May 11, 2025
Mothers’ Day
Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose
name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and
acts of charity.
At that time she became ill and died. When
they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.
Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples,
who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request,
"Please come to us without delay."
So Peter got up and went with them, and
when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood
beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made
while she was with them.
Peter put all of them outside, and then he
knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get
up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
He gave her his hand and helped her up.
Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.
This became known throughout Joppa, and
many believed in the Lord.
Meanwhile, he stayed in Joppa for some
time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
*************
It’s
that time of year when Methodist preachers start gathering at annual
conference. That’s the yearly meeting of
an equal number of clergy and laypersons elected by churches within a given
geographical area spend two or three days addressing the administrative side of
our mission of “making disciples of Christ for the transformation of the
world.” (A little ambitious, maybe, but the
God who creates a universe is someone who has big plans.)
Unofficially,
it’s also a time when clergy get to see colleagues and friends whom they may
have not seen since last year. There’s a
lot of catching up to do, of course. For
me, though, there’s an aspect that just started last year (and annoyed me then)
and I know is going to come up even more this year. It’s being asked, “When are you retiring?”
Here’s
my current answer: “I’m not eligible for full Social Security for another seven
years. Don’t rush me.”
But I
bring that perspective to this passage from Acts. None of us is going to be anywhere
permanently until the day that the Lord says, “You’re being transferred to
heaven.” We all need to be prepared for
that moment. At the same time, we need
to be ready for the stages in between when our assignments change so that the
ongoing mission does go on. Dorcas, it
seems, was quite ready to be with the Lord, but the fellowship of believers
living in Joppa was not as ready as she was for that moment.
That
can be a problem.
Dorcas,
or Tabitha,
“was devoted to good
works and acts of charity” [Acts 9:36],
which for her seems to have centered on sewing clothes. We can reasonably assume that she was providing
them for the needy and that at least some of those people were part of the
Christian community. When she died, it
was disturbing enough to them not just as individuals but as a group that they
sent two people to summon Peter and
“when he arrived, they took him to the room
upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other
clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.” [Acts 9:39]
I’m sure they were mourning her as a person, but it
seems to me that they were also asking how they were going to fill the need for
somebody to do what she had done for them and possibly on their behalf. My guess is that what happened in Joppa with
Dorcas was that she did her job so well that people just let her do it and
never considered what would happen in her ultimate absence.
Preachers,
in the United Methodist system, come and go.
The ministry of the laity is one where we aren’t always as organized as
well as we think.
Sometimes
we can get by. Last Sunday, David Bryant
had food poisoning from dinner on Saturday.
If you had been here at 8:45 you would have seen me go a little
crazy. We are very blessed to have
people capable of doing emergency backup.
Thank you, Dave; thank you, Maggie; thank you Karen and Nancy. Do you know how rare it is to have a team
like that?
Right now there is a
shortage of church musicians across the board, such that many local
congregations will use recorded accompaniment for hymns. No, that’s not the end of the world, but it
does leave a lot to be desired. It also
makes it hard to have a choir, and that is another gap. (By the way, I’ve had one person mention
something about being part of a praise band – if there’s anybody else, just let
me know.)
The
time to look at what comes next is when skilled and gifted leadership is in
place already, so that they can prepare for the time when the handoff can
happen. Others are going to have to step
up eventually, so it’s best to learn from the best. I’ll use the example here of Jay Haas, whom
some of us still miss for his quiet humor, his clear focus, and his skill with
both bicycle maintenance and finance.
When he unexpectedly grew sick at way too early an age, he did many
things right. He made sure to set aside
extra time for Gina and for their daughters.
He made contingency plans for both a return to health and for a decline. And he made sure that other people knew the
details of his work and of his ministry among us so that they could step in. Even then it was not easy, but without that I
hesitate to think what it would have been like.
Nor
is it just official positions that need that kind of hand-off. (Forgive me if I am repeating myself
here.) For many years, Dan Moore was
everywhere in this building, doing all the small jobs that are taken for
granted. Lightbulbs don’t change
themselves, even if they want to change.
Dan would go to some dangerous lengths to reach those lamps that are
hanging over our heads right now. He
also went to the less dangerous length of making sure that a couple of
then-teenagers knew where the lightbulbs and the ladders are stored.
One
of the things that excites my administrative soul is to see somebody new in the
kitchen or sitting in on a long, dull planning session; decorating a Sunday
School room to match the lessons coming up next month or sitting in a hospital
room learning what it means to comfort someone sick by just being there and spontaneously
praying for them from the heart. It’s
all a matter of teaching by showing and learning by doing.
I
can’t help but think about the name of the woman Peter raised to life in Joppa.
Peter’s first language, like Jesus’s
own, would have been Aramaic. This
woman’s name, was
“Tabitha, which in
Greek is Dorcas.” [Acts 9:36]
In English, that would be “Gazelle”, but that’s not
the point. In Mark’s gospel, there’s a
story about how Jesus is called to the house of a man named Jairus whose
unnamed daughter was seriously ill.
Jesus is detained on the way and when he arrives at the house the girl
has died and there’s a crowd of distraught people around her. Mark says,
“Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s
father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child
was. He took her by the hand and said to
her, ‘Talitha cum’ which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ and
immediately the girl got up and began to walk about.” [Mark 5:40-42]
“‘Talitha’”/“Tabitha” –
the words sound kind of similar, and Peter had been there along with the other
disciples and the little girl’s parents.
I think it’s safe to say that Peter himself had learned from the best. Again, discipling and discipleship is a
matter of teaching by showing and learning by doing.
I
wonder if Peter and Tabitha/Dorcas had a little talk about that at some point,
and maybe invited a few others into that discussion. I have a feeling that they may have done that
and that we can all be thankful.
As
Jesus said,
“Let those with ears to
hear, listen.” [Mark 4:9]
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