Preach from Scars not Wounds
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
July 8, 2018
the Biblical text
The Epistle
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows. And I know that such a person—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows— was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat. On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses. But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me, even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
The Gospel
Mark 6:1-13
Jesus came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.
Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
the sermon
“Preach from your scars, and not your wounds.” This is general rule of thumb for preachers. Preach from your scars and not your wounds. And what that means is if you are going to use a personal experience – make sure the example is from the distant past and that the situation has been dealt with, and you have moved on, learned from it, and now you are left with a scar from that experience, and not an open wound. And the point is, on the one hand it is inappropriate for the preacher to work out his or her problems using the pulpit, it is on the other hand, appropriate, from time to time, to preach what you know from experience.
And in a way this is what St. Paul is doing in our lection reading for this morning. So this is the context: Paul is struggling with the congregation in Corinth because the Corinthians are not entirely convinced that Paul is the real deal. There have been other missionaries for Christ who have stopped by Corinth who seem to the Corinthians to have a little more clout – they are smoother speaking, are more impressive in their stature, and proclaim to have an abundance of mystical experience. But the problem, as Paul sees it, is that these so called missionaries do not seem to win people over to Christ, but they win over followers for themselves.
And so Paul here, in a not so veiled way, says to the Corinthians, that he has had more mystical experiences than you can shake a stick at. However, he will not boast in that, because in Christ power is generated from weakness. As it says in our lection this morning, “the Lord said to me (that is Paul] ‘my grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ ” What can that possibly mean?
Let’s think of it in a practical sense. If you are struggling with something – an addiction, a difficult relationship, a work situation, a sadness – who are you going to go to for help? You’re probably going to the person who has some metaphorical scars from what they have struggled through, and have made it to the other side. You are not going to go to that person who appears to float through life without a trouble in the world – right?
Don Smith, a member of our congregation, recently gave me some sermon recordings of Bruce Theilemann who is considered one of the most skilled, charismatic and influential preachers of the late 20th century. When I listened to his sermons, I was totally rapt –hanging on every word. Thielemann, truly, was one of the greatest preachers I have ever heard. So after I listened to the sermons I wanted to know about this remarkable man. So I googled him and I bought a copy of his biography.[1]
And what I learned from the search was there were many reasons that he was a gifted preacher – he was heavily involved in the theatre growing up and he had developed a resonant, stirring voice, and perfected his stage presence in the pulpit. He was meticulously organized. He started working on his sermons a year in advance and in the week leading up to a sermon he would spend as much as 2 ½ days doing the final preparations. He also read 2-5 books a week. He was, truly, a professional preacher – he not only studied preaching, but he taught it too.
But here is the other thing about Bruce Theilemann – he lived a life of struggle. He was tremendously overweight, weighing around 350 pounds, which negatively affected his health – so much so that he died when he was 60. He suffered from intense loneliness, he never married – which meant in his day he never had children which he desperately wanted. He became increasingly angry and was known to outbursts especially toward his church staff and was asked to resign from more than one parish. And underneath it all, there was pain, and there were scars that we will never be privy to their cause. His power came from his talent and effort, but it also came from a place of struggle – without which he would not have been the preaching genius we know today.
During Sunday Forum, and during our vestry meeting and in my weekly email to the congregation, I introduced the exercise that Virginia Theological Seminary gave to those participating in the preaching fellowship that I attended in June. And the exercise is to tell the story about the hope that is within you. Just briefly, the assignment was to choose a scripture passage that has been meaningful in your life, and then explain how you know that text to be true in your life – or what do you believe about that text, or what hope does it give you.
When we got to the preaching fellowship course, we had to in our small group, tell our testimony of the hope that was within us. Honestly, it was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. The stories we shared about the God’s presence in our lives and the hope therein, was not a story of “I’m so great, my life has been smooth sailing, and I am so grateful that God has abundantly blessed me with the best gosh darn life anyone could hope for.” The stories were about simple grace appearing at a time that looked pretty bleak, a glimmer of hope offered in the midst of crippling grief and fear, the Lord of Love appearing when the God that was being preached at was angry and vengeful. These were not stories of boasting – they were genuine stories of God being a companion along the way when things seemed hopeless.
Just returning to Paul for a moment – we do not really know what Paul’s thorn in his side was – some think it was a psychic or physical ailment [2] – some have speculated that he had a speech impediment or he walked in a funny way which made him seem a bit comical. Over the years I have also heard that Paul might have had chronic eye problems, or epilepsy or migraines. The truth is we just don’t know – but what we do know is whatever the thorn was, it apparently kept Paul humble. But perhaps more importantly, it made him powerful and great.
Every day in my email, I receive the Harvard Business Review Tip of the Day. Just this week the topic was perfectionism. The tip was simply this: if you struggle with perfectionism, think back over your past accomplishments – and think again, about how those accomplishments were pulled off not by your perfection, but rather through your imperfection.
When Jesus sent his disciples out in twos as we heard in our Gospel lesson for this morning – he didn’t say “You better not mess this up” or “you need to cure x number of people, and teach y number of people, or your mission will be a failure.” The disciples did not have to pass knowledge tests, or have specific competencies, they only needed to take themselves, unencumbered by gear and security, and present themselves to the world, warts and all.
That is all God asks. Not that we be perfect, but that we be human and fully and authentically ourselves – so that in our humanity, others may see their own, and know through our love, that they are loveable.
Amen.
[1] Thielemann, The Preacher’s Preacher, by John Zingaro, 2009
[2] Jerome Bible Commentary, 1988, p. 828
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