Everyday Care

Day after day there were all of the little decisions about running a household, keeping track of Jack, caring for children, talking with patients and being of assistance to them in whatever ways were needed.

I suppose one could be haphazard with family and indifferent toward patients, but that would not be the way Doris did things.

Even in recent years when so many things were getting beyond her, she continued to express pride in grandchildren and great-grandchildren and interest in what they are doing.

That was not a new thing;

that was the way her life was shaped, to take interest in people and offer the appropriate care that was needed.

“And who is your neighbor?” asks Jesus, and the man replies, “The one who offered care to the man in need.”

“Go and do likewise,” says Jesus.

And so Doris has done, in myriad ways, in daily life as well as at those decisive moments.

But it is not a single story that directs us.

It is a continuing theme in scripture.

God never says, “There, there, everything is just dandy with you; rest and take your ease.”

He is forever saying, as through the prophet Isaiah in the first lesson today,

“I have called you, taken you by the hand;

I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations,

to open the eyes that are blind,

to bring out prisoners from the dungeon....”

Jesus is saying in effect:

I made you for service, and some of the tasks will be difficult,

--things that you cannot do without my promise and support,

--things in which you must be persistent,

--things that may lead to results of which you cannot see the ending,

but get going anyway.

“My help comes from the Lord,” confesses the Psalm-writer today, the one who always watches over our going out and our coming in.

It is because of our confidence that God offers that kind of care and concern to us that we can dare to offer it to others.

It is with a great level of confidence that Paul can then give all those directions to the people in Thessalonika:

--admonish the idlers,

--encourage the faint-hearted,

--help the weak

--be patient with all of them

--seek to do good to one another.

Those are the ways in which we are to treat one another;

and then Paul directs us in our relationship with God:

--rejoice always

--pray without ceasing

--give thanks in all circumstances

--listen to the prophets

And Paul summarizes the result of all of this :

--God will sanctify you entirely

--God will keep hold of you, body and spirit, until the day of Jesus Christ is fully come.

We are to be sanctified, to be made holy.

It is going to happen a little at a time, in all of the activities and decisions that are made.

--Doris' daily decision to love and care for a family was intended to be a mirror of how God loves us.

--Doris' daily decision during employment years to be the most caring nurse she could be was intended to be a mirror of God's determination to hold onto us.

--Doris' 70 years of membership and participation in the life of this congregation with thanksgiving is to be a mirror of God's faithfulness to us, no matter what the problems.

--Even the often frustrating mental confusion which plagued Doris in recent times I don't think was ever meant vindictively,

but rather her struggle to remember what was important is to remind us that God will remember us even when we forget or mess up.

So what are Doris' gifts to family and friends?

After all these years, there are probably not many objects left to pass down, but there are some things more important:

an attitude as well as a profession of care shaped by Jesus' own attitude of caring and healing,

and thankfulness to God, even as Jesus demonstrated by his life of prayer.

May we take up those tasks of care which now Doris has laid down,

taking them up

for the aid our neighbor, and

to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

[LBW #61

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.