You hear these amazing stories of Jesus.  How Jesus heals people, teaches people, basically is just compassionate with everyone.  The readings this week across the Church reflect this (Mark 6:30-34, 53-56).

You might imagine these scenes in your own mind; Jesus with the crowds.  Maybe you have pictured yourself in the crowd from time to time, walking alongside Jesus hanging on every word, asking great questions.

But something to ponder, especially for ‘church goers’, is would we have turned up?

Jesus keeps on spending time with the people on the edges; those who seem lost, those who are sick, those who I reckon would have been a little rough around the edges.

I wonder how many ‘church goers’ would feel that comfortable with this ‘raggle taggle’ group of people?

One of my favourite hymns, the old African American Spiritual, goes ‘Were you there when they crucified my Lord’, well there is a prior question to this: ‘Were you there when Jesus hung out with the people you don’t feel that comfortable with…?’

Ironically perhaps, in light of what the Church has been like over the centuries, the God of Christian faith actually calls us out of the confines of our own ‘groups’ into a much broader way of living and loving.  A way of life in which the boundaries come down and we welcome friends and strangers as sacred; the ones in whom we may meet angels and encounter the Divine.

So do we dare live into this way of Jesus or would we rather just read about it?

Just a thought, were we there…

Rev. Sally Douglas

Talitha Coum. Some of my favourite words in the bible.

They are ancient words.

In the midst of the New Testament, which was written in Greek, here are these Aramaic words, words in the language that Jesus spoke.

These words are attributed to Jesus as he brings a little girl back to life (Mark 5:21-43).

Talitha Coum. This literally means Little lamb get up.

I probably love the words as much as the amazing story of the little girl being restored to life.

For me this is because these words reveal something of the heart of this guy Jesus.  In the midst of a culture in which women were marginalised and children often seen as insignificant, Jesus speaks to this little girl – child gently and tenderly.  Jesus helps her up and then says to those around her “Give her something to eat”.

I would love to be spoken to so beautifully; I would love to be cared for in this practical, miraculous, holistic way.  Perhaps many of us long for this kind of care and restoration: maybe from something beyond ourselves.

The thing about Christian faith is that it, strangely, proclaims that in Jesus we see into the heart of God.

If this is somehow so, here in this story we see what God is like: a God who does not marginalise people, a God who does not see people as lesser because culture judges them thus.

Instead here we see radical care and inclusion (the rest of this story makes this even more abundantly obvious).

My sense is that in the heart of God there is this breathtaking tender voice speaking to each one of us: talitha coum.  The God who seeks to meet us wherever we are at and carry us into new life and wholeness.

And the God who desires that we all share in this gentle, welcoming, practical care for one another; that we experience this kind of care and that we share it whether we live in privileged places or whether we be seeking survival in the hardest situations.

Whether we are on the edges of society or whether we are considered as important by others, this is the kind of living that we are all invited and challenged into: the radical hospitality of God.

Rev Sally Douglas

At a recent wedding rehearsal, the bride-to-be confided in me that one of her assistants had been terrified about coming into the church for the wedding rehearsal. This young woman had been stressed out because she didn’t know what she was allowed to wear (if jeans were ok) or how to act. I assured the bride that I didn’t mind what her assistant wore, and I gather the bride already knew this, or she wouldn’t have told me of her friend’s concerns in the first place.

However, this young woman’s fears of entering a church are not, unfortunately, uncommon.

It is tricky when stereotypes on the tv, in movies and in literature continue to affirm the most dodgy of stereotypes about what church, and church people, are really like eg; that they are a dowdy, boring, judgmental lot.

Whilst this may be unfortunately true in some places, the great irony is that the One at the centre of our faith is the most open, fearless, radical and exciting One, Christ Jesus.

And as Christians, Christ-Ones, it is this One that we continue to be informed and transformed by.

For all its many flaws, the Uniting Church genuinely seeks to be an open church.

Certainly here in the Highlands Cluster you are welcome; no matter what you wear, what your background is, and where ever your faith is at.

Here we seek to create space for the questions, the doubts and our own lived experience.

As well as this, we seek to create authentic space for meaningful worship- space in which to commune with the Source of all life.

So if you are interested in exploring issues of Christian faith and spirituality, whether you have never been in a church or if you are thinking of returning after a long time away feel very welcome to join us anytime.

Blessings on your journey,

Sally

Rev. Sally Douglas Highlands Cluster Uniting Church