Rev. Joyce Parry Moore
Sermon 9/22/13 – Proper 20, 18th Sunday after Pentecost
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Livermore, CA
Balm in Gilead – healing in a violent world
There is a balm in Gilead, To make the wounded whole; There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin
sick soul.
About a month ago, I was listening to National Public Radio in my car when I heard a recording
that took my breath away. It was the voice of a school secretary in Decateur, Georgia, talking
with police dispatchers after a young man came onto her school grounds shooting an AK 47
assault rifle. The woman began by calling for help, and ended up communicating the requests of
the gunman – 20 year old Michael Brandon Hill – to police and reporters.
The secretary’s name was Tuff – T –U-F-F, Antoinette Tuff, and somehow, in the midst of this
frightening situation, she was able to find the courage to be vulnerable, to make an empathic
connection with Michael. When the young man admitted to her that he regretted what he was
doing, and that he was mentally unstable and wished he had medical help, she convinced him to
put down his weapon, and stayed by his side until the police arrived. In the most touching
moment, when Michael said he had wanted to take his own life, Antoinette told him, “Baby, I
know how that feels. My husband left me after 33 years, and I wanted to die. But look at me
now, I’m all right. You are going to be all right. . . . we don’t hate you. I want you to know that I
love you. I’m proud of you.” At the time I heard this, I had to pull my car over to the side of the
road and weep.
Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain, but then the Holy Spirit Revives my
soul again.
Yes, Jeremiah, there IS a Balm in Gilead! There is kindness, there is hope, there is healing.
Gilead was a mountainous region east of the Jordan River, in what is now Jordan, one of the
areas where those displaced by violence in Syria have fled by the millions into refugee camps.
The word “Gilead” in Hebrew refers to a mount of testimony, or hill of witness -- a place where
you speak your truth. The word “Gil” and also mean “joy”– and “ad” meaning memorial, or
eternity. This is often the name used to name boys in memorial; joy forever. Even boys who
grow into young men like Michael Brendon, or Aaron Alexis, boys who at one time knew joy, and
ended up in sorrow, in grief, O that my eyes (were) a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day
and night for the slain of my poor people.
The balm of Gilead was originally a healing ointment made from the resin of a plant which grew
plentifully in the area of Gilead. Genesis 37 mentions this balm being carried from Gilead by the
caravan of merchants to whom Joseph was sold by his brothers. The source I read links the
source of this balm to a tree in Arabia related to the source for myrrh.
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Rev. Joyce Parry Moore
St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Livermore, CA
Sermon 9/22/13
Balm in Gilead
Myrrh remember was a costly ointment brought to the Christ child at his birth; it was also the
kind out ointment used my Mary Magdalene to anoint Jesus’ feet before his passion, and perhaps
also used by these women to anoint Jesus’ body after his death. This Balm of Gilead is associated
with the joy of birth, the pain of suffering, and the release of death. These days, a similar product
is made from a tree that grows in North America called “Balm of Gilead”.
Last week, the news networks exploded with theories about what had caused this most recent
incident of gun violence, citing everything from video games to access to military id’s. No one
seems to ask the question that Jeremiah asks this morning : Why then has the health of my poor
people not been restored? Meanwhile, the mother of Aaron Alexis, Cathleen, stands in her
apartment in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, apologizes publically to the victims of her
son’s rampage and says “My heart is broken”, My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. I
mourn with Cathleen, and for the families of all those who died, including her son. As Paul’s
letter to Timothy reminds us, There is one mediator between God and humankind, Christ Jesus
himself, who gave himself a ransom for all. For all, not just for some. All.
And I find hope in the woman of faith, Antoinette, who was willing to do the same. She followed
Jesus’ example, and his advice, curiously given in today’s parable: “act shrewdly . . . make friends
for yourself . . for whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much”. By being willing to
stop and think, willing to be honest about her own struggles, and making friends with a desperate
person in pain, she was able to save many lives. She was faithful in one conversation, and was
faithful in very much. How can we do likewise, as individuals and a nation?
This morning we continue(d) our journey through the book “Daring Greatly”, and considered the
ways in which we shield ourselves, even numb ourselves, from our own vulnerability, from our
own powerful humanity. In a culture that promotes fear and shame, we are more likely to go
into debt, to become addicted, and to commit violence, than to merely admit that we are hurting
or in need of help. Its no wonder that these young men and others have chosen to play hours of
violent video games, or to go out and purchase a gun, when it was not safe for them to say, “I’m
hurting. I’m afraid. Please help me!” The Balm of Gilead has been stolen, and used to imprison
those who need it. How can we get it back?
If you cannot sing like angels, If you can’t preach like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus, And say
He died for all.
Let us stand on the mount of Witness, and tell our story of brokenness, of Jesus’ redeeming love
for us. Because such a little act of vulnerability, of courage, of empathy, can quite literally save
lives.
AMEN!
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