What Do You Want?

Mark 10:46-52 and Words from Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi

October 27th, 2024

By Rev. Nicole M. Lamarche

Thank you again for showing up here today for yourself, for Spirit, for one

another, for the world we all want. Just a reminder that next weekend is

Daylight Savings. We get an extra hour when we fall back! I hope to be a

live for a time when we stop doing this. I guess it really messes with our

system! If you are so moved, I invite you now to take some deeper breaths,

giving yourself the gift of this time, letting go of whatever awaits you beyond

our time together. I invite you to join me in a spirit of prayer as we are all

held by these ancient words from Psalm 19: God may the words of my

mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight our

rock and our redeemer. Amen.

I have heard it or something like it now so many times that my sense is that

many people feel this way. It has been said in different ways and even from

different political perspectives and it goes something like this: what’s going

on in the world of wars and walkouts, boycotts and book bans, immigration

from drug cartels and dictators, from climate change supported by the fossil

fuel industry to changes in our healthcare and our hospice care drive by

private equity funds, what’s going on isn’t a matter of left or right, some

ideas versus others, rather this moment is actually a battle between good

and evil. Have you heard this?

And depending on how far down this rabbit warren of wondering and

questioning one goes, the situation is explained cosmically, and the answer

is to engage in so-called spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is a concept

among neo-charismatic Christian churches and it’s about fighting against

the work of evil forces, battling against evil spirits that are here on and in

this realm of existence. Spiritual warfare is beating the demons and fallen

angels that intervene in our lives in all kinds of ways here and now. And it

claims to receive scriptural authority from texts like that found in Ephesians

6:12 where we read, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but

against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over

this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly

places.”

It seems a tad convenient to blame things on demons- a handy spiritual

scapegoat that is impossible to confirm, allowing a disconnection from

accountability. And also, there really do seem to be people that are so

wounded, so afraid, so diminished, so distorted that for one reason or

another, that they act in ways that can only be described as evil, causing

harm, casting a shadow. As it is said, wounded people, wound.

And maybe when too many wounded people, perhaps when too many

unhealed humans get together or get too much power, maybe it does feel

like a battle of some kind? A battle about where we want to go collectively,

as human beings bound together on this perfect planet? It does kind of feel

like a battle about whose stories get to be heart. About whose stories get to

be honored. About whose wars, which side, which group gets to be seen as

moral.

Who has been wounded the most? Who gets to be healed first? Who gets

to be heard?

I confess that I have felt so much despair about what I see in Gaza and the

fact that those hostages still aren’t home and that the hellfire missiles are

made by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman and supported

with our tax dollars. I feel despair about the fact that we are still arguing

over whether women can be saved from pregnancies that are threatening. I

feel despair that the earth’s temperatures climb as we prepare for another

meeting about promises that won’t be kept. And the US isn’t even going to

the COP this time.

Who gets to be heard?

This story the Gospel of Mark where we have a mean that isn’t being

heard, standing on the sidelines seeking healing, in need of hope. And the

people around him are telling him to be quiet. And he waits by the side of

the road and asks for him. But even Jesus’ closest friends tell him to be

quiet. But Bartimaeus doesn’t give up. He speaks louder and he speaks

louder, until he is heard. Until Jesus says to him “What do you want me to

do for you?” Bartimaeus asks to see. As one scholar wrote, “Bartimaeus

refuses to be defined by his circumstances or by the expectations of those

who are able to see, who appear to be close to Jesus…He ensures that his

call will be heard by Jesus. The persistence of Bartimaeus sets in motion a

wave of mercy, blessing and change.”

He knows what he wants. He knows what is needed. He is persistent. A

way is made, a change comes because he refuses to stay silent. He

demands the barriers to love be removed.

What if healing in the wounded parts of ourselves comes when we are

clear and honest about what the situation as it is? About what is need.

Sometimes this first step can be difficult. But what if that is part of healing?

Can you be bold in asking yourself and the Universe? Are you able share

this with those you love? And what if healing in our world will come when

enough people, when enough of us aren’t afraid to be loud and to keep

getting louder on the sideline even when the world says to be be quiet? We

will be like Bartimaeus yelling from the side and our view will be widened

and more will be awakened and wounds will be healed. I know it! Maybe

you remember that the Greek word for faith is pistis, meaning trust so when

Jesus said to him, “Your faith has made you well,” I think maybe that he

meant that his trust in the truth, in his own truth, in his own voice, in his

belovedness, in his own power, in his persistence in demanding that he

should be made whole, that’s what made him well! His refusal to give up.

And that can be true for us too.

So perhaps in this battle about where we want to go collectively, as human

beings bound together and dependent upon life on this perfect planet, in

this struggle about whose stories get to be heard, which group gets to be

seen as moral, which wounds are healed and who gets to be heard. I

wonder if whatever name we have for God, it is an energy finding openings

in all of our hearts, even the hearts that seem hardened. I want to

encourage you, in whatever setting you find yourself, be persistent in

trusting your truth and speaking out. Refuse to be silent. Say what is

wanted and what is needed. Let us speak until we are heard, until we are

healed, until the whole world is made well.

Communal Reflection

Beloved of God, what do you want love to do for you and for the world?

What barriers can you remove? Let us be persistent in trusting your truths,

saying them however you can, shouting them from the side when we need

to. Let us refuse to be silenced. Let us speak until we are heard, until we

are healed, until all is made well. May it be so. Amen.