Spiritual Hiccups - Is That Possible?

I've probably mentioned before that miracle stories often pose a challenge to me when writing sermons.  What does one say about a miracle?  Jesus healed a woman.  Jesus raised a little girl from the dead.  Of course there are interesting nuances in today's gospel story.  A woman whose illness has made her unclean and an outcast is healed by Jesus on the way to heal a religious leader's daughter.  Jesus calls this formerly unclean woman "Daughter."  She is restored to life in the community just as Jairus' daughter is restored to him.

Still, it all gets back to those miracles.  And to be honest, miracles are somewhat rare in my life.  In fact, miracles in modern American Christianity seem to be restricted to televangelists and other unsavory sorts who use their "power" to enrich themselves.  More mainline Christians like myself want little to do with the Earnest Angleys and Benny Hinns of the world.  We know what they are doing is a trick. It's not really possible.

And I think that may be where my problem with Jesus' miracles lies.  As a child of the Enlightenment and Scientific Age, I have a pretty good idea of what is and isn't possible.  And when it comes to my life, whether or not Jesus heals sick people or raises dead little girls isn't really my problem.  The bigger issue is whether or not Jesus can touch me in a way that changes me, that makes the things I think are impossible possible. 

Oh, I have some minor aches and pains that I wouldn't mind Jesus healing, but the bigger problem for me, and I think for a lot of congregations like the one I serve, is whether or not Jesus can turn us into something more than our assembled talents and abilities.  Can Jesus really call, empower, and gift us to be his living body to the world?  Are congregations any different from any other non-profits when it comes in terms of the power at work in us?  Or is that possible?

Growing up Presbyterian in the South, I sometimes snickered at the Southern Baptists I knew who insisted on some sort of "born again" experience for faith to be genuine.  I still have problems with what seems to me an overly simplistic faith formula.  But I have come to think that all of us need to have some sort of conversion experience.  If I do not experience the power of Christ at work in me, creating a person that would not have been there otherwise, I'm not sure I know anything of the faith Paul describes in today's reading from Galatians.  And my "knowledge" of what is and isn't possible may just be the thing about me that needs healing.

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