The normal miracle

Christ is RISEN!

Sunday of the Paralytic--Third Sunday after Pascha

This day we see the miracles performed by the disciples after Christ's resurrection. We see St. Peter, you remember him--that guy who denied his Master three times--well, he raises Dorcas from the dead. Just like that. He prays. God answers and a beloved woman mourned by those who knew her gets right up off her bed. Then, in the Gospel reading, Christ is at the pool at Bethesda. Some dear soul has been lying there, mostly likely for years, just waiting for the miracle. And just like that, he too gets right up off his bed. (We'll talk about the silliness of the Pharisees reaction another time.)

Fr. David presented his homily today as a children's sermon, getting down and sitting on the floor with the small ones. Since I'm feeling particularly dense today, it was best he presented it that way because I was about two steps away from going up there and sitting in front of him myself.

Anyway, he asked the children about what the difference was between Superman's ability to fly and the disciples' ability to raise the dead. One wise youngster, all of about 4 years old, said well one's magic and one's a miracle. Fr. David seemed to like that answer.

He then talked about the normal--how God didn't raise the dead or heal the sick for them to them have super-human powers later on. On the contrary, Lazarus came out of the tomb only to die again later. Dorcas probably got sick again at some point as well. Same with the paralytic at the pool. But God demonstrated His complete control over the physical and natural world. He healed. He restored normal--they were able to go on with their lives just like everybody else (except for the having-had-a-miracle-performed on them part).

This resurrection we celebrate right now, this miracle of new life, part of its gift is that we get to live the way we're supposed to live. We can love freely, knowing we too are loved freely. We can worship God, having seen His existence in our lives. We can live our faith, normally. We can put our feet down, one in front of the other, in our spiritual walk knowing we are growing more like Him, growing closer to Him.

So much of our lives--walking, talking, not falling off ladders while incorrectly pruning trees (ahem, me), birth, growth, all the normal stuff--is actually miraculous. Normal, i.e. that which we take for granted, is really, truly a gift, an act from Him who loves mankind.

Kiss a baby today. Hug your mom. Watch a bird feed its young. Do something, anything, normal. And thank God for the gift.

Restoring life

Christ is Risen!

OK, so it's going to be a short one, but I am a week late on this, though it definitely works today.

Lazarus Saturday--It dawned on me about halfway through the service, maybe after the Great Entrance, about how dead we all are before Christ, and to be honest, how weak I felt before Orthodoxy. Wrapped in the grave clothes, four days...and probably stinky.

But Christ, in His love for mankind, came to the tomb and called me out.

Please understand. I am not saying I did not love and worship God before I came to the Holy Orthodox Church. However, I know that I am moving toward becoming the person He created me to be at a much quicker pace within this place, largely due, I believe to the access to the Sacraments, to the deep theological well of the Fathers, and all else Orthodoxy provides.

So He called me out, and for that I am grateful.

The Church turned our attention to Lazarus and Christ's miracle the week before Great and Holy Saturday, a week before we observe His death and burial. In the Holy Scriptures, the miracle of Lazarus' resurrection comes right before the entrance into Jerusalem, before the waving of the palms, the betrayal and the death.

But as the service focused on that passage, the Eucharist reminded me that the greatest miracle of all, that which secures our hope, is yet to come.

Wait, He said. Just wait and see what I can do.