Sunday Came Early

So on my flight back to Ottawa, via Winnipeg and spread over two days, Sunday came early. It is amazing what one can find while looking for other things, and today was no exception. As I spent some time in the Chinook Lounge, dining on fresh chicken noodle soup, gingersnaps and a decadent Caesar drink, I was looking for a program that I saw on the local tv while home. Of course my memory is slow to capture the accurate name so I just started searching the internet to see if I could find it.  Who would have guessed what you would find when you type in canadian religious broadcasting!

Along the way of course I found something else which gave me pause, in fact became my little bit of worship time in the airport. Since I will be travelling during church time, I figure that this video by Jana Childers and my usual prayers on the iPod will be my way of setting aside some time to be holy and to honor the Lord my God. I really liked the style of this preacher and how she took the text and made it come alive. It was nice to laugh as she talked about the bible greats and their feet, noting how she slyly took the sexual reference to feet and put that to work for her as a bit of levity in her sermon. It was great to see how she took a very common notion of a powerful God, a God that is overwhelming and forceful and transformed that by referring to the manner in which he could have healed the bent over woman. I never would have thought that Jesus would get on his hands and knees in front of her to heal her.  Or that he might even touch her feet.  But considering the healing in this way makes the story of healing all the more powerful, showing the strength in humility, in bending the knee before the other.

Normally when I view this lesson in my minds eye, I see Jesus, stooping and putting his arm around her in a comforting protective manner.  When you compare the two, my view of it weakens the gospel.  Oh it is satisfactory that option but not as powerful as Jesus on his knees in front of the hunched over woman who stands for all those infirmed and hunched over by their burdens of health and disease or oppression by the players of the world around them.