Stretch Out Your Hand

"Do you want to be healed?"

"It is easy to tell people that you are feeling tense. It is not as easy to tell three or four people in a small group of the great ache in your heart because a relationship with your husband or wife, son, daughter, or friend has fallen apart at the seams. Nor is it easy to talk of your fears—losing your job, the operation you face, losing your mother who is dying. But when you do and turn with hope to God and the prayers of members of the group, a slow inner transformation begins that never fails to surprise people and that keeps them coming back." Avery Brooke, Healing in the Landscape of Prayer

I think many folks visit church for the first time due to a great big ache in their soul that longs to be acknowledged and healed. Is your community the place where true transformation and healing begins? Or is it only a place where you can tell people you are feeling tense?

Transformation is a $10 word that is tossed around the church often. I wonder if we talk about transformation so much because it is so rare?

Perhaps the first step toward healing or transformation is to admit that we need healing. Maybe the next step is to show or acknowledge our wounds. Perhaps that is what Jesus meant when he said: "Stretch out our hand."

Is your congregation a place where folks can stretch out their hands?