Thursday July 4, 2024

Matthew 9:1-8

he said to the paralytic – ‘get up, and pick up your bed and go off home.’ And the man got up and went home. A feeling of awe came over the crowd when they saw this, and they praised God for giving such power to men.

A very happy and blessed Independence Day to you. One of the blessings that I have enjoyed is becoming an American. This is a beautiful and blessed country indeed. Those of us who are first immigrant Americans sometimes can see the blessing that our country is more clearly than natural born Americans. This is not a criticism but an observation. Sometimes you need to live somewhere else so you can recognize the blessings of running water and warm showers.

With regards to the gospel passage. I wonder what he did with his bed, his mat!! We are a people of ritual and we need it to remind us of our journeys. Maybe he took it home and burnt it. Maybe he framed it!! How about you? What have you done with your troubled past? If we do not have a ritual, our troubled past has the possibility of haunting us. Yes sometimes it helps to forget it completely and other times we need to remember it so that we do everything in our power not to lay in that thing ever again.

I have a scar, a very big scar from having cancer. Sometimes I look at it and say thank God it’s over. Other times I look at it and say thank God for the people of clementsville who helped me during this most difficult time.