“When We Fall Off the Bannister”

COMMUNION MEDITATION

“When We Fall Off the Bannister”

Experience at Andrews-

Jimmy’s little girl.  Fell down while running – ran to her father.  His response.

As Jeraldine and I were leaving, with the saddest expression you’ve ever seen, she held up her finger to us and showed us her wound.  We couldn’t see anything, but the wound was real to her.  And when she got hurt, she knew exactly where to go didn’t she?  And she got the healing that she needed.

When I was 212 years old I had an experience which was much more serious.

I was playing on my front porch and decided to climb up on a bannister which ran all around the porch. So I climbed up on it…fooled around a little bit…began to lose my balance, and tumbled off.

I landed with a thud.

I vividly remember laying there stunned.  Then I became aware of a throbbing…what had happened was that a thick broken stem of the bush had plunged into my leg and broken off.  I looked down at my leg and then the throbbing pain began.  But as much as I hurt and as stunned as I was, my first response was to make my way up on the front porch to try to get to that person who could help me.  To get to that woman who could comfort me and give me the healing which I needed.  (Elaborate how I crawled up there.)

Well, my wound was one of those big ones. 

It required surgery a few times, and I was in bed, so they say, for three months. 

But back to my point.  When I got badly wounded, my instinct was to make my way to the one who I knew could help me.

As I was thinking about these two real life experiences this week…the little girl falling down…and me hurting my leg so badly …I thought about some of the ways that we can be wounded as we live out our lives.

WE CAN BE WOUNDED BY OUR PARENTS

WE CAN BE DEEPLY WOUNDED BY DISSAPPOINTMENT 

WE CAN BE WOUNDED WHEN WE VIOLATE OTHERS… WHEN WE BETRAY TRUST…WHEN WE SORT OF SELL OUR SOULS TO GET SOMETHING WE WANT

WE CAN BE SO WOUNDED IN LOVE RELATIONSHIPS AND IN FRIENDSHIPS

WE CAN BE SO WOUNDED WHEN WE ARE CALLED ON TO WATCH LOVE ONES SUFFER

So these are just some of the wounds we can experience as we live out our lives.

So when we experience these inevitible wounds of life, who do we go to?

When we fall off our bannisters and find ourselves stunned, or in great pain or numb, where do we try to get to and who are we looking for?

Do we just lay in our pain and numbness….hold on to them…keep them to ourselves?

Or do we make our way to the front door…and knock…and wait for the door to open….and wait for the one who can lift us up and give us healing and wholeness

Well, let me finish my remarks by telling you about something that happened yesterday morning as I was trying to put the finishing touches on this meditation.

 (elaborate on Suzy’s call)

And the people said....AMEN