One feature of our transition times is that the pulpit is filled by a variety of speakers drawn from within the church as well as from without. Every Sunday finds something and someone new. I have filled the pulpit as a guest speaker in the past and I was recently asked to do so again a couple of weeks ago. What follows is my attempt to convey just a glimpse of what happens when we get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit have His way among His church:

The spiritual text of my message came from Mark 5 and 9 wherein I contrasted the two types of faith demonstrated by the father of a demon-possessed boy and the woman who suffered a twelve year hemorrhaging. The father’s "fragile faith" asked Jesus, "if you can do anything" heal my son. The woman, on the other hand, didn’t ask anything, didn’t inquire, didn’t plead with Jesus. Her "hem-grabbing faith" held that "if I just touch His robe, I will be healed."

Since I’ve learned the power of the visual in teaching a point, I decided to use a variety of props to illustrate my point. My talented wife and a friend assisted my message by wiring an electrical outlet to a large wooden cross. They also created what I called my "WOW table." On it was a variety of items (an emergency tow truck beacon, smoke pots, alarms, a boom box playing "Jesus Is Alive," and a fan with streamers) all set to go off simultaneously when electricity was applied. My props and parable came together in the point that both the father and the woman "plugged into" the same power source, but experienced different results. I used a small electric candle to show how the father’s faith (and all too often ours as well) connects with the living Christ, but the results are stunted by our weak and limited faith. In contrast, when the woman simply took Jesus for who He said He was and reached out in faith, dramatic results occurred and her healing was instantaneous. Same power source, but qualitatively different faith-influenced outcomes. At this point, the covering on my "WOW table" was whisked away as an eruption of sound, lights, action and smoke ensued when I plugged the whole shebang into the cross. My table actual got a round of applause! (Funny how our attention is grabbed by the sensational.) Anyway, the point seemed to have been made.

My final visualization involved holding up a small lit candle contained in a glass goblet. It represented the "fragile faith" that we gingerly carry around and desperately try to avoid cracking. When God doesn’t respond to our prayers and struggles as we think He should, "fragile faith" runs the risk of shattering in disillusionment and disappointment. I concluded my teaching with this question, "Church, do you know what God wants you to do with your ‘fragile faith?’" Let me pause [for dramatic effect] and see if you can guess what came next… "Don’t tell me, Tim, you threw the goblet?!" Yep, both candle (extinguished of course) and goblet went flying across the sanctuary and had a strategically targeted encounter with a brick wall. My Christian caveat: Doze during my messages at your own risk!