"Doing Whatever It Takes"

Cindy Bolbach has to be one of the gutsiest women I know.

The Moderator of the 219th General Assembly kicked off worship at the 220th General Assembly yesterday in Pittsburgh.  Cindy is being treated for the same kind of cancer which took the life of my best friend less than a year ago.  It is aggressive and fast-growing and  not responsive to treatment. I saw and remember what it did to Pam - and for that reason, I am in awe of the woman I saw preaching before the General Assembly yesterday.

She chose for her text Mark 2:1-12, the story of the paralyzed man for whom people cut a hole in the roof to get him to Jesus for healing.  Two years ago when she preached on this passage, she reminded us that she compared the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the paralyzed man. Now, she notes, "Flux and change surround us, but we are not paralyzed.  The church is living not with paralysis but with change."

I think our two presbyteries can testify to that.  I have not seen a whole lot of paralysis around either of our presbyteries, but we all know that we are indeed swimming in a sea of change.  Sometimes the change seems to be daily at the very least, if not sometimes hourly.

This year, Cindy pointed instead to a new focus for her preaching:  those who helped the man down through the roof in order that he might be healed. She noted that we always assume they are the man's friends - after all, who else would take a sick man on a pallet and hike him up to the roof of a house and cut a hole in order to get through to Jesus in the middle of a crowd?  But the Gospel says nothing about them being "friends." It says that "some people" did this.  And that is what she - in what was very likely her last-ever sermon - encouraged us to do.

Opening worship at the General Assembly

"At the heart of the gospel is not structure, not organization, not even the New Form of Government.  At the heart of the gospel are disciples like these: willing to take risks, to do whatever it takes to help others to see Jesus.  Maybe even someone they don't know or may not even like."  She went on to say: "If we could all stop ourselves from the easy habit of labeling one another, we'd be much better equipped to be disciples to help others see Jesus."

As the service kicked off, my friend Sheldon Sorge (who does what I do in Pittsburgh Presbytery) saluted the Moderator for her courage - and then he (along with about 200 other people) donned green tinsel wigs in order to be in solidarity with the Moderator who was wearing a much more sedate wig. It's my hope that those goofy wigs, as well as the ovation she received as she brought down the gavel for the last time, helped Cindy to know that she was surrounded by other risk-takers, inspired by her example.

 She closed with a familiar prayer from the Book of Common Worship, one which gleaned new meaning from the one reciting it.  I'm sure that I'll never hear it in the same way again:
Eternal God, 
you call us to ventures
of which we cannot see the ending, 
by paths as yet untrodden, 
through perils unknown. 
Give us faith to go out with courage, 
not  knowing where we go, 
but only that your hand is leading us, 
and your love supporting us; 
through Jesus Christ.our Lord. 
Amen.