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b'(Is.43:18-19,21-22,24b-25;\\xa0\\xa0 Ps.41:2-5,13-14;\\xa0\\xa0 2Cor.1:18-22;\\xa0\\xa0 Mk.2:1-12\\xa0\\n\\u201cIt is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses;\\nyour sins I remember no more.\\u201d\\nWhat a wonderful promise the Lord makes to us today, and proves His word true in Jesus His Son.\\nYes, the Lord \\u201chas regard for the lowly and the poor,\\u201d and so He looks with pity on the paralytic lowered through the roof for healing.\\xa0 Jesus \\u201chelp[s] him on his sickbed\\u201d and \\u201ctake[s] away all his ailment,\\u201d both spiritual and physical, first granting him forgiveness of sins, then calling him to \\u201crise, pick up [his] mat, and go home.\\u201d\\xa0 And so indeed his sins are gone, remembered no more, and so he is made whole\\u2026 and so the home to which he returns is more than the one with walls and a roof \\u2013 he returns to his eternal home in the arms of the Lord.\\nHow the Lord indeed reveals that He is \\u201cdoing something new!\\u201d\\xa0 For do not all the people exclaim, \\u201cWe have never seen anything like this\\u201d at the healing of the paralytic?\\xa0 And is it not right that they should glorify God in such a manner?\\xa0 What could be more remarkable than the teaching and healing and forgiving presence of Jesus in our midst?\\xa0 How could God fulfill His promises in a greater way?\\xa0 It could not be.\\xa0 \\u201cGod is faithful,\\u201d indeed, and \\u201cthe Son of God, Jesus Christ\\u201d is He who is the Father\\u2019s \\u201cyes\\u201d to all His promises.\\xa0 What can we do but rejoice in such grace?\\n\\u201cO Lord, have pity on me; heal me, though I have sinned against you.\\u201d\\xa0 \\u201cIn the desert [you] make a way, in the wasteland, rivers\\u201d; to the desert and wasteland of my sinful soul bring your cleansing waters.\\xa0 As you took pity on the paralytic, as you called him to rise from the unyielding pull of his mat, so call me to lift myself up from the mire of sin into which I have fallen.\\xa0 Let your promise be fulfilled in me: wipe out my offenses and remember my sins no more, that I might walk resolutely to my home in heaven and there \\u201cstand before you forever.\\u201d\\xa0 I give you my \\u201cyes\\u201d of faith this day.\\nWritten, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt.\\nMusic: "I Used To Be So Weak" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt.\\n*******\\nO LORD, you now work something new in our sight \\u2013 \\nour very salvation; \\nforgive us all our sins.\\n\\xa0YHWH, what wonders you work in our midst through the Person of Jesus, for He comes to us as a stream in the desert, forgiving us all our sin and restoring us to health in your sight.\\xa0 Here indeed is something new, your very presence among us.\\nO LORD, let us not fail to call upon you, let us not fail to come to you with all our ills, that you might readily heal us because of our faith.\\xa0 We shall be raised from our sickbeds if we but believe in the power upon your Son.\\xa0 Yes, the Spirit is with Him, and shall be with us if we but give ourselves over to you.\\nLet us not remain dead in our sin, O LORD, doubting your goodness and your grace; let us put our faith in the One you have sent, and we will be blessed, and we will come to the home you prepare for us through the ministry of your only Son\\u2026 and we will praise you forever.'