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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">12 Years</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Twice
in this story Jesus is touched by or himself touches someone ritually
and ceremonially unclean but not only is Jesus not contaminated, the
ones who had been contaminated to begin with are made holy and whole.
Jesus has crossed the boundaries that had once defined the community,
has rewritten the rules, and so has revealed a new day. Make no mistake:
this story is all about the creation of a New Israel. Mark seeded this
story with clues. How long had the woman been bleeding? Twelve years.
How old was the little girl Jesus raised? Twelve years. No Jewish person
reading this story could fail to see the repetition of the number
twelve as a symbol of the twelve tribes of Israel.<br>
<br>
Long about the same time that Jairus welcomed his little girl into the
world, a women he didn't know began to hemorrhage. For twelve years this
woman suffered. For twelve years this little girl grew and became
ever-more-dear to her father. Both women were headed toward a rendezvous
with Jesus on the very same day. Although their paths to Jesus were as
different as could be, both of these daughters of Israel would point
forward to the new community Jesus came to build. <br>
<br>
Scott Hoezee, The Touch<br>
_______________________________________<br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The Wounded Healers</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">With
all its imperfections, sins, blemishes, and warts, the Church of Jesus
Christ is the intended healer of the world’s wounds. Christians are
called to be compassionate, wounded healers.<br>
<br>
Perhaps, Henri Nouwen, the Roman Catholic theologian, has said this
better than anyone else. The author of many books, Nouwen speaks of
Christians as "wounded healers" who have compassion. <br>
<br>
Compassion is not pity. Pity lets us stay at a distance. It is condescending.<br>
Compassion is not sympathy. Sympathy is for superiors over inferiors. <br>
Compassion is not charity. Charity is for the rich to continue in their status over the poor. <br>
Compassion is born of God. It means entering into the other person’s
problems. It means taking on the burdens of the other. It means standing
in the other person’s shoes. It is the opposite of professionalism. It
is the humanizing way to deal with people. "Just as bread without love
can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will
turn forgiveness into a gimmick." <br>
<br>
</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Ron Lavin, Alone/Together, CSS Publishing Co., Inc. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">_____________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Qualification for the Gift of the Gospel</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Jesus
came to raise the dead. The only qualification for the gift of the
Gospel is to be dead. You don't have to be smart. You don't have to be
good. You don't have to be wise. You don't have to be wonderful. You
don't have to be anything...you just have to be dead. That's it.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Robert Farrar Capon</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">______________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Priorities</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">What
is at about human nature that makes us put off the most important
things until a crisis looms? So often we coast in our relationships
until they skid into a crisis. We think nothing of spending thousands on
a car and blindly drive it by the homeless shelter everyday. We think
nothing of a sixty-hour workweek but can’t find time for dinner as a
family.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">We
live lives of loneliness and sorrow because those things that could
build our friendships, family, and faith get our leftover time. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Then,
one day it is too late, we have waited too long. We are like the Rabbi
who did not run to Jesus until his daughter was “at the point of death
.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Take
a moment to examine your life today. What is at the “eschatos” — the
point of death — in your life right now? What part of your spiritual or
relational life is barely breathing? Find ways to make those areas
(family, friendships and faith) a higher priority than career and
income. Do something different this week. Before scheduling anything
else, book time with God, schedule an appointment with those in your own
family. Then, after prioritizing God and your family, then set up the
rest of the week.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Jerry Goebel, Arise!</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">________________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: small">Our Relationship with God</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">One
of the reasons people tend to see faith as a religion about God instead
of a relationship with God is the sense that they are not worthy of the
attention of an Almighty God. "My problems are too small for God to
care about." or "With all the pain and suffering in this world, why
would God care about me?" are a couple of ways people give expression to
this sense of insignificance. The sense is the one expressed by our
theme title today, "How can one so great care for one so small."</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Have
you ever felt that sense of insignificance? There have been times when
I've gazed into the incredible expanse of a starlit sky and felt ever
so small and insignificant. Even our planet is hardly a speck of dust
in the vast cosmos.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">And
yet, the heart of the lesson for today says that God is attentive to
the heartache and suffering of all persons, no matter how insignificant
they may seem to the world around them.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Religion
can get in the way of a relationship with God. Faith is not about
rules, regulations and religion. It is about we human beings reaching
out to a God who reaches out to us through Jesus Christ who reaches into
the pain and anguish of our living. The good news for the people in our
scripture lesson is that the barriers all fall away. For the woman, for
Jairus and for the little girl - the greatness of God and the good news
of Jesus Christ eliminate all obstacles to health and life.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">And
aren't you glad that Christ cares more about our wholeness and our
living than he does about the niggling details of religious convention?
When I am in anguish and wish for the presence of Christ, I do not need
to worry that I am too great a sinner or that some folks would consider
me to be unacceptable -- I know that Jesus cared for a woman who was a
social reject and for a little girl that was not among the children of
his followers.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">John Jewell, Can One So Great Care for One So Small?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">______________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The Grow in Clusters</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Though
I have never seen the Sequoia trees of California, known as Redwoods, I
am told they are spectacular. Towering as much as 300 feet above the
ground. Strangely, these towering trees have unusually shallow root
systems that spider out just under the surface of the ground to catch as
much of the surface moisture they can. And this is their vulnerability.
Storms with heavy winds would almost always bring these giants crashing
to the ground but this rarely happens because they grow in clusters and
their intertwining roots provide support for one another against the
storms.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">When
we are together, either as a family or a church, we provide this same
support. Pain and suffering come to all of us. But, just like those
giant Sequoia trees, we can be supported in those difficult times by the
touch of one another's lives. The knowledge that we have someone; that
we are not alone; that there is someone who is willing to touch us, hold
us, keeps us from being destroyed.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Brett Blair, eSermons.com</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">_____________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Jesus Brings Life</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">With
whom do you most identify in today's gospel? There are plenty of
characters here who are being stung by death. There is a woman whose
whole life has been caught, dominated by a terrible, life-demanding
illness. There is a distraught father. A little girl whose young life is
being cut short. There are the baffled disciples, the crowd who doesn't
know what to think of all this. Where are you?</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">And
yet, intruding into the story is another face, the strong, live-giving
face of Jesus. Mark says that Jesus was forever intruding into fixed,
settled, hopeless situations and bringing life. Hear his strong voice
speaking over the laments and dirges in today's gospel? Hear him as he
calls to the little girl, "Get up!"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">I think he may be calling to you…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">The rest of this illustration, as well as many additional illustrations and sermons for the whole year, can be accessed at <a href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></span></div>
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