There are a lot of stories about holy interruptions in the bible, times when the routines of a person's life were halted, and in that moment God drew near and their life changed forever.  One of the most familiar stories would be that of Moses whose daily routine of caring for sheep was interrupted one day by a burning bush. When he turned aside he encountered God. From that holy interruption Moses' life was redirected to Egypt where he eventually led the Hebrew children out of bondage.

            The story of Jonah is a story of holy interruptions. You remember how Jonah received God's word to go to Nineveh to prophesy. But he wanted nothing to do with Nineveh, so he set out by boat to go to Tarshish. His trip was going so well that he fell asleep in the boat. Even a large storm could not disturb his sleep. But the men on board the ship who feared for their lives interrupted Jonah's sleep and threw him overboard, an offering to the god's Jonah's life was interrupted for three days while he traveled in the belly of a whale. It was a holy interruption, a time that redirected his life.

            Much later, a man from Tarsus by the name of Saul would be interrupted by a holy presence on the road to Damascus. His sight would be taken for three days. During that time of darkness he had a lot of time to think, a lot of time to listen for God's word. That holy interruption changed Saul the Christian hater into Paul the great evangelist of the church.

            There are lots of stories of holy interruptions, of times when ordinary life was suspended and God drew near and things took on a different view. Augustine found himself in a cave during a fierce storm. As an aristocratic young man he had sown lots of wild oats. But in the cave the presence of God became real to him, and that holy moment marked a change of course for his life. He went on to become one of the great teachers and theologians of the early church.

            Interruptions in life brought on by all kinds of events can be holy moments for us, times when God seems near, times when we see ourselves in new and hopeful ways. Some people have those moments when they are on a battle field and in some miraculous moment they feel their life spared as though by the hand of God. Some find their life interrupted by a serious illness or threat to life. Somewhere in the battle they have a moment when God becomes real and present in an unexplainable way, and that moment becomes for them a life changing event. Some go through a difficult divorce or the death of a spouse or child, and are only able to survive because there was a holy interruption, a time when God drew near and pulled them out of the miry pit. And some people have been working as teachers or lawyers or accountants and they've been interrupted by a slight tug at the heart, a word that would not go away, that God had something more for them to do. This became for them a holy interruption, a call from God to set everything aside and take up a call to ministry.

            In our scripture today two people interrupt Jesus. One is a very wealthy and powerful man, a member of the highest court in the land. He has a sick daughter and asked Jesus to come and heal her. The second interruption comes from a poor woman who has been sick for many years. Her condition makes her unclean, unable to participate in the religious rites of the community, unable to be in the company of others.   She lacks the confidence to walk up to Jesus and interrupt him. But she slips up behind him in the crowd and touches the hem of his garment hoping to find healing. In both these interruptions Jesus appears to realize something that many of us forget when others interrupt us. Jesus knew any interruption had the potential of becoming a holy interruption, an opportunity for the presence of God to become a deeper reality in the life of another person.

            The late Henri Nouwen, a great Catholic teacher and minister, said in the prime of his career that he became frustrated by the many interruptions to his work. He was teaching at Notre Dame. He had a heavy agenda each day and didn't like to be disturbed. Then one day it dawned on him that his interruptions were his work. Someone has said, "Life is what happens to you while you're making other plans!" Often we find that the interruption is of greater consequence than what we were doing.

My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin' 'fore I knew it, and as he grew
He'd say "I'm gonna be like you dad
You know I'm gonna be like you"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home dad?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, "Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw", I said "Not today
I got a lot to do", he said, "That's ok"
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, "I'm gonna be like him, yeah
You know I'm gonna be like him"

And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin' home son?
I don't know when, but we'll get together then son
You know we'll have a good time then

Well, he came home from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son, I'm proud of you, can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head and said with a smile
"What I'd really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?"

            The failure to know when to allow our lives to be interrupted, the failure to recognize when an interruption is a holy moment can turn a beautiful relationship into a burden, can turn friends into strangers, can turn hopeful dreams into nightmares. Failure to recognize when an interruption has the potential to be something holy can rob us and others of knowing the nearness, love and care of God visible in another human life.

            Modern life, with cell phones and e-mail and all the other tools of constant contact, makes us ever more susceptible to what Charles Hummel, in a famous 1967 essay, called “The Tyranny of the Urgent.” We can become so focused on what must be done that we miss out altogether on what it means to be human, what it means to live in relationship with others, what it means to be touched by God.

            Ann Weems wrote a poem back in 1980 that seems to just be about passing the peace in church. But it is about so much more. It is about how each one of us have the power through a holy interruption to bring the peace of Christ to others.

What is all this touching in church?
It used to be a person could come to church and sit in the pew
and not be bothered by all this friendliness
and certainly not by touching.
I used to come to church and leave untouched.
Now I have to be nervous about what's expected of me.

I have to worry about responding to the person sitting next to me.
Oh, I wish it could be the way it used to be;
I could just ask the person next to me: How are you?
And the person could answer: Oh, just fine,
And we'd both go home . . . strangers who have known each other
for twenty years.
But now the minister asks us to look at each other.
I'm worried about that hurt look I saw in that woman's eyes.
Now I'm concerned,
because when the minister asks us to pass the peace,
The man next to me held my hand so tightly
I wondered if he had been touched in years.
Now I'm upset because the lady next to me cried and then apologized
And said it was because I was so kind and that she needed
A friend right now.
Now I have to get involved.
Now I have to suffer when this community suffers.
Now I have to be more than a person coming to observe a service.
That man last week told me I'd never know how much I'd touched his life.
All I did was smile and tell him I understood what it was to be lonely.
Lord, I'm not big enough to touch and be touched!
The stretching scares me.
What if I disappoint somebody?
What if I'm too pushy?
What if I cling too much?
What if somebody ignores me?
"Pass the peace."
"The peace of God be with you." "And with you."
And mean it.
Lord, I can't resist meaning it!
I'm touched by it, I'm enveloped by it!
I find I do care about that person next to me!
I find I am involved!
And I'm scared.
O Lord, be here beside me.
You touch me, Lord, so that I can touch and be touched!
So that I can care and be cared for!
So that I can share my life with all those others that belong to you!
All this touching in church -- Lord, it's changing me!

            There is the need to be aware of the interruptions of our day, for they may be holy in that they afford us an opportunity to know and share God's grace and to bring God's peace.