Saint John’s Episcopal Church, Sandwich, Massachusetts

June 24, 2006

Healing Service Homily - Myriah  Bruce

 

“You can’t always get what you want; you’ll find, you get what you need”

 

You may recognize these words from an old Rolling Stones song, but they have stayed with me ever since my mom sang them to me as a little girl. 

 

She sang this song to me, probably because I whined for something extra at the grocery store, or had to have a new game or toy. I remember how I hated it when she would sing these words, but how funny life is, that as I grow older, they have truly come to mean so much more. They are an example of how I recognize God’s love and healing in my life and how I feel music can be an instrument in experiencing great joy, and knowledge through song and time with God.

 

The most memorable times in my life all have music in them. When I was a child, like I just told you, and then at my wedding ceremony. My heart couldn’t have been more filled than when I walked down the aisle, to the wedding march or at my reception when I chose to dance our first dance, strangely enough to a song called “So Blessed”. We have been blessed so many times over. With our children, who I now sing the Stones song to, and with our friends and family. Sure we have had many rough patches like any marriage but over all, God has always been with us to guide and make sure we get what we need, not necessarily always what we thought that we needed!

I know that all of you have heard the hymn Amazing Grace and felt your heart fill with God’s love, and thought how he has saved a wretch like me. Or most recently on our day of Pentecost when the choir sang “Every time I feel the spirit” as the church mouse states in this month’s newsletter, there was an energizing force in the church that day, and there was,  you know you could feel it.

 

Remember Bishop Gayle Harris at our Confirmation in February, she asked “Can you feel it?”

 

I get goose bumps, literally, when I hear some music, and I can’t help but feel that God is at work, bringing us closer to each other.

 

Last fall, I really was examining my work with our youth and how I was feeling less than adequate in trying to reach our kids. Would you believe that sometimes I feel like they aren’t hearing a word we say! Shocking I know!

But, that’s how I was feeling, and out of the blue, God sent to me a brochure on Faith in 3-D. That was that trip to Florida with our confirmation class, the one that your probably sick of hearing about, but I have to tell you once again that when our group walked in to the enormous conference facility, and saw the room filled with over 1500 teenagers, we were drawn in by the music of God emanating from the front. I saw God at work, healing, healing not only my spirit, but everyone in that room, and not only through the music, but through his message of service to others, because we often receive more than what we need, so we need to share his love and healing with other’s. There’s that Stone’s song again.

 

This is why I have been trying to organize a Youth Sunday service, incorporating everything I’ve learned from Florida, and with my own renewed spirit I can try to spread the joy through music, we can all get goose bumps and we can all witness God’s never-ending healing love through our children. So I ask you, “Can you feel it?”

 

In Colossians 3:16 we read, “ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.

 

If we listen, and sing, and open our hearts so that they can be filled with god’s grace, we will be healed, and best of all we can help to heal others. We must keep a spiritual song in our mind so that we are absorbed with spiritual things. Of all this, the net result will be; a richer life, a closer walk with God, a full and gracious heart and a deeper understanding of the word of Christ.