Today’s reading was about Jesus healing an invalid man at the pool of Bethesda, found in John 5:1-15. This is another familiar story, but still good to read again. We did have an interesting discussion about why the people gathered at the pool, and what it meant that they were waiting for the waters to be “stirred up.”  When we read the story in A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories, it pretty much stated as fact that the water was occasionally stirred up by angels for healing purposes, while the notes in my Lutheran Study Bible referred to this as a “Greek Cultic Belief.” In the end, we decided that while it could be true, the fact that the Bible doesn’t specifically say it’s true means that it at best doesn’t matter if the water had actual healing properties. All that really matters is that Jesus was able to heal this man with only a word!

Sadly, this was another symbol (a mat) that didn’t photograph well, and doesn’t show up well against the banner because of how dark it is. It was fun to make, though, partly because it was easy, and partly because it was just fun to fringe the edges!