few dry eyes

Today my sermon was as awkward as I thought it would be--loving those who hate you is a big 'ask', Jesus.

But we had a healing service as well and I sort of made it up on the spot. There were 30 people or so and we were having church in the parish hall to save heating the church for an hour. All of us in a small space--so I anointed the person next to me and he anointed the person next to him, all around the room until all had oil on their foreheads.

Then we found a way to all hold hands, everyone touching two other people, and I prayed about how we were all laying hands on each other and asked God's healing grace to be among us and between us and to give us health and wholeness and the peace the world cannot give.

Then we had the peace and I realized there were few dry eyes in the house. And that realization made my eyes mist up too. The peace must have taken over 5 minutes for only 30 people because people were passing it with such affection.

I was truly moved by how moved the folks at St. James were by an improvised and made up on the spot way of having a time of healing.

How healing it was amazed me.

God works in "mischievous ways", my dear, late friend Remitha Spurlock used to say.

So true. So true.