Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Sunday, 7, September 2003
Proverbs 9:1-6
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
Psalm 34:9-14
Sermon: (Merv Desens)
Some questions are unanswerable. Some are not. Do we eat to live, or live to eat? Some people eat to live. "That's what I call living," some people would say. Some people would like to be buried in their cars. Science tells us that this is the meaning of our existence. "Eat, drink and be merry." Some people don't know that you can die from drinking, and how quick that kind of death is. "Eat, drink and be merry," people may say, but if you mix prescription medication and alcohol, it means death. Jesus says life is more than eating and drinking.
A certain wealthy widow lived in fear of being robbed. Her life was one of private terror. That is not life. "Who" is life? Look at the giver, not the gifts. Without flesh and blood, we have no life.
Jesus says "I am the way, the truth and the life." Jesus leads us home. Rally day is a reminder of that word. Jesus is who we meet in sunday school. Jesus is here in this church, though it is not in the papers or announcements. We easily get sidetracked. Paul saw tradition taking over the faith instead of the focus being on Jesus. They lost their focus. Galatians tells us that Christ lives in us. Phillipians tells us that we can do all things through Christ. Christ is our redeemer, our savior.
The guy in charge of the Wheat Ridge Ministries says that we should `keep the main thing, the main thing.' Evergreens in Illinois are green in spring, and they blend in. In the fall, when others turn brown and orange, looking drab, the evergreen remains in full glory, even in winter. Christians are like that. Christ is the same yesterday and today and always. We have fellowship when we eat the flesh and blood of Christ.
A certain man tried to meet the president. He failed until he met a friend of the president. Jesus is like that friend. We are unworthy to meet God, but grace abounds, and we can call God "daddy" because of that. There is no wrong time for communion.