The Ministry of the Nameless

We are in the long season of the church year which stretches from Pentecost until the beginning of Advent known as "ordinary time".  "Ordinary".  It sounds so -not special, so boring, so dull.  We would much rather have the spectacular, the stunning, the absolutely fabulous.  We want the parades and the fireworks not just on the Fourth of July, but at least every Sunday, if not every day.  That especially goes for acts of God.  We expect God, who is after all, great and powerful, ruler of the universe, to show up in great and spectacular ways, particularly if God is doing something for someone really important - that is, if God is doing something for us.  We want extra-ordinary time every day.

Today's scripture lesson deals with some extra-ordinary people.  There are two kings and a general.  These people are real powers in the eyes of the world - and in their own eyes.  They know how to get things done.  They know who to pay off, and who to put pressure on, and how to put on the pageantry to impress.   But when the general Naaman, who has spent the day armored in the trappings of his office, goes home at night, there is a different picture.  

Because when Naaman takes off his armor, he sees himself as he really is. As Kate Huey says,  then you have to face the fact that you are just one more leper on the face of the earth, one more person afraid of the rejection of others when they really see you, or worse, if they start to touch you, just one more person hurting and sick and powerless in the face of your suffering, one more person in need of healing.  And so it goes for Naaman - a general in the eyes of the world, in the eyes of his household, a man in need of healing.  

But the word of God comes to Naaman in an extremely ordinary and unprepossessing form.  One day, a slave girl in his household, a captive from the always-almost-enemy land of Israel makes an off-hand comment to Naaman's wife.  "If only my lord went to the prophet in Samaria, he'd heal him!"  A foreigner  - a slave - a child - a girl - in Naaman's day, it didn't get much more powerless or ordinary than that.   But God works through the ordinary and the powerless.  God turns our ideas of true power upside down.  Amazing as it seems, desperate as he was, Naaman listened.  He went to his king.  Kings know the way of power.  So the king of Aram sent a letter with Naaman to the king of Israel.  Power speaks to power.  That's the way it's done.  And Naaman takes with him bags of treasure, cartloads of clothes as gifts for the king and for the prophet.  Wealth is the universal language of power, one all nations understand.

But the king of Israel turns out to be powerless in this situation.  Is the king of Aram trying to start a war?  What do kings know of healing?  The power rests with Elisha, the prophet living in the little village in the back of beyond, because Elisha is a man of God, from whom all true power comes.  Elisha sends a message, saying "Send Naaman to me."  So Naaman comes with all his horses and chariots, with his bags of treasure and fabulous clothes to Elisha's humble house in his little village.  Elisha doesn't even come out of the house.  Instead, he sends his servant, saying, "Go wash in the Jordan seven times, and you will be clean."

Now, Naaman is used to walking in the hallways and battlefields of power.  He's used to being treated with respect and fear, even though he is a leper.  He knows what power looks like, and it's not a ragged prophet's servant or a muddy little creek like the Jordan River.   He thinks he's been insulted, and packs to head home.

But once again, God's voice speaks through someone who's not important or powerful, God works through someone totally ordinary.  Naaman's servant speaks up.  "If you had been told to do something difficult, wouldn't you do it, even if it meant crossing a desert or climbing a great mountain?  Then what do you have to lose by doing something as simple as washing in a river?

So Naaman, that great and powerful general, went to the riverbank, and took off his armor, and waded into the Jordan River, in and out, seven times.  That ordinary little trickle, so much smaller than the great rivers of his home.  But sometimes - often - God works through the ordinary and everyday, the weak and the powerless.  So by the power of God working in this little river,  Naaman's skin was healed, like that of a little boy, and, says the bible, he was clean.  I believe he was made clean, made whole inside and out.  He no longer needed to wince when he looked in the mirror.  He no longer needed to put on the armor to be socially acceptable.  With the help of the God who works through the ordinary, the small and the powerless, through a slave girl, a servant, and a small muddy river, Naaman was made clean.  In the end, there is nothing left to do but proclaim his faith and say thanks. "Now I know," he said, "That there is no god in all the earth except in Israel."

At the beginning of Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth, he says,

"Consider your own call, brothers and sisters; not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; …He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and redemption, in order that the one who boasts may boast in the Lord."

Not many of us are wise or powerful or wealthy.  If you asked most of us if God would choose us to work through, we might say no.  But that's just who God does choose to work through, over and over again.

This weekend we celebrate the 4^th of July, the birth of our country.  One of the things that makes this land great is that it was founded not by kings or aristocrats, but by farmers and sailors and shopkeepers.  Yes, there have been a few shining stars throughout our history, but our greatest strength has been the hard work, deep faith, and strong commitment of ordinary everyday people whose names are recorded nowhere in the annals of history. 

A number of years ago I was on a Mission trip, working with a little Habitat for Humanity chapter in rural West Virginia.  There was a man named Max who coordinated our work, figuring out which jobs we'd do next, getting supplies and generally making our work possible.   One day I asked him how he had gotten involved in this work.   "Well, you know," he said, "we had a pastor once who kept saying, "One person can make a difference", so I figured I'd try."  Because Max tried, there were a lot of houses in Marlinton West Virginia that were safe for the residents, warm in winter, and had bathrooms and running water.  One person did make a difference.

I know a lot of us have been thinking of Cheri Kalinowsky this week.  Cheri will never be famous, or win any awards. She was in many ways an ordinary woman.  But she made such a difference.  Not many people could have handled what she coped with on a daily basis with patience and with humor.  She not only raised her own children with wisdom and love, but made an impact  in the life of so many families that passed through "Art of Growing" as well.  Through an ordinary woman, God did extraordinary work.

So it has been throughout history, from Naaman's time to ours.  People whose names no one now remembers, sometimes whose names were never known, tune their lives to God.  And God works through them.  God works through us, through ordinary people, using ordinary means.   Bruce Epperly says, "The healing and transformation we need is right in front of us.  We don't need to do anything spectacular, just trust and rely on the grace in which we live and move and have our being.   The healing of Naaman reminds us that healing can occur anywhere, by any practice, through any mediator - even through ordinary people like us.

So trust what God can do through you.  Trust what God can do for you through ordinary means.  And may you find joy and meaning in every ordinary day.