Mtr Mary Trainor
From a distance there is harmony
And it echoes through the land
It's the voice of hope, it's the voice of peace
It's the voice of every man…*
Dear friend,
Miracles are called “signs” in John’s Gospel, and we find a very potent one in our reading today: A dying child is healed. From a distance.
Jesus has returned to Cana--site of the water-into-wine sign--and is asked by a royal official to travel to Capernaum to heal the man’s son who is on the brink of death. Jesus tells the distraught father that his son would live. He would be healed--at a distance of some twenty or so miles.
Believing, the man heads out and is met on the way by people telling him his son had begun to recover.
In that time, I’m not sure healing from a distance was even thought about. In that time, Mary and Martha of Bethany sent word for Jesus to come to their location because their brother Lazarus was ill and dying—apparently not considering the possibility of Jesus healing across the miles. Yet, in today’s text, long-distance healing is reported.
It must have been cause for great celebration.
Playing songs of hope
Playing songs of peace
They are the songs of every man.
The moving song performed by Bette Midler, From A Distance, leaps to mind. Good thing I checked the facts before crediting lyrics to Ms. Midler, so tied she is to this song, because …it was penned by Julie Gold, a secretary by day whose passion for songwriting kept her up late at night. (Link to her story and her recording below.)
Despite the odds, Julie Gold wrote an award-winning song. And she did it after already putting in full days working hard.
Alone in her home, banging away on a keyboard, she delivered the goods to the people of her time and now.
God is watching us
God is watching us
God is watching us from a distance.
Alleluia!
Mtr Mary