The Gospel doesn’t describe the healing that happens in an individual, one-on-one therapy session between counsellor and client. The Gospel doesn’t describe healing in the context of some individual pilgrimage to a far-off, remote location to find the answer. It doesn’t happen in private. Not in the Gospel, anyway.

Healing, in the Gospel, is a profoundly social experience. In the Gospel text for today (Mark 5:21-43), Jesus finds himself in the middle of a crowd pressing in from all sides. Both the bleeding woman and dying daughter are surrounded by crowds of people with Jesus in the middle of it all. They are touching him, bumping into him.

As I sat down to watch one of the home games of the Stanley Cup Finals from Edmonton, I was impressed by the tradition there of singing the Canadian national anthem. For a couple of reasons.

The traditional way is for someone, usually with a pedigree for singing – a celebrity musician – to stand alone on the ice with the spotlight on them. It’s really a performance, and they are the only one singing the anthem.

But for those Edmonton games, with nearly 20,000 fans surrounding him, Opera singer, Robert Clark, stayed in the stands, in the middle of the crowd, pressing close in.

Then not even halfway through singing the anthem, he stopped, turned the microphone out, and let the crowd finish singing the Canadian anthem. It was spine tingling to hear the national anthem sung with gusto not by the performer but by the whole crowd.

Their singing together wasn’t a refined performance ever rehearsed. It was in the moment, and for me inspirational, not so much what they were singing but that they were singing it together – 20,000 voices strong.

It is for me a wonderful picture of what the church is about. Jesus hands it over to us. The healing and the growth involve each of us, pressed together, in community.

A whole new slate of leaders of the Eastern Synod of our church were elected last week. Many new Synod council members were elected. New officers were elected – Treasurer Fred Mertz, and Secretary Chris Hulan. A new vice chair – the first ever from Atlantic Canada, Sara Whynot – was elected. And a new bishop – the first ever female bishop in the Eastern Synod, Carla Blakley – was elected. The turnover was significant, offering, in her words, “the promise of a new tomorrow”.

And yet, the church at this time, seeks healing and wholeness in a season of budget restrictions. Benevolence giving – that is, income received to the Synod from congregations – has been on a steady decline since 1992. Over recent years Synod budgets have relied more on investment income to fund its mission goals, four of them, which are: 1. Providing support to the Synodical community; 2. Developing capable leaders; 3. Connecting to the wider church through effective partnerships; and, 4. Living as a healthy Synod.

Amidst these goals, and in this time, how do we embrace the promise of a new tomorrow? In his last sermon to the Synod as bishop on the closing day of the Assembly, Rev. Michael Pryse talked about our baptism.

“Think of baptism,” Bishop Pryse said, “… as a garment. Only it’s kind of like the sweaters that your mother would buy for you when you were a kid. Remember … arms down to the knees? She always bought them a few sizes too big so that you “had room to grow into them.” Baptism is kind of like that. Galatians talks about baptism as “putting on Christ.” But baptism is a garment that we’re always growing into…always in the process of filling out.

“Luther called baptism a ‘once and for all event which takes your whole life to complete.’ I really like that! Baptism happens but once, but it is a beginning point in a never-ending process of renewal. We’re always growing into it … always in the process of reclaiming its promises and benefits. Baptism gives us an identity … but it also gives us a purpose and a task that we carry with us throughout our earthly lives.”

At the Synod Assembly last week, we were all together, in person, for the first time since a couple of years before the pandemic – so it’s been six years. During worship, at the banquet, in sessions, around committee tables we were pressed in close, closer than I was used to, shoulder to shoulder. We were building community, realizing how it felt to be together again in a bigger way.

“You have often heard it said that the church is like a family,” Bishop Michael went on to say. “And certainly, the most important thing a family does for us is to tell us who we are. The family gives us identity … gives us place … gives us, hopefully, a true sense of self.

“That is one of the church family’s essential tasks…to tell us who we are…to nurture and sustain the baptized in their God-given identity. That’s part of what we do every week in our worship services. “Rise and go, your sins are forgiven.” The body of Christ given for you.” “Go in peace, serve the Lord.” We’re practising the virtues of the kingdom. We’re affirming and building up our essential and fundamental identity as baptized children of God…an identity that we’re always growing into…always experiencing in a fuller way.”

For many Canada Day is also about reaffirming our national identity. It is a collective identity that is growing in rich diversity, multi-cultural beauty as well as a growing awareness of our troubled history and acceptance of the challenges that face a growing population. The church has a place in all of this, to model and bear witness to the virtues of the kingdom, our fundamental baptismal identity in Christ.

And even though that identity may sometimes feel like it’s too big for us – too challenging, too scary – we will grow into the promise. After all, growing into Christ is a lifelong journey of growth.

And as we grow we will sing! We will sing our identity out loud. We will sing it out, imperfectly and unpolished, but with the whole people of God together sounding out God’s love for all. Sounding out that each person has dignity and has been created by God out of love. Sounding out the call to care for one another, and to work towards peace and justice for all. So, in the coming season, let us sing!