South Roanoke United Methodist Church

The season after the Epiphany is a season of Ordinary Time, which includes eight Sundays this year. It is ordinary in that it stands between the two great church year cycles of Advent-Christmas-Epiphany and Lent-Easter-Pentecost, and has no central theme. The first Sunday focuses on the Baptism of Christ and the last Sunday on the Transfiguration.

SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY                          FEBRUARY 12, 2006 

As Christ cares, we care… We care about all people.
We care about worship… We care about learning.
We care about service… We care about You.
We are a community of Faith growing in God’s Grace.

 9:00 A.M. PRAISE SERVICE
Led By Graceful Praise 

8:50 a.m.-Gathering Songs
9:00 a.m.-Greeting and Singing
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
Children’s Time
Scripture
Sermon
Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
Offering and Special Music
Singing
Benediction

ORDER OF SERVICE-11:00 A.M.

+ Indicates the people standing

ENTRANCE

Words of Welcome, Registration of Attendance and Announcements           Bill Davidson
     (We encourage all of our worshipers to please sign the registration pad as it is passed
      along the pew; visitors are requested also to list their address. After it has been passed,
      please return it to the center aisle. If you wish to join this church by letter of transfer or
      profession of faith, please check “wish to join” on the registration pad.)
Gathering Music                    Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven                       Haan
+Processional Hymn  66         Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven            Lauda Anima

                                      PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Sharing of Joys and Concerns
     -Loretta Hodges     -Anne Reynolds     -Emma Grim
Children’s Time                                                                                            
                             (Children leave for Children’s Church. See * below)
+Psalter  762-763                                                                                           Bob Garner
      (with response)                                                                                            Psalm 30
+The Gloria Patri  70
+Hymn  121                      There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy                       Wellesley
The Old Testament Lesson                                                                             Bob Garner
     (O.T. pg. 336)                                                                                     2 Kings 5:1-14
     Pastor:    This is the Word of the Lord.
     People:  Thanks be to God. 
Anthem                                           Seek Ye the Lord                                          Roberts         Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the
        wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the
        Lord, and he will have mercy, and abundantly pardon. Amen. 
                                                    (Tom Miller, Tenor)
Sermon                    “Held Captive But Never Conquered”                      Bill Davidson
+Response to the Word  880                                                                The Nicene Creed
Pastoral Prayer
The Lord's Prayer                                                                                  Hymnal, No. 895
     Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy
     will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And
      forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And
      lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom,
      and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering of Tithes and Gifts to God's Work
    Offertory Prayer 
    Offertory
+Doxology                                                                                               Hymnal, No. 95
     Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;
     praise him above, ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.   
     Amen. 

                                                        SENDING FORTH
+Hymn 130                                God Will Take Care of You                                Martin
+Benediction
+Postlude 

+Indicates the people standing 

THOSE SERVING TODAY:
  Cross Bearer: Matthew Gregory
  Acolytes: Kinner Ingram and Michelle Woody
  Ushers:   Captain-Thomas W. Ruble, Mark M. Hall, Joseph J. Masters,
                William G.Sandy, David E. Nedrow, Jack Gregory 

February 12, 2006          HELD CAPTIVE BUT NEVER CONQUERED
        6^th Sunday after the Epiphany    2 Kings 5:1-14                

A young girl is taken captive by Aramean troops and became the slave of the army commander’s wife.  Her story lived out almost 3,000 years ago the church celebrates today.  This young girl, taken from her home, her family, from everything that made her who she was, was held captive by forces that seemed to be so much stronger than she.  This is made no more clear that in the contrast the story draws between her and her captor.  The contrast between the commander of the marauding army of Aram and this young slave girl from Israel .  Just to look at the two standing side by side (and that’s what the story wants you to do) you are struck with the vast difference between them. 
One is the victorious commander                                   the other a captive young girl
     Naaman, the king’s favorite                                     a slave whose name we don’t even
        know
     Has all the power and wealth he needs                     has no wealth, no power, no
         freedom at his every command
    Had acquired it all                                                     had everything taken from her
But the comparison the scripture makes today does not stop there, for the Bible goes on to say that
He has a skin disease that makes him look hideous    She has the unblemished skin of youth
     And often made people keep their distance
      Was in such despair over his life                          held a quiet confidence deep in her
                   heart didn’t even feel clean

And the Bible this morning begs the question this morning.  Which of these two is the stronger?  Which of these two will really make it?  

The Bible is clear this morning:  this mighty warrior, this man of power and wealth and fame, the king’s favorite, the one who had it all, wanted one thing more than anything else in all the world—relief from a dreaded skin disease that afflicted him.  The Bible calls this leprosy though we are not exactly sure what the ailment was from which he suffered but suffer he did.  Whatever disfigurement it caused, whatever reaction people had to him because of it, Naaman wanted a cure and he could not find it anywhere around Damascus.  

It is then that the Bible says Naaman led his army against Israel in a raid, one of many designed to take what they could of the wealth and resources of their neighbor.  In that raid this young girl was taken captive from the land of Israel and made the slave of Naaman’s wife.  This young slave girl knows something about her captor that he probably did not know about himself.  

You see, back in the land of Israel anyone with such a skin disease as Naaman’s was not only in an awkward and embarrassing social position.  No.   Anyone with a skin disease like Naaman’s was unclean.  Whatever he was feeling, whatever uneasiness or irritation he experienced because of it, she knew what was really going on.  It had less to do with his appearance and so much more to do with what was going on inside his heart.  She knew that he just didn’t feel clean.  

And so, this young slave girl, having put her finger exactly on his problem, said to his wife, “Oh, if only my lord were with the prophet who is in Israel !  He would cure him of his leprosy!”  With all Naaman’s riches and all his power, his life was incomplete, he didn’t feel whole.  And this young slave girl knew that—she knew what he really needed.

And so Naaman speaks to his king.  The king wanted nothing more than for the commander of his army, his favorite subject to be relieved of his burden.  So he sent him to Israel with 10 talents of silver, 6,000 shekels of gold, and 10 sets of garments; and Naaman, the man with the power to plunder and pillage the people of Israel any time he wanted, the man with all this wealth and power at his disposal, has a letter delivered to the King of Israel with this message from his King:  “I have sent you my servant Naaman that you may cure him of his leprosy.”  The King of Israel, as he beholds this offer of wealth but also fears the threat of the power of the Aramean army if he fails to meet this request, tears his clothes in repentance, despair, and terror, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?”  

But then, the Bible says, Elisha the prophet, the successor to Elijah, Elisha the prophet whom the young slave girl knows can help Naaman, Elisha hears of the kings distress and invites the king to send Naaman to him.  

Then comes that marvelous scene in the Bible where Naaman, the man with all this wealth and power, comes to Elisha’s home demanding his services.  And Elisha doesn’t even bother to come out to speak to him.  He just sends him a message, “Go, wash in the Jordan River 7 times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.”  Naaman, highly insulted by this lack of respect and utter disregard of his place and prominence, left there so angry that he said,
     “Huh, I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the
       Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy.  Tuh, are not
      Abana and Pharphar, the rivers of Damascus , better than all the waters of Israel ?  Could I not
      wash in them and be clean?”
In his anger and his bitterness, who knows what he will do to Israel for this insult?  Naaman knew how the world works.  He knew how to get things done.  He had the power and the wealth to do it.  He knew if he was going to be cured it would be performed in a very dramatic gesture in personal audience with the prophet himself purchased at a great price and secured by the threat of force.  That’s how the world works.  But Elisha, Elisha leaves all this treasure in his front yard—he does not fear Naaman’s threats.  Elisha knows what that young slave girl knows.  Elisha knows, that young slave girl knows, all this treasure will never make you clean.  Naaman hasn’t learned that yet.  

But Naaman’s servants, other slaves in his entourage, approach him as he’s leaving.  They say to him,
     “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have
      done it?  How much more when he said to you, ‘ Wash and be clean?’”
The Bible says,
“So Naaman went down and immersed himself 7 times in the Jordan , according to the word of the
       man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy”
and then the Bible says, “and he was clean.”  And the slave girl knew it all the time.  You see, Naaman went to Israel to be relieved of a terrible problem; his slave girl, sent him there to be made whole.  

There is indeed a sharp contrast between the army commander and his slave girl in this story, but it is not quite the contrast you expect.  The Bible says she may have been
          Carried off to a strange land but her heart never left home
          A slave in an alien culture but she never lost her loyalty to her own
          Held captive but she was never conquered  

Just to make sure you get the point, the Bible makes much of the contrast
     between the skin disease that disfigures Naaman with the unblemished
     skin of the slave girl’s youth.
The Bible contrasts
     Naaman’s utter despair over his life with the slave girl’s quiet confidence deep in her heart.  

The Bible begs the question this morning:  Which of these 2 is stronger?  Which of these 2 will really make it in life?  Which of these 2 has got it made?  The Bible says this young slave girl was held captive but never conquered.  She was held captive in a society that believes in power and wealth—that’s how the world works.  She was a victim of that culture but she never gave into it because she really knew how the world works.  Naaman didn’t have a clue.  You see, she knew no matter how much wealth or how much power you hold in your hand, you’ll never be clean, you’ll never be whole, until you come completely empty-handed before God.  

Now you know the really sad thing about this story?  The really sad thing about this story is that you, too, use to have a clue.  You use to know the real truth about life deep in your heart.  In the beginning you were given all the confidence and trust in God that this young slave girl possessed.  The problem is you have been raised in a culture, in our culture, this culture believes in nothing but power and wealth.  You have learned all your life that the way the world works, the way to make it in life, is to acquire all the wealth, all the material possessions, all the goods, all the stuff you can.  In this culture you have learned all your life that the further ahead of everybody else you are the better off you are.  You and I spend our lives trying to keep our hands full of everything the culture can give us.  That is the culture that has held you captive for a very long time.  But you didn’t use to be this way—in the beginning you knew, you knew deep in your heart what life is really all about; you knew from the beginning that you and all your brothers and sisters in the world only ultimately are left completely empty-handed before God each and everyone exactly the same.  And I’ll tell you something else—that truth is woven into the very fabric of your being.  If you will ever let that image of God in which you were created come again to the very center of your life you’ll know, you’ll know that same quiet confidence of this young slave girl who was held captive but never conquered.  When you live from the very center of your being knowing that you are always completely empty-handed before God, you can simply let go of everything else—you can leave it all behind, because you really can bring nothing to your Lord of grace and love except your loyalty and your very life.  When you bring yourself completely empty handed before God, then God can begin to fill those empty places in your heart with unmerited love and make you clean and whole again.  

We don’t know what happened to this young slave girl.  She is not mentioned again in the Bible.  But we do know what happened to Naaman.  Let me read on in this story:
      Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God.  He stood before him
      and said, ‘Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel…your servant
      will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.’  

Which of these 2 is stronger?  Which of these 2 will really make it in life?  Which of these 2 has got it made?  Brothers and sisters, by the witness of this captive empty-handed slave girl her captor is made clean and whole.  By the end of the story because of her confident witness they both are completely empty-handed before God and they both find strength to make it no matter what.  The church prays, the church exists, that you and your children and your grandchildren and great grandchildren and all the children of the world, though held captive by this culture, are never, never conquered.  

                                                                                                             William G. Davidson