Healing

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 

Luke 7:9

Karen Frank - Pakistani artist who uses recycled shopping bags

A Roman Centurion had a slave who was near death, so he sent some of the Jewish elders from Capernaum to find Jesus and to ask him to intervene. Not a particularly unusual request, except that the request came from the enemy: a Roman official. The passage tells us that Jesus assented.   

How do we welcome the enemy? Do we minister to them or avoid them? Note that Jesus did not play favorites. He healed those who came to him in faith: Jew or Roman, slave or free, male or female.  In Christ there is no East or West, nor is there race, gender, color, creed, sexual orientation, or economic status.

As Christians, do we extend the balm of healing simply in the name of Jesus?

Can We Bear It?

Jesus said to the disciples, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."  John 16:12

Unretouched Photograph "God: Off the Coast of New Zealand"                 Rose Surgay

I am still reveling in the mystery of Pentecost, that is, the extraordinary arrival of the Holy Spirit as s/he came crashing into the hearts of the disciples that day in Jerusalem so many years ago.  We busy, literate, 21st century Christians do not cope well with mystery. We prefer facts, proof. Perhaps Jesus addresses the likes of us in this 16th chapter of John:  "I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now."

What would it take for us to bear the great Truths? To accept the great Mystery? Is Truth and Mystery so gut crunchingly wonderful that we dare not ingest it? Might we drown from drinking the Living Waters of astonishing purity?  What holds us back?

Mystery demands we believe ourselves to be made in the image and likeness of God. Mystery demands that we accept our belovedness. Perhaps Jesus was right; it is all too much for us to bear. It is easier for us to accept the labels the culture adheres to us. Tragic.

Draw near. Consider the Mystery. Allow it to swirl in your head. And pray that we will be able to bear it, one day. 

The Fear Trap

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God…. Romans 8: 14-15

"Earworms of Doubr"  Michelle Walka

"All who are led by the Spirit are children of God."  That is what we are: Children of God. As such, much is required of us and much is given us.  Sometimes, though, we forget whose we are and fall into Satan’s snare – the fear trap. The fear trap subtly uncoils its tentacles and draws it unto itself with the earworms of doubt, self-hatred, and unworthiness; thoughts that we are not good enough, or strong enough, or faithful enough to be children of God.

But remember, God always wins! Just as the Holy Spirit rushed in at Pentecost to fill the disciples with itself, the Spirit of God, when faced with the devil’s tentacles, rushes in and beckons to us. The Spirit softly yet persistently whispers to us that we are God’s own beloved ones: loved, cherished, worthy and enough.  

Our task is to become attuned to that voice, to train our ears to be aware of its quiet persistence.  In doing so, we will hear the Spirit of Love and able to defeat the trap of fear.   

Praying for the Future

Jesus prayed for his disciples, and then he said. "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.     John 17: 20-21

                                                                  "Argus"                        Salvador Dali c. 1963

The first thing that strikes me here in this passage from John’s Gospel is that Jesus prayed for his disciples.  I don’t know why this surprises me, but it does.  And more surprising still is that Jesus goes on to pray for all of us who would one day become his disciples!  We are in this fellowship of Christ that we call “The Church” because Jesus prayed for us!

So now I’m wondering about prayer existing without the limitations of time and space. In other words, Jesus was praying for the generations who would come after him. Prayers for the future of humanity.  How often do we pray for the generations that are to come after us? If our Lord did, then we ought to give it a try.

How boldly might we pray if we prayed that our children’s grandchildren might inherit a world that is safer, cleaner, and more beautiful than the one in which we now live.   “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, I pray that they may also be in us….”

Pray for our future.