Sermon podcast from the Open and Affiriming Sunday, 6-30-24 worship service - Peace Memorial Church, UCC in Palos Park, IL. Mark 5:21-43
Showing posts with label Mark 5:21-43. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark 5:21-43. Show all posts
7/01/2024
6/27/2021
Healing - Mark 5:21-43 - Pentecost 6 - Open and Affirming Sunday - 6-27-21
Sermon podcast from the Open and Affirning Sunday, 6-27-21 online worship service - St. Paul's UCC in Downers Grove, IL. Mark 5:21-43
7/02/2018
Shaming
Sermon podcast from yesterday at St. Paul's UCC in Downers Grove, IL. Mark 5:21-43. When laws or rules serve to marginalize, or otherwise keep people from having equal rights and equal access, they aren't good laws or good rules.
Sermon preview video
"Shaming" podcast
Sermon preview video
"Shaming" podcast
6/28/2015
Powers
Today's sermon at St. Paul's UCC in Downers Grove celebrates equality -- with encouragement for moving ahead together.
"Powers" podcast
"Powers" podcast
6/29/2012
They Didn't Listen
This week's Bible reflection (Lawbreakers) gets even more controversial in what is now the Sunday sermon at St. Paul's United Church of Christ in Downers Grove, IL.
"They Didn't Listen" text
"They Didn't Listen" podcast
"They Didn't Listen" text
"They Didn't Listen" podcast
6/25/2012
Lawbreakers
This week’s Bible reading from mark 5:21-43 is riddled with lawbreakers.
A synagogue leader sought the help of an obvious rabble-rouser and probable heretic.
A woman labeled as perpetually unclean reached out to touch a rabble-rousing rabbi
A rabble-rousing rabbi spoke kindly and restoratively to an obviously sinful woman
A rabble-rousing rabbi reached out and touched a dead girl.
After being told to keep quiet . . . nobody did.
Jesus was about healing, wholeness, kindness, restoration, and love. He wasn’t about letting the law get in the way of doing that.
When the law keeps folks from offering and receiving healing, wholeness, kindness, restoration, and love, then the law is no good.
May we live with the love of Jesus. May we live as lawbreakers.
A synagogue leader sought the help of an obvious rabble-rouser and probable heretic.
A woman labeled as perpetually unclean reached out to touch a rabble-rousing rabbi
A rabble-rousing rabbi spoke kindly and restoratively to an obviously sinful woman
A rabble-rousing rabbi reached out and touched a dead girl.
After being told to keep quiet . . . nobody did.
Jesus was about healing, wholeness, kindness, restoration, and love. He wasn’t about letting the law get in the way of doing that.
When the law keeps folks from offering and receiving healing, wholeness, kindness, restoration, and love, then the law is no good.
May we live with the love of Jesus. May we live as lawbreakers.
6/22/2009
Fringe
Here's this week's Bible study blog entry for i.ucc -- Why not join our weekly conversation?
This week’s Bible reading from Mark 5:21-43 shows Jesus interacting with and bringing restoration to folks who, during Jesus’ time on earth, would have only been able to exist on the margins – or the fringe of society.
And he restored all three.
He restored two with one miracle. When he raised Jairus’ daughter, he gave both the daughter and the father a restoration to a community that would have had to keep them on the margins.
And the woman who had been bleeding for a dozen years? I love the word play that is present in the English. The woman touched the fringe of Jesus cloak. (The tsit-tsit or (fringe) of the sleeves of a rabbi’s cloak was thought to convey God’s healing on whoever touched it) and was restored to the community after spending so many hears on the fringe.
Jesus – from the fringe – hung out with people from the fringe – and a woman was healed when she touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak.
This week’s Bible reading from Mark 5:21-43 shows Jesus interacting with and bringing restoration to folks who, during Jesus’ time on earth, would have only been able to exist on the margins – or the fringe of society.
- A woman who had been bleeding for a dozen years
- A dead girl and her father
And he restored all three.
He restored two with one miracle. When he raised Jairus’ daughter, he gave both the daughter and the father a restoration to a community that would have had to keep them on the margins.
And the woman who had been bleeding for a dozen years? I love the word play that is present in the English. The woman touched the fringe of Jesus cloak. (The tsit-tsit or (fringe) of the sleeves of a rabbi’s cloak was thought to convey God’s healing on whoever touched it) and was restored to the community after spending so many hears on the fringe.
Jesus – from the fringe – hung out with people from the fringe – and a woman was healed when she touched the fringe of Jesus’ cloak.
- In what way to you feel pushed to the margins – or the fringe?
- How do you think you can experience Jesus’ restoration – as you ‘reach out to the fringe of his cloak?’
- In what way do you think you can reach out to those on the fringe with Jesus’ love?
6/26/2006
Desperation and Hope
I've posted a new article on the "Opening the Bible" blog at i.ucc. It's about how anguish and desperation and hopelessness can take us to a place where there are no masks, nothing hidden and no fakeness. Maybe there is where hope can begin to grow. What are your thoughts about "Desparation and Hope?"
Desperation hides very little, if anything. Maybe it's in that raw, genuine anguish that hope begins to grow.
This week we're taking a look at Psalm 130 and Mark 5:21-43. Here are two Bible passages that offer desperation and hope.
In the Mark passage we see two miracles of Jesus. Jesus raises Jairus daughter and a woman bleeding for 12 years is healed. These are two amazing events that came to people who were completely desperate. In both cases there's no real celebration afterwards. As a matter of fact, in the case of Jairus' daughter, Jesus tells everyone to keep quiet about it.
Why is there no huge celebration here? And why was there no celebration after the woman reached out to the fringe on Jesus' robe and was healed after bleeding for 12 years? Maybe in these stories God is revealing something else.
Look at the verses in Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you Oh, Lord. Lord, Hear my voice!Those words communicate pain, anguish, and desperation.
Imagine the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Doctors had done her no good. If fact, things were just getting worse. In her desperation for a cure she dared to reach out to touch the fringe of Jesus' robe. In her pain and anguish she reached out.
Imagine Jairus. His daughter was near death. And in his fear and trembling he cried out and sent for Jesus only to have too much time pass and have his daughter die. He must have experienced horrible pain and deep anguish. His desperation had turned to hopelessness.
Can you remember a time when you have been desperate in pain and anguish? Have you ever put on a church face" or "public face" and gone out and smiled and said Oh, fine! when people asked, How are you? I think we all hide our pain most of the time. I know I do. And all too often we put on a face to hide our desperation. We probably do a pretty good job, too. Because no one seems to notice.
Oh but there is hope here. The writer of the Psalm also says, My hope is in the Lord. And I wait for the LordThe woman who reached out in her desperation was healed. And Jairus daughter was brought back to life!
Out of the depths I cry to you, Oh Lord. Lord, Hear my voice!
When we are in pain; when we are filled with anguish. When things seem hopeless God is there. When we cry out God hears us. God is a source of strength and compassion. That compassion often takes the form of a shoulder to cry on. It often takes the form of a person who will listen.
It is all right to cry out. It is all right to come to God with your pain and anguish.
When our desperation and hopelessness strips us bear of whatever we use to hide our authentic selves, I believe we find that God brings love, compassion, healing hope.
Desperation hides very little, if anything. Maybe it's in that raw, genuine anguish that hope begins to grow.
This week we're taking a look at Psalm 130 and Mark 5:21-43. Here are two Bible passages that offer desperation and hope.
In the Mark passage we see two miracles of Jesus. Jesus raises Jairus daughter and a woman bleeding for 12 years is healed. These are two amazing events that came to people who were completely desperate. In both cases there's no real celebration afterwards. As a matter of fact, in the case of Jairus' daughter, Jesus tells everyone to keep quiet about it.
Why is there no huge celebration here? And why was there no celebration after the woman reached out to the fringe on Jesus' robe and was healed after bleeding for 12 years? Maybe in these stories God is revealing something else.
Look at the verses in Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you Oh, Lord. Lord, Hear my voice!Those words communicate pain, anguish, and desperation.
Imagine the woman who had been bleeding for 12 years. Doctors had done her no good. If fact, things were just getting worse. In her desperation for a cure she dared to reach out to touch the fringe of Jesus' robe. In her pain and anguish she reached out.
Imagine Jairus. His daughter was near death. And in his fear and trembling he cried out and sent for Jesus only to have too much time pass and have his daughter die. He must have experienced horrible pain and deep anguish. His desperation had turned to hopelessness.
Can you remember a time when you have been desperate in pain and anguish? Have you ever put on a church face" or "public face" and gone out and smiled and said Oh, fine! when people asked, How are you? I think we all hide our pain most of the time. I know I do. And all too often we put on a face to hide our desperation. We probably do a pretty good job, too. Because no one seems to notice.
Oh but there is hope here. The writer of the Psalm also says, My hope is in the Lord. And I wait for the LordThe woman who reached out in her desperation was healed. And Jairus daughter was brought back to life!
Out of the depths I cry to you, Oh Lord. Lord, Hear my voice!
When we are in pain; when we are filled with anguish. When things seem hopeless God is there. When we cry out God hears us. God is a source of strength and compassion. That compassion often takes the form of a shoulder to cry on. It often takes the form of a person who will listen.
It is all right to cry out. It is all right to come to God with your pain and anguish.
When our desperation and hopelessness strips us bear of whatever we use to hide our authentic selves, I believe we find that God brings love, compassion, healing hope.
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