Sermon - 8-21-22

<p>This morning I share with you the story of a woman who had a life-changing, transformational experience. One morning, this woman decided she would attempt to get up, get ready, and go to morning worship.  As she did this, she was again reminded of how twisted and broken her body had become.  The pain in her back was at times excruciating and, when she moved to get ready, she knew the pain she was feeling meant she would be moving quite slowly.  Her back always seemed to hurt, and she was so bent over that when she looked at other people she had to look out of the corner of her eye.  She could only see others by looking sideways because she could not lift her head to look up.  The truth of the matter was that she spent most of her time looking at the ground.  And, if she was finally able to actually see someone face to face, other people’s eyes quickly turned away as though they did not want to acknowledge the fact that they had been watching her. </p> <p>She had lived like this for eighteen long years, and after all this time, she could hardly remember any other way of seeing the world.  Her body was so stooped and twisted she often felt ashamed of the way she looked and frequently she just did not want to go out in public.  Truth be told, sometimes she just wanted to disappear.  She felt nameless, a person living lost amidst the crowd. </p> <p>However, on this particular Sabbath, there was a special excitement at the synagogue, so she decided she would attempt to go to worship.  On this particular day, a preacher from Galilee, a prophet called Jesus of Nazareth, had arrived in town and he would be doing the teaching. She, along with many others, had heard reports about this man called Jesus – how he talked about God's reign arriving soon and how he healed sick people.  Truthfully, she was rather skeptical and not sure how many of the rumors could be believed.  However, she decided to go and was trying not to get her hopes up.  Her life already had too many disappointments to count.</p> <p>When she entered the