6th Sunday after Epiphany
Mark 1:40-45
Illustrations
I think illustrations on faith, healing, caring for others are
appropriate for the gospel lesson.
Faith
from Pastor Roger J. Roth, Gig Harbor, WA...As sent through Grace Mail
John Powell, A professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes about a
student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy: Some twelve years
ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom
our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the first day I
first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his
long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders. It was the
first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was
just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn't what's
on your head but what's in it that counts; but on that day I was
unprepared and my emotions flipped. I immediately filed Tommy under "S"
for strange . . . very strange. Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in
residence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to,
smirked at or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving
Father/God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one
semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the
back pew.
When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he
asked in a slightly cynical tone, "Do you think I'll ever find God?" I
decided instantly on a little shock therapy. " No!" I said very
emphatically. "Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you
were pushing." I let him get five steps from the classroom door and
then called out, "Tommy! I don't think you'll ever find him, but I am
absolutely certain that he will find you!" He shrugged a little and
left my class and my life. I felt slightly disappointed at the thought
that he had missed my clever line, "He will find you!" At least I
thought it was clever.
Later I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful. Then a
sad report. I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could
search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his
body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen out as a
result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was
firm, for the first time, I believe.
"Tommy, I've thought about you so often. I hear you are sick." I
blurted out. "Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It's a
matter of weeks." "Can you talk about it, Tom?" I asked. "Sure, What
would you like to know."....said Tommy. "What's it like to be only
twenty-four and dying?" "Well, it could be worse." "Like what?" "Well,
like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and
thinking that booze, seducing women and making money are the real
'biggies' in life."
I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had
filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject
by classification, God sends back into my life to educate me.)
"But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, "is something you
said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I
asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, 'No!'
which surprised me. Then you said, 'But he will find you.' I thought
about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at
that time. (My "clever" line. He thought about that a lot!) But when
the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was
malignant, then I got serious about locating God. And when the
malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody
fists against the bronze doors of heaven. "But God did not come out. In
fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with
great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed
up with trying. And then you quit. Well, one day I woke up, and instead
of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a
God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I
didn't really care about God, about an afterlife, or anything like
that. I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more
profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered
something else you had said: ''The essential sadness is to go through
life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through
life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you
had loved them.'' So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad."
He was reading the newspaper when I approached him. "Dad". "Yes, what?"
he asked without lowering the newspaper. "Dad, I would like to talk
with you." "Well, talk." "I mean . . . It's really important." The
newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?" "Dad, I love you.
I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said with obvious
satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of
him,
"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I
could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me.
And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next
morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to
feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me. It was easier with my
mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each
other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the
things we had been keeping secret for so many years.
I was only sorry about one thing: that I had waited so long. Here I
was, just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been
close to. Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn't
come to me when I pleaded with him. I guess I was like an animal
trainer holding out a hoop, 'C'mon, jump through.' 'C'mon, I'll give
you three days, three weeks.' Apparently God does things in his own way
and at his own hour. But the important thing is that he was there. He
found me. You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for
him."
"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very
important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least,
you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make him a
private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time
of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said
that. He said: 'God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living
with God and God is living in him.' Tom, could I ask you a favor? You
know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly)
you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present
Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I
told them the same thing it wouldn't be half as effective as if you
were to tell them."
"Oooh...I was ready for you, but I don't know if I'm ready for your
class."
"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call."
In a few days Tom called, said he was ready for the class, that he
wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. However,
he never made it. He had another appointment, far more important than
the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended
by his death, only changed. He made the great step from faith into
vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever
seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever
imagined.
Before he died, we talked one last time. I'm not going to make it to
your class," he said. "I know, Tom." "Will you tell them for me? Will
you...tell the whole world for me?" "I will, Tom. I'll tell them. I'll
do my best."
So, to all of you who have been kind enough to hear this simple
statement about love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy,
somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven: "I told them,
Tommy...as best I could."
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Faith
Definition
Quote
"Faith is daring the soul to go father than it can see."
- Unknown
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Faith
Explanation Of
"For those who believe, no explanation is needed;
for those who do not believe, no explanation will
be enough."
Franz Werfel
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Love and Compassion
How often when you were a child did you stub your toe, bruise a leg,
or cut hour hand? When this happened have often did you run to the
arms of your mother and cry out your woe? Lovingly caressing you and
tenderly kissing the hurt, she imparted the magic of healing and
wholly comforted. Love and compassion contain a stronger balm than
all the salve and ointments made by man.
Billy Graham
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Providence/God, presence of/Healing
A 78 year old man was driving home from Church one Sunday evening. As
he was passing through a shadowy, isolated stretch of road, his car
suddenly stalled. He got out of the car to check the engine and, as he
raised the car hood, he slipped and hurt his leg. He nearly fainted
from the pain, and he couldn't get up. Helpless, he could only hope
that someone would pass by and help him before morning. But no one
passed by, and the old man knew that he might die of exposure. "A very
undignified way to die," he couldn't help thinking. Three hours later,
a college student drove by. When he saw the old man's predicament, he
stopped, covered him with his jacket and quickly drove him to the
nearest hospital. The student waited until he was told that the old man
was going to be all right. Then he went on his way, without a word. The
only thing the hospital personnel could tell the old man about his
rescuer's identity was that the word "Providence" was lettered on the
back of his jacket. Later, the old man said, "No one will ever convince
me that this fellow was merely connected with a University in Rhode
Island
Nibbles-n-bytes