Step One: Develop Relevant Branding

The first step to take while making an attempt to enhance the quantity of your Facebook page fans is to make sure you are following the resources of brand development. A brand represents a very important part for an organization to require advantage of so it helps to create an image for consumers to relate to when considering making any investment. When your Facebook page matches the brand, colours, logos, company message, and other resources of your website, this will increase recognition which can improve the likelihood of capturing new friends.

Step Two: Improve Communication

One of the largest attractions to social profiles is that individuals are regularly updating information, posting comments, and providing visual entertainment like photos or videos. Creating a profile through Facebook is not enough to capture a giant amount of Facebook page fans. You must additionally improve your communication efforts through the utilization of the social network. This includes answering any queries your customers might have, regularly putting on new information to your website, and updating the resources of entertainment so your profile does not go stale.

Step Three: Invest in Facebook Marketing

The third step you’ll be able to utilize in order to extend Facebook page fans are seen with investing in Facebook marketing. Facebook participants regularly post info like hobbies, job descriptions, and interests which Facebook then collects. When you’ll utilize this marketing it allows for a distinctive kind of target promoting where you’ll be able to come back in direct contact with consumers who may have an interest in your business. This will help in drawing in new shopper attention and produce a low -price answer for bringing fans to your Facebook profile.

By utilizing these 3 steps you may typically find an improvement in gaining shopper attention which will facilitate capturing new Facebook page fans. Make sure you continuously update relevant information that will attract shoppers and keep them constantly interacting together with your social profile.

Mexico is a booming economy, and it has many normal tourists who come here to check factories or supervise offices through particular intervals. There are a lot overseas buyers who actually settle all across the nation, and stay in Mexico for months or even years at a period. At first, it is easy to go a little mad and eat out at Mexican restaurants every night, but that soon pales and individuals who are eager to remain in Mexico for a while are more than likely going to start seeking for different taste experiences in a couple of weeks.

Even while you are still eating from Mexican restaurants, you can still be spoiled for selection. The more contemporary Mexican cook is at present trying to figure out the cooking creation of his relatives, trying to make a fusion of European dishes and thickly spiced Mexican foods. Many of the updated restaurantes in Mexico now make use of local elements to create dishes in the customs of France or Italy, and this has lead to the founding of a variety of fascinating restaurants which provide a lot more than just Mexican foodstuff.

Long-stay guests will also not overlook the chance to visit some of the metropolitan areas away from the Center, also take advantage of their best diners. Some of these metropolitan areas shall also hold food festivals, where their local dishes are offered to tourists, or a certain food category is celebrated and used to create delicious foods.

Fans of restaurants all across Mexico will know all about the traditions of Food Festivals, and go to see the cities during these seasons just to taste out the dishes that will be available there. By regularly varying the way that they dine, making the most usage of the several different varieties of diner in Mexico, visitors and settlers could improve their eating skill in the state, and take pleasure in the very best that Mexican chefs have to offer.

Permanent Makeup

Probably the biggest frustrations a woman has each day is affiliated with the task of applying makeup. Throughout your youth, it’s an opportunity of independence, as an adult it begins to be a burden and as you become older the delicate demands of makeup application becomes more tough to accomplish appropriately. By having permanent makeup applied by an accomplished permanent makeup artist can be a single solution to address all of the concerns you might have had with the daily demands and high price of applying makeup every day.

The primary step taken is to speak with an accomplished permanent makeup professional that could justify the whole procedure and discuss the areas you desire for application. These are typically the eyebrows, eyeliner (upper and lower) and the lips. With this professional guidance you may find out the best colors, patterns, blends and numerous ways of application. The Soft Tap way of application allows for completely placed natural looking hairs and is the least intrusive regarding no needle application.

Botox Treatments

As someone gets older personal image starts to suffer as they experience many of the different signs of aging including wrinkles, crow’s feet, weak elasticity and puffiness. All of those elements play negatively against a person who is simply seeking to maintain their youthful appearance. These elements impact an individual so much that they usually pay thousands every year on various solutions in order to fight the main signs of aging. In fact none of those treatments offer the amazing results found with Botox & Facial Fillers which offer an immediate “quick lift” without invasive plastic surgery.

Various chemicals and serums produce slow results that never really meet the expectations of the investor. With the solutions of Botox & Facial Filler treatments you will be ready to discover a real opportunity to benefit from the money you have invested to get really efficient results. As opposed to the time-consuming, delayed and usually non-existent results received from over the counter products. With Botox & Facial Fillers you get instant results that truly offer the natural looking, youthful restoration, look being sought. This sort of treatment restores ones confidence, provides immediate wrinkle removal benefits and genuinely helps to restore your youthful appearance thus you feel better concerning your investment and appear 10 years younger right away.

Each of those procedures gives a distinctive chance that might not be accomplished without the aid of a professional medical spa facility. While image plays an important role in your work life, social life, or personal life, look to these opportunities as an efficient solution to what’s truly being sought, appearing younger and feeling better about yourself.

One of the most tough parts people discover from the pursuit of online investing is found with the quantity of time it requires with every investment. Most investors are using these resources as a second form of income which makes it tough to dedicate a significant amount of time towards successful investments. While it involves foreign currency exchange a person should research economies, various elements affecting a country, competing countries, and also the values connected to currency. Unless this is a full time job for a person it would prove tough to find the real success every person desires. Luckily the options of the Forex Trading System assist to improve the power of every investor.

The primary area of concern this method addresses is seen with the likelihood of improving a person’s investigation ability. Usually while a currency is researched you have to visit a variety of websites in order to capture small pieces of data so as to generate a hypothesis relating to price and change. You then have to do the same with many totally different currencies so as to find a possibility for financial comparison and investment. The resources of the Forex Trading System could allow you to simplify the research process so that comparable data is instantly offered so you can make knowledgeable decisions within the shortest time period ever.

The solutions granted by the Forex Trading Software take this chance for advancement one step ahead by introducing the possibility of automation. Outside of the demands connected to research, the next major difficult job for a person to accomplish is determining the most effective time to buy or sell and take advantage of such times. Most markets are constantly fluctuating making it difficult for a person to manage a constant presence recognizing change. Between full time work, managing a family and supporting a social life, there are a number of financial opportunities that can be missed. Through the resources of automation an individual could develop a system that would work on their behalf, making trades and accessing those financial opportunities twenty four hours every day.

One of the very first markets most people turn to for financial gain is found with the chances of the stock market. This market is often sought after due to the familiarity many consumers have with specific products or brand names. This can give a sense of security as you invest into a corporation that you may be well acquainted with. The resources of trading news may offer several different benefits together with creating a greater knowing of how the market works, gaining access to professional analysis, as well as capturing suggestions of where to invest into so that your odds of economic success are increased.

Another market that is simply as popular as the opportunities found from stock investing can be seen from the potential of commodities or futures investment. The recognition of this market is seen with the potential of identifying trends with totally different commodities that aid in the prediction of rises and falls in value. Through the knowledge offered to investors from trading news someone could discover how to find patterns in various commodities, be made aware of different factors which could be helping or harming value, and discover different corporations that may be influencing commodity production.

The final market of chance which isn’t so highly sought after may be seen with the potential offered with the Forex trading system. Foreign currencies are usually confusing for several as they have a limited understanding of currency outside of a few countries. While a lack of data may be a most important reason many avoid this market, the utilization of trading news can help in overcoming this limitation, giving a new market of economic gain. With the utilization of this news you may discover the strengths and weaknesses of currencies, which offer the most variation for profit, and that might be influenced by financial elements such as commodities.

Any success an individual needs from investing into stocks, commodities or currencies all starts with the information they could gather in making informed decisions.

Probably the primary steps you should take after you have planned your website and created a logo is to market your brand through social media websites. They are probably the most effective ways that to start out a brand building strategy is from social media networking since it utilizes sites such as Facebook and Twitter which could reach a much wider audience than other marketing ways. Placing your page upon these websites allows you to speak to potential customers who might have a particular interest in the products or services you give. So as to ensure that you continue branding your business on social media, you will need to continue the theme of your brand in the colors, shapes and logos of your home website. This would enable for business fluidity that could be a issue that plays a role in efficient branding practices.

The other technique of promotional branding for your business from promoting is by making content in other locations. You may have efficiently used search engine optimization practices on your own site, together with it in the many content, however you also want to push that content out into other websites. Essentially, anything that you may do to promote your brand should be done. So for instance you may ‘supply’ a number of your merchandise on eBay for a knock-down value, but your sales page would take your client into your own website thus exposing them to your brand. Another outside resource may be found with producing blogs on different websites or answering client questions on generic answer generating websites. This could boost client awareness and show your ability to cooperate with clients.

You can also be enhancing your brand marketing strategy whenever you try email marketing along with your previous customers. So, for instance, you may need to email customers information of the new merchandise or services your company offers. Offer them a sensible service, and put your logo and colors within the email. Keep reminding past customers of your brand and their earlier experience at your website. Maybe giving exclusive promotion specials might assist to draw in further attention and help in your overall branding efforts.

Additionally to marketing online, you also want to look into effective offline promoting channels. If you sell physical products, then promoting leaflets in with purchases could be utilised when enhancing your brand building strategy. You might also need to give away small things like pens or fridge magnets, along with your logo on and in your colors, that will serve as a reminder to the customer. They will also be used to reach out to the customer’s family and friends, since these items would be seen by everyone, and can effectively brand your business across a wider percentage of the population.

I’ve never pictured myself as having any aptitude for hospital work.

I appreciate that hospitals are an ideal context in which to offer care and compassion to persons in need, but such relationships are always short-term, and hence seem somewhat artificial to me. Certainly I could never see myself as a hospital chaplain – managing a constant turnover of such intense, short-term relationships.

Even so, when I found myself in hospital, not through any deliberate planning on my part but through the unpleasant workings of providence, I figured I’d have to make the best of the situation and take whatever opportunities the Good Lord put in my path. I was sorta hoping though that He’d give me a bit of a break.

Maybe it was that desire for a break that led me to introduce myself to the other blokes in my ward as ‘Dave: fight trainer and former pro fighter’, rather than as ‘Father Dave: Parish Priest’. What was the difference anyway? I had ‘Father Dave’ written on the label above my bed in case anybody cared to look, and, in truth, the other blokes didn’t really seem to be overly interested in anybody else‘s business anyway (God bless them).

Most of the other blokes weren’t overly forthcoming about themselves either – a quiet but decent bunch. The exception was the guy in the bed immediately opposite me – a guy who increasingly showed himself to be neither quiet nor decent – a guy named ‘Homer’.

I won’t mention his surname, as I want to respect some confidentiality, but I will say that it wasn’t ‘Simpson’. In many ways though it should have been. As time wore on, Homer gave an increasingly clear impression that he was as rude, lazy, unintelligent and as all-round self-obsessed as his three-fingered counterpart but had few of his animated namesake‘s redeeming features.

Homer would start his whinging early in the morning, and it seemed that the less people listened to him, the louder he became. He would complain about the food, the service, the bedding, the medication, the heat, the cold, and the lack of meaningful viewing alternatives on the television.

For the most part I was happy enough to just let this wash over me, but it was when he started honing in his attacks on a particular member of the nursing staff that I really started to lose my patience.

It started at 4am one morning. All of us in the ward were woken from our slumber to hear Homer loudly scolding Nurse Lee because she wouldn’t give him more pain-killers.

“But I’m only allowed to give you 2 tablets every 6 hours” the nurse said.

“No!” Homer would reply. “The doctor told me that I was allowed to take them every two hours!”

“He couldn’t have possibly told you that, Mr Homer”, the nurse replied.

“I know what I heard”, Homer shouted in response.

And in such manner the stoush continued, with the unfortunate nurse holding her ground while Homer became increasingly obnoxious in his use of language. At one point he even suggested that the good nurse should go and re-read her Hippocratic oath – ‘that the customer is always right!’

Homer’s knowledge of Hippocrates pretty well summed up the wisdom of his position as I saw it. He neither understood manners, history, nor what was good for him. Even so, if it were possible to compensate for a lack of substance with an increase of volume, he was the guy to do it!

Eventually the supervising doctor was found and the moment of truth arrived. “You told me I could take these every two hours!” Homer exclaimed. “I most certainly did not. You can only take them every six hours!” replied the doctor. “Oh”, said Homer. “… I thought you said every two”

Now you would have thought that this would have spelt the end of the conflict. What other options were there at this point for the defeated Homer except to apologise to the doctor, the nursing staff and his entire hospital audience, and to walk away quietly with his tail between his legs.

If Leonidas, king of Sparta, had found himself in this position at Thermopylae he would have apologised to the rapacious King Xerxes, rounded up his troops and returned home. If Luke Skywalker and his mates had found themselves in this position at the Battle of Endor, they would have surrendered to the nearest storm-trooper and sworn loyalty to the Emperor. If the Devil himself … ok, you get the idea. My point is that Homer was no ordinary human being. He didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘defeat’ (or many other words for that matter), so instead of backing down and apologising he upped the attack.

Homer found new reasons to criticise the middle-aged Asian nurse who had done so well in putting up with his vitriolic assault. He focused on the multiple personality defects that he had detected in her. He attacked her lack of fluency in English. He even tried to report her to the supervising nurse for having shoes that he was sure didn’t meet Occupational Health and Safety standards!

Long after Nurse Lee’s shift had ended Homer’s tirade continued to be broadcast to anybody and everybody that would care to listen to him, and his comments became increasingly sleazy and racially orientated.

On reflection I’m not sure why it took me so long to make a meaningful response. My only defence is that I was rather ill – running a temperature, on high levels of medication and attached to a drip. Even so, I’m not proud of the fact that it took me half a day before my tolerance ran out.

I can’t remember now the specific Homerism that set me off, but I do remember calling over one of the nursing staff and asking her to pass on a message to Homer from me: “will you please tell Homer that if he makes one more sleazy or racist comment about Nurse Lee that I’m going to detach my drip and walk over there and break his nose?”

Happily the nurse was saved from the predicament of having to actually pass on the message as Homer overheard most of what I had said. He responded with some mild, low-volume swearing that indicated to me that he hadn’t really got the message. I repeated my plan more audibly and added: “It’s entirely your call, brother. Keep you mouth shut and you’ll be fine. One more sleazy or racist comment and you’ll find yourself in a pool of your own blood!” This colourful P.S. proved rather effective, and an ominous silence then descended on our room.

The silence was broken by the arrival of a mate of mine who had come to pay me a visit. As providence would have it this particular brother (who I’ll refer to simply as ‘Bugsy’) is an enormous bloke with a face that tells a story of a thousand pub brawls. He’s recently found God and is a big-hearted guy, but he’d still make a fantastic standover man. He’s the sort of guy that mob bosses love to have accompanying them when they go to collect debts – ‘rough him up a bit for me, Bugsy!’

Anyway, Bugsy had come to see how I was going and there was no avoiding explaining to him the tangible air of tension in the ward. Bugsy thought it was great fun, and he did consider walking over to Homer’s bed and just confirming with him that he’d got the message, but he hesitated on the grounds that he was still on parole, and I think that was a wise decision.

At any rate, I think the mere appearance of this Caucasian version of Mr T helped enormously to reinforce my message to Homer. I didn’t hear a squeak out of him from that moment on, right up until they moved me to another ward about an hour later. Moreover, I was told that the next morning he had bought a big box of chocolates for all the nurses!

And things only got better for me from that moment on. I was moved to a much quieter room and I was the darling of the nursing staff for the remainder of my hospital stay. Best of all, I received a visit from Nurse Lee at the conclusion of her next shift. She said to me in her lovely broken English, “You are my knight in shining armour”.

The whole experience has cast hospital work in a new light for me. I still can’t see myself as a chaplain, but maybe I could be on call for certain special cases that suit my particular style of ministry?

Back at home no one was surprised when they heard what had happened. Indeed, my colleague, Father Elias, began his sermon the following Sunday by saying, “I think if it had appeared in the paper that a priest had threatened to beat up a fellow patient in a Sydney Hospital, the most common response would have been, ‘I didn’t know Dave was in hospital!’”

I’m not entirely sure whether I should feel pleased or horrified by Elias’ analysis, but it did make me laugh.

“I do not box as though beating the air,” says St. Paul, and all the boxers in the congregation say … Amen!

There was a great choice of readings to work with today – from Elisha’s healing of Naaman the Syrian to Jesus’ healing of the leprous man in today’s Gospel reading – but I don’t think anybody will blame me today for choosing this passage from St Paul’s first epistle to the Christians at Corinth – “I do not box as though beating the air” – when today we have baptized a lad of such prestigious pugilistic pedigree and who promises to be such a fantastic future fighter!

“I do not box as though beating the air”! You might have thought that I had dug through the Scriptures and specifically plucked this passage out today, but it is not so! This is the reading scheduled in our lectionary, believe it or not!

Evidently it was meant to be – predestined from before the foundation of the world perhaps – that on this auspicious day, when there are so many boxers in the house, that St Paul’s one and only reference to boxing would be read!

Of course, Paul wasn’t referring to the Queensbury-rules-style of boxing with which so many of us are familiar. In St Paul’s day boxing was far more brutal!

There are no shortage of people today, of course, who consider modern boxing to be barbaric. It might help put such things in perspective by comparing the type of sport-fighting to which St Paul was accustomed – namely, the ancient Greek Pankration, which was the original fighting art of the Olympic Games.

Even though it was considered a noble sport, the Pankration was a brutal form of no-rules fighting where too naked men tore away at each other until the one left standing was ultimately able to claim the wreath with which he would be crowned Olympic champion!

Legend has it that when Ulysses returned from the Trojan wars his own mother didn’t recognise him. I’m told though that when the Pankration champion returned from the first Olympics that his own dog couldn’t recognise him! First-century boxing was a brutal activity, which is why it might strike a to be a strange sort of metaphor to use with regards to the Christian life!

In our culture, being a follower of Christ is often considered to be a bit ‘girly’. Indeed, not only in our 21st century Australian culture but worldwide, Christianity seems to have taken on a certain feminine character.

I remember our dear friend Father Elias (the colourful Catholic monk who served us so well here as a part of our community a few years back) saying to me that in France now, where his community is based, you are considered a Christian if your wife goes to church!

Now … I am not regretting that it is chiefly women who are now leading the church into the future (and this despite the best efforts of certain elements of the church’s leadership to hold them back) but I am sensing a certain cognitive dissonance between the imagery of the Christian life that is current in our own culture and that which is here being propagated by St Paul.

“I do not box as though beating the air,” says Paul, and his point is that real faith is a hands-on experience, and there is an implicit contrast here between two ways of trying to follow Christ – one that is a hands on, body-on-the-line type of stoush, and another which is something more akin to boxercise, where you appear to be fighting but when, in fact, you’re only punching the air!

Now I’ve got nothing against boxercise, but as a boxing trainer and fight club manager I can tell you that I often have to make the point to our clients that “this is not a boxercise gym”.

Most people do recognise that of course when they turn up to ‘Father Dave’s Fight Club’. They realise that they are joining a fight club and not a boxercise class, but occasionally people do need to be reminded, because there is a big difference between the two types of gym, and people attend the two for very different reasons, just as people attend church for very different reasons.

Some attend because they want to look good, and because they are interested in self-improvement. Am I talking about the gym or the church? I’m talking about both!

I can tell you though that in our case people do not join because they want to look good nor simply for the sake of self-improvement. They join because they want to fight! Am I talking about the gym or the church? I hope, once again, I’m talking about both!

For this is the key difference between the Fight Club and the boxercise gym. When you come home from Fight Club you sort of expect that you’ll be a little bruised and bleeding.

As most of you would know, I’ve been training pretty hard of late, and I’ve been coming home bruised and bleeding pretty regularly. Indeed, as I look out on the congregation today I think I am in a reasonably unique position as a preacher, as I am looking at most of the people who are responsible for those bruises and blood loss! There’s quite a few of you in fact!

I’ve had the privilege of doing quite a few rounds lately with my brother, Lovemore, and I can tell you that I have come away bleeding on every occasion, though I must add that the only person who has actually stopped me recently (that is, the only person to have actually forced me to stop fighting and take time out before being able to continue) is young ‘Bruiser Dayal’ (16-year-old Irena).

Anyway, the point is that the path of Christian discipleship is likewise a bloody experience. We wish it were not that way but it is.

We wish we could love others without having to make real and costly sacrifices but we cannot.

We wish that we could speak out against injustice without having people ridicule us, malign us, and deliberately misrepresent us, but we cannot.

We wish that it were possible to care for the poor without having to impoverish ourselves but it is not.

We wish we could care for the homeless without having to open our own homes or sacrifice our own privacy, but it is just not possible.

We wish that people weren’t so complicated, and that all our friends and family and children needed was just a few wise words, after which they would sort themselves out, but instead it turns out that family and parenthood and even friendship itself is a life-long commitment where those we love never seem to get things entirely right and where nothing ever seems to get ultimately resolved and where we are nonetheless expected to continue to pour ourselves out without ever necessarily seeing any results for our efforts.

We wish that Christian discipleship was not like this but it is! We wish that fighting the good fight was something more like a boxercise class, where we can go through the motions, look good, improve ourselves, and do so at a minimal personal cost, but this is just not possible. The path to glory is soaked with blood. Am I talking about the Fight Club or the church? Both!

I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it – I do the training. I put in the hard rounds. I put in the work in the gym and in the ring – so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.

The path of Christian discipleship, like the path of the athlete, can be a hard and lonely path. And just as the boxer needs to train properly if she is going to survive in the ring, so the follower of Jesus needs to take her training seriously, to focus, and to put in the hard yards if she is going to make it to the final round.

I know that there are a lot of theories going about as to how best to accomplish that training (and I’m talking both about the Fight Club and the church).

In the world of boxing there are a lot of theories as to how to best prepare for a fight, and I’ve heard most of them. Most recently though, in my own training, I’ve been taking my lead from a wise indigenous friend and boxing trainer who told me that I should simply follow the example of the indigenous fighters of this country in my fight preparation.

Our indigenous sisters and brothers tend to excel in boxing like no other group in the country and this guy swears that all his indigenous fighters do in preparation for their fights is two things – they run and the box.

So that’s all I’ve been doing for the last 12 months in my own fight preparation – I’ve been running and boxing (trying to box at least 10 rounds per night and run a minimum of 10kms/day, six days per week). And I have found that it works!

And at the risk of being simplistic, I want to suggest that, spiritually speaking, there are really only two things we need to focus on in preparing ourselves for the spiritual fight too, and they are ‘prayer’ and ‘praxis’.

Prayer and praxis – those are the keys I believe.

Prayer is what we are doing now – meeting for prayer and worship, and we can’t expect to progress far as a Christian warrior unless we spend time with the commander in prayer and worship.

And praxis is the other key element in the training program. Praxis means doing. It means getting our hands dirty and vigorously doing the work of Christian ministry – feeding the poor, working for justice, sharing the Gospel of hope, and doing all the ordinary, every-day works of love that Christ calls us to do.

I often reflect on the words of Jesus recorded in John chapter 8: “If you hold to my teaching … you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (vs. 31-32)

Doing the truth leads to knowing the truth (rather than the other way round). The more time we put in to actually doing the work of Christian ministry, the more we understand of God and of ourselves, and the stronger we become as Christian pugilists, just as the ring-fighter, the more times he boxes, the better boxer he becomes.

Prayer and praxis – that’s the exhortation I want to finish on today. That might not sound like much of a climax for the sermon but hard work is the flip-side of glory!

I always warn the boys in the Fight Club, ‘winning a fight is glorious, but training, for the most part, is just hard work.’ Perhaps that sums up how a lot of us feel about church at the moment too? Well, we don’t have to enjoy every session, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be there.

For we didn’t follow Christ for His entertainment value, or because we wanted to look good or simply because we wanted to improve ourselves. If those were our goals we would have joined the boxercise class at the local punching-the-air boxercise gym. No! We knew what we were letting ourselves in for when we chose to follow Christ. We knew we were getting ourselves into a fight.

For we don’t have to look to hard around our world today to know that there’s a war going on, and it’s not a fight for the faint-hearted.

We know that if we are truly going to follow Jesus in this world that it is going to cost us everything that we have. But we know, too, that if our resolve is firm and if we train hard, if we develop our spiritual muscle and self-control, if we can endure the pain and keep our cool that we will survive until the last round is over.

We will hear that final bell, we will see the enemy at our feet, and we will receive that imperishable wreath that the apostle speaks of, reserved for those who have fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith. Training is hard, but victory is glorious. Amen!

Fighting Father’ Dave – Parish Priest, Community Worker, Professional boxer, Martial Arts master, Father of three. Dave’s goal is to offer an alternative culture for young people, based on values of courage, integrity, self-discipline and teamwork. He is available to help work your corner as you fight the good fight. Visit http://www.fatherdave.org for more information.

Looking through the Gospel text this week I was reminded of the story of the priest who gets pulled over by a policeman after running a red light, and when the window is wound down, the officer is immediately confronted with the smell of alcohol emanating from the car!

“Have you been drinking, Father?” the policeman asks.  “Not a drop”, the priest replies.

“Well … would you mind telling me what you’ve got in that flask”, the policeman asks.  “Ah … that would be water”, says the priest.

The policeman picks up the flask, opens it and sniffs it. “I believe this is whiskey, Father”, says the policeman.

“Mother of God!” says the priest, “Another miracle!”

And as I read through the Gospel reading today I find myself making the same response: ‘Another miracle!’

We’re actually only in the first chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark, and yet already we have been confronted with a whole series of miracles!

No sooner had Jesus entered the synagogue to teach than he was confronted by a wild, crazy man, screaming out at him, and Jesus healed the man.

And within a day of that event, or so it seems, everybody who is sick or possessed is crowding around Jesus, and Jesus is healing them of their illnesses and driving out demons, and the activity becomes all-consuming, though the irony is that Jesus seems to be engaging in the whole process a little reluctantly!

We sense a degree of frustration, I think, with Jesus early on, as He tries to quieten the testimonies of the possessed – “You are the Holy One of God!” – lest the whole thing get out of hand.  And yet it does get out of hand, and Jesus seems frustrated by the hordes that press on him. It appears that He wants people to listen to what He has to say, and not just to get carried away with His miracles or His mysterious identity.

This is made quite explicit at the end of our reading today, where we see Jesus, having escaped from the crowds that were pursuing him to a ‘lonely place’ (vs.35), telling His disciples that it’s time to move on.

“Let’s go to the neighbouring towns so that I can preach there, too. For that is why I came out here.” (vs.38)

And it seems that Jesus, after having taken some time to think things through, realises that His priority has to be spreading His word of hope about the new world coming.  The great well of human need that He sees round about him is, it seems, a distraction that threatens to divert Him from His real work.

Surely there were any number of others who could take up the task of healing the sick.  Jesus must focus on spreading the word, “for that is why I came out”!

As I say, there is a fair degree of irony in this because despite Jesus’ words, He never actually acts in accordance with His own pronouncement!

Perhaps indeed the ordinary needs of ordinary human beings are a distraction from the greater work of spreading the Gospel, but if so, Jesus seemed to consistently allow Himself to be distracted!

So many people come to him, we are told, that there isn’t room at the door, and yet we don’t see Jesus standing up and saying, “Look! I want everybody to put their physical issues on hold for a moment. I have some things I’d like to say.”

No! There is a well of human misery surrounding Jesus as He begins His ministry, and Jesus wades right into it!

Jesus does not detach Himself. He allows Himself to be distracted. He reaches out. He heals. He liberates both the infirmed and the possessed, and He does so knowing full well that this is detracting from the work that He was sent to do, but He does it anyway!

Yes, at the end of the day he creates some distance for Himself and He decides that it’s time to focus on preaching, and yet the immediate follow-on from this pronouncement is that a person afflicted with leprosy finds Jesus and asks for help.

And Jesus doesn’t say, “Not now, buddy!  I’ve got other things I need to be doing. At least wait until the end of the sermon!” On the contrary, St Mark records that Jesus was ‘moved with compassion’ for the man (vs.41), and so He healed him.  And so the pattern of preaching AND healing (where there always seems to be a lot more healing than preaching) continues!

Now that story of the man with leprosy is in next week’s reading, I think, and I don’t want to snatch the thunder from next week’s sermon, so perhaps I should focus on the main healing that is dealt with in this week’s story – namely, the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law – a healing that I must say has to be one of the least spectacular healing stories ever recorded in any of the four Gospels!

It is preceded by the healing of the crazy demoniac and proceeded by the story of the man with leprosy, and it seems like a rather innocuous example to focus on relative to those two!

We are told that Simon Peter’s mother-in-law had a fever, but there is no suggestion there that it was life-threatening. It may have been, of course, or she may have just had a slight touch of the flu!

It does make you wonder why the Gospel writer chose to include this particular incident when it does seem to detract from the action-packed nature of the adventure that’s unfolding.

Was it just that the Gospel writer and his first readers all knew Peter’s mother-in-law personally?  If so, it’s a bit of a surprise that she doesn’t receive a name in the story!

Some scholars suggest that there is a movement in the story of the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law that is archetypal for the process of discipleship.

As you read the narrative, you do feel that movement:

• Jesus goes to her

• He takes her by the hand

• He lifts her up

• She is healed!

And it’s almost like a dance that Jesus and the woman are sharing in together, where Jesus leads the dance but where, you will notice, the woman makes the final move, for we are told that no sooner has she been healed than she begins to ‘serve’ Jesus – literally, to ‘wait on Him’ but the implication being that she has now become a disciple, and so the dance of love and healing and service will continue!

I’m sure this story has deliberately been framed to encapsulate this movement, as a sort of template for discipleship.  Even so, there’s no reason the Gospel writer could not have overlaid that template on any number of other more spectacular healing stories too

My guess is that Mark deliberately included this story of the healing of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, in all its ordinariness, simply because it is so ordinary, and hence so familiar!

We see healings like this all the time, don’t we? We are often involved in healings like this, are we not?

It may be that you, like me, have seen a handful of spectacular healings and/or exorcisms in your time, but for the most part it is these little miracles that we are familiar with, and perhaps part of the point of this passage is that little miracles are still miracles, and the fact that they are small and familiar does not mean that they are unimportant!

I think of all the little miracles I’ve been privileged to be the beneficiary of over the years – not normally directly from the hand of Jesus, but more often through the healing touch of one of Jesus’ people.

I think back to the time when I was struggling with depression, trying to survive my own family breakdown many years ago. And I remember all the little acts of healing that took place back then – the little miracle of a friend who would sit up with me and share a beer with me and let me talk until I was able to go to sleep.

We’ve been remembering the lives of dear old Margaret and Thelma today, and I remember well the small miracles that they would dispense – nothing spectacular, but a gentle word, a loving embrace – coming to me, taking me by the hand, lifting me up and giving me healing and strength.  Life’s little miracles!

“Let’s go to the neighbouring towns so that I can preach there, too. For that is why I came out here.” (vs.38)

As I say, there is a subtle irony in this pronouncement, in part because Jesus seems to be incapable of following His own advice!

If Jesus really was psyching up the team for a more focused ministry where words came first and acts of healing second, it was a program He never carried through with.  His compassion got the better of Him.

And yet there is another irony here too, and it’s found in the text of the Gospel itself!

Jesus’ priority, we are told, is preaching and teaching, and yet if you read through this extensive first chapter of the Gospel according to St Mark, there’s not a single word of Jesus’ teaching recorded! It actually not until we get to the latter part of Mark chapter 2 that we get any of the actual teachings of Jesus recorded!

I’m not suggesting that this makes the teachings of Jesus any less important – not at all – but I am suggesting that (at least so far as the Gospel-writer Mark was concerned) these were not the things Jesus was best remembered for!

And this is true to life!

As we are remembering today the lives of dear Thelma and Margaret, I must say that I remember them very well, but it’s not their wise words I remember, though I’m sure Thelma (in particular) had plenty for me. It was her compassionate touch, her loving looks, the affectionate kiss, the healing embrace …

St Francis of Assisi is said to have said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary use words”. I don’t know if he really said it, but it makes sense.

Of course we don’t do anybody any favours by holding back the words of the Gospel, for indeed these words can be the source of life and hope.  And yet words by themselves can be very hollow.

When we die it will most likely not be our words that we are best remembered for.  Most likely it will be the little miracles that we were a part of.  And it may seem sometimes that our contribution is not that great (‘ah … another miracle’) and yet every miracle – great and small – is a part of that great dance that Christ is leading us in.

For Jesus is more than just a teacher, just as His teaching is more than mere words.  He is “the visible image of our invisible God”, says St Paul (Colossians 1:15).

Or in the words of Charles Wesley:

Jesu, Thou art all compassion.
Pure, unbounded love Thou art.
Visit us with Thy salvation.
Enter every trembling hear!

‘Fighting Father’ Dave – Parish Priest, Community Worker, Professional boxer, Martial Arts master, Father of three. Dave’s goal is to offer an alternative culture for young people, based on values of courage, integrity, self-discipline and teamwork. He is available to help work your corner as you fight the good fight. Visit http://www.fatherdave.org for more information.

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