“Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.” Luke 16:19
Dear Friends:
Stop, look and listen! This is exactly what Jesus does while working his way down from Galilee to Jerusalem, to what will be his final days. Time is running short. So, Jesus cuts through Samaria. But, taking the short cut is not necessarily desirable. We remember that Jesus, as a faithful Jew, is not a friend of the Samaritans. This is not the first time. Nor will it be the last time; that Jesus has traversed into un-chartered territory! Enemy territory does not stop Jesus from doing the work he has to do. Now, before continuing, he just takes a moment to stop, look and listen.
Jesus stops on the outskirts of a neighboring village. He looks and notices out of the corner of his eye ten men tucked away as if caged animals. Then, Jesus listens. The men, begging for mercy, plead with Jesus to heal them. Cleansed of their disease by Jesus, off they go. One, however, just one of the ten, stops. Staring intently, the man takes a deep look at Jesus. Falling on his face at Jesus’ feet, he offers grateful thanksgiving. He then listens intently, as Jesus says, “Get up and go. Your faith has healed you.” That’s the last we hear or see of the healed Samaritan man. It is his faith that heals him. What does Jesus mean? Perhaps, we’re called to simply stop, look and listen for Jesus’ healing power in our lives and in the lives around us and ask the same question, what does it mean when Jesus says, “your faith has healed you”?
This past week, a friend and colleague invited me to attend the 2019 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities as presented by the National Endowment of the Humanities. The NEH, generously funds humanities programs throughout the United States with the purpose of “promoting excellence in the humanities and conveying the lessons of history to all Americans.” The Jefferson Lectureship “is the highest honor the federal government bestows for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities.” Benedictine monk Father Columba Stewart was this year’s recipient and lecturer.
The first rule of thumb in the Benedictine Order is to listen. So, along with nearly two thousand others we sat enraptured for over an hour listening to Father Columba. He explained his detailed work of digitalizing ancient historical documents and texts for safe keeping, especially in war torn countries such as Syria and Iraq. In the end, he reminded us of in our search to know, to be informed, to stop, look and listen, there is hope, hope in God’s people in times of deep turmoil and unrest. I was so grateful to have taken the time to accept the invitation from my friend to hear Father Columba Stewart.
To listen. What a healing gift we’ve been given. Listening does often simply just stop us in our tracks, lead us to look at perhaps another solution. Most recently, a faithful parishioner found himself struggling in worship. Listening with all his might, he could not hear well enough in our vast worship space. Rather than let frustration take the high ground, he looked for an answer. He found one. Dean Northcutt, thankfully, is happy to help people listen. Here are his instructions for listening in worship…
We have a new assisted listening system for those that are hard of hearing. It permits the user to hear what is being said or sung in any microphone, including the choir’s. The receivers will be on the corner of the sound “booth” in a white plastic container along with all necessary accessories. Just take one and ensure batteries are in the receiver (they look like a large pager). The system was designed to be used with ear buds. If hearing amplification and isolation from other noises is what you need, the ear buds will work fine. Just turn it on and adjust the volume. This will work for those without hearing aids as well as those with hearing aids if the hearing aids are removed. At the end of the service, just turn them off and return them to the plastic box.
For those with a particular type of hearing loss, such as high frequency, the ear buds will help, but there is another option if you have hearing aids. Also provided are headphones which can be worn with hearing aids. With these, you still get the isolated microphone input but your hearing aids also do their job. One problem with this that we are working is the system was designed for the ear buds which have a mono jack. The headphones have a stereo jack. To get the headphones to work, use the same procedure as the ear buds but pull the jack out a very small fraction of an inch until you hear sound input. This takes a little bit of playing with and may have to be done a couple of times during the service. But the advantage of combining the microphone input, isolated from the surrounding acoustics, modified by whatever your hearing aids do will be worth it.
You may desire to bring your own personal ear buds or wipes to sanitize those provided. If your ear buds are stereo (and almost all are) you may have to play with them like the headphone instructions above. We currently have four receivers and intend to purchase more. We are waiting to see what accessories are needed to solve specific problems first.
If these don’t satisfy your situation, please contact Dean Northcutt and he will attempt to work something out. You may need his assistance in making anything other than the provided ear buds work. Dean Northcutt dean.northcutt@horsethencart.com Cell: 858.254.9442
Thank you, Dean for taking the time to not just stop, look and listen. But, to find a healing solution! We’re grateful!
See you Sunday good friends. We’ll look deeper into the story from Luke 17 where the one healed man turns back to say “thank you” to Jesus. Following worship, we’ll pack Food4Thought for the Fairfax County School kids. A special thanks to Dave Parkerton for shepherding Food4Thought over these years with considerable support from Eric Neilson and his boys, as well as the Sunday School Youth. We’re grateful now for the leadership of Brian Russo and his family Lisa, Toby and Jacob as they serve as the point people for monthly family sign ups to manage shopping and delivering of the bagged food. Watch for future messages from Toby to be involved in Food4Thought.
Immediately following Food4Thought, all those interested in being trained or re-trained as Acolytes, remain in the worship space for a 25 minute training. Youth will be gathering upstairs in Room 130 for Youth Led Worship planning until 12:45 p.m. Finally, mark your calendars for a truly great time to stop, look and listen: The Wellness Fair Saturday October 26. Sign up for tickets. You’ll be glad you did!
As always, the life of Epiphany continues to blossom and bloom as we grow in God’s saving grace shining our light. Thank you for your faith in God working in us! See you Sunday if not before!
Many blessings,
Hillary