{"id":427,"date":"2012-02-05T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-02-05T16:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=427"},"modified":"2020-01-28T18:01:04","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T23:01:04","slug":"prevenient-grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2012\/02\/05\/prevenient-grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Prevenient Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to hear the full service.
\n<\/a>Click here to hear the sermon only.
\n<\/a>Mark 1: 29-39<\/a><\/p>\n

Preface<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The phrase, \u2018prevenient grace\u2019, a favorite of John Wesley\u2019s, identifies God\u2019s grace as active prior to our awareness, prior to our acceptance, prior to our engagement, prior to our knowledge, prior to our own conscious response. \u00a0This grace comes to us, comes toward us.<\/p>\n

We think of ourselves as marching forward, into the future. \u00a0And well we might, and well we should. \u00a0But grace is the future coming toward us, marching into us, toward us. \u00a0It is incursive, it is incarnate. \u00a0It is invasive. \u00a0It is coming toward us.<\/p>\n

The cosmic apocalyptic theological perspective which shapes our Gospel of Mark is not our own. \u00a0Beelzebub\u2014not a family name. \u00a0Children of light and of darkness\u2014not the way we define the world. \u00a0The end time, the last days, the day of the Lord\u2014not our primary religious or personal lexicon. \u00a0Satan\u2014not a ready or readily understood figure. \u00a0The cosmic apocalyptic theological perspective which shapes St. Mark does not shape us.<\/p>\n

But one part of it does, or should. \u00a0Time is coming toward us. \u00a0The future is settling in on us. \u00a0It is not we who march forward into time so much as it is time marching toward, into, through and past us. \u00a0There it goes\u2026<\/p>\n

Healing on the Sabbath, for an individual, out among a whole city, and in the pastures of prayer. \u00a0Coming right at us, like a..<\/p>\n

What similes, metaphors, analogies come to mind today, about the future descending upon us? \u00a0Like a\u2026<\/p>\n

Like a linebacker vaulting into the pocket, or a punt descending out of the sky, or a kickoff falling earthward, or a return team moving to tackle, or an hour of contest approaching. ()<\/p>\n

The future is coming toward us. \u00a0That part of cosmic apocalyptic we can readily receive, if we will pivot just a bit.<\/p>\n

Prevenient<\/em> carries a sense of coming before, of preparing, of guiding. \u00a0Prevenient<\/em> grace finds us when we are not expecting to be found, or to find. \u00a0 Prevenient<\/em> grace enters the home, through the front door. \u00a0This grace attends to the needs of the identified patient in the family. \u00a0Then prevenient<\/em> grace flings open the door to the home and gathers the whole community, to heal the sick and cast out demons. \u00a0An early grace reaches us and reminds us that who we are is connected to where we are.<\/p>\n

And what comes toward us? \u00a0Grace, in seven servings: baptism, a name in a church; confirmation, a faith in a tradition; eucharist, a morsel in a community; ordination, a calling in a context; marriage, a partnership in a pattern; forgiveness, a pardon in a gathering; unction, an eternal hope in an historical experience. \u00a0What comes toward us? \u00a0Prevenient grace.<\/p>\n

Prevenient Grace: \u00a0Personal<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Said John Calvin: \u00a0Now the evangelists seem to have narrated this miracle with some emphasis, not for being in itself more distinguished than the others, or more deserving to be remembered, but because in it Christ gave a homely and closer example of his grace to his disciples…The healing of one woman gave him the opportunity for many miracles (Commentary, loc.cit.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Our gospel ends in prayer. \u00a0But the two healings of the narrative buttress each other. \u00a0The first, the healing of Peter\u2019s mother, comes to an individual. \u00a0The second, attested in odd combinations of words\u2014all, many, all, many, the whole\u2014distributes the healing to the community. \u00a0Jesus is moving toward his hearers, and toward us, now to the individual, now to the culture at large. \u00a0His preparation is showing the way to personal and social holiness. \u00a0They go together. \u00a0Holiness of heart depends on holiness of life. \u00a0Where we are affects who we are. \u00a0As Ortega memorably put it, \u201cYo soy you y mis circunstancias\u201d\u2014I am myself and my circumstances.<\/p>\n

There is a spirit of health loose in the universe, a spirit of healing, touching persons and pervading communities. \u00a0We do well to attend to the eruptions of health, in our place and time.<\/p>\n

Peter was married. \u00a0I\u2019m just sayin… You acquire a mother in law in a time honored fashion. \u00a0Did you notice that Simon has a mother in law? \u00a0That must mean\u2026 Simon is no longer out on the beach with Andrew, free and easy, as he was just two Sundays ago. \u00a0He has a home, he has a family, he has an extended family. \u00a0Behind every great religious leader is a surprised mother in law. \u00a0That is, Simon was married. \u00a0Peter was married. \u00a0I am not camping out on this verse. \u00a0I don\u2019t plan to stay here for the whole sermon and build a campfire and dwell forever on the domestic details of Peter, the rock on whom the church was built. \u00a0I\u2019m just saying\u2026\u2028\u2028Never doubt that a few people, a teacher and two sets of brothers for example, can change things.<\/p>\n

How we live makes a difference to others. \u00a0In particular, this Lent, we shall meditate on how we cyberlive. \u00a0Every half hour we are making choices in our means and mode of discourse, to enhance toward human being our way of being, or to degrade our way of being from human being. \u00a0Technology is not neutral. \u00a0It is a complex of choices. \u00a0And yes, we choose, but we do not choose our choices.<\/p>\n

Notice some of the detail in this holy, inspired, inspiring passage. \u00a0Matthew leaves out the prayer scene, in his use of Mark, and Luke retains it. \u00a0Why? \u00a0Simon\u2019s mother in law is singled out, without others from the family named. \u00a0Why? \u00a0The demons again know Jesus and again are silenced. \u00a0A \u00a0bigger, Why? \u00a0The crowd comes to healing at sundown. \u00a0To respect the Sabbath? \u00a0But Jesus has already healed on the Sabbath (see last week), and again with Simon\u2019s mother in law. So, Why? How alike are healings and exorcisms? \u00a0And the word for city is really town\\city, komepolis: \u2018not just a select few, but the whole city\u2019 is gathered for healing. \u00a0There is a broad human longing well represented here. It is our longing, too. \u00a0Jesus \u2018comes forward\/out\u2019 in order to preach. Jesus and his opponents are engaged in battle over disputed territory. \u00a0Mark is the book of secret epiphanies.<\/p>\n

We remember best what is most personal. \u00a0So, still, 20 centuries later, the most important aspect of pastoral ministry, the sermon aside, is every week the 25 visits one makes to listen to the faithful: \u00a0at work, in town, at home, in hospital, on the phone, on the screen, all. \u00a0Your job is threefold: \u00a0visit the people, visit the people, visit the people.<\/p>\n

How I miss Peter Gomes. \u00a0I miss his voice, his presence, his grace. \u00a0But you remember his admonition about ministry. \u00a0You ask me the secret of my success in ministry at Harvard over forty years? \u00a0I give it to you in a single word: ubiquity. \u00a0I am everywhere. \u00a0I go everywhere. \u00a0I attend everything. \u00a0I enter every building and dorm. \u00a0I walk through every yard and hill and valley and molehill. \u00a0I go where I am invited. \u00a0I go where I am not invited. \u00a0I go where I am expected. \u00a0I go where I am not expected. Surprise! \u00a0It\u2019s me. \u00a0You ask my secret? \u00a0 I give it to you in a word: ubiquity. \u00a0I am ubiquitous.<\/em><\/p>\n

Would you practice, enjoy and master ministry? \u00a0Remember that word.<\/p>\n

Prevenient Grace: \u00a0Social<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Said John Wesley: \u00a0And the whole city was gathered together at the door. O what a fair prospect was here! \u00a0Who could then have imagined that all these blossoms would die away without fruit?…Rising a great while before day…So did he labor for us both day and night…From this time they forsook their employ and constantly attended him. \u00a0Happy they who follow Christ at the first call. (Notes, loc. cit.)<\/p>\n

Every now and then, upon a quiet morning or evening, we have an awareness that a lot more is going on, in and among and around us than we often recognize.\u2028 \u00a0\u2028One leader from our area encouraged his colleagues: \u201cThe work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, the dream shall never die\u201d\u2028 \u2028We need such a social imagination: \u00a0a common faith with Dewey, a common ground with Thurman, a common hope with Hill, a commonwealth in the Bay State. \u00a0We need such a robust social imagination, a social holiness to yoke with a personal holiness. \u00a0Proust: \u00a0\u2018How could I be expected to believe in a common origin uniting two names which had entered my consciousness, one through the low and shameful gate of experience, and the other by the golden gate of imagination?\u201d (RTP, 676)\u2028 \u2028Our personal healing relies on our social healing. \u00a0The employment of one worker requires the health of the company, and beyond that the health of the community. \u00a0Listen to this leading voice from 1988: \u2018we have vastly underestimated how deeply ingrained are the organizational and cultural rigidities that hamper our ability to execute\u2026structures that repel top talent\u2026we evaded relentless focus on quality\u2019 (a GM executive)<\/p>\n

The poor now receive some comment in our hearing, across our land. \u00a0This is to our benefit, though our lack of memory and the capacity to imagine what poverty feels like weakens our effort. \u00a0We need to recall our parents and grandparents accounts of potato soup during the depression. \u00a0We need to remember the reports on homeless children, living today in cars in central Florida. \u00a0We need to take to heart the account of the daughter of university professors now living as a single mother in Chicago and saying, \u2018I have fallen out of the middle class\u2019. \u00a0We need to think about the couple in western Maine without heating oil, depending on the electric stove and an income of $1,200 a month (NYT, 2\/4\/12)<\/p>\n

Blessed St. Chrysostom could teach us about the poor: ours for them should be a just, useful, and suitable intercession\u2026the rich need the poor: \u00a0the poor are necessary for the spiritual well being of the rich\u2026your brother is more truly God\u2019s temple than any church building\u2026show a natural compassion\u2026it will make you more humane for your own salvation\u2026enjoy luxury in moderation, then give the rest away\u2026some are sent out to be dependent upon the hospitality of others; \u00a0theirs is the ministry of the mendicant\u2026the sign of the mendicant church calls forth generosity\u2026serve the poor under all conditions and circumstances\u2026the poor are the bearers of God\u2019s spirit in a way that the rich are not\u2026all goodness in the world is a reflection of God\u2019s grace\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n

We might remember Border Parker Bowne: \u00a0\u2018I am determined to protect the independence and variety of experience\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n

And Martin Luther King: \u00a0Love: that force which all the great religions have known\u2026somebody must have religion enough to cut hate off\u2026redemptive good will toward all humankind\u2026a love centric view is what we need (MLK) <\/em><\/p>\n

As a nation we don\u2019t learn from the past and we don\u2019t plan for the future: \u00a0we are persons in community! \u00a0The person and who she is depends and the community and what it is. \u00a0We need to remember: Human dignity requires the love of ideals for their own sake, but nothing requires that the love will be requited (S Nieman)<\/em>. \u00a0For our most diffucult work and for most perilous projects (Niehdl?) we most need: \u00a0moral governance, transparency, self-critique, regard for the poor, and continuous leadership and group discussions.<\/p>\n

Coda<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Let us pray (a prayer from Vatican II):
\nWe stand before you Holy Spirit
\nConscious of our weakness and sinfulness
\nBut aware that we gather in your name<\/p>\n

Come to us, remain with us,
\nAnd enlighten our hearts.<\/p>\n

Give us light and strength
\nTo know your will,
\nMake it our own,
\nAnd to live it in our lives.<\/p>\n

Guide us by your wisdom,
\nSupport us by your power
\nFor you are God.<\/p>\n

You desire justice for all:
\nEnable us to uphold the rights of others;
\nDo not allow us to be misled by ignorance
\nOr corrupted by fear or favor.<\/p>\n

Unite us to yourself in the bond of love
\nAnd keep us faithful to all that is true.<\/p>\n

As we gather in your name
\nMay we temper justice with love
\nSo that all our decisions
\nMay be pleasing to you
\nAnd be worthy of the reward
\nPromised to good and faithful servants.<\/p>\n

You live and reign with the Father and the Son,
\nOne God, forever and ever.<\/p>\n

~The Reverend Dr. Robert Allan Hill,<\/em>
\n<\/em> <\/em>Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click here to hear the full service. Click here to hear the sermon only. Mark 1: 29-39 Preface The phrase, \u2018prevenient grace\u2019, a favorite of John Wesley\u2019s, identifies God\u2019s grace as active prior to our awareness, prior to our acceptance, prior to our engagement, prior to our knowledge, prior to our own conscious response. \u00a0This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2626,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/2626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}