Nine of Ten

Count your blessings

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings

See what God hath done.

Count your blessings

Name them one by one.

Count your many blessings

See what God hath done.

 Luke 17:17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they?  18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

It's interesting to notice how sometimes it is the nonreligious population that is startled into outward gratitude. We can learn from them not to take our faith for granted but to be refreshed in the spirit of gratitude.

God is working in our lives constantly. Nine of ten times we don’t notice. Or if we do notice we don't think to give thanks.

This morning I scraped a heavy frost off my windshield. I drove down 1st Ave., East which is filled with trees changing color and some extraordinary bushes flaming red. I spent some time reviewing pictures from the young adult gathering last night. I will admit, however, that I didn't give thanks to God until I was reviewing my sermon notes for Luke 17.

Especially if it's been a while since you've been to worship make a point to come and give thanks.

Bent Out of Shape

God calls us. Whether we are young or old, bent over or standing tall, or somewhere in between; in dry deserts and beside springs of water, when we feel strong and safe, and when we feel scared or abandoned. God calls all of us, and offers to set us free from whatever keeps us bound.

Luke 13:10-13   ¹⁰ Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath.  ¹¹ And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight.  ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment."  ¹³ When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. 

It's important to bring all of our struggles to God regardless of how trivial they seem at the onset lest they build over time and cripple us.

Sometimes when we find that we've gotten ourselves all bent out of shape it's because our little hurts have gone unseen by others and therefore unaddressed. The longer they go unaddressed the more they build and bend us over in pain.

Jesus’ greatest gift is his ability to see people when the rest of the world turns a blind eye.

Find a place of worship and be open to God's healing.

No Wimpy Mother's Day

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. … She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. … Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate” (Proverbs 31:10, 26-28, 31).

And all the people said…”Happy Mother’s Day!”

But how about instead of a sentimental Mother's Day we celebrate the power and courage of women who have changed the world. After all, whoever declared that women are the weaker sex… was obviously a man.

Matthew 23:37-39   ³⁷ "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!  

Come this Sunday and hear the stories of some of the badass women of the Bible and how the first Mother's Day proclamation in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe was a passionate demand for disarmament and peace.

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or tears!

You may not go away feeling gushy and sentimental but you will go away (both men and women) empowered by the Holy Spirit and raised with Christ.