Pam's Perambulation

Jesus started off in the Synagogue – the obvious place for someone who had come to show God to people.
Yet in the synagogue he had received so much grief –

you can’t do that,

we don’t do things that way here,

who do you think you are to do that?

Jesus left the synagogue, and his work continued.

Jan Brueghel

Jesus went to Simon and Andrew’s home – out into the community.  Away from the petty disagreements and rules and people flocked to him.  He brought wholeness and hope to the suffering and struggling.  He was accessible and welcoming.  And God worked.

Later, he realised the need to go out to the other villages, not to be stuck in one place, but to get out to where people were.   He preached in synagogues, but he didn’t demand that from people – he met their need where they were.  Sometimes he worked within the church of the day, sometimes he stepped outside to work.

Jesus didn’t confine his work to the places where God supposedly was – safely inside the synagogues.  He, and God, worked everywhere – places where people needed him wherever that was.

We too are called to take God everywhere.  He is not just for inside churches, for “religious” occasions – he is for everyone, everywhere.

• Do we stop people doing Gods work by questioning them, and making them feel uncomfortable?

• Do we try to keep God and his work inside the churches?

• Do we take risks and step outside?

• Do we need to get out of the church more to where people are living there lives?

Let’s take God with us wherever we go, and let him work wherever he needs to.

Thank you God

that you are not confined by places,

that you meet people where they are

and how they need.

May I remember

that you go with me everywhere,

and allow you to work.

~ by pamjw on February 1, 2012.

Posted in God, Jesus, Lectionary
Tags: acceptance, healing, Mark 1:29-39, wholeness