Taking up mat and cross: a narrative sermon on John 5:1-13

Yesterday I watched him,
as I have watched him for a long time.

Old now,
and dragging himself more slowly than ever across the cobbles.

Each night, past my gate, out of the city,
clutching whatever meagre coins he's managed to beg,
out to spend the night huddled against the city wall.

Outside with all the other undesirables –
the dung collectors and stinking tanners and sailors
and cursed money lenders and all the rest
who would never be missed if they didn't make it through the night.

And back again each morning he comes,
dragging himself back to beg and wait beside that pool.

As if he had a chance anyhow.

The way he moves, crab-like and crippled,
scrabbling to keep up with the snails,
he has never had a chance of making it into that pool
ahead of anyone.

Not that I've ever paid him much attention mind.

One doesn't pay much attention to the likes of him.

Not until yesterday, that is.

We watched this in church a couple of weeks ago...

I was wanting people to think about how we celebrate Easster; how we invite them to share with us in our celebration. And it occurred to me that there was a whole lot in this video which summed up what I was trying to say. What do you think?

[It doesn't fit the column, but if you click on the video it should take you to the YouTube page.]

What's been happening...

Much, much delay... while I've been trying to work out how to make this a little more user friendly.

I don't know how much success I've had, so any feedback is welcome. For a start, rather than posting the whole sermon, there should be just an introduction with a "Read more" option - for the diehards who really do want to read more! The other feature is a "Search this blog" option, so that readers can find out jut how much I'm repeating myself.

The next thing to work on is how to automatically let people know when a new post is up. Any suggestions? (Polite ones only, please.)