Scripture Reading: Galatians 6:1-10

II Kings 5:1-14

Sermon Text: Galatians 6:10: So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially those of the family of faith.

It is with a sad, yet joyful spirit I sit here today remembering a woman who has passed away. Sad I am because I will no longer have a friend to share my pain, a friend who showed me that being in prison does not mean being enprisoned. I have lost a friend who guided me through troubled times with my own family. A friend who stood up to me when I was wrong, and a friend who showed me I belong. This woman allowed me to express myself, she taught me it was okay to be wrong, and most importantly, to always give respect when my thoughts said otherwise.

It is with a sad heart I remember the times, both good and bad, that this incredible friend and I shared. I believe there was more good then bad. My friend was a teacher of life. She taught with a spirit that will always soar within my own soul.

I am an inmate in a correctional facility, yet my friend did not see an inmate. She saw a person who had been making bad choices for most of his life and she was bound and determined to guide not only myself, but many others like myself, down a different path.

For the three and a half years I worked with Ms. Keen, I watched my friend suffer with her own personal pains, yet her pains she considered trivial to her desire to let others know they were somebody. I watched my friend dedicate her life to the improvement of others. She gave selflessly and whole heartily to students who had been tossed aside as a loss by others. Yet, she was blind to what society had dictated, and she continued to give.

On Tuesday of this past week some of us heard these words of tribute being read at the funeral service for Lynn Keen by Auburn Harris who had been a fellow teacher with Lynn Keen at the Bay Correctional Facility. They were written by James D. Keane, a student and teaching assistant with Lynn Keen, the day he had heard of her sudden death.

I know that reading what this man had written and then hearing it read at her service meant a great to deal Lynn’s family and friends as they came to appreciate the impact she had had upon his life and upon the lives of many others in that correctional facility who also had written words of tribute when they had heard of her death. Their words helped those who heard them to come to appreciate how Lynn had been in a place where many would not have felt comfortable, and would not have been very effective. Yet for Lynn it became a place where she lived out the words in bold and underlined on the front of our bulletin this morning when St. Therese of Lisieux would pray, "May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith."

I do not know what prompted St. Therese to write those words. Certainly, though, as we think about the story that we have just heard we see that the words of that prayer are ones that are repeated over and over again in the experiences of so many people in the Bible. It is very doubtful that the young girl from the land of Israel who had been taken captive and was now a servant, or probably more likely a slave, to Naaman’s wife would have felt that she was exactly where she was meant to be. We do not know how much she may have been angry at where she was and at the way in which she had been treated as some of the bounty taken by Naaman and his army of Syria as they had defeated her own people of Israel in battle. This certainly would not appear to have been a place which this young girl would have chosen. Yet we have to wonder what would have happened to Naaman if this young girl had not been exactly in this place. Whether or not she would have been ready to trust God that she was exactly where she was meant to be, we see clearly that she recognized the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. We do not know enough about this young girl to know how she had come to hear about the prophet Elisha so that she would have the courage to go to her mistress and to suggest that if Naaman could only get to the prophet in Samaria he could be cured of his leprosy. Whether she saw Elisha himself having these miraculous powers or whether she recognized that he was only a prophet of the Most High God who was the true source of healing we do not know. We do know, though, that she saw the infinite possibilities that could be born of contact between the prophet in Samaria and the husband of her mistress.

As we look at the story as it later unfolds we also have to wonder whether the servants of Naaman would have felt that they were exactly where they were meant to be. Yet what would have happened to Naaman without their calm words in the face of Naaman’s anger? As Naaman turns away feeling insulted at the way in which Elisha had treated him and in a rage and ready to head home as much of a leper as when he had arrived in Samaria they calmly ask, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean?’"

As we listen to this story we have to wonder would we have been ready to do the same as this young girl? Would we have been ready to help someone who was an enemy, someone who had been responsible for killing many of her fellow citizens of the land of Israel, and possibly some of her own family members? Even if we felt we should help Naaman who was suffering from this leprosy would we in that lowly position as a slave girl, a prisoner of war, have had the courage to speak up as she did? Years later Paul would write, "So do not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up, so then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all." This young girl, a prisoner of war, made to work as a servant, may not have heard those words of Paul but she had lived them out as she had taken the opportunity to work for the good of even an enemy of her nation, the very person who in part was responsible for her being a prisoner of war, and now a servant.

As they had seen the rage of Naaman it would certainly have been easy for those servants simply to have agreed with him and to have packed up their horses and their chariots and headed home with their master just as much a leper as when he had left home. What courage it must have taken for them to speak those words of calm reason in the midst of his anger and his rage. They speak knowing it would be for his good even though they faced the threat of being struck down and killed by this one who was in such a fit of rage. Again they had taken the opportunity to do good, and had not grown weary in doing what was right.

The good that came to the life of Naaman because of the willingness of others to do what was right and to take the opportunities by which they were confronted to work for the good of all prompts us all not only to think would we have done the same if we were in their shoes, but also to think about the situations by which we are faced each and every day and to ask whether we do what is right in the midst of them and whether we use every opportunity by which we are confronted to work for the good of all. Do we trust that God has placed us exactly where we are meant to be to take advantage of the opportunities to do good by which we are confronted? Do we see the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in the people and situations by which we are faced day in and day out? Would we have heard the words that we heard last Tuesday at Lynn Keen’s funeral service if she had not been willing to use the opportunities which she was given at Bay Correctional Facility to work for the good of all? As I was preparing this sermon one of the resources I was reading suggested that I might ask each of you to write on a piece of paper your response to the question, "What have you done recently that brought joy to another person?" (Clergy Journal, May/June 2006, page 128) If I had provided each of you with paper and pencil what would have been your response to that question? How have you used the opportunities to do good for other people by which you have been confronted?

As we think about the story of Naaman that we have heard this morning we find that like so many stories in the Bible we are left wondering what was the rest of the story. We are not told how Naaman later treated his servants whose calm words in the midst of his rage led to his cure. We are not told whether Naaman ever expressed any appreciation to that young girl, who was a prisoner of war, but who had had the courage to speak to his wife and to suggest that cure for his leprosy. We do not know the rest of the story as far as Naaman is concerned. But we do know the rest of the story as far as our own lives are concerned. Do we take the opportunities that we have been given to show our appreciation for those who have worked for our good? As we have heard this week the words of that student with whom Lynn Keen had worked we have to wonder how much he had conveyed these thoughts and feelings to Lynn prior to her death. So often it is only an occasion like the death of someone whose impact upon their lives they have appreciated that prompts people to stop and to express in words how much that person has meant to them and the difference that person has made in their lives. Who are some of the people to whom you need to be expressing appreciation today without waiting for those words to become part of a eulogy at their funeral service?

The story of Naaman, the experience of James D. Keane, who worked with Lynn Keen, and as we stop and think about them our own varied experiences remind us of the way in which God has made us not to be alone, but that as we live in God’s world, God calls us to be his church: to celebrate his presence, and to love and serve others. As we live in such a world as the children of God we can be grateful for the way in which our lives have been blessed because of those who have come to appreciate that for which God has made us. Ours is also the privilege of blessing the lives of others, as that young girl and those servants blessed the life of Naaman, as we are ready to use the opportunities we have been given as the children of God to work for the good of all. Let us remember and claim this privilege which is ours as we affirm our faith together using the words of affirmation printed in the bulletin. Let us stand and affirm our faith together….

We are not alone, we live in God= s world.

We believe in God:

who has created and is creating,

who has come in the true Man, Jesus,

to reconcile and make new,

who works in us and others by his Spirit.

We trust him.

He calls us to be his church:

to celebrate his presence,

to love and serve others,

to seek justice and resist evil,

to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.