RETURN TO THE LORD!

 

Do you have favorite places you like to visit? You may like the food so much at a particular restaurant that you go there every Sunday after worship. Maybe you return to a certain store every week to buy groceries. Some people bookmark pages on their computers because they like reading the website. Each Sunday, people keep coming back here to worship God. When we do any of those things, we “return.”

When we keep returning to some place, it shapes us. If I keep returning to the same restaurant and eat way too many hamburgers or pizza, it may make me fat. If I shop at the same store to buy healthy foods, they may make me strong. If I keep returning to church for worship, God may change me.

I mention that because our first reading from Hosea (5:15-6:6) calls us to return to the Lord. “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” We return to the Lord because we have sinned or behaved badly.

We return to the Lord because God is the only One who can heal us by forgiving us of our sins. That is why we begin our worship every Sunday by calling to mind our sins and asking God for forgiveness and healing.

Recently, I had to go see a physical therapist because I had a lot of pain in my foot. Every time I went to him, my foot felt better. I kept returning to him for healing. Likewise, I return to Jesus because I have a lot of pain on my heart, and every time I do that, I feel better because his forgiveness heals me.

With that, let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless these and all children, and give their parents the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.