Healing at the Pool of Wisdom

Everybody Hurts. This is not only the truth, but it is a song by U2 that plays in my head like a balm. We talked in church about what it means to know each other spiritually. We said that often we want to introduce ourselves by our qualifications. We want people to know that we can justify OUR presence in this place, OUR demand for respect, OUR right to privilege and honor. Then we demonstrate that a spiritual introduction is not about promoting ourselves; but rather, it’s about demonstrating how God is living and working in and through our lives – in essence, promoting God. We can see it well in the healing and hope that we get through God’s grace – a contrast of celebration and renewal, in the midst of our deepest sorrows – moments of resurrection. I have been impressed frequently by the power and presence of God in this pool of wisdom that we call Merced.

Reading the ancient texts of the Hebrew people, we often experience reference to the pool of Siloam and ritual purification before approaching the temple. The pool of Siloam wells up in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. It comes from an underground river, seemingly a resource that springs up naturally in the city to provide for the needs of the community. You can see that this pool still exists today. There are stairs leading to it; places to sit and bath.

A pilgrim needs to bath. A pilgrim is someone on a journey to a holy place. Those who would go on pilgrimage to Jerusalem would take time as they approached the holy to bath and prepare. Maybe they just wanted to knock the dust off after miles of travelling. Maybe they needed to look presentable in the temple. Some have suggested that bathing was a legalistic ritual – a requirement that demonstrated the appropriate level of righteousness for devotion. What is the spiritual significance of bathing? After all, spiritual health was as important then as now.

The resources in the holy city of Jerusalem have proven to be deep and enduring. For thousands of years, fresh water has come to this city and nurtured its community. How could anyone enter the city and not acknowledge the attributes that caused it to thrive. The pool of Siloam was a way of connecting with a life source of the city. I can visualize soaking in this water and knowing that I am surrounded by what makes Jerusalem vital. I am being made clean by the resources that were indigenous to my destination. I will be nurtured, myself, by this resource as I endeavor to dwell in this place. Soaking in the pool will give me a heart of gratitude and deep respect. A pilgrimage is a spiritual journey; wouldn’t the pilgrim find a spiritual significance in this bath?

I too am a pilgrim taking a bath. As I continue to have spiritual introductions to the community of Merced, the rich presence of God in this place and the natural spring of wisdom that surrounds me are bringing me healing and wholeness. Here is a taste from the spring that nourishes both the inhabitants of this community and its pilgrims.

Centering prayer happens on the first day of my work week. Ten to twelve people gather to release all of the busyness, worries, accomplishments, and suffering in our lives. We take an hour and 20 minutes together to just intentionally give our complete devotion to the Holy and gently let go of everything else. The practice alone is an amazing source of peace, but the people bring wisdom and hope that heals. We knew that the room contained grief. Jeanne Sanford was leading even though her husband Bill will have his celebration of life at 1:00pm on August 10^th, 2013. Jeanne shares powerfully, “I need church. I knew that I had to get back right away. I knew that I would cry, but I needed the comfort and the community.” Everybody hurts, and another shared her grief; as well as, the wisdom that each tear has a unique chemical identity. The tears that we produce are made specifically by our bodies to be the exact balm that we need for all that caused our tears in the first place. Wow! The way that this community makes room for one another, honors one another, strengthens each other; who wouldn’t want or need to bath in wisdom like this?

Marge Barger is 94 and welcomed me this week to her bedside in Country Villa. She painted vivid pictures of Merced for me with her memories that go back to her arrival in 1950. We talked about the loved ones that continue to be her joy and support. We also talked about the loved ones that still occupy her heart but no longer walk among us. A pearl of wisdom was noticed when she described her home on Olive St.  She built it herself; planned every inch of it. She knew that it was 35 years old and needed work when she sold it. Yet the young couple that bought it tore down everything but the breaker box. “Can you imagine; they call this a remodel?” She chuckled and appeared to take it lightly. I couldn’t help but think of the ways that we are “remodeled” spiritually. What stays? What goes? Are we ever taken all the way down to the breaker box? And, why would the breaker box stay? Is it because our connection to a source of power is the essence of our identities? What a bath.

Then I met Mary Cedarholm with the sparkling blue eyes and the enduring smile. She was so happy to talk about her connection to the church (she still wants to be the wedding coordinator). Rev. C.K. Ault was her father, a Methodist pastor. She said that she loved being a P.K. (Pastor’s Kid), “except for some of the parsonages. We always had to have enough pots to collect the rain in bad weather because the roofs weren’t doing the job. And sometimes the houses were so small that we didn’t have any place to put our clothes.” She talked about admiring her mother’s patience, “when the house was too small she would tell us to take a picture of it and we could have it enlarged.” Mary clearly knows what it means to deal with realities that we can’t change. From her place in this time and space, she shared the wisdom of looking at things a different way and it gave me goose bumps.

Joann Sasaki was having a particularly good day when we visited. As soon as she saw us she smiled largely and welcomed us to the room. Seconds later she shared that she had just turned 84 years old. She has been at Hylond for years and is unable to leave the bed, as a result of her condition. Yet grace abounds. She was eager to pray. When I asked what she would like to pray for, she said, “everybody, everybody, we should pray for everybody!” I don’t know about you, but sometimes the smallest things get me into a spiral of self-pity – thinking almost exclusively about myself and my problems. It is a wonder and a gift to visit Joann who is dealing with much more and hear her thinking on such a broad scale.

So everybody hurts and this pilgrim has come to his destination to approach the pool and become spiritually ready for my time in the temple. Instead of finding the pool of Siloam, I found this pool of wisdom. I see the resources that have made this community thrive. I can see how I will be nurtured and cared for in the future. I can experience healing and wholeness that doesn’t come from the bags I packed for the journey, but rather in the bath I receive at the pool. In this Holy place, I see God.

Enjoy God,

pg