But let’s step back, let’s calm our anxieties a little. Take a deep breath and look and listen again.

Let’s be thrilled to hear Luke’s description of that scene: Jesus stood to teach amidst "a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them."

Luke says the crowd came to hear and be healed by Jesus. But in 2007 Jesus is ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. But it is also true that Jesus is present in us, his disciples and apostles, living, learning, worshipping, working at St. Margaret’s in 2007. We are the body of Christ, we are called to be the eyes and ears, the heart, the voice and hands of Christ in this place at this time.

Remember too that Jesus made a promise to his disciples "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father." (John 14:12)

In our world, in our own families, in our neighborhood, in our workplace, in our schools, everywhere we go, we carry Christ, believe that you have something to say about God’s love and believe that you are a minister of God’s healing Jesus himself has chosen you and sent you to carry on his ministry to God’s glory.

Why do you come to worship here? Is it not, at some level, to hear Jesus and be healed, just like the multitude that gathered on the Plain so long ago. Isn’t it possible, isn’t it probable, that there are many around us with the same yearning: to hear God and to be healed by God? In our time of transition stay attentive, be ready to invite those who want to hear and be healed to come and see, come and experience the love of God proclaimed and the healing touch of God ministered here at St. Margaret’s.

Let us turn to the blessings of Jesus in today’s account.

If the poor are blessed in 2007, if the kingdom of God is opened to them, it is because we, the disciples of Jesus, carry the blessing of God to the poor, we invite them into the kingdom.

If the hungry are blessed and fed in 2007, it is because we carry and offer that blessing as we feed the hungry.

If laughter is the blessing of those who weep it is because God has used us to bring and share that blessing in 2007.

And if Jesus himself was hated, excluded, reviled, defamed, even crucified, we can expect that we too will experience some of this behavior as we live and work in the name of Christ. If we do share this experience, then we are to rejoice as we know we become known as disciples of Christ.

I believe with Teresa of Avila, (and so many other holy men and women through the ages) that "Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; yours are the eyes through which Christ's compassion looks out on the world, yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now."

As we gathered in Diocesan Convention yesterday our Bishop reminded us of his exhortation sent in his Pastoral Letter of July 2006. At Convention he invited us to remind each other of what we are to do in the name of Christ. I heard our call to be faithful witnesses of Christ spoken through his words and his vision:

Therefore, I call on the people of our diocese to renew our discipleship as a Community of Good News. The Good News in Christ is what feeds us; it is what the world hungers for. It is the good news of

* Hope through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ

* Meaning through the gift of baptism in the name of Jesus

* Purpose through service in the name of Jesus.

In order to live more fully into this Good News, I call us to strive for three ambitious, yet simple tasks over the course of the next year:

* Every Episcopalian in our diocese will bring one person to full participation in the life and ministry of their congregation. This simple act will lead to real evangelism. We will change lives through the love of Jesus Christ. We will meet hurt with hope. We will also strengthen our faith as we share it and strengthen our congregations for ministry.

* Each congregation will develop effective life-changing ministries for children who are disadvantaged, in poverty, or at risk in other ways. The hope is that this will be a mission of adoption that will focus the servant ministry of our congregations on those who are thirsty, hungry, and naked. By doing this, we will give hope, meaning, and purpose to children who will do the same for their children and for generations to come.

* Each congregation will provide for excellent Christian education and formation programs for all ages. Lifelong formation in the Christian life is essential if we are to become the vibrant, faithful community God calls us to be.

Try not to worry or be anxious about whether you are poor or rich, hungry or full, blessed or cursed. Understand that you are called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Believe, with all your heart, that you are chosen by God himself for ministry. Find joy in carefully and truthfully identifying the gifts that are yours to share with our parish family and with our world. Make the decision to share those gifts for the glory of God. Come to this holy place to be renewed by the love of God shared in both the Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Leave this holy place to carry the blessing of God to the world; leave this holy place to share the blessing of God with others. Be faithful, God will work wonders through you. God always has. God always has worked wonders through men and women, boys and girls, like you and me.

I will finish with a prayer. This is a prayer spoken by our contemporary who sets the example for all of us, Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Let it be our prayer.

Dear Jesus, help us to spread your fragrance everywhere we go. Flood our souls with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess our whole being so utterly that our lives may only be a radiance of yours....Let us thus praise you in the way you love best by shining on those around us. Let us preach you without preaching, not by words but by our example, by the catching force, the sympathetic influence of what we do, the evident fullness of the love our hearts bear to you. Amen.