Face to Face

Belief Beyond Barriers

Scripture reference: Mark 5:25-34

“Just a touch of his robe”

When I was a little girl, the Queen of England came to visit the people of Canada. She travelled from place to place, from city to city in this big land. One day the news came that the Queen planned to visit a beautiful park not far from where my family lived. What a marvellous chance to see her! So off we went, my sisters and I, to catch a glimpse of the Queen of England!  There were so many people in the park, crowding close together, all hoping  to come a little closer to the place where the Queen was going to be. At last, there she was, but so far away!!! She was sitting on a platform higher than our heads, surrounded by important people, all dressed up! A thick rope fence was stretched around the platform where she sat, so that no none could come near. Special guards said over and over: “Please stay back… please stay back…” The Queen was so far away, and so small, I could barely see her smile.

When Jesus was doing his Father’s work on earth, he walked with his helpers from place to place, from city to city in the land of Palestine. And many time, large crowds of people followed. “Jesus is coming to our village! Come… let’s go and listen to him! Hurry!” the people would say to one another. And they’d pack a lunch – if they remembered – and hurry to follow Jesus. The healthy people went to listen, and the sick people went mostly because they knew that Jesus could make them well.

On one of those days, there was a particular woman in the crowd. She was by herself,  just like always; most of her neighbors wouldn’t even visit her because of her sickness. For twelve years the doctors had tried to cure her, but not one could help. BUT… here was this Jesus, and hadn’t he cured the man with the evil spirit? She’d ask Jesus to heal her too!!

Oh dear, what a crowd! Everybody wanted to be first – pushing and shoving …! She’d never be able to talk to Jesus in this mob. But… Jesus could make her well: she was SURE of it! … What if she could come just a little closer, and touch his clothes. That would be enough. Yes…., she would just touch him!

Through the crowd she squirmed… and squeezed… and pushed. There he was! She stretched out her thin arm and touched Jesus’ dusty robe. In that instant she knew that her sickness was gone!

Jesus knew it, too, in that same instant. He stopped. He turned. “Who touched my clothes?” he asked. What a question, thought the disciples. Everybody was touching him, pushing and shoving and calling his name. It could be anyone… But Jesus knew it was someone special.

And the woman knelt at Jesus’ feet and said, “I touched your robe because I believed that you could make me better.” And Jesus said to her, “Because you believed, your sickness is gone. Go home, and be happy and well…”

Maybe we can’t reach out and grab Jesus’ robe to get his attention, but when we really believe, we can reach him with our prayers and that puts us right in front of him, face to face

Listen to the gospel version of ” Touch the Hem of His garment” by Sam Cooke & the Gospel Stirrers.

You’re Invited!

A Story about a King, a Wedding Dinner, and Yeses and Nos

Scripture reference: Matthew 22:1-14

Excuses, excuses, excuses…!

This is a story about a king, a wedding dinner, and yeses and nos.

Once upon a time there was a king whose beloved son was going to be married. Ahhh …. a wedding! This made the king very happy. “I’ll have a delicious wedding dinner for my son – and invite the rulers of the cities to come and rejoice with me!”

So the king’s kitchen servants bustled about, slaughtering and roasting a whole ox and several especially fat calves, and preparing all kinds of marvellous foods. Fine white coats were hung in the hallway – one for each guest to put on. The king’s messenger servants ran from house to house with invitations for the important rulers of the cities in the kingdom. “Please honour my son; come eat at my table and share in my joy.”

One by one, the servants returned, to tell the king: “My lord, he does not wish to come”; “My lord, he says he has fieldwork to do”; “My lord, he does not want to come”; “My lord, he says he’s too busy!”

What!? not want to come? Did all those important people the king had invited not think it was a special honour to share in the king’s happiness? Didn’t they even appreciate the invitation?

The king was a patient king. Once more, he sent out his servants. “Tell them,” he said, “about the huge dishes full of good food that my servants are preparing, just for them” “Perhaps,” he thought, “they’ll come now.” They didn’t. They didn’t care about the invitation. They weren’t interested in sharing the king’s joy. Some of them even grabbed and killed the messenger servants who had been sent by the king to repeat the invitation.

The king was no longer patient. He was angry. Those murderers!! How dare they first say they didn’t want to come to this very special day, and then kill his faithful servants!! And so the king sent his army to kill the murderers and burn their cities.

But …. There was the king’s feast, delicious and ready to serve…. But TO WHOM? “I am determined to find others who can share in my joy,” said the king, and once more servants were sent out to with the same invitation. BUT not to the privileged and important people. THIS TIME the invitation was for anyone at all – rich and poor, proud  and meek, good and bad.

The white wedding coats still hung in the hallway, ready for the guests, and the king’s table was filled with fine food.

And these guests all came – eagerly, hesitantly, carefully, fearfully, – one by one – into the king’s palace, until at last the hall was full.

“Have we really been invited to sit in the presence of the king? To share in his joy? To eat with him? “ And all those who had come put on one of the fine white coats, ate at the king’s table, and shared in his joy.

This story has been told many, many times since Jesus told it first of all. Jesus, the great Teacher, told this story to the important rulers of the Jews because they thought they could say “no” to Jesus, and they thought it wouldn’t matter.

BUT IT DOES!.

Listen to this great version of “Come and Go With Me to My Father’s House”:

  • Gospel choir: director Mark Anthony Henry with Soloist Caterina Finocchi

And here’s a great little video of the parable presented by Hand to Mouth Puppets.

Say YES!

Do not be anxious

God, I sure wish you were here …

Scripture reference: Philippians 4:6-7

mother and child
As a mother stills her child…

Today I’m going to tell you about a little girl. Josie was her middle name. Now Josie was a worrier. She worried about all kinds of things: if her shoes were on the right feet; if she was going to have a birthday party; if she could find her way home after school; she sometimes even worried if her big sister had divided up the cookies at the tea party so it would be fair!

BUT, Josie’s biggest worry was storms at bedtime.

If she was brushing her teeth and putting on her pj’s to get ready for bed, and the sky was cloudy and angry-looking, Josie would zip over to the window, toothbrush still in her mouth, to see what the sky was doing. And into her stomach came something that went flip-flop with every thunder-banger.

Josie would quick, quick, dive into her bed and say her prayers with one ear listening to the thunder and rain, and with her eyes squeezed tight. Then she’d pull up the bedsheets as far they would go, and she’d crawl into her bed as far as she could go! And with every flash of lightning flip-flop went her stomach! She couldn’t even think about her baby brother who might be anxious, too! Josie would say to herself: “I don’t want to be scared; I don’t want to be scared.”

One stormy summer night Josie brushed her teeth, dived into bed and said her prayers and curled up into an anxious little ball under the covers, while the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed. “I sure wish Mommy were here,” she whispered softly. “Mommy, I want you to be here.”

The thunder crashed. The rain poured down. Then Josie, deep under the covers, felt the bed creak as though …..   she pulled down the bedsheet and peeked into the darkness.

There was Mommy, not saying a word, just sitting quietly at the foot of her bed, keeping company, while lightning fingers poked at the sky.

But – how could Mommy have known? After all, she’d only whispered very softly, “Mommy, I want you to be here.” And Josie’s stomach stopped flip-flopping; and she wrapped her arms around her raggedy bear and went to sleep. And when she woke up the storm was over!

The little girl grew up, and became a woman; and there was a different kind of storm; she became very sick. And when she was so very sick and lying in her bed, anxious about her family and her life; God was there even though she hadn’t called for Him out loud.

And he kept her company during the sickness storm, so that she could go to sleep and wake up to a new day.

Paul, the great Apostle, l knew what he was talking about. Paul had plenty of experience with pain; he knew about the fear that makes us unable to put everything into the care of the Lord, unwilling to accept totally that God is the captain. Indeed, fear robs the joy and meaning of life.

So what then? …. how can we be released from care? Ah, yes, the everlasting promise of peace if we take all to the Lord in prayer. “It no longer storms in my heart, even though all the burdens aren’t all gone.”

In the storms of life: The Lord speaks; the storm at life; the storms of life, of deep anxiety.

As a mother stills her child…

Listen to Stand By Me by David Lennard

The Lord my Rock

Ancient fortress
Ancient fortress

David’s Rock, Fortress, and Deliverer

Scripture reference: Psalm 18

Can you tell me what this is? [a fort] Yes, a fort – very old, but still a very strong fort.

Ever since Noah and his family spread over the earth, people in all parts of the world have built forts.

They would build a wall out of the strongest thing they could find – logs, or big stones, or bricks, or concrete. Some of the walls were as high as the ceilings of this church – or even higher! – and lots of times the walls were so thick and so wide that you could build a house right on top of the wall – like Rahab’s house on the wall of the city of Jericho!

Those walls had to be very, very strong – because the walls stood around the houses and the streets where the people lived; they kept the people safe from all kinds of awful things: wild animals, grass fires, and especially from the attacks of enemy warriors who wanted to hurt them and steal their animals and their food, even their children. The big, heavy gates in the walls were shut and locked at night, and whenever there was trouble; and if you happened to be outside the gate, perhaps hunting on the land, you always ran as fast as you could to get inside.

The city inside the walls of the fort had everything the people needed to live and be happy – there was water to drink and food to eat. The people felt safe. They were protected; they could sing and play and go about their daily work and not be afraid. And even when they knew there was danger on the other side, they could look up at the big strong walls around their city and be thankful.

Now King David was a very powerful king with many soldiers and many horses. He knew all about walls and forts and warriors. He knew how hard enemy warriors would try to get through the walls of a city to kill and steal from the people inside.

And so that’s why King David made a song to God about forts. He called God his fortress – God was the place where he could be safe, the place where he always go and stop being afraid, no matter what happened. The time a bear tried to steal a baby lamb from his flock; the time the Anakite giant Goliath came tramping down into the valley; the time King Saul threw a spear straight at his head; and all the times his enemies had chased him through the land to kill him, God had taken care of him and made him strong. And even when he let Satan get into his heart and he forgot God – when he took Uriah’s beautiful Bethsheba; and when he tried to kill selfish Nabal after he and his men had sheared all those sheep for him, God loved David even then, and pulled him away from Satan, and made him strong again.

And that’s why David said, “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,” and he loved God with all his heart.

Listen to David’s Song of Prayer by Clint Brown performing at the Judah Music Conference.