Eating for Living and Transformation
Over the past twenty years, churches and denominations all across the United States have put a tremendous effort in becoming more welcoming; On making sure that the unchurched members of our communities and people looking for a church home know that they are welcomed in our church or denomination. Efforts to make church feel more welcoming range from physical construction, like handicapped parking and handicapped ramps for better accessibility and good sound systems for those of us who have trouble hearing; To changing the times of services and activities to better suit modern living and to make it easier for persons and families to get involved in church.
We put up signs to let people know that they are welcomed; we invest time and money in websites, Facebook, Twitter and advertising to invite people in and we try to pay special attention to newcomers in church. A couple of years ago, the Methodist Church ran a series of advertisements in prime time that showed all kinds of different people involved in their churches; young and old, adults and children, singles, families, people of all colors; In an effort to show that in the Methodist Church everyone was really, really, really, really welcome.
But for all these efforts at appearing and being welcoming, most denominations and churches are in decline. And it’s not for lack of trying and being truly welcoming; they, we, are in decline because when people come into a church there are too few signs that the people in the Church are living changed lives as a result of their commitment to Christ. Too many Christians and churches are indistinguishable from the regular world, and visitors, newcomers, seekers, even members turn away or don’t come back because they don’t have a sense that they will be fed by God in that community—
that God is somehow absent.
You see, it matters to others and to God that you and I are living changed lives. It matters that we allow God to feed us and change us to be more like Him. When we do, people know it, sense it, want that life themselves; and will come again and again because they taste God in that place, they grasp a hope that they can be changed, too, by the presence and grace and bread of life that lives in you and me.
You and I have been invited to partake of the presence of God in our lives and when we partake, when we join in, when we commit ourselves in some way God will change us as individuals and as a community. The result will be new life for ourselves and the promise of a new life for those we are welcoming into our community. And it begins and continues when we partake of God’s presence in our lives.
Feeding on Jesus
And so I want to spend some time today on something you and I know a lot about –eating. When I first read and prayed over the scriptures for this Sunday, I thought GREAT—here’s a topic I really know something about. I can agree on the importance of eating— it is something that’s important to our physical lives as well as our spiritual lives.
Do you know the two biggest selling books after the Bible, year in and year out? Cook books and diet books. We’re a people who understand the importance of eating and drinking for nourishment as well as to mark important moments in our lives. Physical eating can be an important part of our lives as a church, as well. When I first came to St. David’s and was getting to know people and drawing people into ministries and leadership my mantra was “no food, no meeting.” We had some kind of meal or snack or dessert at every meeting I was a part of. Well, twenty-five additional pounds later, I’ve backed off from that goal a little; but sharing a meal is an easy and important way to welcome others and to help us grow closer as a community.
But as enjoyable and important as physical eating can be in church it’s the spiritual food that helps us grow in our lives with God— it’s the spiritual food that helps us become more like Jesus. The spiritual food that God offers us every day changes us and allows others to come to know God in us and among us. And that’s exactly what Jesus offers to everyone – a spiritual food that draws us closer to the presence of God and that let’s us know of God’s grace and forgiveness and love and peace. Jesus offers a spiritual food that nourishes us so we may nourish others.
In today’s Gospel Jesus says, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” Now for those of you who may be a little squeamish about consuming flesh and blood Jesus is talking about feeding on Him in a spiritual sense; Jesus is talking about focusing on Him; about turning our lives to Him; about abiding in Him and with Him so that we may enter into a life that’s truly life. For this food and drink that Jesus is offering is the food and drink that brings forgiveness of our sins; a meal we’re unable to buy in any restaurant; a meal we can’t earn through works or labors of our own. For this food and drink that Jesus is offering is the food and drink that fills us with a peace that passes understanding in the midst of life’s most difficult moments, that leads us in making right choices in life and living our every day lives as God would have us live them.
This food and drink that Jesus is offering is the food and drink that refreshes us, that softens our hearts so that we can love God and our neighbors as ourselves. The food and drink Jesus offers brings eternal life with God now, and in a time to come and allows us to look forward each day in hope.
Jesus invites us all to feed on Him; to be nourished in our bodies and souls by the very source of light and life and to be drawn ever more deeply into the life of God—to be drawn into living communion with the God who loves us so much that He sent His Son to live among us and to die for us to open the way to everlasting life for us and for everyone. For unlike the food we eat and the beverages we drink that become part of us for a time, when we mediate on God’s Word in the Bible; when we share in the communion of Christ’s Body and Blood; when we spend time with God in our daily prayer; and when we act to help others in need, we eat and drink Christ and this food changes us and stays with so that we and others may know the presence of God in our lives.
The Food That Brings Life
And when we have fed on Jesus and have been changed by God’s presence we can offer that bread of life to others, here at St. David’s and out there in the world as people taste the presence of God in us—
as the aroma of the bread of life draws them closer to God through us. That’s the welcome that people are really seeking.
We have a lot of our children and family members serving in the military at St. David’s and we pray for them every week. Recently our nephew, Aaron Waldo, returned from his tour in Afghanistan. We are so thankful for his safe return; and his return reminded me of a story of another soldier Who returned home, severely wounded. After being flown through Germany and then to a hospital here on the east coast he had surgery and the doctors felt there was a good chance of full recovery. But his spirit was wounded and broken, and he wouldn’t eat anything, drinking only a little water and juice.
When some of his buddies caught up with him and saw his sad state they pooled their money and flew the soldier’s parents in from their farm in the Midwest. His parents got in late and stayed with one of their son’s buddies until they could see their son the next morning. Well before anyone else could rise, the mother got up and baked some bread. The aroma filled the apartment and woke everyone up. And when they came to see their son, they carefully unwrapped the homemade bread and the boy’s faced brightened and he began to eat for the first time in weeks.
His recovery was swift after that and as he grew stronger and after he could walk again, he was out of his room all the time and could be found at the bedside of the men and women who were struggling to recover, offering them hope and the inspiration to take up their lives once more.
You and I and every visitor God sends to church are that boy. We’re the ones who have been wounded in the battles of life, injured by our sins and the sins of others, broken by the challenges and trials of life, confused about the direction our lives are heading. By our forgetfulness of God, we’ve lost our taste for the food that will strengthen our souls and make us Christians and a Christian community that can feed others by the presence and power of God at work in our lives.
And so I invite you to remember to eat the spiritual food that brings life to us and to everyone God sends our way; to live your life in God’s grace by spending time with God and allowing God to change you and to use you for God’s purposes, for if we will, we will have life now and in a time to come, and can offer that life to others.
So, please, let’s eat and welcome others to God’s banquet of life.
Amen.
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