It’s all connected
Isaiah 40: Mark 1:29-39
February 5, 2006
Children’s Message
Preceded by Children’s anthem “I’ve got the joy”
Prop: Bottle of Sparkling water
It’s great to have the joy down in the heart (where?)
Pretend this bottle is you and water in it is that joy
Shake as we talk about joy inside—bubbly
But it doesn’t do anybody any good if it stays in the bottle, does it?
Open it up and it will spill all over.
Mr. M wrote something—you gotta let the spirit out
There’s a lot of activity in today’s reading from the book of Mark, and not a lot of words; it’s a very active text. In fact, the only words spoken in this section of the story are what Jesus says in v. 38: Let’s go…….
And they went.
Let’s go, says Jesus. The community of Jesus plus followers (the dusty disciples remember?) is on the move.
We’re on the move. The community of Jesus plus FUMC dusty disciples is moving. You see, the church is not a building, not an institution, but a movement…..a movement out into the surrounding world, just like those first disciples, to teach and preach and heal and cast out demons.
Now it is possible to be a good Christian and go to church, the building, and sing the right songs and say all the right prayers. But to be part of a movement we need to be like Peter’s mother-in-law and all those people crowding in her house, and let Jesus heal our souls.
Follow the text:
The hostess is healed, which makes hospitality possible,
which in turn makes strength and physical wellbeing possible,
which in turn makes more healing possible.
It’s all connected. And it was all possible because that woman’s dis-ease was removed.
When we allow Jesus to address and heal our dis-ease, we too can both provide hospitality and be strengthened by it
so we can touch others with the healing power of God right where we are, just as she did. And people will be attracted to our house, our lives, if we’re acting like whole people.
But it has to stay all connected. Jesus needed spiritual strength as well as physical, so he goes off to pray, alone, in a dark place, and that’s what makes each next step possible—it’s only when he is refueled by prayer that he can say, Let’s go, let’s move on.
How’s our prayer life—individually and corporately? Are we too busy doing business to do anything more than a token opening prayer at the beginning of a meeting? Are we so busy doing good food service that we neglect to pray for and with those with whom we eat?
If our prayer life is not healthy, we can’t be a movement. We can be a church. We’ll be a nice,
pleasant, monument in the
It’s all connected: our physical care
Our mental exercise
Our spiritual nurture
are what makes it possible for us as it did for Jesus, to get moving.
Let’s go, says jesus
Healed at home we are set free for service
Set free like Peter’s mother-in-law from whatever constrains us, unbound from our dis-ease
---let the Spirit out (Keith’s words)
let the joy bubble up and spill over (children’s song)
so we can get moving, reaching out
(holy boldness quote)
Our own mission statement says it too—it’s all connected! (bulletin, read it with me)
We are called to share God’s love with all the world and to nurture God’s people on their spiritual journeys:
Share, nurture— active words-- there’s nothing passive about the God movement.
Our world certainly, our own lives possibly, are like Narnia: a land in deep winter needing healing and joy to be unleashed.
And, like Aslan, God is on the move.
Let’s go. Let’s get moving –let’s join God in what Jesus invites us to do:
v. 38