(Ws.1:13-15,2:23-24; Ps.30:2,4-6,11-13; 2Cor.8:7,9,13-15; Mk.5:21-43) "God formed man to be imperishable; the image of His own nature He made him." "God did not make death, nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living." "By the envy of the devil death entered the world, and they who belong to his company experience it," but God has nothing to do with death: He is but Life, and would have us be with Him where He is. It is the Lord's will that all live, that all are rescued from death and destruction; and so Jesus "became poor, so that by His poverty [we] might become rich," and so He died that we might live… and so He comes healing us of our disease and raising us from the dead. David witnesses to His power in our psalm today – "You brought me up from the netherworld, you preserved me from among those going down into the pit" – and in our gospel Jesus heals the woman of her flow of blood and wakes Jairus' daughter from her sleep. "Little girl, I say to you, arise!" the Lord whispers to the child of twelve as He holds her by the hand, and "she [arises] immediately and walk[s] around." Despite the commotion and the ridicule of the crowd outside, the Lord enters her room and calls quite clearly to her heart… Do you hear Him? Do you hear Him speaking? Does He not call to all our hearts to rise from the dead, from the death of sin or complacency, or whatever disease has gripped our lives? What He speaks to the little girl He says to all: "Rise from your slumber, O sleeper!" It is not death to which we are called, but life. This Jesus clearly shows in His ministry upon the earth. And though this life can only be fully known having entered the gates of heaven, and though each day we are called to lay down our lives, to die as the Lord has shown us – though this indeed be a world of suffering for the Christian soul who always carries His cross, we know the Mighty One, the Creator of the universe, holds us each in His loving hand, and He will turn our "mourning into dancing" as He breathes life upon us again. "At nightfall weeping enters in, but with the dawn rejoicing," as we see that never really do we die, as we discover in His presence among us our eternal life… as we sense even now our blessed immortality. Remain with Him forever. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "To Eternal Life" from Thoroughfare, seventh album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, lay your hands upon us that death might flee and we be healed. YHWH, in you death has no place, no power at all. By a word from the mouth of your Son, the death we have brought upon ourselves is dispelled, and we are raised to life with you. It is for life you have made us; bring us back to your side. In this world we weep and mourn, O LORD; we cry out for the darkness that closes in. But what is this death that seems to take hold to those who have faith in you? Those who closely follow your Son shall be cured of their diseases, healed of every affliction – even from death they shall be raised, as if they were only sleeping. For He will speak to our hearts, and hearing His voice we shall arise. We shall live in peace forever. Jesus has laid down His life that we might be brought up from the nether world. Though death and sin and the envy of the devil threaten to take our posterity away, yet we shall sing praise to you, O LORD, for the salvation wrought in our midst.