Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23 NRSV Bible)
I read a story this week of two young sisters who were waiting for services to begin at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Illinois. The older sister said to her younger sister, "Now when we sing 'Jesus Loves Me' then we go downstairs with the rest of the children!"

The younger sister asked, "Why!"

The older sister responded, "So we don't fall asleep up here!"

I wonder sometimes if all of us don't need to be with the children so we won't go to sleep during worship. As you may remember, Jesus had the same problem with his disciples when he went off to pray.

But today, Jesus comes to awaken us through the proclamation of the good news.

Jesus went around the countryside preaching to the people about the great rewards of living for God. In our society today some people are asking if preaching and the church are relevant for such a modern world. With instant communications and T.V., the voice of the church is often hard to hear. I have had many people ask me why Jesus or God doesn't do something really dramatic to get peoples attention, so more people would believe.

When we read about the life of Jesus Christ, we can find many stories were Jesus did do some dramatic things to get people's attention. I have even read about and experienced some dramatic things that have called my attention to God's power and love. In fact, there are miracles happening around us everyday. But many of the miracles of today have become ordinary for us, so we don't notice them. But even if we discount everyday miracles, the standards of our modern society would still say that Jesus was very successful. Remember that Jesus started with just twelve disciples. Today, there are millions of believers.

Jesus comes to us to bring the good news, and our call is to listen. And when we do, we will hear about the great rewards of knowing God.

Dear Jesus, thank you for sharing the Good News with me. May I be a good listener. In Jesus name, Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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