Next week's 'leprosy link' sermon will focus on the account in Luke 17 of Jesus cleansing ten lepers.  When I was at college, a visiting preacher gave a sermon on this passage, the point of which was that only one of the ten was healed.  It wasn't the greatest sermon ever, and didn't quite convince, but did make me think about the difference between 'curing' (or 'cleansing' as the Greek expressed it) and 'healing.'  Curing refers to the bodily effects of the disease, healing is about wholeness and has other dimensions - spiritual, emotional, even communal.  I have known this for decades, and have always been very clear in my own mind that to pray for healing was not the same as praying for a cure, though that might be part of the answer.  So, come 17th January my folk will get a sermon that explores ideas of healing and wholeness in relation to TLM.

I have also been thinking about our life together as a community of faith, and how we develop what we already have to be even more what it is meant to be. Two sets of thoughts have come to mind...

First is a model adopted by a church in Yorkshire, the ministry team all being folk I know quite well, where people are invited to engage within three broad strands of (as I recall it) worship, learning and service.  It's quite a large and diverse fellowship with lots of styles of worship on offer, numerous midweek groups and a fair variety of missional connections.  People are invited to choose from menus under each heading and mix-and-match a healthy blend of activities.  As I understand it, any and all are free to challenge and be challenged on their choices - if you pick only from one or two strands you are gently reminded of what is missing; if you try to do everything you are told to get a life!

The second is the dear old Girls' Brigade 'four square' programme of spiritual, physical, educational and service, which again expects members to engage with each of the strands.  If you were to substitute 'physical' for 'get a life' the similarity with the Yorkshire church's idea is clear and shows there is nothing new under the sun.  The Guides 'eight point programme' is not wildly different and I'm sure the organisations for boys and young men are not a million miles removed.  A healthy blend is what is needed.

Later this year (I have enough ideas for the next 20 years already!) I hope to be encouraging my folk actively to commit to a sense of holsitic disicipleship: spirituality (worship and prayer), learning (Bible study, theological reflection, education), service (mission in many modes) and relaxing (getting a life!).  I know where my weaknesses are in this set of four strands, and it would be good to be accountable to, with and for others as we seek to address those we each have.

Amazing isn't it, how God works... I chose to do a series on 'leprosy stories' to connect with a project our Sunday School are doing to support The Leprosy Mission (Scotland) and out of these stories emerge some of the big themes I feel we need to be working with this year.  Maybe that's part of the wholeness too?