The reading from John 5: 1-3 5-16 is about the miracle of the invalid man at the pool at Bethesda. The spot alongside the pool was populated with the paralysed, blind, and unwell who would enter the pool in an attempt to get better. For thirty-eight years the invalid man had lain alongside the pool, but had never succeeded in getting in when the waters had been stirred, despite the fact that he believed that entering might cure him.

I thought a lot on this, how we wait for “the waters to be disturbed” for belief to come. It may indeed take a lifetime and we never have the time or the courage or the opportunity to jump in.