Only One Gave Thanks
There is a fascinating account in Luke 17:11-17 of one of the encounters of Jesus that resulted in a healing miracle. The passage tells that Jesus entered an unnamed village and was met by ten men who had leprosy.
Leprosy was the most dreaded disease of that time, a distinction it continued to carry in many places in the world until recent years. Now we know the cause of leprosy and that the disease is not contagious, but in first century Judea anyone who had leprosy was a social outcast. Today, AIDS carries a similar stigma.
So these ten lepers asked Jesus to have pity on them, to heal them. Jesus sent them to the priests who could declare them cleansed, and on the way they were cleansed. One of the ten returned to Jesus, praising God, and thanked him. Jesus said to him, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”
People still fail to give thanks to God. God has freed us from sin and provides for us in extraordinary ways, so as we celebrate Thanksgiving this month, we should thank him.
Share Christmas With Others
Later in November, as we move from Thanksgiving toward Christmas, we will invite people from the community to our services during the Christmas season. We have been listed this year in the Welcome Wagon book for the area of Madison around our church building. Later this month, we will mail to the people who have received the Welcome Wagon book and invite them to Westwood.
Please begin to pray for this outreach effort, not that we will draw people to Westwood, but that we might draw them to Christ.
We will also make the contents of the mailing available to everyone in the congregation as a tool for you to use to invite people you know to attend worship during the Christmas season. We all know more people than we imagine who might respond to a simple invitation to attend a church service. There is no better time to invite them than during the Christmas season.
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