FROM YOUR PASTOR...

In Luke’s Gospel (13.10-17)we meet a woman with no name.  A woman who was bent and had not been able to stand straight for 18 years.  Can you imagine:  the names she had been called?  or the number of times mean trick had been played on her?  or the mockings she had to endure?  She did not have an identity which wasn’t tied to her disability.  Then she met Jesus.  In that encounter she was healed.  For the first time in her adult life she could stand up straight.  And when she did, she praised God! 

Many bend under life’s burdens and unfairness.  Many allow the weight of life to bend them out of shape.  Many define themselves as a victim of life and its circumstances.  Whatever would bend us over and crush us down in life cannot stand before Jesus.  Just as Jesus called the woman to himself -- so he calls us to himself.  Just as he helped her to stand tall in the face of life -- so Jesus invites us to stand up to it all.  The Gospel tells us that the woman deserved this treatment because she was “a daughter of Abraham” and she shared in his inheritance of faith.  In like manner we deserve what Jesus offers because we share in his name and with him are co-inheritors of the Community of God!

Love & Blessings,
Wes