Every fiber of his being must have been screaming, “This can’t be happening!  She’s only 12!  Twelve year olds are supposed to be healthy and full of life!  But now life is slipping away from my little girl!”  But there was hope.  Jesus of Nazareth was in town, not far away at all!  He had heard about Jesus.  This is the one who touches blind eyes and they see, touches deaf ears and they hear, touches leprous skin and it is healthy and whole, touches bent and crippled limbs and they are strong and good.  He could go to Jesus now.  If Jesus would just touch his little girl she would be healed and would live.  But he must go fast.  Not a second to wait!

If the bus for heaven pulled up outside the front doors of this church this morning and was leaving in five minutes, would you get on?  That seems like it ought to be an easy one, right?  Who wouldn’t get on the bus for heaven?!  But it’s not that easy, is it? 

By and large, the commandments are not too difficult to understand.  The 1st Commandment is clear enough:  You shall have no other gods.  I think we all understand that means we should not fear, love, or trust in anything more than God. 

“We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.” (Nicene Creed)  You recognize those words, don’t you?  Those words are from the Nicene Creed.  We confess them together each week.  We stand shoulder-to-shoulder and we confess to each other and to the world that we believe that the Holy Spirit of God is “the giver of life.”

“I remember the last time I saw…”  Have you ever said that?  We often remember the last time we see someone, usually someone we love.  We remember the last time we saw mom or dad, grandma or grandpa.  Sometimes we remember exactly what they were wearing and exactly what they said to us.  The image seems somehow “burned” or laser-etched into our memory.