IamSon sings, ‘Always with Me’. Let these lyrics speak deeply to you today. Can you turn them into a prayer?

I can make through the day

When you're with me on the way

In my heart and mind you'll stay

I can make it through the night

When I'm clinging to your light

You will make the darkness bright

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

In the calm and in the storm

When it seems I'm all alone

It's your hand I find to hold

In each hour of unrest

When it seems I've nothing left

You speak peace in every breath

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

In the morning, in the evening

When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping

When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving

You will have me in your keeping

Even from my mothers womb

Never hidden from your view

I was always known to you

When I fade away in death

You will catch my final breath

You will take me to my rest

For you are always, always with me

For you are always, always with me

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Mark.

Mark 2:1-12

When [Jesus] returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’

A one-storey building, a thatched roof, a crowded house, a man lowered down on a stretcher. It’s a vivid picture. Just for a moment or two, hold that image before your mind’s eye, and see what you notice.

Imagine yourself as that man on the stretcher, and the expression on Jesus’s face as you are lowered down and appear out of nowhere in front of him. How do you feel as you see that look on his face?

As you hear the reading again, imagine it unfolding like a film in front of you. Hear the dialogue, see the action, allow yourself to be moved by the drama of it all.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic— ‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We have never seen anything like this!’

At the end of all this, suppose Jesus turns to you and says: “Well then. What do you make of all that?” Take a little while to respond to his question to you.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be

World without end

Amen