more peace at being prepared. We have had some hard lessons to learn about preparedness over the years.

A long time ago, it is believed that a man in the bondage of slavery was remembering what he had heard a preacher say. “Some days,” the preacher moaned, “Don’t we all feel like Jeremiah? Our land, our women, our children are ravaged and as the harvest winds down, there still is little income and even less hope? There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole; there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.” Jeremiah and God’s dialogue in Jeremiah 8 and 9 were the backing text for those words. They said: “My grief is beyond healing and my heart is sick within me. Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land. … I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.” Musicologist Austin Lovelace has written that “in Jeremiah 8:22 the question is asked ‘Is there no balm in Gilead?’ and the expected answer is ‘No.’ But the spiritual [There is a balm in Gilead] turns the negative into an affirmation, and hopelessness into hope. The balm in Gilead may have been from a local tree, or brought from Eastern Caravans passing through, but the balm of the spiritual is Christ.” {HYMN NOTE FOR CHURCH BULLETINS, GIA, 1997, p. 103.] And black historian James Cone has written “Hope in the black spirituals, is not a denial of history. Black hope accepts history but believes that the historical is in motion, moving toward a divine fulfillment.” {THE SPIRITUALS AND THE BLUES, Orbis Books, 1991, p. 86.} Could it be that the preacher long ago read the prophet Jeremiah and answered his own question with a spiritual answer? Could it be that, instead of just reaching for a medicine cabinet, or first aid kit, or only consulting a doctor, that something else heals the sin-sick soul and that prayer completes the body, mind, and soul connection? Countless testimonies and blind scientific studies by Dr. Larry Dossey and others have shown that medicine and prayed-for people do better than medically treated people for whom prayer was not offered. Even in our own church, on at least three different occasions, I’ve had people at the front door or on the phone say, “I can tell that my name is no longer on the prayer list! I feel worse! Please put me back on the list!” And we do; and they actually feel better.

Austin Lovelace, in the quote just mentioned, made a leap that others may not be willing to take. He closed his quote from Jeremiah, an Old Testament book, by saying “The balm of the spiritual is Christ.” Do you believe that? And if you do, just as you believe that one day you will die, and just as you believe one day another storm will come this way, are you ready for Jesus Christ? I can’t tell you how many ways spiritually unprepared people are harmed by their lackluster planning for their souls. They fall for theological drivel that appears in print or in conversation; they get blown by whatever church advertising campaign is the most clever or most popular. They don’t understand the theology of their baptisms, the power of Holy Communion, or how important it is to move deeper into Biblical discussions than the Bible stories and interpretations they learned as a child. And they certainly aren’t ready when it comes to death. So what are the things, if we were to pack your spiritual preparedness kit, that should be included? Here are some things to put in, along with faith, hope, and love, that can heal a sin-sick soul.

First, John 1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.” Even as God created the Heavens and the Earth, Jesus the Word was also God, and with a word (ruach, wind, spirit) God created. God was in the beginning; God will be in the end. To not acknowledge God in the middle can, in a manner of speaking, cause you to be written out of God’s will, that is called the Lamb’s Book of Life. How important it is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in this worldly life! Second, at Jesus’ baptism, recorded in Mark chapter 1 and two other places, a voice came from heaven saying “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased.” Your baptism, either received as a child and confirmed as a youth, or received and confirmed as an adult, is the beginning of God’s sanctifying work in you. God’s Spirit is in you spending this lifetime trying to make you into mature Christians that can mentor younger ones and to get you ready for Heaven. For those who do not include God in their lives, they have a virtually insurmountable task of sanctification in their last moments of life. Too many hang their hope on Jesus’ words to the thief on the cross “Today you shall be with me in paradise.” There is serious repentance and soul searching that is part of our life long journey. Counting on a deathbed confession of faith discounts not only times when your life might be snuffed out instantly, but also misses the blessings of a Christ-filled life. Third, being active in a church is vital for spiritual growth. The apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, said to even those who were listening to Peter, or to Apollos that “You are the body of Christ, and individually members of it. … For just as the body is one and has many members, all of the members of the body, though many, are one, so it is with Christ.” We need to be challenged by, lifted up by, and walking along side of others. Like a car in a road race that goes into a ditch and is left behind, people who try to figure out their own salvation without corrections or challenges are also left behind. They hold on to cherished beliefs that are simply not true because, away from the strength of the body of Christ and the learning that comes from discussion, their hearts grow cold and their minds become lame. Always risk running the race with others. The mystic sweet communion that people have sung about for ages is more than the spiritual nurture of bread and cup; it is also the risk of and strength gained from being together. Like after a dreadful storm when you find that neighbors near and far can be a great help, God wants you to need others and to need the Lord Jesus.

Finally, know God’s Word. There is no one more helpless than someone unarmed with the Sword of the Lord; God’s Word is sharper than any two-edged sword,” (Hebrews 4:12). And I must tell you that the way one congregation teaches the Bible can be drastically different from another one. Stay with the place you trust. Here we encourage people to get Bibles with good notes, suggest good commentaries and make available sound study guides to help people grow closer to their Savior. Of course others do that just as passionately. Like different ways of treating pain, either with medicine, or surgery, or acupuncture or herbs or prayer, so preachers also take vastly different approaches. Some Christian churches, for example, do not treat Jeremiah as Scripture the way we do. Choose wisely; and then don’t just put your foot in the River Jordan to see if the water is just right! Like Stephen Curtis Chapman’s song suggests, dive in! Take the plunge; risk being with one another! Together we will work to care for our bodies, our minds, and sin-sick souls. All can be made whole.

Let us offer our prayers for change and wholeness in our lives today as we pray “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me. We’ll sing it twice.

Jeffrey A. Sumner September 23, 2007