Soundings June 22 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning everyone, and welcome to Soundings, the public affairs
presentation of iHeartMedia. Each week we have an acumenical discussion
on the electionary scriptures and how they apply to our
life and our world. I am the Reverend Molly Boscher,
and we have two of our regulars here this morning.
And I am an episcopal priest on the north side

(00:21):
of Grand Rapids at Saint Neatrew's Episcopal Church. And would
you all introduce yourself, starting with Jessica.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Sure, I am a reverend Jessica Rivera Walker. I am
the pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Holland, kind
of on the border between Holland and Zealand.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
And I am Beth Dake. I'm the Director of Faith
Formation at Saint Philip Neary Saint Anne Parish in Reed City.
And I'm the director of Pastor Karen Outreach at St Mary's,
Saint Paul's and Big Rapids.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Well, well, well, what a week so we can talk
about a lot of things, because our world seems rather
crazy right now. We are recording on Wednesday, and at
least in my world, one of the things I'm seeing
is a heightened war with Iran in Israel right now,
and those were things that when I was a young child,

(01:10):
I was very scared about, you know, and even now,
like I thought of war, I just hate it.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
It feels a lot. I was listening to one of
my podcasts some way in this morning, and I kind
of feels like a lot like we've seen this movie
before and we know how it ends, like you know,
just the reasons and that are being given and back

(01:37):
and forth, and I just keep thinking like, at least
in my lifetime, these kind of ventures have not ended
well for anybody involved. And you know, I know we
have I think we have like ten people on our

(01:58):
prayer list that are we pray for people who are
in the armed forces, like us relatives of my parishioners.
So we have like ten people who are who are
on that prayer list who are active duty right now.
And I don't know where they're active duty or what
exactly their their duties entail. But when things like this escalate,

(02:20):
I worry because I worry about are they going to
be you know, are they going to be sent somewhere
that's dangerous? And you know, how do I minister to
their family member who is here and you know, how
do I how do I kind of do that kind

(02:41):
of pastoral care while also just trying to figure out
how do I sort of present this in in terms
of preaching and teaching and things like that. So it's
it is, it's a little it is. I mean, it's
worriesome me. And again I just sort of keep being like,

(03:05):
we've done this before and it hasn't worked out. Well,
can we learn?

Speaker 1 (03:14):
You know, there's that line that and I don't I
don't remember who said it, and I'm not going to
say it quite right, but you know, mothers would never
send their children into battle. Mothers would never send their
kids into battle.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
You know, it's you know, when you were sharing, Jessica,
I couldn't help think that. I got a text yesterday
from my sister who works at home but the company
is based in California, and a colleague of hers was
asking for prayers because her daughter, and I don't know
what organization she works for, is in Israel and they're
trying to get them out, but they're having a hard time.
There's no flights, commercial flights to get people out, so

(03:46):
they've sent a ship and they're going to get on
the ship and travel for ten hours to get to
some island to get a flight to try to get
them that out of there, And I thought, can you
imagine a mother praying for their daughter to get out
of I don't know. My heart went out to people
that have people that in different organizations trying to work,
trying to help, and now they're trapped in places that

(04:06):
they really need to get out of.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I will keep that situation in
prayer too. I hadn't even that hadn't even dawned on
me about the fact. I mean, you know, I'm sure
the Catholic Church and the Episcopalian Church. I know, the
Lutheran Church have like people.

Speaker 4 (04:23):
Who work.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
There. We're partnered with the I think it's the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Jordan, and the Holy Land is like
our ministry partner, and so we have like Lutheran World
Relief people who who work out of there. So yeah, I,
oh my gosh, I hope I pray that your friend's

(04:47):
daughter is able to get out safely. But wow, ten
hours is not a ship.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Ten hours on ship, I thought, where's this island? But anyway,
I don't know that region wall have to know where
this they didn't give ready trying to get Evidently they
can get a flight out of from that island. But yeah,
I think sometimes we forget how many different connecting pieces
happen when something like this happens, right.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Yeah, I mean we are in a time where there's
a lot of conflicts, you know, yes, and it just
it seems that seems overwhelming to me.

Speaker 2 (05:17):
You know, it can be it can be overwhelming. You know.
I have a lot of personers who or just people
who are like, I don't know how to manage the
inflow of information because they're like, I can't I can't
get my blood pressure up about like every single thing

(05:37):
that I'm seeing in the news, because that's unhealthy for
any of us. Yeah, and how do they, you know,
how do they manage their mental health while also manage
being like an engaged, concerned citizen.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
I mean, I don't know how everybody does it, but
I know that I myself do a lot of centering prayer,
partly to kind of help and remind myself basically that
I am not God and I can't fix this. And
so when I hear a piece of news that I
can do nothing about, I kind of try to let
it go. And I also keep my news consumption to

(06:14):
very specific times and places. You know. You know, we
used to watch the news at six pm every day.
Everybody did, right, And now there's like this twenty four
hour cable news stuff and you can check your news anytime,
and that is helpful, but I think it's also overwhelming.
So you know, for me, I don't participate in that,

(06:35):
and usually I try not to look at news after
six pm, just like I don't have a cup of
coffee afternoon, you know.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yes, yeah, I'll do the same thing. I try to
get the one oh one first thing in the morning
and then I'm pretty much done unless something major happens,
and that somebody will let me know. You're always happy
to share, so right, Yeah, I don't watch a lot
of news. I try to get it because I need
to be informed. What you say, just been informed, citizen,
and keep up. But I don't want people I visit

(07:04):
home on people that have it on twenty four seven
and I said, oh, shut please, you will feel so
much better. You'll be able to get out if you
turn that you don't watch that.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Yeah, it's like to like some of the prayers, especially
what I call the repeat prayers, you know, kind of
like praying the Rosary or things like that are also
really helpful in kind of managing your anxiety and maybe
even your grief at these times. You know. That's another
thing that I know that the Catholic Church has. I mean,
we've got the Episcopal Rosary. But you guys, you guys,

(07:34):
you guys invented it.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
I know, right, yes, But get outside too, just sell
or stick or home bow. You could still go out
and sit on your porch or I have a woman
who sits in her garage. She opens the garage door
as she sits in her garage because you go a
little covered. But it's like, sit up, go outside. Here
the birds. You know, we have baby animals everywhere right now,
It's yes.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
We do.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
We do.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
We have baby truly baby animals everywhere. We have killed
deer bird who has decided that a really great place
for her to lay her three eggs is in the
rocks in our landscaping, right next to one of our
handicapped spots and to the left of the door. And

(08:20):
so kill deer. If you didn't, I didn't even know this.
There are no twigs or anything that make it look
like a nest. It is a little depression in the rocks,
and then it's eggs that look like rocks exactly like
the rocks that are part of our landscaping. And she's
done this before, or another one has, like in different

(08:43):
places on our property. But so now you know, we've
like sent out an email and we've we we've like
kind of roped off this little section like around the
nest and we've blocked off the spot in the hand
the handicap spot so that so that those baby animals
can live. And you know, but that gives us a

(09:06):
really I think that's been a really great break too,
because we sort of now we have like like egg watch, like,
you know, how are the eggs growing, how are the
babies doing?

Speaker 1 (09:16):
So, yeah, that's kind of fun. That's a fun thing
for a church to be obsessed with.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
It is.

Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, yeah, we need that relief, Yes, we do. We
need that relief.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Well, the other thing we were talking about is that
in this on this Sunday, which is the Sunday after
Trinity Sunday or for us it's Pentecost what too? Or
is it Pentecost three? I can't even remember.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
Let me look this has well. It says Lectionary twelve,
but second Sunday after Pentecost of Pentecost.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Post the Catholic Church and and the Protestant churches do
different things. It's this Sunday, doth will you tell us
about your celebration this Sunday which you do those Sunday
after Trinity Sunday.

Speaker 3 (10:08):
Right Sunday after Attornity. Sunday for us, for the Catholic
Church is the feast of Corpus Christie, so the body
and Blood of Christ. So we celebrate the Eucharist and
we focus on the eucurs in a very special way.
It always falls this Sunday after Trinity Sunday for us
every liturgical year, so we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christie.
So there will be quite a few in our diocese

(10:28):
eucharistic processions. So we put the Euchurus in the monstrance
and we prosess with it at Saint Mary, Saint Paul's.
After the last Mass at Saint Paul's, we will persess.
We will travel with the Eucharist in monstrance. There will
be singing, there will be rose petals thrown on the
ground in honor of the Euchrists or the presence of Christ.
We will process through Fara State University. We stop there

(10:51):
in the quad for a minute and do iteration, and
then they will process through downtown to Rapids and stop
a minute downtown and do iteration, and then they'll finish
the procession because Saint Mary's is at the other end
of Big Rapids, so they will possess them to Saint
Mary's and into Saint Mary's and then they will be
one hundred and fifty two hours of adoration exposition of

(11:11):
the blessed sacrament, because that's how old Saint Mary's perish is.
So we started that three years ago, so this is
our third year of doing it. So we will have
one hundred and fifty two hours and everybody in the parish,
Saint Mary Saint Paul's will sign up for that perpetual adoration.
We have a few hours in the middle of the
night yet we need failed, but we're getting those filled.

(11:33):
Two to four am is a hard time to get filled,
but the rest of the times are being filled. So
that will happen for the whole week. Adoration for one
hundred and fifty two hours, so we highlight the Eucurist
this weekend in the feast of Corpus Christie. Lots of
Eugoristic processions probably around the country and around the world.
You will see that for the Catholic Church.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
So if you're cath like, you will hear the lows.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
And the fishes gospel reading, and not the gospel and
we're going to read here in a minute, but you'll
hear the loaves and the fishes.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
That's the that's the gospel.

Speaker 1 (12:02):
Don't know what's a monster in best?

Speaker 3 (12:04):
A monstros is a big gold vessel that the Eucharist
can be exposed, and that means you can see it.
The host is put inside it and sealed inside it.
There's a little hitch that goes on it so it
can't just fall out. And it's a it's a huge
it's a beautiful ornate vessel that the Eucharist goes in,
so it's exposed. You can see it. And Father Jagger

(12:26):
will be the one that will carry that in procession.
You'll be able to see it. It's a very big
it's a big vessel. He does a great job. He's
a little man. God bless it. But he will march
through all of that he's a young man, so he's strong.
But and it's supposed to be warm that day, so
full full vestments.

Speaker 4 (12:45):
Processing. Wow, you always pray for our and we'll.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Have acolytes with a canopy over it and they will
be processing with him, and then people following in procession.

Speaker 1 (12:58):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (12:59):
Yeah, it's it's a big deal.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Processions are really fun. Like it's I mean, you kind
of forget. I mean, you know because of course, like
we often think about when we follow somebody in a line,
it feels like we're in school again. But when you're
processing and you're all moving towards something, you know, whether
it's like you're all marching or processing like it's it's

(13:25):
really it's there's a lot of energy there.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Yes, we have a beautiful musician.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
She has a phenomenal voice, so she will be leading
the singing, so they'll be singing going on. She has
a little amplifier speaker that she uses when we do
this and people will sing along.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Quite beautiful.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yes, yeah, it sounds beautiful.

Speaker 4 (13:46):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (13:50):
How long has that been a feast in the Catholic Church?

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Oh boy, I don't remember when it wasn't I don't
know when that when it was initiated, but it's been
a while, many years.

Speaker 4 (14:03):
And I'm old, many years.

Speaker 3 (14:06):
Yeah, I don't know when it was established, but I
don't remember when it wasn't the Feast of Corpus Christie
after you know, after Eastern Trinity Sunday at Corpus Christie.

Speaker 4 (14:15):
Yeah, people keep saying, no, we're not back to green yet,
don't go back to green yet.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
We're not there yet, right, the colors don't go back
to green until the following week. For us, well maybe
not because we have another I think Sunday that is
superseded by Saint Peter and Paul My supersedars Monday the
following week. So yeah, we're going to be a little
off here until we get back to green. Okay, yes,
well not off, but we celebrate some different soliminit.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
All right, so I'm looking at this just a minute.
Here was proposed by Thomas aquinas Corpus Christie.

Speaker 4 (14:47):
Okay, that's a long time ago.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Were of course it was Thomas Aquainted of course.

Speaker 1 (14:55):
Right right? And then do you go back to a
church and you have communion.

Speaker 3 (15:01):
After the procession? Yeah, no, Mass will be before the procession.
So we have Mass at Saint Mary's at nine the
eleven o'clock masses at Saint Paul's and then at the
end of that mass, and you well, I have already
received Ucrius and then we procesess and then adoration will
begin for one hundred and fifty two hours.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Okay, yeah, I like that.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
That's fun. I mean you got to get some of
those college students for the two you know to four
am times. Ah.

Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yes, sometimes their numbers are posted so if the next
person doesn't come, you call them and they come. Some
of the Newman Center young people are still on campus
even though the school is out. Summer people. There are
a few summer people there, so they're usually they're really
nice about doing that, coming at two am when the
next person because you can't leave the Blessed Sacher and
exposed alone. Somebody has to be And now we have

(15:45):
signed up two people, so we have we're trying to
assure that at least somebody's there for aeration.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
People have been really good about it, but we.

Speaker 3 (15:53):
Keep trying to make it easier and light during the
night so they know where to what door to come in,
where to go.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
Yeah, I probably would fall asleep.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Okay, there, it counts all right.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
Would somebody read our text for today and for us
non corpus christie observers.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Yes, so this is from Luke's gospel. Then they sailed
to the territory of Garsuit, which was the opposite of Galilee.
When he came ashore a man from the town who
was possessed by a demon, and met him. For a
long time, he had not worn clothes, He did not
live in a house, but lived among the tombs. When

(16:37):
he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him.
In a loud voice, he shouted, what have you to
do with me? Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I beg you do not torment me. For he had
ordered the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
It had taken hold of him many times, and he
had used to be bound with chains and shackles as

(16:58):
a restraint, but he would break his bonds and be
driven by the demon into deserted places. When Jesus asked him,
what is your name? He replied Legion, because many demons
had entered him, and they pleaded with him not to
order them to depart. To the abyss, a herd of
many swine was feeding there on the hillside, and they

(17:20):
pleaded with him to allow them to enter those swine,
and he let them. The demons came out of the
man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down
the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When
the swineherders saw what had happened, they ran away and
reported the incident in the town and throughout the countryside.
People came out to see what had happened, and when

(17:42):
they approached Jesus, they discovered the man from whom the
demons had come out, sitting at his feet. He was
clothed and in his right mind, and they were seized
with fear. Those who witnessed it told them how the
possessed man had been saved. The entire population, you know,
the reason region of Garrison asked Jesus to leave them,

(18:04):
because they were seized with great fear. So we got
into the boat and returned.

Speaker 4 (18:09):
The man from whom the.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
Demons had come out begged to remain with him, but
he sent him away, saying, return home and recount what
God has done for you. The man went off and
proclaimed throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
So It's one of our famous stories, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (18:27):
It is? It is. I think I wonder if part
of the reason that it's so famous is that it
it lends itself to like imagination, and it lends itself
to like cinema kind of like this this would make

(18:48):
like a really great horror movie scene or you know
seen like you know, like you'd expect something like this
to show up in a movie like The Exorcist or whatever.
And I think that that's a there's like a popular
interest in that kind of thing, and it kind of

(19:09):
touches our imagination and we can see it and it's
kind of scary and it's kind of weird, And I
wonder if that's why it's so popular, because it is
to us, I think in twenty first century America, it
is a fantastical scene. Like how many of us have

(19:33):
really encountered somebody who either is so severely mentally ill
that that this is their behavior, or encountered somebody who
is truly touched by the demonic in some way, like
I think most people haven't, and so this seems very
fantastical to them.

Speaker 1 (19:53):
What do you think that well?

Speaker 4 (19:55):
I love the line which Jesus wants to do his name.
What's your name?

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Because we go through so many stories, is in parables
where people aren't named, Yeah, the woman at the well,
the man born blonde, so there's no names.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
But Jesus is, what is your name? What is your name?

Speaker 3 (20:11):
So it just that's always been a kind of a
what is your name? To ask what is your name?
To kind of I don't know if it's just to
relate or to control. Sometimes we know someone's name, we
can you know, if Jesus then takes control of the situation,
what is your name? And then there It's always also
fascinates me that evil demons they know who Jesus is.

(20:34):
They recognize your We sometimes say, oh was that God
or wasn't that God?

Speaker 4 (20:38):
Was it in scripture? They don't.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
The evil one has no They know exactly who Jesus is.
You are, the Son of God. You are you know,
they know exactly who Jesus is, and they're afraid. They're
afriend and they're afraid. So that's always kind of been
a little grouping for me when I look at that,
and at the end of this we see that contray
between fear and faith.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
You know, the townspeople are afraid, Oh my gosh, he
did this. He did that, Yes, and they're afraid. The
man that was healed from the demonics, it's not afraid.
He has said I want to follow you, and Jesus
gives him the mission. Go back to your family. You've
now been restored, to your community, to your you know,
your faith, Go tell of what God has done for you.

(21:23):
So he gives him a mission and sends him off
because he has faith. I just I love you know.
I think sometimes what fear does in my own life
when I become afraid, you know, where's your faith where
it's like, oh no, I'm afraid, Well where's your faith?

Speaker 4 (21:36):
God gave you a mission?

Speaker 2 (21:39):
Right, And it's so weird that the this is what
makes the townspeople afraid. So the townspeople seem to I mean,
I'm assuming that they know of this man, right, Like
it's not it's not a secret. The townspeople are sort
of aware of this pattern of this man sort of

(22:01):
becoming overtaken and then going out into the graveyard, and
they sort of work around it, you know, And so
it doesn't scare them because they just avoid him. But
then he's healed and he's like, he's fine, And now

(22:22):
the spineherds are the ones who run off. So the
spine herds are scared because I assume that possessed pigs
are terrifying. But he runs up and the townspeople come
and he and the man is sitting there calm, and
then they're scared, and then they're like, no, we don't

(22:43):
want Jesus here because he made this man calm. So
it's really like you said, that difference between faith and fear. Right,
the demons are afraid of Jesus because they know who
Jesus is and they know the power of Jesus. When
that power is demonstrated, you would think it would inspire
faith in the townspeople, but it doesn't. It inspires fear.

Speaker 1 (23:05):
I'm writing down because I'm writing, you know, I was
take notes on these. It seems everyone is afraid of
Jesus other than the man who is healed.

Speaker 4 (23:12):
Right, And that's.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
Interesting, right, because I don't think, like in my world, like,
I don't think what would make you afraid of Jesus?
You know, what would make you afraid of Jesus? I mean,
I I myself don't exactly understand that. Maybe if that
man's healing showed you that there was healing you had

(23:36):
to do. I don't know. I'm trying to think about,
like why why, I mean, they're not afraid of him
when he's sick. They're not afraid of when when he
is mentally unstable.

Speaker 4 (23:46):
Right when he is healed.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
When he's clothed again and in his right mind and
going back to his family, he's restored, not just physically
but the fullness of life. Now he can back, can
be part of the community. Right now, we're afraid of them. Right,
but his life changed. He had to change his life,
and I think that might be the key is sometimes
when we need to change something, we don't want to.

(24:12):
We want to continue doing what we want to do
instead of being healed. I think Molly said that to
be healed, sometimes it takes some effort to be healed.
To change a habit, to change a sinfulness in our lives.
Sometimes we're going to have to change and that could
be startling for us.

Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
I can kind of think about people, I mean, or
stories I've heard about, you know, like for an example,
when somebody decides no longer to drink alcohol and then
they don't have their friends anymore, you know, like that,
you know, there's there's like decisions that we make. I
think that sometimes you would think that it would restore relationship,

(24:50):
but there are relationships that are destroyed.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
By those, yes, And that was That's a really good example.
I think Molly the the recovery, and they think it's
because it's dynamics. Like sometimes there are some people in
your life who prefer you broken because either they can

(25:13):
control you, or they can feel better, or they can
feel better about themselves or look better to other people,
and so they prefer you broken. But when you are
healed and you can maybe speak up for yourself, or

(25:35):
you can engage with the world again, and you don't
have to rely so much on this person or that
they can't handle that, and so that relationship is broken.
And so I wonder if the townspeople were used to
and this man's family were used to him being broken
right and being able to be like, well, at least

(25:56):
I'm not like Jeff, who you know, I was out
into the graveyard, I know, and I apologize to all
the Jeffs. That was just the first one that came
to my head. But you know, or like you know,
the townspeople are looking at his family being like, oh
my gosh, you're so like, you're so it's so hard
for you, and it's so great that you're doing this

(26:17):
for your family member, and that can really bolster people.
And then all of a sudden, he's fine, and now
you're no longer the like, loving, self sacrificing family member.
And sometimes those dynamics get in the way of us
being able to experience God's love and rejoice in somebody's healing.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
This Willis is a wild story, and you know, look
forward to watching it in the horror movie that is made,
you know, a cartoon horror movie that Pastor Jessica makes
for all of us in the next couple of weeks.
Ha ha ha I, no, no, she's all right. Well, thank
you all for listening to soundings today on behalf of

(27:00):
Beth and Jessica and myself Mollie. We hope that you
have a wonderful Sunday.