Psalm 126:2 - "Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, 'The Lord has done great things for them.'"
Do y'all think the Almighty laughs? I was so close to finding out.
The second Sunday of the month is our 5 p.m. prayer and healing service, which Almighty God has used to bring physical, spiritual, and emotional healing to many. It's an amazing service for those who come.
After a few calming songs and corporate prayer, we grab a chair and invite people to sit in it. Everyone lays their hands on the person in the chair and prays for them. Getting more than 4 or 5 people around one person requires some creativity, and we always have more than 4 or 5.
I myself love this service and want others to have a great experience, so I'll assume one of the "creative" positions as we lay hands on the person in the chair. And, for those who don't know me, I not only love worship, but I also take worship very seriously. I mean, we're in the presence of the Holy God. So there's room to be real and smile and laugh but not to turn worship into Comedy Hour.
So this one night a while back, in all reverence, I creatively found a spot where I had to kneel down next to the person in the chair as we all gathered around. And then it happened. I started to cramp. Ya know, one of those wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-a-calf-or-thigh-stuck-in-pain kind of cramps. And I'm thinking that I'm about to fall over in pain and be rolling all over the floor and be unable to breathe let alone speak, but everyone's going to think that this moderately conservative, reverent in worship, believer in healing, Lutheran pastor has been slain in the spirit. So I'm picturing this imminent, comical, cramp scene in my head while we're all praying over the chair person. And, I'm serious y'all, God zaps me and tells me I've got to stop drinking so much Diet Coke.
And I'm just hoping that God has a sense of humor because I'm not feeling very reverent and spiritual through these three minutes. And all I can do is turn my heart to God and, in a way that only God could hear, I squeal, "Please, Lord!" And immediately, I was able to say as in today's verse, "The Lord has done great things," as the cramp immediately went away.
And not wanting to unnecessarily put God to the test, I did find a standing position when the next person sat in the chair.
So y'all, have a blessed Saturday, believing that God loves you and wants to heal you. And don't forget, as is also in today's verse, to let your "mouth [be] filled with laughter, and [your] tongue with shouts of joy!"
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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