[Mcgregorpage] McGregorPage #527, Pentecost 21, Oct. 29, 2006

[rmcgregoralbq at aol.com]

Pentecost 21, October 29, 2006

Psalm 34:1 8, 19 22
Job 42:1 6, 10 17
Hebrews 7:23 28
Mark 10:46 52

Cry Out!

Crying out is an act of faith.  When we cry out, it can be to give 
voice to our anguish.  It can be self-talk. But when it is dialog, it 
is an expression of faith.  When a listener is implicit, it is faith.  
Job cried out and his friends took it for unfaith, but God confirmed 
that it was dialog.  The Psalmist encourages us to cry out with 
confidence.  "Cry out because the high priest is on duty," the letter 
to the Hebrews asserts, and Mark reminds us of what happened when 
Bartimaeus cried
out.

Crying out is the most fundamental human response.  It is the first act 
of our lives and can be the last.  The cry of an infant is an act of 
faith.  It implies an ear to hear, a nurturing parent to respond.  
Faith is not foreign to our natures.  It is lost as we grow, lost and 
must be found again. When Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, whoever does 
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," 
(Mark 10:15) he is calling us to cry out with the first cry.  God hears 
that cry like a mother.  It is a cry full of promise.  It elicits God's 
love and presence.  So, cry out.

I held my new granddaughter sleeping when she was just days old. Her 
warmth was warmth to me, and for a moment it seemed that she was 
protecting me from tumbling in space.  She was the rock to which I 
clung for dear life.  How strange, that this seven pound person should 
give me mooring, should hold my life in place.  I understood better why 
a person could desperately want an infant to hold and another to 
replace the one old enough to stiffen and want down.

I wonder how it is with God, what it means to God for us to cry out. Do 
we hold God in place and give God meaning in the universe by snuggling 
down in God's arms following a long cry?  Surely God has needs (“will” 
sounds better), else why would God act?  Why would our cries be 
effective? Why would there be a high priest?  Why would God be 
available at all? What of this stiffening of the body, this desire to 
get down, to handle it?  Is that the loss to God that it is to our 
mothers    the gain?  And, when we come back crying having not handled 
it, what does that mean?  "Mamma, I thought I'd never tell you this, 
but Frank wants a divorce."  Success?  Failure?  We succeed at getting 
down, but we fail at handling it?  Or, maybe it isn't about either 
success or failure but about being mother and child, being God and 
being creature.

Blind Bartimaeus received his sight, and that was important, but his 
cry and God's response were more fundamental than the change in his 
eyes.  Even with his sight, he would meet times he couldn't handle. He 
would face death one day    more important that he had found his cry 
and God's response than any other miracle.

May these thoughts strengthen you.

An Open Letter to Fellow Pastors
>From Roland McGregor, United Methodist Pastor
 (an e-mail service)

[See Web Page address below for a Children’s Message coordinated with 
these lections.]

http://www.webspawner.com/users/ChildPage/

Multiple Sermon Starter Essays are available at
http://www.webspawner.com/users/McGregorPage/

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      --Copyright 2006, Roland McGregor, all rights reserved—
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