heal the whole family

Tuesday February 19^th, Romans 10: 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  We are into the Lenten season. Soon it will be Easter and we will have among us all those who attend worship only on those high Holy Days.  We sometimes even refer to “them” as CEO’s (Christmas, Easter Only).  For those of us in the church it is easy to lament, “Where are they the rest of the year?”  And feel very self-righteous about our ranting.  And yet, the fact that they show up at all is a testimony that there is indeed something in the hearts of all that draws us to God.  The word is near and they feel it, as do hopefully, you.  Something brings them to worship, something speaks to their hearts, and God gives us once again an opportunity to proclaim a word of faith and be the people of God.  Perhaps this year we will move beyond “our” traditions and speak to the word in their hearts, speak the word they have been longing to hear, but have not heard from us because we are too busy taking care of our own.  That is when the Gospel truly becomes the Good News and comes back to heal the whole family of God, including you and me.