Yesterday Junior Church started a new series for this term looking at the Miracles of Jesus. We thought about which miracles we could remember (calming the storm, healing the man born blind, turning water into wine etc) and then wondered what we could learn from the fact that Jesus did miracles. We decided that there were two main reasons:
1. because he is God
2. because he cares for us (most of the miracles Jesus did were motivated by the compassion he had for people).
We then wondered whether God still does miracles today, and why some people are healed and some are not. This is a pretty tricky question and I'm not sure we came to a complete answer but we were clear that people who aren't healed should NOT be blamed as they so often are when they are told “clearly you don't have enough faith”.
And that reminded me of a poem in my favourite book of poems (Spoken Worship by Gerard Kelly). This poem was written about a wonderful Christian man, Rob Lacy, who died nearly 20 years ago from cancer aged 43.
“Rob’s God doesn't shoot
his wounded
or blame the poor for failing
at prosperity.
He doesn't beat the broken
with bruised reeds from their garden
or tell the sick that healing’s
their responsibility.
Rob’s God is a poet
painting people as his poems;
a sculptor shaping symphonies from stone;
a maker of mosaics
curator of collages
woven from the wounds and wonders
we have known.”
My prayer is that as we continue to wonder at Jesus’ miracles, and consider the godliness and compassion they demonstrate, that we might know something of the grace of Rob’s God - my God and your God – who delights in us.
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