This morning I would like to share with you one of my many ventures while living in The Gambia, West Africa. Following an automobile accident, a taxi was waiting for me outside a local hospital while a medic was putting stitches in my leg. This taxi driver had compassion for the injured accident victims when he saw us lying along side of the road waiting for transportation assistance. When the medic was finished, I went to the police station to give a statement about the accident.
Finally, I approached the car to continue the four-hour ride to the capital city, Banjul. The taxi driver offered me a seat near a woman who appeared to be sleep. She was a picture of serenity and peace. After my previous ordeal, I wanted to rest as she was doing. I opted to sit behind her to elevate my leg up and relieve the pain. We pulled off but did not go far before we stopped in front of a mosque. I thought this was strange.
The driver and a man sitting next to the sleeping woman got out of the car and walked over to a coffin that was in front of the mosque on the road. With horror, I was bracing myself as the men leaned over to open the coffin. I exhaled thankfully seeing that the coffin was empty. In my daze and shock, I initially thought at first, how nice it was for someone to buy a coffin. It was not a usual Islamic practice to purchase a coffin. This was the first one I had never seen while living in the country. Similar to Jewish custom the dead are immediately buried on the same day of death.
The men quickly returned to the taxi reaching for the sleeping woman and placed her in the coffin. My mouth dropped as I tried to recall the word for “dead” in each of the three local languages I had learned. However, I could only speak English due to being in shock experienced from the auto accident a few hours earlier in the day.
Now the taxi driver was ready to proceed with the trip carrying his passengers, luggage and a coffin with a body on the top of his taxi van. The reality of the dead woman among us hit everybody suddenly. The overwhelming feelings of deep sorrow and compassion we all felt for the husband of the women filled the taxi while we cried in sympathy for him. I had never seen an Islamic man cry with such emotion.
We became the mourners accompanying the widower returning taking his wife’s body to their home from the hospital. We were now the crowd, like in our gospel story that accompanied the mother in the funeral procession for her son. We all felt the sense of the value of life in the taxi. It did not matter that we were all different and spoke different languages nor that I was the only Christian among the Muslims passengers. We were drawn together, as a small community in an instant, with this man through our shared sense of compassion that just seem to swell from the heart.
Jesus was moved in his heart with compassion as he observed the funeral procession of the only son of the widow Luke’s gospel today.
“When he saw her, he had compassion for her…” The widow did not know who Jesus was and did not ask him for anything. He quickly acted in this early stage of his ministry as he entered Nain. This miracle story is recorded only in Luke. We know that Luke pays special attention to those who are oppressed or rejected. Widows in those days were among the most vulnerable persons within the local community.
In Luke’s miracle story account, Jesus resuscitates the only son of the widow thought to be dead and gives him back to his mother. In doing so, she is re-established within her community and she is no longer vulnerable to economic hardship having regained a means of being cared for by her son once again. God used the prophet Elijah to restore the lifeless body back to life and give the widowed mother her son in the Old Testament reading in the 1Kings. We must remember that both readings are stories of resuscitation back to life. Only Jesus is a story of resurrection.
In this ordinary time, the opportunity for the life of the Church to flourish is upon us. God takes ordinary people to use for his purpose like us today. Jesus called ordinary men and women to become his early followers as students to build the early church. In a way, a new life was on the horizon for them. A new life is on the horizon for us. The widows in both of our readings today encountered Jesus and Elijah who were used by God to provide them new life of restoration.
For us today, these stories speak of new life in Jesus. Sometimes at our lowest ebb, God makes his presence known to us through a means we may not initially be aware of to help us through an illness, a family crisis, concerns with our children, periods of unemployment, an accident, and many other situations. Jesus heart ached at the thought of the lonely widow as she passed him in the funeral procession. This is why he was deeply moved in his heart thus moved compassionately and instinctively reached out touching the brier. He broke all customary rules of the Jewish culture.
Perhaps we can think of breaking all the rules that may prevent us like pride from sharing our problems, pain, and sorrows more openly with each other as a faith community. None of us in the taxi knew each other but we reached out, touched, and did what I would consider “in reach” as passengers bonded together for the husband of the dead passenger to support him in the aftermath of his sudden tragedy. He was afforded an extended circle of support as well while we headed to our perspective destinations. The widow in Luke had a crowd of supporters and Jesus had a crowd of supporters. We are the crowd of supporters for each to embrace each other in heartfelt situations.

The presence of God and allowing ourselves to be used by God activates the workings of the Holy Spirit, which calls us to “act on pain in our heart” which literally means compassion. Our charge is to be a compassionate companion for each other. We do not have to wait for major catastrophes or something terrible to happen. In reach and out reach expressed through compassion is for everyday.

Reach out and touch our newest members Teresa Terry, Sarah Biggs, John Snodgress, and Charles Biscoe who will be confirmed on June 23. Think back when you were new and trying to get to know people in the congregation. Introduce yourself to them, wear your nametag, and invite them to become active with a ministry of
St. Margaret’s.

Our current church season is considered as a time to grow into new life, which Jesus gives us through his resurrection, to live for God’s purpose on this earth. Appropriately, green is the color of our current church season of ordinary time representing life. To our new members, there are many ministries at St. Margaret’s where the opportunity of restoration awaits you along with opportunities for Christian education. Let compassion drive us all to act and seek so that our “in reach” and “out reach” efforts can thrive with new life for growth sustained by the presence of God working through each of us. Amen.