March 25 Group Therapy Practiced here

March 25 – Group Therapy Practiced Here

5th Sunday of Lent

Anchor: Signposts for Renewal
Frame: How do we journey together through life and in the Spirit?

Thread: Signs Added Each Week  (I don’t know where I am, but I know I’m not lost.)

Luke 6:12-16, 8:1-3

Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Some Women Accompany Jesus

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

Whenever I read about the twelve disciples, I’ve always assumed that Jesus gathered followers because he wanted to pass on his wisdom. They were there to learn. Likewise, the women mentioned in the second part of the reading followed Jesus because of his teaching, his healings, as well as his welcoming attitude for all people. The women followed because they needed Jesus.

Back in Nebraska I was a part of a covenant group for almost 15 years. We met weekly for almost all that time, despite being in different communities for much of those years. We studied scripture for worship, we planned for our churches, but more than that we shared our lives: our hopes, our worries, the times we were lost on the road, the times we could almost shout for joy. We came together because we needed each other, and we were there for each other.

It was being embraced in the heart of that group that enabled me to see that there may have been a different reason that Jesus gathered people around himself. Yes, he had things to teach and wisdom to impart. But like all of us human beings, Jesus needed to be part of a community. Even he couldn’t go through life all alone. We are created to need each other. Jesus, too.

And so finally our journey through Lent, really the whole journey of our lives, is not a solitary sojourn. We do it in community. John Wesley said that there is no such thing as a solitary Christian. Being Christian is something we have to do together.

The signpost that was our inspiration for this week is one that says, “Group Therapy Practiced Here,” emblazoned below a collection of wine glasses. For a lot of reasons we won’t use the metaphor of drinking together as our sign of community, but the idea that we come together as a group for therapy, for healing is the core of this week. The idea that Lent is something we do together might be a little new for some of us. Usually we are encouraged to do self-examination, and even the contemplation we practiced last week can be seen in a solitary fashion, and other Lenten practices are often ones left to our own discipline and benefit.

Worship is the most visible form of community we do as Christians. To be sure, many religious and spiritual traditions worship in community. We are wrapping up our journey through Lent together. The interior construction, the detours, the words connecting us to God, the silence in which we discover God we bring with us as we gather in community. We may not know where we are, but we are not lost – together.

So, how do we celebrate spiritual community? How do we support each other? How does a spiritual community differ from other kinds? And how do we invite isolated, fearful people into our community?