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Redford Aldersgate
United Methodist Church
Sermon
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January, we had four weeks of looking at the various ways God heals our
relationships, our soul, our minds and our bodies. The worship setting
reminded us that the light of Christ surrounds us with healing. But as
we look at our worship setting today, we realize that HEALING has turned
into BLESSINGS. For that is what happens as healing comes into our
lives, we receive many blessings ... and even put ourselves in the
position to be SOZO. Now, if you happened not to be here last Sunday,
you may be wondering if I have gone off my rocker or if SOZO is some
kind of acrostic that you missed hearing about. But if you were here
last week, hopefully you remember that it is the Greek word meaning:
whole; completely well; ready to receive all the blessings God has to
give you. It was what one of the ten lepers received in last week’s
scripture story.
The story was about ten people with the terrible disease of leprosy who
called out to Jesus for help. He told them all to go show themselves to
the priests and as they did, they were all healed of leprosy. But one of
them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and started praising
God and thanking Jesus for what he had done. Jesus was so pleased with
this that he said to the man, “Get up, go your way, your faith has made
you well..... or sozo.” Which is this complete healing of blessings upon
blessings. All of those lepers were healed of leprosy, but only the one
who returned to give thanks was made whole ... made SOZO. It’s a great
word because it sounds sorta like our phrase “So-So.” But it is not
being “so-so”... far from it. If we are so-so, we are fine. We don’t
have leprosy ... but there’s nothing too exciting about life. We are
“so-so.” ... Not a particularly great goal in life.
I had a friend who lived in another town who had been very ill. During
the treatment time, she had come to rely on God a lot. She would often
call and ask me to pray for her. And she even developed her own prayer
list and was actively praying for others. When she was able to go to
church, she did and was very excited about her faith. During her illness
she was very full of faith. Eventually, she totally recovered from her
illness. Then gradually, as pressures of work and life began to build
again, she stopped calling and asking for prayer ... and her own prayer
list got smaller and smaller ... and her attendance at church got more
and more sporadic ... until she didn’t go much any more. The cottage at
the lake took the weekends in the summer and snowmobiling took lots of
weekends in the winter ... so her new-found faith began to fade as well.
A couple years ago, several years after her recovery, we stopped by to
see them and I asked her how she was feeling. Guess what she said ...
“Oh, I’m so-so.” So-so... she had been healed from a terrible disease.
It was touch and go for awhile. When she recovered, she was so excited
and so grateful ... but what happened? Now, she’s so-so. I know God
wanted to make her SOZO ... but she filled up her life with other
things, and now she’s so-so. Let’s not let that happen to us. I don’t
want us to be so-so, I’d like us to be SOZO... whole, well, and open to
all the blessings God can give us. So, for the next few weeks, I’d like
us to look at what we can do to put ourselves in a position to receive
the blessings of wholeness ... of Sozo.
As I thought about that, I also looked at the lectionary passages for
the next few weeks. Those are the scriptures that some ecumenical group
suggested we preach on every Sunday. And, listen to the Psalm that is
suggested for today ... It has some great SOZO suggestions.
Psalm 138
 Wow!
Isn’t that a great psalm. I bet that leper in last week’s scripture
story might have known that psalm. Because, he was thanking Jesus with
his whole heart. I hope he kept it up, because that’s what opened him to
receiving the blessing of SOZO. The psalmist said, “I give you thanks, O
Lord, with my whole heart.” Do we give thanks with our whole heart or do
we just say, “Thank you Lord.” How did you sing our opening songs? Did
you sing them with gusto? Did you let the music fill your soul with
praise? Or did you mumble the words, and complain in your mind that we
were singing them too fast and you couldn’t keep up. Some people have
this idea that hymns should be slow and solemn... not something you can
put your whole heart and soul into. But that is the kind of praise that
this psalmist is talking about. It is wholehearted. Wholehearted praise
could be compared to yea that comes from a die-hard Indianapolis Colt
fan when they get the first touchdown against the Chicago Bears today!
Spoken by an old Hoosier!
 We
can get excited over a football game... especially the Super Bowl ...
but do we get excited and filled with awe when God makes an awesome
touchdown as the sun touches the edge of the horizon and the sky is
filled with incredible color. Do we shout, “O God, How Great Thou
Art!”... or do we say, “That’s a pretty sunset.” ... or even worse than
that, do we not even look up to see it, or complain because the sun is
in our eyes as we are driving home from work? Do we give thanks to God
with our whole heart? Are we truehearted, wholehearted, faithful and
loyal? Or are we fainthearted, weak-kneed, unreliable and fickle ...
when it comes to expressing our faith?
The psalmist says, “I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks
to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness.” Who does
that remind you of? Does that remind you of a modern day Christian who,
at certain times of a day, bows down toward a temple and prays? How many
of you have seen a Christian do that?
BUT ... how many of us have seen a Muslim do that? I was in a hospital
chapel praying for someone in surgery and at noon, three Muslims came in
with their prayer mats and knelt down, facing the east, and began their
prayers. I wonder what it would be like, if we would be that committed.
We can say all we want about it being a habit that has no meaning, but I
think it takes commitment and bravery to do what is expected of them by
their religion. I’m going to suggest that for one week, we all set our
watches or cell phones or alarms for noon. And wherever we are at noon,
we stop and face toward this church and say a quick prayer of
thanksgiving ... for God’s gifts to us: this church, our lives, this
world, the marvels of nature, for God’s incredible love. I’m not saying
you have to get all the way down on the floor... some of us might not be
able to get up... but turn toward the church and bow your head and pray
... let’s just see if that doesn’t begin to open us up for a little more
wholehearted praise!
The psalmist recalls the day when he called to God and God increased his
strength of soul. In another place the psalmist recalls when he was
walking in the midst of trouble and God preserved him. It is good to
remember the times when God has been with us in times of difficulties.
Can you remember times when it has been a difficult situation and
somehow you made it through. I remember one time in 1966 or 67, before
we had children when my car broke down at 8 Mile and Livernois. It
was right around supper time in the middle of winter and very dark. I
was going to pick up Bob at a garage where he had taken our other car to
be fixed. When suddenly, the car I was driving, stalled and wouldn’t
start again. So, someone pushed me over to the side of the road and
offered me a ride, but I knew better than get into a car with a
stranger. So, I said, “My husband is just a couple blocks away. I’ll
walk thank you.” But, it was cold and those were the days of mini skirts
with white boots. Not a good attire for walking down 8 Mile in freezing
cold weather ... especially, when that stretch of 8 Mile was one bar
after another separated only by vacant buildings or vacant lots. Now,
keep in mind, this was long before cell phones were around. It was
scary. But I did what the psalmist would have done... I began to sing
praises to God. As I walked down 8 Mile, I sang, “All Hail the Power of
Jesus’ Name” at full voice. I suspect those guys who looked out the
windows of the bars I passed thought that is some crazy broad, walking
down the street in a mini skirt singing hymns! No one bothered me. It’s
a long, long story, but the point I want to make today is that it is one
of those times I remember that God reached out a hand to me and
preserved me against the wrath of any would-be-enemy. That’s just one of
many times when things have been difficult and somehow, I’ve made it
through. During Communion, while other people are coming forward, I hope
you will remember when you have been in danger and somehow you’ve made
it through and as you remember, give thanks.
 Singing
hymns is a great thing to do when you are in trouble. Charles Spurgeon,
who was a famous preacher in England in the late 1800's, said, “Praise
is a potent disinfectant. If called to behold evil, let us purify the
air with the incense of praise.” I thought that was a great word
picture. Praise is a potent disinfectant. I could just imagine my song
of “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name” spraying Spiritual Mace in any of
those would-be attackers in any of those bars I passed.
But even more important than singing praises when you are in physical
danger, how about singing them when you are in danger of succumbing to
various kinds of temptations. The psalmist says “before the gods I sing
your praise.” Now, of course, the psalmist was thinking about the gods
of his neighbors who made wooden idols and prayed to them. Our neighbors
don’t do that ... exactly ... but, we do make various things into idols
... things that we “worship” in a sense ... things that take priority
over our health, over our family, over our spiritual health. There are
many “gods” in our society today. Today’s “god’s” are the things we give
highest priority to. I believe that is what happened to my friend that I
told you about at the beginning of the sermon. When she was ill, she put
God first in her life. Her job, her quest for material things, her
desire for success ... all lost their priority in her life. But when she
got well, after a while, she let her priorities get twisted again. Other
things began to take top billing in her schedule and used up her energy.
It’s not that many of these things are bad in and of themselves, it is
just that when we put them before God, then they become a problem. The
answer is not to isolate ourselves from all the materialism of our
society, but rather, I think the psalmist has a good idea of singing
praise to God in the face of all the things that tempt us. If we
continue to praise God and to put God first in our lives then we can be
healthy and whole and SOZO.
For example, this snowmobile. There is nothing evil about this in an of
itself. As a matter of fact, perhaps you can ride this to a place you
couldn’t get to otherwise and there behold a particular beauty of nature
that would help you to praise God in a wonderful way. However, if you
began to put this first in your life and consistently went snowmobiling
every weekend, missing opportunities to worship and to serve others ...
like my friend did ... then what would be happening is that you are
beginning to worship this snowmobile rather than God. This can happen
with anything ... even good causes. But if we sing the praises of God in
the face of all the temptations around us, we will be more likely to
keep things in proper perspective.
I asked some of the people who came to my power point class to put
together some slides with the words to a lovely chorus of praise called,
“I Love You Lord.” But the pictures I asked them to put on the screen
are pictures of some things that we often make into “gods” ... things
that we put as a higher priority than reading the scripture and praying.
So as we sing the song, image yourself singing before the “gods” ...
spraying that potent disinfectant ...
 which
will keep the danger of materialism or any other idol at bay ... As you
sing, let us purify the air with the incense of praise. Let us give
thanks to the Lord with our whole heart and as we do, we open ourselves
to the wholeness ... the blessings that God wants to give us. We won’t
be so-so, we’ll be SOZO!
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