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Pastor's Message Gate-Watcher Watch for people God may lay at your gate! During the sermon on Pentecost Sunday I spoke of a young man named John-Paul. He and his family live in Grand Forks, BC. John-Paul is 37 years old and has Down’s Syndrome. He was in Kelowna General Hospital for surgery to remove cancer from his colon. I met his parents two weeks ago. It was a Saturday night, I had been up on the third floor to visit Karen Wakal, who was in same ward recovering from surgery caused by her cancer. It was about 9:30 PM. Visiting hours were long over. I was wearing a black clergy shirt. An elderly couple greeted me at the elevator door. They wondered if I was “Catholic?” I smiled and answered big “C” or little “c”. We chuckled. “I’m a Lutheran Pastor,” I responded. Then the wife said, “It doesn’t matter, we’re all going to the same place aren’t we?” “What brings you to the hospital?” I asked. They proceeded to tell me about John-Paul. He lives with them and is dependent upon them. He is active in their Roman Catholic Parish in Grand Forks. He serves as an Altar boy and an usher every Sunday. After Mass he heads down to the “Gospel Chapel” for their service. The Gospel Chapel is an evangelical protestant community church. He ushers there as well. He is loved by both faith communities. John-Paul’s medical condition was complicated. He has colon cancer and had surgery to remove the cancer that day. The nursing staff was astounded at his recovery. He was responding well. His pain medication was working like a charm. They all remarked that he was the most cooperative and obedient patient on the floor. He never had a bad thing to say. They were not sure how the surgery had gone and whether all of the cancer was removed. The surgeon promised to make all things known on Tuesday at an interdisciplinary case management meeting. The couple expressed some real fears and doubts about his prognosis. They were afraid that he would have to have chemotherapy. John-Paul’s mother had lymphatic cancer three years ago. John-Paul had watched her suffer through rounds and rounds of chemotherapy. The chemotherapy had caused her great distress. She felt sick and lost her hair. During this period, John-Paul felt great distress. She did not want John-Paul to have to go through the same pain and suffering. They shared that John-Paul’s father had quintuple bypass heart surgery some five years before. They also shared that their oldest son, who is married and has two beautiful children, just learned that his wife suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. Their oldest son was most impacted by all these events. They feared that he had lost his faith. He did not want to speak about God in light of all the things that had happened to his family. A natural pause in our conversation occurred. We got into the elevator rode to the main floor. The doors opened. The hospital chapel was right in front of us. I offered to pray with them in the chapel. They accepted my invitation and we headed into the chapel. We prayed for Karen, for John-Paul, the couple, their daughter-in-law and their oldest son. They thanked me and we said good night. I told them I would be visiting Karen the next day (Sunday afternoon) and would love to meet John-Paul. They thought it would be wonderful if I could visit John-Paul. Sunday afternoon I paid a visit to Karen and then to John-Paul. John-Paul is under five feet in height. His left hand is normal. His right hand is defective, a stub. His hair is dark black. He is one of the friendliest people you will meet. He is gentle and soft spoken. His speech is somewhat slurred and he is sometimes hard to understand. When I walked into his room he was intently watching an episode of “Little House on the Prairie” on his portable “DVD” player. They own all of the seasons of “Little House” which have been put out on DVD. He knows every episode by heart, but still watches them faithfully. He so loved the characters and the story that his fondest desire was to go visit Walnut Grove and all the people. His family had to explain that Walnut Grove was not a real town, nor were the actors related to one another. They had to explain they were actors who were performing a show for an audience. They did some research and found that the sets for the show have been incorporated into a kind of museum. John-Paul really wanted to visit that museum. This was not a casual wish. I found that John-Paul was intimately familiar with museums. He volunteered two days a week at the Grand Forks community museum. He described his duties to me. He greeted guests who entered the museum and handed them brochures. He was responsible for dusting and cleaning certain display cases. These jobs were of utmost importance to him. He also volunteered two days a week at the community pool doing odd jobs. John-Paul is known throughout the community of Grand Forks. For as long as the family can remember, John-Paul cut the Canada Day cake which was served at the Grand Forks community Canada Day celebration. He informed me that a friend of his would have to cut the cake this year. I also learned that John-Paul visited the Grand Forks public library from time to time. It was there that he learned one day of an art contest. Unbeknownst to his family, he drew and colored a picture of his father and submitted the picture as an entry in the contest. The parents learned of John Paul’s entry in the contest and the success of his entry when they began receiving congratulations on John-Paul’s picture as they greeted their friends during routine trips to town. The parents rushed to the public library to see what their son had done. It is a wonderful picture. They display it in their home with great pride. John-Paul promised he would draw a picture for me. We had a prayer together, and I promised I would come for a visit on Tuesday, On Tuesday I learned that the family had met with the team treating John-Paul, and the prognosis was not good. The cancer had spread to his gallbladder and further surgery was not a possibility. Chemotherapy was the only option open. It is hoped that chemotherapy would shrink or stabilize the tumor in the gallbladder. I met his older brother that afternoon. The family expressed great grief and heartache at the news; they simply did not know how Jean-Paul would respond to chemotherapy. They did not know how long he had to live. They seemed to look to me for a good word in the midst of all this bad news. The parable of Lazarus and the rich man came to mind. I explained that Jesus once told a parable about a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. Jesus had shared this parable with a group of men called Pharisees. Pharisees believed that because they lived a life according to their interpretation of God’s Law, God blessed them financially, spiritually and every way as a result. They reasoned that anyone who was experiencing problems and tragedies in this life was experiencing them as a punishment from God for not being obedient to God’s law. 19"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell,[c] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.' 27"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, 28for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' The rich man did not live in the same way. The law given by Moses declared that God gave some people excess so that they could show grace and help the poor in their community; people like Lazarus. Moses wrote: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” The rich man passed by Lazarus each time he went in and out of his house. He was not moved to pity Lazarus. No desire was kindled in him to help Lazarus. The rich man was not moved to love his neighbor as himself. When his fellow men and women would not minister to Lazarus’ wounds, God sent dogs to lick them. The dogs licked Lazarus’ wounds as they would have licked their own, namely, their soft tongues would clean the wounds and ease the pain and discomfort associated with them. In this parable, Jesus declared that God knew the name of a poor homeless man who had no one to care for him. Lazarus’ name was written in God’s book of life because he believed in God, His grace and mercy, and His promise to end all suffering and affliction and to grant life everlasting to all who believed. God did not know the name of a rich man who had everything in this life. I reminded the family that God had laid John-Paul at their gate. I reminded them that they had not seen John-Paul as a burden, but as an incredible gift from God. They nurtured him and provided all they could by way of care and education. Their selfless actions permitted John-Paul to mature, grow and express all of his God given gifts and talents. I expressed my profound experience of God’s presence in my interactions with John-Paul. I expressed my sincere and heartfelt belief that God “knows John-Paul’s name” and that God will shepherd John-Paul and his family through this life and into the next. We all walked into John-Paul’s room together. I spoke with John-Paul for a brief time. He was visibly tired. I asked if I could pray with him. “Please,” was his reply. We all joined hands. I took John-Paul’s left hand. We bowed our heads in prayer. I prayed for John-Paul and his family, and especially for God’s strength and guidance in the days and months ahead. When I said Amen, I looked up and my eyes caught sight of John-Paul’s brother. His eyes were closed, and he appeared deep in his own prayer. John-Paul’s deformed right hand was gently held in his older brother’s right hand. His older brother’s left hand was placed over his own heart. What a moment! Was this a sign that God was beginning to work in John-Paul’s brother’s life and that his faith was rekindled? The parable of Lazarus and the rich man had been spoken by Jesus for that very reason. The parable speaks words of faith and hope into lives filled with despair. The parable calls those who are afflicted and those who care for them to persevere and wait on God. It calls those who suffer and those who care for them to believe that while they may suffer in this life, they will be comforted. In the last two weeks, the Wakal family was rocked by Karen’s surgery and what lays ahead for her. Lorna Lingat (Leah Green’s friend and former employee of our out-of school program) had surgery for breast cancer. She is recovering nicely. John-Paul’s world was rocked by his cancer surgery and by its implications for him and his family. In this same two-week period, Kyle and LoriAnn Poirier became the parents of a beautiful baby boy they named Oliver. Before Oliver was a week old; he was flown to Children’s Hospital where he underwent surgery to correct a defect in his aorta near his heart. The surgery was a success and he is recovering well. However, in the middle of all of this, they, their loved ones, and all of us wonder, “Why God?” Upon much reflection, I can find no good reason for why bad things happen to good people. I have to conclude that, in the end, it is better that I not know why tragedy comes into our lives at various times. I have to conclude that when we experience the pain and suffering Lazarus experienced, in the end, it is better to know that Jesus is with us in this experience. It is better to know that Jesus was afflicted for us. By His stripes and His wounds He healed us. He took on our human life and our sins so that He could give us back the strength we need to persevere in this life, and in the end, He sends angels to take us to be with Him in heaven where we will live forever. I have to conclude that it is better to know that, like Lazarus, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit knows our names. I have to conclude that, in the end, it is better to know that because our Triune God knows our names, like Paul, we can say: “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:38-39] God does not want us to be like the rich man, who had no faith in or love for God and no love for his fellow man. God does not want us to simply walk on by. Our Lord Jesus wants us to believe, trust and confess that he is the absolute, complete and perfect fulfillment of the Law given by Moses and the prophets. He wants to remind us that our names are written in the Book of Life, if we believe this. Because we are His people and because we believe in Him, our Lord lays people at our gate, like Karen, Lorna, Oliver and John-Paul. Our Lord calls us to minister to them. This ministry may take many forms. Jesus calls us to pray for them, perhaps visit them, to love them and even to show loving care for them in some way, by some act of kindness and mercy. God will show us the way to minister to them. Just have faith and be willing to follow God’s call. In Christ, |
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© Grace Lutheran Church Kelowna 2006 |
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