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This morning’s gospel reminds and reassures us that Christ comes to set us free. The story of the Bent Over Woman is about a woman and not just about a woman.

For eighteen years this woman had lived with her infirmity, bent over. [person walks across chancel]. Was she able to notice much around her besides the ground upon which she shuffled? She could not fully stand upright, the power was not hers. God knows, she had tried.

Jesus saw her, called to her and said, "Woman, (an endearing name of respect he used for his own mother), you are set free from your ailment." And Jesus laid his hands upon her. [person touches the woman]. Jesus was a "toucher" as well as teacher. He healed through touch, good touch - God’s love with skin on.

And immediately she stood up straight and praised Yahweh and Jesus. [person walks around tall, seeing self and others]. Jesus heals through touch. God’s love with skin on, heals. This time there is no mention of one’s faith making us well. There is healing for believers, non-believers, and those many in between. Each of us need the transforming touch of the sacred.

[reader] I live alone as a widow and shut-in. I have wonderful neighbors and a thoughtful church community. But, I can’t get out anymore. People have to come to me if they want to see me. My children are too busy to phone or write. Many days are filled with loneliness and tiredness and the aches and pains of being old.

[reader] I don’t have a home, a place where I can leave my few belongings or space in which I can really feel safe. It hasn’t always been this way. I used to have a good job with benefits. I paid my bills, including my mortgage. Lay offs and medical problems changed my world. Things have gone from bad to worse.

[reader] I’m a single mother raising two children. One child has several learning disabilities which makes life hard for her at school and home. My ex-husband lives near by and helps out some but for the most part, I’m juggling household duties and my full time job. Most days I’m just grateful to get through the day.

[reader] School will be starting soon and I am dreading it. The crowds of friends gathering in the hallways, the band practices, football season, teacher pets staying after school… that’s not me. I’m not sure what is me. School sucks.

[reader] This is not my country. I came here many years ago with my husband. English is not my first language. Some people think I’m not very smart because I speak with an accent. Some people call me names. Other people pretend that I do not exist. I am grateful to be here. I am a good person. Why is it so hard to be accepted?

We are bent over by many things and situations. Sometimes it isn’t clear who is the "bended" and who is the "bender." I was leading a retreat with Catholic sisters once and we were on a hike. I was pointing out various things in the woods. There was a tenacious cedar growing on top of this granite rock outcropping that caught someone’s attention. There are trees around here like that - no soil of any depth beneath it’s trunk, only rock. We stopped. "Upon this rock I will build my church," was a pondering. "It’s hard to tell whether the rock has the tree or the tree has the rock." I have always remembered this bit of insight as I walk both in the woods and in the church.

Today’s gospel is all about being set free. "Immediately following Jesus’ healing the bent over woman, a leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.’ But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham and Sarah whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?’ When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing." (Lk 13:14-17)

Jesus, a Jew, offers a corrective to the faith community. Rules and rituals have there place. So too does compassion and the nurturing of life.

Just ten years ago, Nelson Mandela delivered an inaugural address to the people of South Africa. He stood at the Cape of Good Hope. This moment realized another "bent over woman" in the process of healing and once again standing tall. Mandela’s speech is amazing, all of which resonate with today’s gospel and our contemporary lives. But, we won’t take time for that. We will however, reflect on the words of Marianne Williamson whose book A Return to Love, Reflections on the Principles of a Course in Miracles, are often ascribed to Mandela.

I’m powerful?! I don’t feel that way. I can barely see. People often make fun of me. I’ve been like this for eighteen years. I feel powerless. I am afraid. I am a daughter of Abraham and Sarah but I’m not sure what that means for me being so crippled.

Light? Where is my light? So much of my day is filled with darkness. I felt enslaved by my own body - I feel weak. Is Yahweh telling me that I can be free and powerful and light-filled?

I am a child of God? What does that mean to be Yahweh’s child? Is this true? Even with all that cripples me? I am marginalized in my world. I am seen to be filled with Satan. I would rather be Yahweh’s than Satan. I WANT TO BE GOD’S CHILD. Is there hope for me? What would it mean to be a child of God?

I have been small most of my life. Small body and small in spirit. I’m bent over in so many ways. I’ve been rejected in so many ways. No one has really loved me - at least I’ve never felt that. And now this teacher is telling me to stand tall. That I can serve the world. That I can be filled with light. And I can actually benefit the world by the enlargement of my heart.

I can shine! The Lord wants me to shine. God’s glory is within me? I don’t see it, I confess. Maybe this teacher will bring it forth in me. Can he give me hope? Can I really shine in this world and be proud of who I am?

I want this God. I want to be healed from those things which keep me small and hopeless and dark and angry and fearful. This teacher, Jesus, is telling all of us that we can be free. Yes! I am shining! I can walk tall! I am walking tall! And immediately she stood up straight and praised Yahweh and Jesus.

Jesus heals through touch. God’s love with skin on, heals. There is healing for believers, non-believers, and those many in between. Each of us need the transforming touch of the sacred.

Let us now be together in healing prayer …  Amen

Sandy was assisted by the Rev. Julia Jarvis.