Things I never thought I would talk about in a sermon.

Ok, there are allot of topics that get covered in sermons, salvation, justice, peace, hope, and as a Lutheran anything that has to do with law and gospel. But today I used an idea from Len Sweet about isolation in reference to the isolation of the leper in Mark 1 and Jesus reaching out to him despite all the religious, cultural and social prohibitions against doing so.  Then the isolation that we force on the “lepers” of our time and the “leprosy” that we ourselves deal with in our faults and foibles.

I guess what drew me to this theme was, well, it was because I had the stomach flu this past week. So, that is how I introduced this theme, talking about my experience, in subtle ways granted, but it was still something I think my Grandpa Braaten would roll over in his grave if he heard what I was saying!

Maybe it was the earthly-ness of it all, or maybe it was because everyone can identify with being sick, that I got more positive comments about this sermon than I  had anticipated.  This got me thinking in my down time this afternoon, after church; preaching and playing in PROCLAIM! and after the “Stone Soup” lunch and my stellar role as “Pastor” in “How Mr. Lurch Stole the Church”, ok I am type cast… but I did get to thinking… and that thinking lead me back to the fleshy-ness of Christ.

I wondered, did he ever have the stomach flu, did he ever lay there feeling like crud, going… Dad, Dad… uuugg… why…. ugggg… I feel awful…. wait… I am not done talking to you but I have to run to the… what did Jesus run to when he needed to… well you know…

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” boy does that little phase open up a whole world of questions. Personally, the incarnate God, the Son made flesh is a very comforting thought for me, because it means that God does know what our aches and pains are, how we goof up, how we mean well, how disappointment in others and in self just might feel from a human perspective, not from a far removed deity perspective.

As regards the particulars, I will let you work that one out on your own… for now anyway!

This is my first blog post… we will see if anything else comes of it.

Blessings

Oh and one other thing… Thank God for spell check!