Newly ordained in our United Church of Christ and just installed pastor of a Connecticut congregation, I was invited to preach at my home church. This was an exciting invitation! Local boy makes good! I was a bit apprehensive, too. And it did not help that the congregation that had raised me was some 3,000 members and the home church of the 1954 World Council of Churches. World leaders had preached from that lofty pulpit- Dr. Martin Luther King Senior and Junior, world class theologians, World Council presidents and more. By the time I mounted that pulpit, all 27 years of me was shaking like a new first grader on the opening day of school. Who was I to be in that place? Why should anyone listen to this youngster?

Fortunately, my home church was much more charitable than was Jesus’ boyhood synagogue. Instead of the cordial coffee hour reception that I received, Jesus’ elders became enflamed by his words. Who is he- this child of our own- to speak so prophetically to us? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary…the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon…? Luke reports (Lk. 4:29) that the leaders got up, drove him out of town…so they might hurl him off the cliff!

I believe that the preacher whose sermons never elicit anger is not doing her job. Faith is meant to challenge core values. But the reaction Jesus receives is a bit extreme. Scripture does not tell us how Jesus feels about being kicked out of his hometown. But he was human after all. The rejection by his homefolk must have felt like- crucifixion.

Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house, he mumbles.

II.

What do we do when bitter disappointments come our way? ‘When the boss says our services are no longer needed or the doctoral committee rejects our hard-fought thesis. How do we go on when our spouse dies? What about, in spite of our best efforts, our beloved files for divorce? What do we do when a grandchild is lost to war?

From what we know, Jesus reacts to rejection by his elders, not by feeling sorry for himself, or by spending endless hours reflecting on what went wrong. Nor does he attempt to soften his message or pair down his program of ministry. To follow these paths would be to become enslaved to the negative.

Jesus takes a freedom walk. His answer to rejection is to shake off the shackles of the negative and move on- to new opportunities for ministry and a new chance to leverage his servant team’s efforts to do the same.

Then he went about the villages (of the Galilee, Northern Israel) teaching. And he prepared his disciples to do the same (Mk. 6-7).

For Jesus, rejection and disappointment, missed goals and difficult times are gateways to new possibilities and increased effectiveness. And this is the way to freedom. He designs a new methodology for ministry, an efficient, servant style organization, lean and urgent. Now the disciples are to travel with carry-on only, unlike some preachers of the day who carried bread and a begger’s bag. (Other texts (Mt. 10:10, Lk 9:3, 10:4) say they were prohibited from even taking a staff or wearing sandals.) ‘Depend on the kindness of strangers for food and shelter; don’t waste energy on those who reject you. ‘Teach and preach God’s love; heal hearts, minds and bodies. Tread lightly and reverently on the earth, thereby experiencing an ever-deepening reservoir of faith.

Jesus was, in the word of Henri Nouwen, a wounded healer. His rejection by strangers and kin alike strengthened his resolve. The Crucifixion- the image of brokenness- becomes but prelude to new life and hope. For life shatters us all from time to time. But the Good News of the Gospel is that, like broken bones, we can grow stronger at the braking points. Our wounds can become our courage and our energy.

Jesus takes a freedom walk… around The Galilee, away from naysayers enslaved in their fear-born anger; and toward those in need of his ministry of healing and reconciliation; toward illiterate farmers and Bedouin sheep herders enslaved by harsh economics; toward faithful temple-goers whose religious leaders preach scriptural legalism as salvation; - prostitutes, tax collectors and others deemed by their communities as outcasts.

Freedom walks are not about us but about God working through us. Jesus is released from anger and fear by opening to God’s power to unbind others through his ministry. A wounded healer, he heals others and is healed himself. That’s Gospel freedom.

III. The same is true for churches. Coventry Cathedral, tragically damaged in Hitler’s air raids on Britain, today embodies in its design both war’s destruction and hope’s future. The congregation would not let its ministry deteriorate in the face grim ruin. The surviving members incorporated some of the ruins in a reconstruction that is a stunning memorial to peace and freedom, and a clear testament to God’s triumph of love. The site and ministry witnesses to millions annually.

West Parish has a similar story. The historic meetinghouse in which we worship today is testimony to Separatist yearnings for religious freedom, New World struggles and triumphs, and the faith of folks who witnessed in war and peace to God’s power for justice and freedom. In tough times, they refused to retrench but boldly began new initiatives, including the recovery of this historic worship space. The story of our 393 year old congregation is one of digging deeper in tough times, expanding ministries to needy neighbors at home and around the world, while “traveling light,” using all economies and efficiencies available.

That tradition is alive among us today, as last Sunday’s annual meeting gives testimony. We will not be bound by fears for the economy and our own security. We are on a freedom walk! We are committed to sharing time and talent and treasure for this church’s ministry to this world in this challenging time. We will continue to be generous in sharing locally and with our global neighbors through our United Church of Christ and our partner church in war-ravaged Sri Lanka.

Freedom walks are about sacrifice…and about trust; trust in the One in whose name we are gathered.

IV. This nation, too, lives in fearful times. We are wounded by six years of Iraq and the promise of untold more sacrifice and suffering in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Thousands of families are seeing their children off to war, too many of whom will not return. A generation of paralyzed and head trauma soldiers will need life care. We are afraid of what North Korea and Iran may do.

Some look for work with savings drained by a leveraged economy victimized by poor decisions, unwise politics and shear greed. Global warming threatens to give us woodland dwellers shorefront property. It is no wonder that the singing of the national anthem last night on the Hyannis Harbor felt a bit halfhearted. Nations can feel bound in, enslaved and disheartened too.

In this 233rd year of our liberation from Britain, we are called to take a freedom walk!

Fear will not save us. Nor will long laments about our condition. The world needs Lady Liberty to hold her torch of freedom as high as ever. We do not save ourselves by closing hearts and borders to the world’s bleeding and hungry. This nation is testimony to the strength of the millions- our forebears- who came here to affirm freedom and compassionate democracy.

Let us walk away from negative thinking. Let us avoid succumbing to the tyranny of hopelessness. Instead, let us roll up our sleeves and rededicate ourselves to serving needy people here and around the globe. May our policies be ones of inclusion, not exclusion; our economics inclusive not exclusive, our politics dedicated to helping all boats rise on all the seas of all the earth.

God has not created us for fear but for faith and courage. As President Roosevelt said, fear is our worst enemy. Licking our wounds only makes us sicker. We are a people birthed with freedom in our bones. The world still needs our best instincts! As a nation, we are born wounded healers and in that is our salvation.

In another time of unimaginable national agony, our terrible Civil War, President Lincoln found himself besieged by critics and burdened by the deaths of tens of thousands of young soldiers. Upon learning of the defeat of Union forces at Fredericksburg, Lincoln was close to complete despair. Author Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals (pp. 486ff) says that

The train of recriminations that followed the Fredericksburg defeat led to a crisis for the administration that left Lincoln “more depressed,” he said, “than at any other time in [his] life.”

“They wish to get rid of me, and I am sometimes half disposed to gratify them…I can hardly see any ray of hope.”

But the story of Abraham Lincoln is that he did not lose all hope and he did prevail to see the war ended and the beginnings of re-union of the nation. In life and in death, his woundedness became his liberation, and the hope of millions around the globe. Though a healthy skeptic in matters of faith, Lincoln acknowledged at Almighty God whose hand never left his shoulder.

V. In our youth and throughout our lives, we climb pulpits and stand on shoulders of wounded healers who have gone before us. We find our freedom in our woundedness, for it gives us power to heal the wounds of others. In the exchange, Holy arms are seen and felt, hugging us to life.

Thanks be to God!

Amen.