Skin in the Game is our worship
theme for the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, February 12, 2012. Our focus
scriptures are 2 Kings 5:1-14 and Mark 1:40-45. Both passages describe a healing
of leprosy. In 2 Kings the prophet Elisha heals the Aramean General Naaman of a
leprous spot. And in Mark Jesus goes through Galilee on a very early healing
mission when a leper comes to him seeking a cure.
Leprosy
was a terrible disease in Biblical times. It could actually be any of a number
of skin diseases, but all had the same result: sufferers became outcasts and
could not live with family or even enjoy ordinary interchanges with members of
the community. Instead, they had to keep by themselves or with fellow sufferers
and had to announce their condition so that no unsuspecting healthy person
would touch them. So they were affected physically, emotionally, and even
spiritually since they were often seen as having committed some sin that
provoked God to send their illness. In 2 Kings the healing is a demonstration
that God’s power is far greater even than that of the General of a strong army.
In Mark it is a sign that the kingdom of God is coming near in the ministry of
Jesus.
In
our service we will explore God’s loving power to heal us at a level far more
than just skin deep. After all, in Jesus God puts God’s own skin in the game.
Our
Call to Worship is based on the Psalm for the day, Psalm 30. Please feel free
to use or adapt anything in this post that you find useful.
**Call to Worship (from Psalm 30)
L: Let us praise
God, who lifts us up when we are down!
P: O Lord our God, we cried to you and you healed us!
L: You refused
to let us go to hell! You gave us life!
P: We rejoice in your holy name!
L: You vex us for
a moment, but your faithful love is for a lifetime.
P: Weeping may spend the night, but joy comes in the
morning!
L: In our pride,
we believed ourselves invincible.
P: Apart from your Spirit, we learned the truth.
L: Yet you
turned our sad rags into glad rags!
P: You slipped us into dancing shoes!
All: O Lord our God, we praise you!
We give thanks
to you forever!
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