09/21/2025 ~ Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 20 ~ Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701?video=1121554745
YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1qWxksIOX8
Balm
“Is there no balm in Gilead? / Is there no physician there? / Why, then, has the health of my poor people / not been attended to, restored?” — Jeremiah 8:22
Karen Armstrong is British, a former nun and scholar of comparative religion who first rose to prominence with a New York Times best seller A History of God. In Armstrong’s research about religion she places an emphasis on the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.’
In 2008 with her guidance, $100,000 in funding was set up by a non-profit to help develop and spread a document known as the Charter for Compassion. It’s an expression of the universal truth found in the Golden Rule and an effort to identify shared moral priorities and foster global understanding among traditions.
The signers of the Charter are quite diverse. Among them are the Dalai Lama, the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Deepak Chopra and Paul Simon (to name a few). You yourself can find the Charter on line and add your name as a signer if you wish.
In the first of several paragraphs the charter says (quote:) “The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and put another there and to honor the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.” [1] (Slight pause.)
Now, some would say this document is not Biblical since its contents do not directly quote the Bible. And that is true. But it’s also accurate to say the document affirms Biblical principles. Think about that. (Slight pause.)
These words are from the Scroll of the Prophet Jeremiah: “Is there no balm in Gilead? / Is there no physician there? / Why, then, has the health of my poor people / not been attended to, restored?” (Slight pause.)
Intercessory prayer is a difficult task for many people. Sometimes we simply do not know what to ask for. We feel helpless in presenting to God our needs or presenting for a troubled friend or family member whose need baffles us.
At other times we become fearful of asking for too much, lest our very prayers begin to make sharp demands on us to supply for the needs of those for whom we pray— like food for the hungry and companionship for the lonely. Put another way, if you, yourself, aren’t trying to do something why are you just praying about it? (Slight pause.)
In this text from Jeremiah, the prophet mourns because the people have brought about their own isolation from Yahweh while Yahweh, in fact, longs to save the people. The lament of the prophet is clear (quote:) “Hark! Hear the cry of my people / who are in distress; / hear that cry far and wide / from a distant land: / ‘Is Yahweh not in Zion?”
This is an intercessory prayer. And what does prayer do? What is prayer about? Prayer is a dialogue, a conversation with God which names the issue and seeks the will of God. The prophet names the issue, the situation— and then pleads for mercy.
But it is also clear that Yahweh, God, is in anguish. So, it is not just Jeremiah’s joy that is gone but the joy of Yahweh as well.
Why? The people provoke Yahweh with (quote): “their graven images, / with their carved images / with their foreign gods.” In its own way this is also a lament, a lament of God’s.
Indeed, when we understand this prayer of the prophet as a true dialogue with God this prayer can become transformative, perhaps life changing for us if you understand it that way. There is also dialogue in the way God responds since there is a naming of the issue, the situation that the people are not listening to the Voice of God.
After all, if one does not listen to the Voice of God, how can there be any hope for dialogue? (Slight pause.) But the eternal question remains: what does the Voice of God say? To where is the Voice of God calling us? (Slight pause.)
I am quite sure there are some who would construe this passage to mean God is a vengeful God. Some might even say a vengeful, angry God is good and dwell on the thought that God might be merciless.
I’m not sure why. That seems to insist the reactions of God are merely human reactions— reactions of violence. This simply turns God into another human.
To talk of God as violent also seems an attempt to domesticate God, transform God, to make God petty and petulant. That kind of response suggests God lacks compassion. (Slight pause.)
So, if this is really a dialogue between the prophet and God, where does it come down? If this is really a dialogue between the prophet and God what is the sentiment being expressed in this prayer? (Slight pause.)
The words of this passage clearly ask a specific question: “Is there no balm in Gilead?” Now, you probably noticed we used the well known hymn There Is a Balm in Gilead. That lyric turns the question around. The hymn states the presence of a balm in the positive.
In short, the hymn insists the physician— God— is there for us. The compassion of God, a compassion which is an overriding theme in Scripture, a theme central to Scripture and central to our relationship with God is expressed in the hymn.
And the hymn says that compassion is not just there, it is real. In fact, later, in the Ninth Chapter of Jeremiah, words are recorded in the Voice of God which make the commitment of God to a relationship of covenant clear. (Slight pause.)
I do need you to notice the hymn There Is a Balm in Gilead comes out of the African American tradition of hymns, comes out of a severely oppressed community. It dates back to at least 1854, probably further. So why has this hymn turned the lament around?
There are plenty of hymns out of this oppressed community which express lament. I suspect this particular hymn comes from a place of understanding that not only is praying— and please realize hymns are a form of prayer— I suspect this comes out of a prayer being the fact that a prayer is the aforementioned two way street. That two way street is the reality of a covenant of relationship.
And what is a relationship of covenant? A relationship of covenant is a commitment— it’s a commitment to mutual growth. Mutual growth is impossible without dialogue. If one side refuses to dialogue with God, refuses to grow, refuses to learn, the covenant is abandoned. God is abandoned.
All that is to say, compassion is a central aspect of covenant— compassion is a central aspect of covenant. Compassion needs to be a central aspect of our relationships with one another. Compassion is the central aspect of the relationship God has with us. And what is compassion? Compassion is the balm in Gilead. Amen.
09/21/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is a précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “Yahweh in the reading is provoked by ‘their graven images, / with their carved images / with their foreign gods.’ I think this is clear: you, me, we all have foreign gods of some kind lurking somewhere in our subconscious. For some, that foreign god is tribalism. Tribalism says anyone not like us or even not like me, needs to be a target. That is not the compassion which we claim God seeks, is it?”
BENEDICTION: We are commissioned by God to carry God’s peace into the world. Our words and our deeds will be used by God, for we become messengers of God’s Word in our action. Let us recognize that God’s transforming power is forever among us. And may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God that we are in awe of no one and nothing else. Amen.
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