Our Mission is to
Connect with people in Jesus;
Build each other up in faith; and to
Become Like Jesus.
The Old Testament reading is about the healing of Namaan who is the commander of the Aramean army but has leprosy. It is through his wife’s young servant girl, a captive from Israel, who suggests that Elisha will be able to cure Namaan of his leprosy. So he has contacted with Elisha yet he gets only a message from Elisha saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan River seven times and you will be cured.” Namaan is deeply offended but he does what Elisha instructs him to do and receives a miracle.
Faith comes about in unexpected ways and through unexpected people. God’s grace has nothing to do with power or wealth or following the rules of society. It has to do with our openness and willingness to share God’s love.
Then, we hear in the gospel about Jesus appointing seventy two disciples. He sends them on ahead of him in pairs, simply to share the good news that God loves them. “Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals,” Jesus says to them.
That is a very difficult concept for us to grasp as the people of God. It is about helping people to find their way to God. It is about sharing the good news that God loves us. It is about listening to people about their pains and sorrows and joys! In some small way we may be able to minister to them, to open up their lives to the love of God. It is a call to understand that we may be the ones to prepare the way for God to touch someone’s life. God may use us in unexpected ways as we open ourselves up and become spiritually alive. May we respond and live in love as God has called us. IL-WOONG.
Book of the Week:
Unplanned by Abby Johnson with Cindy Lambert. The dramatic true story of a former Planned Parenthood leader’s eye-opening journey across the life line. Abby Johnson quit her job in October 2009. That simple act became a national news story. Abby was director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, but not long after assisting in an actual abortion procedure for the first time, she crossed the line to join the Coalition for Life. What happened in that clinic to cause this Planned Parenthood leader and Employee of the Year to take such drastic action? And how did Planned Parenthood react to her abrupt departure?
