Healing Old Wounds

 

PROPERS:          5 EPIPHANY, YEAR C

TEXT:                1 CORINTHIANS 15:1-11              

PREACHED AT ST. PAUL’S CHAPEL, MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022.

 

ONE SENTENCE:        Christ can transform pain so that we do not transmit it to others.

 

            The Apostle Paul says something that is true of all of us in today’s first lesson.

 

            Like last week’s first lesson, Paul is writing an instructional letter to the young church he founded.  He is seeking to quell the anxiety and bitter divisions in that that Corinthian congregation.

 

            In today’s lesson, he recounts the essential Christian teaching. Hear his words once again:

 

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

 

            Then he adds the punch-line – that is also true of you and me:

 

 “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

 

            Paul, indeed, had been one who was untimely born.  You and I, too. Being untimely born like Paul, carry burdens we need to shed.

 

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            Paul was a Pharisaical Jew – well-schooled in a Greek education. Zealous for his faith.  He stood by and held the coats as an angry mob stoned Stephen to death.  He led the persecution of the young church.  His anger apparently knew no bounds. He raged at the people who were not yet known as Christians, but as followers of a small sect known as the Way.

 

            His pre-conversion name, of course, was Saul. He was transmitting his anger, his pain. But then, on the road to Damascus, as he sought to persecute other Christians, it was transformed.  In a blinding light, he was struck from his horse, and he heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

 

            The voice he heard in the brilliant light was Jesus. And his pain, his anger began to be transformed.  The world began to change.

 

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            Christian contemplative Richard Rohr publishes a daily meditation on-line. In October 2018, he wrote these words:

 

“All healthy religion shows you what to do with your pain, with the absurd, the tragic, the nonsensical, the unjust and the undeserved—all of which eventually come into every lifetime. If only we could see these ‘wounds’ as the way through, as Jesus did, then they would become sacred wounds rather than scars to deny, disguise, or project onto others. I am sorry to admit that I first see my wounds as an obstacle more than a gift. Healing is a long journey.

 

“If we cannot find a way to make our wounds into sacred wounds, we invariably become cynical, negative, or bitter. This is the storyline of many of the greatest novels, myths, and stories of every culture. If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it—usually to those closest to us: our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and, invariably, the most vulnerable, our children.”

 

            I would add that Rohr’s theology is also good psychology. The healing of memories and experiences are the pathway many people yearn for in their journey.

 

Henri Nouwen, the late Dutch Catholic writer and priest, penned a book named The Wounded Healer, that offered the perspective that our wounds, transformed, ultimately become the means of healing for us an others. He sounds a similar theme in another book, Life of the Beloved.

 

Rabbi Edwin Friedman wrote a book entitled Generation to Generation, which focused on the pain which Rohr describes being passed on within relationships and within congregations – from generation to generation, in families and in congregations.

 

            This is not a subject that is purely theoretical to me.  It is core to my faith and central to my experience.  The healing continues.

 

            I invite you to reflect on your own experience – to seek out those painful times in your life which prevent you from finding the peace which Christ offers… those experiences that place barriers between you and others.  Trust me – they are there for the finding. It can be fearful, but those times can be transformed.

 

It is likely a life-long journey.  But, as Paul discovered on the road to Damascus, the first step is the most important and can bring great relief. There is little to lose and so much to gain.