Sealed with a Sense of Calm – October 19
Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 25; PM Psalm 9, 15; Ecclus. 4:20-5:7; Rev. 7:1-8; Luke 9:51-62
It’s been just over two years since Bonnie died. Reading Revelation today took me back to the first time I met her.
Bonnie loved the mid-week healing Eucharist at her church. It was a staple of her week and was something that she and her husband Mark often would attend together. By the fall of 2017, Bonnie’s cancer had worsened. The experimental treatments sought across the country were not working. Her immune system was compromised. Bonnie battled severe bouts of nausea and pain, therefore she was mainly homebound. As she missed the time of healing prayer, she asked if a priest could visit her at home.
Though strangers, Bonnie gently welcomed me into her circle. She told me about her disease. She shared with me stories of the past and present: meeting her husband when they were abroad as children of deployed military families, pursuing her education and career, raising their children, and the arrival of her first grandchild. Bonnie talked about her hopes for healing and the fears that hung over her.
Though I did not have a communion box with me, I did have an oil stock – a brass container with consecrated healing oil – in my purse. Bonnie’s face lighted up, “Oh, that would be just perfect!” We prayed, and I anointed her with oil. She exhaled and smiled steadily, saying, “Thank you.” Her simple words of gratitude hung in the air. Receiving the shiny ‘t’-shaped cross on her forehead brought Bonnie peace. That mark – an outward manifestation of faith – gave her a sense of calm and gratitude in a tumultuous season. She died the next year, surrounded by her family.
There is impending chaos in the apocalyptic excerpt from Revelation appointed in our Daily Office lectionary today. The angel ascending from the rising sun advises the other four angels to mark the servants of the Lord with a seal on their forehead. Those who are marked with the seal of that same living God will be set apart and protected from destruction. What imagery to be reminded of during 2020, right?
There are all kinds of marks that we bear, telling stories of wounds and mistakes, loves lost and found again. Some are more visible than others. Some, like tattoos, we choose for ourselves, and others are scars, imposed upon us against our will. These marks are windows into our brokenness, and they are glimpses at our redemption.
After baptism in the Episcopal Church, a priest or bishop uses chrism, a special oil that has been blessed, and makes the sign of a cross on the newly baptized person’s forehead, saying that they are sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own forever. It’s an outward demonstration of a spiritual experience. That mark is a gentle branding that we are servants of God. It is a mark of grace and peace. It serves as a reminder to the forces of destruction around us, indicating who we are and whose we are.
May you be sealed with a sense of calm this day.
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
What do you know of your baptism?
What reconnects you with a sense of peace and joy?
Daily Challenge
Visualize the mark of a cross being placed upon your forehead. Trace the movement of those perpendicular lines. Reflect on what it means to be a servant of God. Being sealed and protected as on of God’s own, what bold step of faith could you take today? Spend 10 minutes journaling, and then write down one action you will take to live into your baptismal identity.