“What were you arguing about?”

Meditation on Mark 9:30-37 

Sept. 20, 2015

Last Sunday with Ebenezer     

                                  

   They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

   Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

                        

***

    Friends, this is my last message to you. I can’t believe it! At this moment, it feels like I have been here forever and have always known all of you. At the same time, it feels like I just got here! Four years is both a long time and not nearly enough time to do everything I wanted to do with you or hoped to do in ministry here.

     I love you.  I will miss you.

     But we know this is the Lord’s will for us, though it may not always be comfortable. Change is rarely comfortable. Still, our calling as Christians is to seek out God’s Will for our lives and then seek the Lord’s help to obey. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!”

     Though I would rather take you with me, I leave you in God’s capable hands. I trust that the Lord will be faithful to carry you through this time of transition in leadership. You are NOT sheep without a shepherd. You still have the Good Shepherd! We are in an in-between time, and yes, it’s a little scary! But in this in-between time, you and I are, as always, a work in progress. We are not what we were yesterday. In Jesus Christ, the old has passed away! And we aren’t what we are going to be tomorrow, when God has completed His work in us.

      What’s left for me to say in this final message? To encourage you in your ministry in Christ’s name--to keep on loving and serving God and neighbor, daring to be different in thought and deed than the rest of society.

       I also want to say, “Thank you, Ebenezer.” I can’t say it enough! For it is such a privilege to be a minister. Thank you for calling me to be your pastor 4 years ago this month, and for sharing your faith and your lives with me. Thank you for allowing me to care for you and pray for you when you and your loved ones were in need. And thank you for all the times that you cared for and prayed for my family and me when we were in need.

       But let us not make today all about me and saying “goodbye.” After all, it’s not really “goodbye,” is it? In God’s everlasting Kingdom, it’s “until we meet again.”

***

    It’s wonderful that our last worship service together includes a baptism! What a great reminder of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ! God has claimed us as His own. The Lord has marked us and sealed us with the Holy Spirit, which, throughout our lives, fills us with all the gifts we need to be who God intends us to be! During the baptism, as we pray for and welcome the newest member of the Church, we are refreshed and renewed for service. We draw nearer to God and one another when we reach out to embrace a new lamb into the fold.

    When we baptize, we are being obedient to Christ’s call to “welcome the child.” In our Mark reading today, Jesus takes a “little child” into his arms and tells his disciples, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

     The kind of welcome Jesus is talking about involves more than a baptism or initiation into church membership. Jesus is addressing the larger society of his day, a society that did not value children. They are seen as possessions of the father in the household.  They are “nonpersons or not-yet persons,” as one commentary says. Mark does not name the child nor the parent in this passage, so we get the impression that this is just any small child, perhaps a complete stranger to the disciples, one of many such children who may have been tagging along after them, drawn to the love and mercy of Christ.

     The kind of “welcome” Jesus is talking about involves relationship-- caring for that child, any child, every “little child” who is a “nonperson or not yet person” to the wider society. Christ is saying, if you love God and you love me, then you will love and care for this little child, too. Conversely, he is also saying, “If you don’t love this child, then you also don’t love me or the one who sent me.”

     But there is a broader interpretation for this passage. The “little child” may represent all of the “little people” in our world--the voiceless, powerless, nameless, poor and vulnerable. For Jesus, when he speaks of life in his Kingdom, speaks of a world that is the opposite of our world today. It is truly an “upside down Kingdom.” People who are wealthy, arrogant, vain and powerful-- everyone wants to hear what they have to say in our society-- well, they have no place whatsoever in the Kingdom of God. And the people who are the “greatest” in God’s Kingdom are the humble, meek, poor and persecuted for Christ’s sake; they are those whom nobody in our society wants to hear! For the gospel is really uncomfortable, at times, to hear, isn’t it? Especially when Christ tells us that we have to love and care for the people that our society doesn’t like--the ones that we don’t want to know their names or their problems and share what we have with them. We don’t want to have a relationship with them. We don’t even want to live next door to them. They are the outcast, by definition, the undesirables.

    What is the context in which Jesus teaches this lesson? Jesus has just told his disciples that he is going to be betrayed and killed, and that he would rise on the third day. They don’t understand. On the way to Capernaum, they proceed to argue over who, of the 12 disciples, is the “greatest”!

    Then Jesus asks, “What were you arguing about?”

    And the disciples know they screwed up. Again. Their response to his question? Guilty silence.

***

 

    Friends, please don’t be distracted from your ministry to the community and the world during this in-between time. If you focus too much on what is happening inside your congregation, you will miss the blessing and spiritual growth that comes with reaching out with the gospel and caring for people in need. Ministry in Christ’s name is what will keep you together.

      May God’s Word continue to challenge and guide you. Our Lord urges us to be different--to respond to the prejudice, hatred, and selfishness of our society by being humble, meek, gentle, and kind. That takes courage and strength, doesn’t it, to be gentle and kind when others are rude and unkind?

      Keep welcoming the children and all the people whom society doesn’t like. Dare to be different! Speak up for those who have no voice! For whoever welcomes the children, welcomes the Lord. This welcome means relationship.

     Don’t get caught up in arguments with your brothers and sisters in the faith. The root of all arguments is, when you think about it, vanity or pride. Wanting your own way. Don’t be like the disciples, who each wanted to be the “greatest,” even after Jesus had taught them about the upside down Kingdom and how to be servant of all. Be of one heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Let go of old hurts. Be merciful, for God has forgiven you!

    Give of yourself, and give some more.

    Thank you, again, dear Ebenezer, for your kindness and love to me. May God bless thee and keep thee --until we meet again!

Let us pray.

Loving Lord, we thank you for what you have done for us! Thank you that your Son, Jesus Christ, gave us the example of being the greatest in your Kingdom when He gave his all. Forgive us for becoming distracted from our gospel mission at times, forgetting the call to reach out to the world with your mercy, grace and love. By your Spirit, give us ears to hear your Word and really understand what it means for our lives today. Remind us that if we love you, then we will care for the children and the people whom society despises or ignores. Prepare our hearts and minds for the new thing you are doing with Ebenezer and with me. Get us ready, Lord, and give us courage and strength to do your will. In Christ we pray. Amen.

       

“For the Sake of the Gospel”

Meditation on Mark 8:27–38                                        

Sept. 13, 2015: Rally Day

       Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’ And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

***

        I can’t think of another question more important for the Church than our Lord’s, “But who do you say that I am?”

   What we believe about Jesus gives us our purpose and identity as the Church. Our faith shapes our ministry, leading us to do and be for others what we wouldn’t consider doing if we didn’t believe with all our hearts that Jesus is the Messiah, the one coming again in the glory of His Father and with the holy angels.

   If we didn’t believe that Jesus is the one who came to suffer and die and be raised again to rescue us from our sins--then every good thing we do for others, including our trip to Spirit Lake Indian Reservation this summer, is just a “good thing.”

   In the months leading up to our mission trip in August with Marylynn Aalderks and her team from First Pres, Rochester, we had to consider WHY we would go. We went because of Jesus, to serve Him by being kind and generous, because He was willing to take up His cross and give Himself for the world that did not know him. In Mark, Christ urges us to join Him in giving up self-interest and seeking a life of comfort and ease. But we can’t say that we have picked up our crosses and followed Him, as the Lord invites us, if the motivation for our mission work and giving is just trying to do good things to boost our own self esteem. 

      I can say with all confidence that those who went on this trip wanted to bring the love and compassion of Christ to people who lacked hope. We went with a little fear and trepidation, not having gone before or done anything like this. But we knew it was the right thing to do. It was like Marylynn Aalderks told me 4 years ago when I asked her why she went to Nicaragua every year on a mission trip, though she put her own health and safety at risk and often came back sick. She said that it was the one thing she did that wasn’t about her or for her.  So much of her life was comfortable and safe--and she used the word “selfish,” which I would never use to describe Marylynn!

     Our conversation made me think hard about Christ’s call to discipleship. Friends, we can talk ourselves out of taking risks, such as doing hands on mission that involves traveling to minister to strangers living outside our community. We can say that we should just take care of our near neighbors or that we don’t have to do hands-on work and actually have a relationship with the people we help. We can just give some money, right? But that’s not what Christ did. He traveled outside his community and outside his people, culture and religion! He reached out to strangers in desperate need, without worrying about his own comfort or safety.  Taking up a cross for Jesus is being willing to suffer and possibly die for Christ’s sake. But most of us are more like Peter than Jesus. When Peter rebukes Jesus for speaking prophetically of His death that would be a self-giving example to us all, Christ says, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

    The 20 or so volunteers who traveled to Spirit Lake had faith that God wanted us to go and give of ourselves. We went in obedience to Christ’s Great Commission of Matthew 28-to make disciples of all the nations-- and to show Christ’s love by meeting basic needs, which included feeding the children breakfast and lunch each day. They were hungry! We went in the name of Christ to share God’s Word, teaching them Joseph’s story in the Old Testament and Christ’s story in the New. The children learned of Christ’s promise in Matt. 28:20. “And I am… with you always…even to the end of the age.” We can say that our work at Spirit Lake was truly a mission because we went, not for our own sakes, but for the sake of the gospel. And we were blessed!

***

    Today, you will hear from some of Ebenezer’s mission team.  Not all of them were able to be with us today. But those who are here will share memories that touched their hearts and inspired them to persevere beyond what was uncomfortable, including the heat and relentless flies, the grime and noise of the rec center, and the strangeness of a different culture and place.

     I will always remember the energy and joy of the children, but also their uncertainty about us when we arrived. That first day, some of the kids looked at us and around the room decorated with Sharon LeGare’s scenery and props with wide eyes and blank expressions. Others raced around the room, wild and undisciplined, not accustomed to having adults organize activities for them at the rec center and being expected to sit and listen or learn new songs. Every day was challenging, and we would go back to our rooms in the evenings tired, sweaty, and dirty. The first day was the hardest, but we knew God was still in control amidst our frustration and disappointments, such as when the technology would not work when we tried to show a video clip. Then we discovered that once the lights were turned off, they would not immediately turn back on again. We were in a big, dark gymnasium with a mob of children screaming and running around. Thankfully, we had popsicles to lure them outside to play on the playground for the last 15 minutes--til it was time for them to go home.

    I will treasure the time of prayer with our teams at the end of each day, when we shared what we were thankful for and what had inspired us. I will remember the children’s hugs, laughter and moving stories of home life that brought tears to our eyes. Parents who had left them to be raised by grandmothers or other relatives. One boy whose father had just died in a car fire rumored to be suicide.

    Each of us seemed to have a “little buddy”--a child who claimed us as their own throughout the program. One such child was my Daizey, maybe 7 or 8 years old. She came the first day in a Hello Kitty dress. Of course, I had to show her my Hello Kitty cell phone cover and Hello Kitty water bottle holder. We were instant friends. We ate lunch side by side, and she told me that some day her mother was going to have a house. And Daizey would live with her and have a room of her own. And then we spent the next 15 minutes talking about what the room of her dreams might look like. One of Daizey’s favorite activities that week was jumping rope. She was able to jump forwards and backwards and turn herself all the way around in a circle, jumping rope. She drew many admiring glances from people walking by.

    Daizey, like many of the other children, enjoyed the face painting on the last day of VBS--just before the family program. Volunteers and some of the older children painted cheeks, foreheads, arms and hands--hearts, cupcakes, flowers, stars, crosses and more. One boy wanted his entire face painted green and then asked me to take his picture. I did!

   I was so proud of the children! They had come such a long way in just a few days! When they had just stared at us, ignored us, or even taunted us while we led the singing the first day, they now volunteered to say their memory verses, sang the motion songs with enthusiasm, and played tambourine, drums, sticks, triangle, and bells. Our songs included “The Doxology,” “Do Lord,” “Watching Over You,” and “You Never Let Go.”

    And I was proud of all our volunteers! They worked so hard and got along well together. Will we return to Spirit Lake to minister in the future? It’s up to the Lord, of course, and if there are people who feel led to go. The Rochester church is already planning another mission trip next June--and there are so many volunteers, there’s a “waiting list.”

     As we drove away on the last day at Spirit Lake, after Sunday worship with the Native American congregation, one of our volunteers texted me. She wanted to go back to see her “little buddy,” she said. One of the children who had claimed her as his own. She had taken a risk and gone not for her own sake--because it was uncomfortable for her, as it was for the others. In fact, when I first talked about the trip, she wasn’t sure that she wanted to go. But she went-- for the sake of the gospel. And she was blessed!

Let us pray.

Holy God, we thank you for the gospel -- the Good News of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died, and rose again so that we might be forgiven for our sins and experience new and abundant life with Him. Thank you, Lord, that He was willing to pick up His cross to rescue this broken and hurting world. Forgive us for wanting to be comfortable and choosing things to do for own pleasure, rather than taking a risk and choosing to serve you in ways we have never done before, in places we have never been. Help us to truly live out the gospel, to be kind and generous to people in need and to speak the Good News with love and boldness, never being ashamed to tell the world who Jesus really is--the Messiah. Give us courage and humility to take up our crosses and more faithfully follow Him. In Christ we pray. Amen.    

“Even the Dogs Under the Table”

Meditation on Mark 7:24-37

Sept. 6, 2015

    “From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek or Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’”

***

    I am brokenhearted at the thought of leaving you, even while I anticipate the joy before me as I serve the Lord and God’s people in my new call. I have loved you these 4 years. I have felt honored to be your pastor. Up to now, I have been the one to offer comfort and spiritual help when others have experienced grief, loss and illness.  That has been deeply satisfying to me. The thought that my leaving will cause you pain and anxiety brings me great pain and sadness. I am sorry that we will be apart--and that my new call will be far away in Merritt Island, Florida. But remember--that’s only a 3-hour plane ride from Minneapolis!

    I am afraid that it might feel like a wilderness of sorts for you, at times. The future may seem so uncertain. You may recall the difficulties of pastor searches in the past and the years when Ebenezer did not have a called pastor. You may feel other emotions besides grief. Frustration, impatience, anger, discouragement, anxiety. Maybe you are a little afraid.  What’s going to happen to your church? Will we be able to find a new pastor? Will she or he love us and be good for us, leading us to continue as a strong, healthy church?

     Friends, God is still in control. Jeremiah 29:11 speaks of our future filled with hope, God's promise to prosper, forgive and heal, and bring us back from exile to the place where we belong. Other Scriptural promises include God never abandoning us, Christ’s everlasting presence with us, the Lord completing the good work He began in us, and our finding joy and strengthened faith in times of trial.  We know that nothing, absolutely nothing, is impossible for God, and that God’s wisdom will be given to all who seek the Lord for it.  Finally, Jesus assures us that he wants to help us who may be weary carry our heavy burdens and give us rest, if we come to Him and let Him help us.

***

    Our gospel today reassures us of God’s desire to heal all who are sick--body, mind and spirit. It doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, man, woman or child. Jew or Gentile. If Jesus cares about the Syrophoenician woman, he cares about you and me and all our loved ones!

   Who was this “Syrophoenician?” While Matthew calls her a Canaanite in 15:22, Mark calls her a Syrophoenician because she was from Phoenicia on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is modern Lebanon. It was connected to Syria after the land was united by Roman conquest. But Matthew was also right to call her a Canaanite. The original inhabitants of that land were Canaanites. Sidon (north of the region of Tyre) is named for the eldest son of Canaan. Different translations may describe her as a “Gentile” or “Greek;” she was both. Saying she was a “Greek” may mark her as a Greek-speaker, and therefore possibly a member of the upper class Phoenician society. But although she is not poor or starving, she is definitely a woman in desperate need. She has a small child at home with a spiritual problem wreaking havoc on her life and on the lives of others around her. She has somehow become possessed by a demon, an unclean spirit. This condition would necessitate that the child be apart from other children and the rest of society. She is isolated at home, perhaps from her own family, who might be frightened by her unpredictable, anti-social behavior. She would require constant care and supervision, but this would marginalize the caregiver, who may have been the mother in this story. Further, to have a demon-possessed child was a source of family shame. Demon possession, like being blind, deaf, mute, or a leper, was considered divine punishment for sin.

    And there’s more to this story. Tyrians and Galileans did not get along! More of the agricultural produce of Jewish Galilee ended up in Gentile Tyre, the main urban area near Galilee, while the Jewish peasants often went hungry. So when Jesus speaks about the unfairness of taking bread out of the mouths of children (meaning the Jews) and giving it to the “dogs” (meaning the Gentiles), his comment “may … reflect the (very real) socio-economic tension (and animosity) between the two communities.” (Joel Marcus, Mark, Anchor Bible Series, 462) Dogs were not loveable pets in those days! Calling someone a dog meant comparing them to a wild, scavenger sort of creature and not the domesticated animals of our times. Dogs were also associated with uncleanness. “Wild dogs lived outside the cities…and ate carrion, which included the flesh of unclean animals and even human beings” (Marcus, 463-464). In other places in the New Testament, “dogs” are often a “symbol for opponents and heretics (2 Peter 2:22; Phil. 3:2). In Rev. 22:15, ‘the “dog” is an outsider to the community of God’s grace, an idolater whose life is based on a lie.’ (Marcus, 464).

    Some people link this story with the message of Acts 10, when Peter has a vision that it is permissible to eat what was believed “unclean” in the Jewish faith, for nothing God has created is unclean. This leads to a Gentile believer and his household being welcomed into the church. But doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus is the one who, at first, refuses to heal the woman’s daughter, calling her unclean -- a “dog”?

   We might wonder why Jesus decides to go to this primarily Gentile region in the first place. Why does he enter a Gentile house and why does he want no one to know he is there? I believe he is there to teach us a lesson and he fully intended to do something that would not be acceptable for other Jewish people to do. The key point of this passage is that Jesus did want to heal the little girl that Jewish people would label unclean, a “dog”! But not before the mother insisted that he heal her, believing with all her heart that God’s mercy and compassion could extend to people who weren’t Jewish--and that Jesus could do this miracle that no one else could do. She doesn’t give up. She models courage and a strong faith in the healing power of Jesus Christ. Jesus heals her daughter without ever meeting the child face to face. The reason for the healing: the mother’s tenacity, her argument, driven by her love for her child and her faith. “For saying that,” Jesus answers her, “you may go--the demon has left your daughter.”

    Next, Jesus cures a deaf man with a speech impediment in the region of the Decapolis, a group of 10 mostly Gentile cities networked by Roman roads. Again, the healing is done in private, “away from the crowd.” Are you uncomfortable when he spits and touches the man’s tongue? It may surprise you to learn that spit was extremely popular as a ‘folk remedy in antiquity and was highly regarded by “professional physicians”’(Marcus, 473). ‘The spittle of famous or charismatic personalities was especially prized.’ In any case, Jesus using his own spit and touching the man’s tongue to cure a Gentile stranger reveals to us his willingness to be intimate with and care for the sick and marginalized of his day.

***

   When we consider the application of this passage--that God wants us to have a strong faith in His power and desire to heal everyone --body, mind and spirit --it would be good for us to think of who might need spiritual healing that we may have overlooked. Who are the emotionally and mentally “broken” of this age? The ones whom many in society label and shun and treat like the “so-called dogs” of society in Jesus’ time?

    I can’t help but think of people with mental illness. I cringe when I see how the mentally ill are portrayed on television and in books. They are always the ones who commit horrible crimes, and yet, in reality, the mentally ill are more likely to be victims of abuse than abusers themselves. Many of the mentally ill live isolated lives, struggle to make friends, have a hard time going to school or work and are crippled by anxiety, depression, fear and panic attacks. Mental illness is a problem for so many families, yet we seldom talk about it--not like we talk about cancer, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s. Mental illness takes a toll on caregivers and strains family budgets, especially when insurance doesn’t fully cover the expensive medications and therapy. The stigma associated with mental illness continues, though we know it stems, much like other chronic illnesses and disease, from physiological and sometimes genetic causes.  Mental illness is real and not imagined. There’s no “picking oneself up by their bootstraps” with a diagnosis of bipolar, schizophrenia, or PTSD. So far, there is no medical “cure”--only long-term treatments and medications that may help with the symptoms.

     Here’s my question and charge to you today. Has the Church opened its doors to and fully embraced the mentally ill and emotionally fragile? What are we doing to help them? Couldn’t we do more? Prisons across the nation are full of people with undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. And we’ve seen the billboards with those haunting images and messages. What is the leading cause of suicide? Depression.

     Friends, in the time I have left with you, let us not look inwards and fret about our future. Let us continue to love and serve the Lord and be His Church, empowered by His Spirit. Let us reach out to those who suffer in mind, body and spirit, including those with mental illness and their caregivers.

   Let us approach the Lord with a tenacious faith, like the Syrophoenician woman, believing that God can and desires to heal all people of illness and disease. And that we, with Christ dwelling within us, can and will be instruments of God’s healing, redeeming love.

Let us pray.

Holy God, we thank you for the love and compassion of Jesus Christ, who cared for those whom his society called “dogs”--the marginalized, unclean and outcast. Thank you for your love and forgiveness, for the mercy you show us every day, though we are undeserving. Teach us how to minister to people with mental illness. Give us your wisdom and courage. Remove all fear of people who may seem different than us, but really they are the same. Reveal to us how we may help them, love them, and lead them closer to you, the source of all healing--body, mind and spirit--and the source of all love. Remove the stigma of mental illness from our society and especially our own community so that we may speak openly about a problem that is widespread and devastating to individuals who suffer from it and families who try to help their loved ones, but often feel helpless and discouraged. Change our hearts, Lord; shape and mold us into your Son’s image. Use us as instruments of your healing, redeeming love. In Christ we pray. Amen.