There is a balm

Good Friday
March 29, 2024
Isaiah 52: 13-53:12
Psalm 22: 1-11
Luke 23: 1-49

Sermon by Rev. Megan Limburg
Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight,
O God, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
 
As I began to prepare for this Holy Week, I found myself startled to prepare for these services. My mind kept saying wait! Didn’t we just eat pancakes together and laugh and celebrate! Wait! Wasn’t Ash Wednesday just last week? Valentines and remember that you are dust, and drive through ashes and hearts?  Wait! Where did these six weeks go so quickly?

I remember as a child, as I think we all can remember, that a summer’s day was a long experience, warmth, and sunshine and the green of the trees. A day at 8 years old was a slow treasure, and now 6 weeks can go by in what felt like the blink of an eye.

So, on this Good Friday, bewildered to believe it is already here, I ask myself, did I accept the invitation to a Holy Lent offered by me, and to me, on Ash Wednesday?
My immediate answer is NO, you missed it, you have been in a whirl, too busy. But then I am gentler with myself and less absolute. And I can say yes, some.

I have been to church each week, but maybe that doesn’t count as it is my job and call! But still, I am grateful I must be here, because I need to be here, and to hear the words and pray the prayers and catch the glimpses of the hem of my brother and savior’s robe as he passes by.

And last night, at the Maundy Thursday service, I finally stopped all my whirling for a moment, and felt immersed in the presence and love of God.

Last year Deb brought us the ritual of the handwashing, a more approachable and accessible version of the washing of the feet that Jesus does as an act of care, love and nurture for his dearest friends, and to set an example for them as to how they are to go forward, when he is no longer with them.

On the eve of Good Friday, Jesus gave his friends, and onward gives to us, a new commandment to love one another, ok. But there is more, as HE has loved us. Oh…..
Not just a thin soup of love, not just a half-effort of love, but the extravagant, caring and yes, willing to die for you love that Jesus gave.

Deb invited us last night to come forward and receive the handwashing. I was first, as I would then help Deb. So, I put out my hands and Deb gently lifting a warm towel from the bowl, fragrant with oranges and spring, and wrapped my whirling hands in it. And I was blessed, I was quiet, I was loved.

And I finally got it, again.

This Holy Week tells us again and again, to give love we must be willing to accept love, God’s love. Deb told us last night that the symbols of the washing, the bowl and the towel, are humbling, and our first step to accepting God’s love.

To be loved and cared for by God, we must be humbled, to let go of our power our control, our security in running our days, and surrender, surrender ourselves to God.
As that warm towel was placed on my hands, I felt a moment of that surrender, I felt myself let go of my tightly wound control of everything in my life, and for a moment I was wholly God’s, wounded, healed, and loved.

As I wrote this homily, the words of an old African-American spiritual kept going through my mind: “There is a Balm in Gilead”.
“There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole…”

Will you help me close this meditation by turning to Hymn 676 and singing that refrain with me?

“There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul.”

Amen.