stand straight

Thursday August 29^th, Luke 13:  10-13 He was teaching in one of the meeting places on the Sabbath. There was a woman present, so twisted and bent over with arthritis that she couldn't even look up. She had been afflicted with this for eighteen years. When Jesus saw her, he called her over. "Woman, you're free!" He laid hands on her and suddenly she was standing straight and tall, giving glory to God.  The Sabbath was made for humanity, not humanity for the Sabbath.  Jesus was often one to break the Sabbath rules, but it was to do good rather than for personal pleasure.  Worship helps to set us free also.  When we are free for the day, when we can focus clearly on our need for rest and refreshment, when we can connect freely to our loving creator God, then we have received the Sabbath gift to humanity.  The response that helps keep the process going is to stand straight and tall and give glory to God.  All too often we get caught up into making the most of the Sabbath by going out into the world for an adventure.   It is a good thing.  But all too often it is an avoidance thing.  It connects us to the beauty of God’s creation without ever connecting us to God of creation.  In the process, we are the ones who lose.