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Too Small to Fail

By Vicar Lisa

I received a blog from Nadia Bolz-Weber and her article last week was a perfect postlude to our message a few Sundays back from Mark regarding the mustard seed. I have abbreviated it some but hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did!

Maybe our best work in God’s Kingdom is hidden from us at the time, so that our egos don’t mess it up too bad. I’m starting to suspect that the Spirit prefers small nudges to grand gestures, anyhow.

Those big, impressive moments burn bright and then fade. But the smallest acts plant themselves in us and grow into things that can eventually be of use to others.

A few years ago, just a couple days after my nephew Henry was shot and killed, Eric and I boarded a plane. I was deep in grief, and I remember thinking we’d do well to bring back the wearing of black armbands when we are bereaved so people know not to bother us with small talk. I think I’d never take mine off.

Anyhow, I could not stop myself from crying the entire flight. Tears streamed down my face, which I covered with my hand, wishing with everything I had that I could just be invisible. 
When the plane landed, the woman across the aisle casually handed me a small pack of tissues. I took it without managing the courtesy of even looking at her. Eric stepped in and said simply, “Thank you. She’s grieving.” To which the woman replied understandingly, “I thought so”. 

And that was it. 

Small as a mustard seed. What felt to me as an epic act of compassion was, I assume, easily forgettable to the tissue giver.

I bet she wouldn’t even remember it. 

But I will never forget it.

And I know for sure her small gesture planted something in me.

Because a couple months ago, I was on a delayed flight…with lots of stressed-out passengers afraid of missing their connections, when I noticed a woman absolutely sobbing into her hands. I grabbed a pack of tissues, and without making a big deal of it, gently handed them to her without any eye contact. She managed to whisper…I might be missing a funeral….

What I am saying is that this is what God can do with Kleenex. Kleenex and some not very hard-working gardeners who don't really understand much of anything.

We have just the tiny things of God at hand with which to help heal ourselves and this busted up world. Small things that easily fit in a child’s pocket. But they are enough.

I cannot say for sure, but I suspect that God’s best gifts are always the smallest. And the weird thing is, they aren’t even rare. They’re everywhere. Even when we don’t realize it….

I mean to say that we may look for God in majesty, and big showy-offy miracles and highlight reels and profoundly spiritual insights that we think worthy of bestselling books and there’s nothing wrong with that. But while we do, the smallest, easily unnoticed, not terribly significant miracles surround us in multitude.   

In fact, there is so much beauty in this world that sometimes, I think I might cry from the immensity of it, from the enchantedness of it, from the heartbreak of it…I guess what I am saying is that the world is just as filled with the glory of God in the times we notice as in the times we don’t….

Which means that the good things, the tiny beautiful things, the God-scatters-them-all-around-us things don’t go anywhere during the times we can’t perceive them… They are always here. And they are always ours. And they are always free. Amen.  Nadia Bolz-Weber

 

6th Sunday After Pentecost -- June 30

10 a.m. Worship with Communion

 

Flowers — Donated by Doris and Terry Blalock in honor of the parents of all the graduates

 

Announcements

  • Heartfelt Thanks: We are grateful to have our friend Pastor Jan Everhart Hartliff leading worship today.
  • Fellowship Times: Join us after worship for coffee and conversation. All are welcome.
  • Reconciling In Christ: Our second open cottage meeting discussion will be held on July 7, following our First Sunday Potluck. 
  • 5-Loaves Help Wanted:If you can help with 5-Loaves preparation next Friday, or meal delivery on Saturday, please let Norine Hazen, Peggy Gustafson, or Jo Moss know. We really need a few more volunteers!!!
  • Bible Study: Our Wednesday weekday study is on summer hiatus. Check the bulletins, e-formations, and newsletters for updates.
  • Bee Blessed: Remember to RSVP for Bee Blessed as the Women of the ELCA will be hosting a retreat entitled Bee Blessed (a fresh look at the Beatitudes) at Grace Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs on July 20, 2024.
  • Flowers: There are days available to sponsor flowers. Select the date in the flower book in the sanctuary, write your name and the commemoration. A minimum donation of $35 is encouraged.
  • Prayer List Updates: We are updating the prayer lists for the summer. If you have changes for the current list or requests for additions, please let Vicar Lisa, Julie Wersal, or Jo Moss know.

E-formation – 6th Sunday after Pentecost, June 30

This coming Sunday we will hear about Jesus healing a bleeding woman and Jesus raising a dead girl to life. Many first-century people would have found aspects of these stories shocking. Come to worship and see what your reaction is.

Mark 5:21-43

Many world religions tell stories of faith healers who, acting with divine power, can restore the sick to health and the dead to life. Ancient Israel revered Elijah and Elisha as such miracle workers. In Mark’s gospel, the faith healer Jesus also breaks religious taboos by contact with a bleeding woman and a dead girl. Jesus speaks in Aramaic (v. 41), which was vernacular speech of the earliest Christians. It is likely that such stories of Jesus’ openness to women were surprising, even shocking, in the patriarchal Palestine and Roman Empire.

Lamentations 3:22-33

Lamentations is a collection of five poems that mourn the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 bce. Tradition has named Jeremiah as the author, who assumes that God is, somehow justifiably, responsible for the devastation. The selected passage contains the only lines of hope in the entire collection. God as “portion” recalls the idea that the Israelites without an allotment of land are given at least God.

2 Corinthians 8:7-15

Paul is urging Christians of Corinth to join with those in Macedonia in contributing money to alleviate the distress of the mother church in Jerusalem. Paul grounds his request for generosity in the doctrine of the incarnation, as if Christ’s becoming poor exemplifies the balance that befits the Christian community. We continue through Mark’s gospel and Paul’s correspondence as we share in the bread and wine, Jesus coming in surprising ways also to our bleeding selves.

Zion's Lutheran Church

zionsluth@gmail.com

719-846-7785