One of those very clergy days today with staff meetings, funerals, visits to schools, service prep and a bit of church maintenance thrown into the usual round of daily offices, praying for the sick, arranged funerals for the dead and more besides.
It's all gone green (ordinary time) and although some might consider it to be a period of journeying through the doldrums, the very opposite is true.
Today's reading (Mark 6) recounted Jesus arriving . . .no, why not read it yourself?
"When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognised him and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well."
Two things hit me with this passage this morning: recognition and healing. Is Jesus recognisable in me? Why do some get healed and others (far too many others) not? This was something we touched on in out evening 'Thinking Theologically' service last night where we have been considering the issues of suffering, good and evil and the whole area that is theodicy (the very word casts chills into the hearts of some). We've done Epicurus and logical considerations for evil and suffering and all that when someones told how they found the very thought of praying for people to be healed to be 'tough'.
If where we go, the kingdom of God goes also (basileia) as the Holy Spirit (the homo ousious) is with and within, then we should be recognised and we should also see healing.
As a response to this we're about to start looking at healing, what it is, how much to expect and how we bring it into being a reality in our own experience and the community we serve.
Is it about the expectancy of those who brought the sick, the sick themselves or just about who Jesus is?
I'll let you know! (or better still, perhaps you could tell me - I need all the help I can get)
Pax
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