Listen to this sermon...
So many of us know the experience of being “so close and yet so far” from the dream goal we’ve wished to attain. The lame man at the Beautiful Gate knew this in a literal way. Paralyzed from birth, he lies near the threshold of the Temple at this gate, unable to go in under his own power, forbidden to be brought in because of his disability. All he can do is seek the pity of the fortunate in the form of alms. The Lord changes all that through Peter, granting the man not what he is asking for but what he no longer allows himself to dream about – being made whole, able to offer God full-bodied worship, restored to full status in the community. This miracle wakes many to the possibility that God can do far beyond our feeble expectations, taking us beyond “so close” to “walking and leaping and praising God.”
