Joan Clark Houk

Christ be with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me
(from St. Patrick’s Breastplate, St. Patrick 389-461)

May Christ be with you this day.
Happy St. Paddy’s Day!

In today’s gospel, a royal official in Cana
asked Jesus to heal his son who was near death in Capernaum.
The official said to Jesus, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.”
Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.”
The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.
Upon learning that his son had recovered,
he discovered that the boy’s fever had left him the hour that Jesus said,
“Your son will live.”
(from John 4:43-54)

We receive requests for healing prayer from people, and sometimes from far away.
A phone call, “Please pray for me.  I am having surgery on Thursday.”
An e-mail, “Please keep my daughter and baby in prayer.  It is a high risk pregnancy.”
A friend, “Please pray for my father, who is 88 years old.  He is frail, and failing.”

Does your prayer help?  Yes, absolutely yes.
God’s Word breathed out never returns empty.
And a sincere prayer asked through Jesus, God’s Word, never returns empty.
Our prayers always change things, although maybe not as we expect; and
our prayers change us.
Our prayers for healing are answered through Jesus, even across the miles.
Jesus can do that!

For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God.
This is not the result of works, so that no one may boast.
For we are what he has made us,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
(from /Ephesians 2:4-10)

We are saved through faith and created in Christ Jesus for good works.
It is not faith or works.  It is faith AND works.

Is your love like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes away early?

Hosea says that God will come to us like the showers,
like the spring rains that water the earth.
(from Hosea 5:15b – 6:6)

May God, who is LOVE, come to you like the spring rains,
soaking every cell of your body,
seeping deep down into your roots
that you may know and love
the God who loves you.

The Most Holy One,
our God is one.
Our God is love.

If today you hear God’s voice,
harden not your hearts.
(from Psalm 95)

Jesus taught his disciples:
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets;
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
(from Matthew 5)

A society without law is a society without order and justice.
Today there are societies without law, or without a way to enforce the law,
and we see the suffering and pain of the people experiencing anarchy, violence and death.

With all your heart turn to me,
for I am tender and compassionate.
(from Joel 2)

There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
(from 2Kings 5)

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you,
no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.
(from Luke 4:24-30)

Once again we hear a story of siblings and a father’s love.
The elder “righteous” brother is unforgiving of the younger “penitent” brother.
The young men’s parent loves both of them.
(from Luke 15:11-32)

How does a parent feel when one child is unwelcoming, unforgiving, jealous,
and maybe hateful, of the other child?
How does God feel when we treat one of God’s People with rejection or hatred?
Let us love one another as God loves each one of us.