For those not able to join us for one or both of the past two Sundays, the passage today of a woman healed follows a series on faith that we've covered over the past two weeks. First, on June fourteenth, we linked the parable of the mustard seed to another story with seeds, Jack and the Beanstalk. We talked how faith can grow. And last week, we personalized the message of Jesus calming the wind and water by relating this famous 'rock the boat' passage to our own faith journeys, particularly when we gain faith experience from the storms of own lives. Here today, we have the third installment in a series on faith. We'll personalize this too because, as we continue to grow in faith and experience Jesus' presence during rough waters, we learn the Bible is neither antiquated nor barren. Its stories are neither dusty nor distant.

In speaking of stories, here's what we're going to accomplish with this reading today. In three steps, we are going to look at stories. First, we'll discuss this woman Jesus encounters. We'll both learn from and relate to her. Second, after her experience with Jesus, we'll speculate on what she does next. And, third, we'll realize that we, too, have experiences with Jesus, and, with focus on our high school graduates, we'll leave this worship knowing that we all have stories of faith to tell, and, most importantly, we have stories of faith to share.

At first glance, this woman Jesus meets, does she remind you of anyone? Here, in this large and perhaps pressing crowd that Joyce described for us, a type of crowd we may experience at places like the Harford Fair as people line up for the fudge sold at our log cabin, it's not such a stretch to imagine a clearly driven individual, who, like an armored tank, moves determinedly toward Jesus, her target. Who here hasn't been bumped or sidelined by a person who, in an open area with no known traffic rules, clearly has an agenda or destination and you, an apparent bystander, are in the way?

 At first, maybe this woman seems a little pushy, a little brash, but we don't really know her. We haven't walked that proverbial mile in her shoes. Return to your scripture sheets to understand who she is and where, on her journey or life story, she's coming from. Start reading aloud at verse twenty five and continue on to verse twenty six with me now. Among them was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered very much from many doctors and had spent all the money she had, but instead of improving, she was getting worse.

For twelve years this woman is getting worse. She's suffered from many doctors, and, as a pastor who knows this congregation, there are people here who suffer from doctors or depression, from illness or injury, deep injury, to the soul. Don't think this person depicted isn't someone you know because she, or he, is here today. This person who's been suffering spiritually, physically or mentally for a long time may be sitting near you, or is someone you know and care about very much. In a way, and I ask that you consider this, the person in our scripture is you in that you've endured enough and you are one making a beeline for Jesus.

It's true, some of us haven't been sick for twelve consecutive days in our whole lives, let alone twelve years, but don't say you haven't been hurt at one time or another. Don't say some of your hopes or dreams haven't been dashed. Don't say you haven't, at least at some point for one split second, wondered, why me?

The first point we're making today is that we can relate to this woman. After all, like her, we, too, have heard of Jesus. But just how much like her do we care to be? If we put ourselves in the story, are we just a part of the crowd, or are we willing to get close to Jesus, close enough to have a personal experience with him? And notice how she approaches Jesus, not from the front, but from behind. While male and female roles were unfortunately far different than they are now, somehow or some way this woman could have found the appropriate time to meet Jesus face to face, or she could have broken tradition and custom all together and met him eye to eye. Even though she heard of him, even though she knew she wanted to get close enough to touch his garment, she still did it from the least committed way possible. Do you relate to her in his way? In your life, do you do what you need to do to come to Jesus face to face, or do you come in from behind?

We don't know why this woman approached our Savior the way she did. But she did reach him. And, since you are, in ways, like this person, you can reach Jesus.

She met Jesus and was changed by him. You can meet Jesus and be changed by him, too. Again, relate to this woman. That's point one. No matter how far or fast your faith seed has grown, or how many times your boat's been rocked, with your faith, get in there and touch Jesus. And, once you've been changed—and you will be changed—be sure and tell others about it.

The second point in our time together this morning has us speculating on what this woman did next. The text moves on. It doesn't say what she did next. Did she tell others of her experience with Christ? Did she stop strangers on the street, or restrict her comments to just those who knew her? Day by day, does she live by the faith that brought her to Jesus in the first place, or, in time, does her faith dissipate? And, for us today, would it take some profound miracle for you to share your faith story, or is it something you can do day by day?

Some of you may wonder, "Come on here! What am I to say about my faith story? Talk about God in my life? Where do I begin? Yes, I understand the parable of the mustard seed, and I get Jesus in the boat calming the wind and the water, but where do I start? What do I actually say?"

What to say seems like a broad question. Most, if not all of us have or will have a few job interviews in our lives, and our graduates may have many interviews in their lives. And here's a question that stumps some of us during the interview because it's not a question at all. From the interviewer comes this initial conversation starter: so, tell me a little bit about yourself. You've heard that one, right?

Where do you begin, right? Where do you start your story? Do you start off by sharing with the interviewer the pet rock collection you started when you five?

Or, say you're interviewing for a serious accounting position, and in telling the interviewer about yourself, you first list every ice cream flavor you've ever tried, then venture into those you'd like to either try, or invent. There, in your conservatively understated interview suit—you know, the gray one—do you then go into a one-person discourse on the virtues of sugar cones versus waffle cones and now, the personal favorite, waffle bowls?

Where does your story begin?  

Perhaps it's not an interview at all. Perhaps as a high school graduate, you'll be on a college campus for the first time as an underclassman this fall, or you're at a party for senior citizens and you know no one there, and you have to introduce yourself.  You have your whole life to share.  You have a compilation of your own stories like a rolodex in your mind. Where do you choose to let your story begin?

   Think about it. What will you share first? What will frame your story? Even if you bounce all over the place from stories of your pet rocks to the 3,300 ice cream flavors you've tried out there, what's the major theme of your story? What's something that, if even by a thread, repeats and repeats?

Tell me that your story has God in it. Tell me, by coming to church today, you are succeeding or at least trying to articulate God in your story. Tell me that you're bringing God into your story because you know, deep down, God is in your life.

The cool thing about God is that God is everywhere, and in everything. The 'un-cool' part is that sometimes we don't see God, especially in the moment.

No one here is perfect. No one here is saintly. Some of us, in the past, have put this church on the back burner, or we haven't come through like we know we should. Some of us have put God on the back burner for a time, too. Oh yeah, God is there, sure, but with my life, with how busy it is, with how consuming it is, with how hard it is, or with how good it is, eh, God? Not so much. 

Today, in thinking how your story begins—and for all of us, graduates and those here to support them—we have a shot at a new beginning. Every day, in essence, is a new beginning. In that new beginning, be like the woman in our scripture today. Be like that woman and come up to Jesus. Don't do it from behind. Don't sneak in. Come face to face with our Savior. No, you're right; Jesus is not in a crowd anymore. He's in your crowded heart, your crowded heart that's full of your own stuff—the stuff that keeps you busy or distracted.

But he's there—and you don't have to touch him, he's touching you.

Let us pray. But before we do, be real. Be honest. Be true with yourself.

And now we begin. Dear Heavenly Father, wow, you've caught me. Actually, you've always had me. You've always been present. Sometimes I know you're there. Sometimes I want to shout Your praises from these nearby mountaintops.  Sometimes I know I've been anywhere but the top of a mountain. Instead, it feels more like a valley. But You're there. You're a part of my life.  Before I go home today, let me share with others here that You are in my life, and that I can name You as being present. Yes, God, let my story begin with You. Amen.