Family Reunions and Worship This week-end I am going to a family reunion.  There I will be with cousins, along with my siblings, that I only see once a year if we don't miss this annual gathering.  We talk about memories that we have about our loved ones who have passed from life to death and others who are not able to make this pilgrimage anymore. We will laugh and cry about stories that are told every time that we meet together.  We know the tales that will be told and who will tell them and we look forward to hearing them once again. These stories remind us of who we are as a family and we desire to pass them down to the next generation in hopes that they will tell their children and their children’s children. We will leave and go back to our homes thanking God for the heritage that we have because of those who have gone before us. Our time of worship each week-end should be very similar to a family reunion. The people who gather are brothers and sisters "in Christ" to hear Bible stories that cause us to express our emotions and hopefully change our lives.  We leave having been reminded of who we are "in Christ." We are enabled to go back into our routine of life, equipped to face the challenges that come with living in a fallen world.  2 Peter 1:2-4, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Sincerely, Bert Harper Director of Marriage, Family, and Pastoral Ministries American Family Association