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By Bishop John, June 30, 2012 4:42 am

st-takia.org

I am happy that we are back with excerpts from St. Mark’s Gospel. His is the shortest Gospel and the style is brief and cryptic. He doesn’t mince words and you have a very clear understanding of what he means.

When we are reading any one of the four Gospels, we need to use our imagination. Don’t just read the words. Try to visualize what is happening and it makes it far more interesting. The story, of course, is one that we have known since we were children. Jesus brings the daughter of Jairus back to life. Jesus was responding to a plea from the girl’s father to come and help with the sick daughter and the text says, “A large crowd followed pushing against him.” Think about that large crowd, the jostling and the shoving. Then when Jesus announces that the child is not dead, the crowd begins to ridicule him and Mark gives us one simple sentence. HE PUT THEM ALL OUT.

Don’t let that sentence pass by without trying to visualize it. It is a crowd and Jesus is alone and he is irritated at their disbelief and he cleans house. They are out! The story itself is wonderful but it is also necessary to draw other means from it. We sometimes think of Jesus as ever so meek and mild. He was but can he be firm and determined? Absolutely! HE PUT THEM ALL OUT!

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By Bishop John, June 29, 2010 5:02 am

Not Barbara Bush, wife of the first President Bush, but Barbara Bush, daughter of the second President Bush.  The Bush’s twin daughters have, for the most part, worked hard at staying out of the spotlight but one of them, Barbara, recently went on Fox News for an interview and the subject of healthcare came up.  Barbara expressed her view that she was happy that President Obama had managed to pass healthcare reform.  That may have created some consternation at Fox News!

It shouldn’t have.  Shortly after graduating from Yale Barbara helped found Global Health Corps, whose mission is to bring “health equity” to the U.S. and across the globe.  The struggle for national healthcare has been going on for more than sixty years.  It is now the official policy of the United States of America.  With this decision, we now join every other developed country in the world.  This bill is not perfect and will take some work because the transition is extraordinarily complex, but in twenty years, people will be wondering what all the fuss was about.  The fact that President Bush’s daughter has that view and has herself worked hard to bring justice and equity in the healthcare situation is a credit to the fact that gradually our nation is catching up with the rest of the world.

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