day 18 - play in the mud.

With my Jr. High students at confirmation we talked about Miracles this week. As we discussed about Jesus calming the storm, we made connections to God's redemptive and creative work with water elsewhere in the Bible. From God's spirit hovering over the waters in the first act of creation, to the parting of the red sea, to the story of Jonah being swallowed by a fish, to the new testament images of water turned to wine, baptism and walking on water. In each story, the youth talked about the ways God used water to cleanse, to heal, to reveal, to mystify, and to bring about redemption. Jesus' calling the storm to be calm was not a one time miracle; its a part of this much larger narrative of redemption. Of God speaking over and out of the waters of chaos, to bring grace, wholeness and resurrection.

Father Rick Moley makes a similar observation about the mud in the story of Jesus giving sight to the blind man. He writes, "I can't shake the poetic links to God digging in the dust of the ground in Eden, and giving us his breathe that we might live. God lifted us out of the earth in the Beginning, and Jesus is still in the business of lifting us up. And opening our eyes. And bringing us Life.

And, as the Way of Jesus, it is meant to be our way too. There are a lot of broken lives out there that need picked up. Whole countries of lives, in fact. Japan. Libya. Sudan."

God doesn't use extravagant methods. No magic potions or expensive jewels. Just a little dirt and water. Jesus is unafraid of getting his hands dirty. Because that's the way healing happens: not in pristine, sanitized cathedrals, but in the real organic dirt of people's lives. And I think we are called to do some miracles. We are called to follow Jesus and play in the mud.