June 28th

Readings for this week are:

2 Corinthians 8:7-15 - Christ for our sake became poor: Paul encourages the Corinthians to give to others
Mark 5:21-43 - the interwoven healings of Jairus' daughter & the woman with the haemorrhage

A few weeks ago I did an informal creative writing group on this story from Mark (inspired by some work we had done on a minsters' Spring school). The story is rich with similarities and differences.
A young girl/ an old woman
A request for healing from an important man / an attempt to gain healing without being noticed
12 years of bleeding and being untouchable & unclean/ 12 years of a privileged life as the daughter of the leader of the synagogue
The big question for both - is it too late??
And the answer - not with Jesus, it's never too late.

So what does all this mean for us ('us' this week being a baptism at one church & an all age service at the other).

Paul reminds us that Christ became poor so that we may become rich - the barriers between God and humanity and the barriers we humans set up between ourselves, are broken down in Jesus christ. We are all loved and precious children - whatever our age, condition, status - and we are therefore all one in God's family.
'God's family' will probably be the theme for the all-age service.

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