“Take a Hand, Give a Hand” - Mark 1:29-39

After Jesus heals Simon Peter’s mother in law in the first chapter of Mark’s Gospel, we read that she got up and served them.  Later in the same chapter, Jesus retreats to a private space for prayer.  In this short tableau from Mark’s Gospel, Simon Peter’s mother in law and Jesus each act as examples of the Christian life, demonstrating how God calls each of us to service and to prayer.  

Simon Peter’s mother in law is seriously ill with a fever when Jesus encounters her.  He takes her by the hand, lifts her up, and heals her -- restoring her to health and wholeness.  And she immediately begins to serve.  In so doing she points to the fact that our life and our health are not ends in themselves.  We live not merely for ourselves but to offer service to God and God’s creation.  Our response to the love of God in our lives should be like hers; we go forth to serve.

Yet our life of service is meant to be guided and empowered by prayer.  Jesus regularly retreated after periods of service for times of quiet prayer.  This time spent in the presence of God guided and sustained him throughout his earthly life.  As followers of Christ we too are called to find sustenance and guidance in prayer.

As we at the Congregational Church begin to wonder about our life together in this new year, our life on the other side of this pandemic, I hope that we will use these two pillars of the Christian life to guide us -- the call to serve and the power of prayer.  

Pastor Andrew Greenhaw