Devotionals

Devotionals 150 150 Pilgrimage 2022

Friday Night Devotion: Healing Takes Community

The paralytic

Mark 2:1-12
After a few days, Jesus went back to Capernaum, and people heard that he was at home. 2 So many gathered that there was no longer space, not even near the door. Jesus was speaking the word to them. 3 Some people arrived, and four of them were bringing to him a man who was paralyzed. 4 They couldn’t carry him through the crowd, so they tore off part of the roof above where Jesus was. When they had made an opening, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven!”
6 Some legal experts were sitting there, muttering among themselves, 7 “Why does he speak this way? He’s insulting God. Only the one God can forgive sins.”
8 Jesus immediately recognized what they were discussing, and he said to them, “Why do you fill your minds with these questions? 9 Which is easier—to say to a paralyzed person, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take up your bed, and walk’? 10 But so you will know that the Human One[a] has authority on the earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed, 11 “Get up, take your mat, and go home.”
12 Jesus raised him up, and right away he picked up his mat and walked out in front of everybody. They were all amazed and praised God, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this!”

Reflection by Catherine Stallsmith, 2022 Graduate of Elon University

Maybe some of us have heard this scripture before – what I remember most from learning this passage growing up was the faith of paralytic. He believed that Jesus would heal him and so he was healed. This faith is important and it matters, but today I want to focus on a different part of the story – the friends who helped the paralyzed man get to Jesus.

The scripture tells us that the place where Jesus was was so crowded that no one could get in the door. We can infer that a lot of people had heard of the healing power of Jesus and wanted to be healed. The paralytic man was not alone in that – he shared the beliefs of many, though society at large still questioned Jesus as a figure of change and justice.

We don’t learn much about the four people who carried the man to Jesus. We don’t know if they were friends or strangers or if they believed in Jesus’ healing powers or not. Whatever their motivations, they wanted to see this man healed. Regardless of their backgrounds, the man could not have been healed without them.

Healing takes community. The paralyzed man believed that Jesus would heal him, but he was paralyzed – he couldn’t get to Jesus on his own. Regardless of how strong his faith was, he couldn’t do it alone. He had to trust his community – whoever it was – to help him become healed.
Our community will look different depending on our season of life and depending on our needs in each specific situation. Sometimes our community will be our close friends and family – those we trust, and who have complete context and empathy for our situation. Other times, our community will be strangers, even those who we might assume are against us instead of for us.

God calls us to be in community with one another – we are not called to be Christians alone. That is why we gather at connectional events like Pilgrimage – to be with each other. Do you have friends that live far away that you look forward to seeing at Pilgrimage every year? Those friends are your community. We cannot do God’s work alone, and we were not designed to. That is why we are connected in ministry through our churches, districts, and wider UMC connection.

It is always okay to ask for help. We cannot live this life or walk this path by ourselves. Your youth pastor, youth group members, parents/guardians, family members, and church members are all examples of people you can turn to for help whether you need spiritual or physical healing.

Discussion Questions:

  • Who is your community?
  • Can you think of a time where you needed healing and someone (or multiple people) helped you to get what you needed?
  • Is it easy for you to ask for help? What prevents you from asking for help when you need it?

Prayer to Close:

O God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit
you poured the gift of love
into the hearts of your faithful people.
Give your servants who are gathered here,
the health of body and soul and mind,
that they may love you with all their strength,
and moved by love, do what pleases you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Adapted from Gregorian Sacramentary)

Saturday Night Devotion: Self-Advocacy and Healing

The Woman Who was Healed

Mark 5: 21-43
21 When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. 22 Then one of the synagogue leaders, named Jairus, came, and when he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet. 23 He pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” 24 So Jesus went with him.
A large crowd followed and pressed around him. 25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering.
30 At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ”
32 But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. 33 Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. 34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”
35 While Jesus was still speaking, some people came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher anymore?”
36 Overhearing[a] what they said, Jesus told him, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”
37 He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. 38 When they came to the home of the synagogue leader, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. 39 He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” 40 But they laughed at him.
After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41 He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”). 42 Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. 43 He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Reflection by Freya Dahlgren, Meredith College Junior

The woman who has been bleeding for 12 years knew Jesus could heal her so she sought Jesus out in the crowd and touched his robe. Jairus, the synagogue leader, sought out Jesus to heal his daughter. The woman’s touch immediately miraculously healed her. The woman pursued what she needed and advocated for herself and her necessary healing. In verse 34, Jesus says “Daughter, your faith has healed you; go in peace, healed from your disease.” The woman’s faith in Jesus is the catalyst for her healing found in the touch.

However, faith alone cannot fully heal. Healing takes action and self-advocacy for what you need. Healing is a long, drawn out, intense process and is not accomplished in a day. In her book, Searching for Sunday, Rachel Held Evans states that, “there is a difference between curing and healing, and I believe the church is called to the slow and difficult work of healing. We are called to enter into one another’s pain, anoint it as holy, and stick around no matter the outcome.”

So often, pain and suffering are seen as unholy and a failure of faith. But I want you to know that boldly facing pain and suffering is one of the most holy acts you can take. Jesus performed miracles, he didn’t provide cures. Evans also states that, “the church doesn’t offer a cure. It doesn’t offer a quick fix. The church offers death and resurrection. The church offers the messy, inconvenient, gut-wrenching, never-ending work of healing and reconciliation. The church offers grace.”

The grace of God is here to pick you up in your brokenness and love you fully through your struggle. Leaning on and supporting your siblings in Christ through hard things is what we are called to do as Christians. No one walks their faith journey alone.

Healing is hard. Healing is intense. Healing is no small feat.

In this passage, the woman acknowledges that she was fearful leading up to her touching Jesus’ coat but that fear lead to peace. Our healing is like that, too. Jumping into healing is scary. Not knowing how healing will affect us and how we will change because of it can be terrifying. But, Jesus encourages us to seek healing and to take the leap of faith to find such holy peace.

It’s our job as Christians in accordance with our brothers and sisters to be loving to our neighbors, no matter what stage of healing they are in or what they may need. Everyone is made by God, for God and is precious in God’s eyes. We are called to see this and to live, love, serve, pray, and witness God every day and in doing so, we embrace everyone in the everlasting love of Christ.

I want you to know that Our God is an almighty and powerful God who does no harm and will always love you. Use that knowledge today and every day as you seek to serve God in our brokenness and support our siblings in Christ in their healing.

Discussion Questions:

  • How are you in need of healing?
  • Have you already started healing from something? How did you do that?
  • How can your siblings in Christ be supporting you in your healing journey?

Possible Quotes on Healing to Discuss:

  • “No one really teaches you how to grieve the loss of your faith. You’re on your own for that”
  • “Churches should be the most honest place in town, not the happiest place in town” – Walter Bruggermann
  • “Food is the language of care, the thing we do when traditional language fails” – Shauna Neiquist
  • “When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share in our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand” -Henri Nouwen
  • “But there is a difference between curing and healing, and I believe the church is called to the slow and difficult work of healing. We are called to enter into one another’s pain, anoint it as holy, and stick around no matter the outcome”
  • “The thing about healing, as opposed to curing, is that it is relational. It takes time. It is inefficient, like a meandering river. Rarely does healing follow a straight or well-lit path. Rarely does it conform to our expectations or resolve in a timely manner. Walking with someone through grief, or through the process of reconciliation, requires patience, presence, and a willingness to wander, to take the scenic route.”
  • “The church doesn’t offer a cure. It doesn’t offer a quick fix. The church offers death and resurrection. The church offers the messy, inconvenient, gut-wrenching, never-ending work of healing and reconciliation. The church offers grace”
  • “I went to church thinking it would be like an epidural, that it would take the pain away…But church isn’t like an epidural; it’s like a midwife…I thought faith would say, ‘I’ll take away the pain and discomfort,’ but what it ended up saying was, ‘I’ll sit with you in it.’” – Brene Brown

Prayer to Close:

O God, by the grace of the Holy Spirit
you poured the gift of love
into the hearts of your faithful people.
Give your servants who are gathered here,
the health of body and soul and mind,
that they may love you with all their strength,
and moved by love, do what pleases you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Adapted from Gregorian Sacramentary)