“Pure and Undefiled Religion”

Meditation on James 1:17-27

Aug. 30, 2015

      “Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfilment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.  You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.

       If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

***

     I had the pleasure of meeting with a young couple this week whose baby we will baptize in September. During our conversation about baptism, I shared some of my faith journey.  I always have to share the part about how God used my love for ice cream to draw me closer to Himself. I was a college student who had fallen away from the church and the faith in which I had been raised when two people from a college Christian fellowship knocked on my dorm room door. They invited me to an ice cream social. Now this was a special kind of ice cream social because the ice cream would be served in a long gutter--you know, the metal kind that are on the top of our houses to move water off the roof. They assured me that the gutter had been bought new for the event and had never been used before. Ice cream and sliced bananas would be spread out in this long gutter, then topped with whipped cream, fudge sauce, sprinkles, nuts and cherries. It was refreshing on a hot, August night, just before the first day of classes!

    My involvement with the fellowship group grew my faith and my commitment to God. My heart changed--and so did my life. But something happened as the years passed. I became discouraged by some of what I saw in the Church and the larger Christian community.  The more I was involved in the Church, well, the more unkind words and deeds that I noticed. Little by little, I scaled back my involvement, retreated from some of my Christian friends, and sought out a larger church where I could kind of disappear, be anonymous, where no one would invite me to serve, and I didn’t have to be in close relationship with anyone. Then I proceeded to hold onto my hurt and the discouragement of seeing other Christians behaving badly.

   Looking back, I believe what happened with me is not all that unusual--when I became discouraged with my church and other Christians after my initial excitement wore off. We will all have our highs and lows in our journeys of faith--times when we feel excited and passionate and closer to the Lord and God’s people then ever before. We just can’t get enough of studying God’s Word and worshiping the King of Kings! And there will be times of dryness. Wilderness. When we are kind of stumbling along, unsure where we are and where we are going, not feeling very joyful but still clinging to our faith and God’s Word, seeking the Lord in prayer, worship, and through relationships with other Christians. During those times of wilderness--or maybe even during the happy times of our faith-- we may be tempted to look around at other Christians. We will see the flaws--because the flaws are always there, if you look for them. Yes, Christians are imperfect. We are all sinners, saved by grace.

     We all know the Greatest Commandment of all -- to love God with all heart, soul, mind and might and neighbor as ourselves. We all know that we must love one another and let our witness to the world be our love for one another. But sometimes we are only hearers of the Word, without being doers of the Word, as James instructs.

   So what brought me back to the Church and to recommitting my life to Christ? I was convicted of the sin of “looking around” -- finding fault, without first taking the log out of my own eye. And I was convicted of the sin of refusing to forgive! I was using it as an excuse to not be the person God wanted me to be--to not live as the Lord wanted me to live. And, truthfully, I really missed the fellowship of other Christians and feeling that sense of belonging, that this is my church!

     Brothers and sisters, we cannot bear fruit as Christians if we isolate ourselves from other believers--and refuse to be involved in the work and worship of the Church. And there is absolutely no way we can call ourselves religious if we are unkind, using our words to hurt others. James tells us we are only fooling ourselves if we do not bridle our tongues. That kind of “religion” is “worthless.” Nor are we “religious” if we look around at other people, with the purpose of finding fault. And we are not being faithful to Christ if we refuse to forgive and let go of our hurts that get in the way of serving God and God’s people.

    “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father,” James says, is this--actually, two things. 1. Care for the orphans and widows in their distress (the neediest and most vulnerable people in your community) and 2. Keep yourself “unstained” by the world. Guard your heart! For, as Jesus says in Mark 7, it is from within the human heart that evil intentions come.

       Our hearts are revealed by what we say and do, how we spend our time and money, who we choose to be our friends, how much we care for others. In short, how we live our lives.

***

     When I heard that First Presbyterian Church in Willmar was partnering with Family Promise of Kandiyohi County to do a new thing and minister to some of the most vulnerable, needy people in their community, I wanted to know more.

    What are they doing? And is it working? Are homeless families finding homes and jobs? How does the church pay for this ministry? Are many volunteers needed? Do you have to be a downtown church?

    Friends, we ask the Lord to reveal needs to us and show us how we might respond to those needs. We hear God’s Word telling us that pure and undefiled religion is helping the most vulnerable people in their distress. But we seldom talk about homeless people and how we may be able to help. Aren’t they some of the most vulnerable and needy people of all? Maybe we don’t know they exist in our area or assume that if they don’t have a place to live, it’s because they have done something wrong or just aren’t trying hard enough. Doesn’t everyone have family or friends to stay with when times get tough?

    Maybe we think, “What can we do, anyway? We are just a small, country church. Isn’t this someone else’s responsibility?”

   Friends, let me introduce Nancy Chamberlain…

   She is a native Willmarite -  4th generation. She was baptized, confirmed and active in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod until 2003 when she married the Rev Mark Chamberlain, a Presbyterian minister. She joined the Presbyterian Church in Willmar in 2005, was ordained an Elder in 2006. She says that helping others has always been her passion, so she immediately joined the mission committee at First Presbyterian.  She serves the church in many other ways; she leads adult Sunday school, serves on Session, leads mission teams to Clearwater Forest Presbyterian Camp two times each year and also led a team of 30 to Louisiana for clean up after Hurricane Katrina.  She chairs the Visual Arts Team, the Mission Committee and the Family Promise Task Force.  Nancy also works full time for the MN Supreme Court. Her office is in the Kandiyohi County Courthouse.  She is enthusiastic about retiring next April after 31 years of government service-- and all the possibilities of ministering with her husband, Mark, in whatever way God calls them to serve. She is the mother of two adult sons, step mom to two adult daughters and one adult son, and grandmother to 4 amazing grandsons --Bruno, Luca, Eli and two-week old Ezekiel.

    Nancy, tell us about the homeless. How many are there in our area and where do they usually go for help? Why are you so passionate about helping the homeless that you have come to speak today?

   How did you hear about Family Promise and how did your church come to partner with them? What kind of help does your church provide? How can your congregation possibly afford to do this? Maybe you could describe the discernment process your church went through as you sought to help the homeless with Family Promise. How did you get the word out to your congregation? Were some people in your church concerned about opening your church to help the homeless? Did they have questions? What were some of their concerns and how did your church respond to their concerns.

   What about the other churches who partner with Family Promise? How many are involved and what do they do?

    Nancy, what could we do? We are 25 miles from Willmar. How might we get involved in helping the homeless in the future? Do you have some advice for us as we seek to help our neighbors in need?

   Thank you, Nancy, for coming to visit us today! Lord bless you and your congregation as you continue to minister to people in need.

Let us pray. Holy One, we thank you for Jesus Christ, our hope, our joy and our peace in this turbulent world. We pray you would help us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers only, deceiving ourselves. Lord, teach us to be religious--the way James defines pure and undefiled religion. Give us wisdom to know how we might help the homeless and people with other needs. Should we partner with another group so that we can do more than what we try to do on our own? Loving Spirit, fill us with compassion for people in need so that we are moved to acts of kindness, generosity and love. Forgive us when we have been timid about helping others, perhaps even fearful of people with great needs. Strengthen us to be a witness to the world of our love for God and neighbor so that others will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and experience new, abundant, and everlasting life through belief on Him. In Christ we pray. Amen.

“Solomon Loved the Lord”

Meditation on 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14      

Aug. 16, 2015

    “Then David slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned for seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David; and his kingdom was firmly established.

    “ Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David; only, he sacrificed and offered incense at the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt-offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, ‘Ask what I should give you.’ And Solomon said, ‘You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart towards you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’

   “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, ‘Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.’”

***

    I shared with you a while back that, although I felt certain the Lord was leading Marylynn Aalderks and me to organize a joint-church mission trip to Spirit Lake Indian Reservation in North Dakota this summer, we were anxious about it. Ebenezer and First Pres, Rochester, had never done anything like it before! Then, Marylynn and I drove to Spirit Lake in May and saw the condition of the rec center where we planned to host our community VBS. It was filthy! And so many flies! Without air conditioning, the doors would have to be propped open or it would be like a sauna inside.  Every day our noon meal for the children and volunteers would have to be prepared at Bdecan Presbyterian Church on the Reservation and driven to the rec center. And there were other challenges and complications.

    Still, Marylynn and I felt the Lord saying, “Go!” and trust that God would provide the wisdom, strength and joy we needed day by day for this work. For His sake and for the sake of the needy children and families at Spirit Lake. We arrived without mishap on Aug. 5 with our awesome ministry team--20 or so adults and youth with a variety of gifts and talents, all of which were needed for this mission. Then, on the first day of our program, we had great attendance. About 40 children participated. But they were wild and undisciplined, just as the youth pastor for Bdecan Presbyterian had warned us. “This will be a VBS like you never had before,” Joe said. They were defiant and uncooperative. They climbed flagpoles, under and over tables, and up and down the bleachers folded for storage. They wrestled, chased each other and got into fights.

    After the children left at the end of the first day, I gathered the exhausted volunteers from Ebenezer and Rochester and we held hands and prayed. I was amazed by their faith and resilience! None of them were ready to give up! I asked them to share something they had seen that day that had touched their hearts; everyone had something precious to say. Children who had never used pipe cleaners before or tasted chocolate milk. So many things were new and exciting to them.  And they were hungry. Even the littlest ones piled their plates. They ate everything without complaint, including raw vegetables! What they couldn’t finish on their plates, they wanted to take home with them. Very little was thrown away.

      On the second day, all the children came back and more came, besides. Something had changed in their demeanor. They greeted us with hugs and smiles, delighted when we knew their names. They wanted piggyback rides, to sit on our shoulders and rest in our laps. Most of them stayed in their groups and cooperated with their teachers; they sang the songs with the motions and listened attentively to the Bible lesson. They loved jumping rope and the parachute games. They kept wanting to do more and more crafts!

     The third day was the best of all! Joe shook his head in amazement at the peaceful scene of face painting, just before the family program began. “This is really good,” he kept saying. “This is really good.” He confided that he worried we might not stay after that first day. Other groups had had similar experiences in previous years --and had packed their things and gone home. I think the children may have been testing us. Many have been abandoned by one or both parents and are left alone to care for themselves or be cared for by other relatives. Maybe the children wanted to see if we cared enough to stay. It wasn’t enough to talk about the love of God; we needed to show it.

    But maybe it wasn’t just the children who changed. I think the Lord worked in our hearts, providing His wisdom, joy and peace--more and more, day by day. Despite the dirt, flies, heat, fatigue and aching legs, we learned to trust in Him--and obey.

 ***

      Our reading in1 Kings chapter 3, though it tells the story of Solomon, points to our need to seek the Lord for wisdom. The promise is this: it is a gift to those who humbly seek it for God’s purposes. Solomon, the wisest human being that ever lived, was not born that way. He was also sinful! Solomon suspects his brother is scheming to gain control of the kingdom, so he has his older brother killed. But after his father dies, Solomon is faced with the overwhelming responsibility of being king of Israel. He humbles himself before the Lord, seeking God’s help. “O Lord my God,” Solomon prays, after the Lord appears to him in a dream and invites him to make his request. “You have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?’

     When Solomon refers to himself as a child who doesn’t “know how to go out or come in,” it is just an expression of humility. Solomon at this point, is not a child; he has a child of his own! It might surprise you that when Solomon asks for “an understanding mind” to govern God’s people, the Hebrew phrase literally translates as a “hearing heart.” How different God’s wisdom is from the human concept of wisdom. Having God’s wisdom is not a matter of the head; it is a matter of the heart and listening for God’s voice!

       Solomon’s humble request pleases the Lord. God gives Solomon wisdom to govern, and because he doesn’t ask for them, Solomon receives long life and riches, too. But there’s another important message in this reading. In 3:3, we read, “Solomon loved the Lord, (comma) “walking in the statutes of his father David.” Love and obedience to God’s commands are connected! Love must be shown through obedient action. Solomon sought to live out the same faith as his father, who sought to follow God’s Word.  Of course, David was sinful, too! But David was ultimately known as a “man after God’s own heart.”

 ***

     On Sunday morning, we gathered at Bdecan Presbyterian Church on the Reservation for worship and the children’s program. They sang their songs with the motions, retold the Joseph story and the gospel using 4 “clues”--a manger, lamb, cross, and tomb.  When they said their memory verse, one by one, you could have heard a pin drop! The congregation clapped after each child, some as young as 5, recited Matt. 28:20: “I am… with you always… even to the end of the age. Watching the joy on their faces, it seemed to be the perfect message for a community struggling with a host of problems, such as poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, violence, depression, suicide, teen pregnancy, unemployment, and perhaps worst of all, a sense of hopelessness--that things will never get better. Most of the more than 5,000 people who live at Spirit Lake do not go to church. The mission field is HUGE! I felt sad to be leaving after only a few days. Had we done enough? Would our VBS make any difference in their lives?

      But Joe shared a message from Isaiah about those who have “beautiful feet”-- those who take God’s Word, salvation and love to the world. Then, he told the story of the starfish. I will share a version of it.

      A man walks along a beach at low tide and sees a starfish washed up on the sand. He throws it way out into the water so that it doesn’t dry out in the sun--and die. He sees another starfish washed up on the sand. And another. And another. He gently throws them as far as he can, one by one, out into the sea. An observer asks him why he is throwing the starfish back into the water. The man answers, “Because they will die if I don’t.” Then the observer says, “But there are thousands of starfish washing up on the beach! You couldn’t possibly save them all.”

    The man answers, “Even if I saved just one, it would be worth it.”

    Friends, our mission work, though brief and challenging work for our volunteers, touched hearts and strengthened our faith. We shared the Word of God and the hope of Christ with more than 40 children! Just think how many other people these children will come into contact with throughout their lives. Thousands of hearts may potentially be changed because of our 4-day visit! Because we loved the Lord, and despite our fear and uncertainty, we were willing to trust God for His wisdom and obey!

    We will talk more with you about the mission trip as a group in September. But as I look back and remember our experiences, the children keep coming to mind. One little girl, Chloe, has been especially in my thoughts. After worship on Sunday, before we said goodbye, Chloe wanted her picture taken with our mission team. In our group photo on the church’s Facebook site, you can see Chloe standing with the volunteers who served the Lord at Spirit Lake.

     Isn’t it worth it, even if just one child is saved?

Let us pray. Faithful God, thank you for forgiving us for our many sins and giving us your spiritual gifts, including your wisdom, to use for your Kingdom building purposes. Give us strength and joy to continue to give from our abundance, to reach out with the love and hope of Christ, again and again, to the many needy people in this world. Help us so that we would not grow weary in doing well! And we pray that you would bless the children and families at Spirit Lake who attended our VBS. May the seeds we sowed take root, down deep in their hearts. Draw them nearer to yourself and nourish their faith. Bring other Christians to them to feed them on Your Word. Help them to walk in your ways. May they be lights to their families, friends and communities as they grow to spiritual maturity. May the relationship that blossomed between Rochester, Ebenezer, and Bdecan Presbyterian churches because of this mission trip grow and bring us together again in worship, service, fellowship and love. In Christ we pray. Amen.

“Won’t Jesus Miss Us?"

Meditation on John 6:24-35

Aug. 2, 2015
***

     “So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

***

     A while ago, someone shared with me how hard it was for their family to get up early on Sunday morning for church because they were so tired from their activities during the week. Full time jobs, school, sports, FFA, 4-H and other activities kept them busy. I listened sympathetically, remembering when my kids were teenagers, and it seemed like we were always in the car and always in a hurry, staying up late to finish things there just wasn’t time to finish during the day. I hear families with young children tell a similar story about their struggles to get to church--and I remember how hard it was to get my three little ones ready for church and Sunday school, especially when one was still a baby--and we often drove a half hour or more to get to our church. It was exhausting! Then we would get there and the baby would wake up and cry and need to be fed or changed, and the older boys sometimes acted up in the nursery or toddler room. I ended up missing so much of the service, I wondered sometimes if it was worth all the effort.

    Looking back now, I never wonder that. Yes! It was worth it, even if the children were fussy and wiggly during the sermon or started to kick one another during the pastoral prayer. And all the whispered promises of ice cream or threats of early nap and no video games didn’t do any good. It was worth all the effort to get them to church and Sunday school--as much as we made it there. In fact, I wish we had gone more often. And I’ll tell you why. Not just because they have gaps in their Bible knowledge or because we missed out on Christian fellowship, though learning the Bible and growing relationships with other believers are important, too. It was worth all the effort and frustration because when we did make it to worship, we experienced the power and presence of God in a way that we could not experience alone with our own families at home, even if we did read the Bible and pray or watch a church service on TV.

      When we gather around God’s Word together in person in worship, when we sing our songs of praise, and celebrate the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Baptism--both of which we are celebrating today--we experience God in a whole new way. And we are spiritually fed! We are nourished and strengthened to go out and be Christ’s Body for the world!

      I had to smile this week at a story I read in a book by Ronald Byars, a pastor and seminary professor. In The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars, Byars writes of a couple with a grown son who is developmentally disabled.

“The family is active in the church, and they seldom miss worship. One winter Sunday morning, they awakened late and breakfast took longer than usual, and everything seemed a little off balance. The parents decided, for this one Sunday, to stay home from church. They told their son, who seemed to accept their decision. But after pondering this news for a while, he asked his father, ‘Won’t Jesus miss us?’” [1]

     This man with special needs, “developmentally disabled,” was on to something! He may have understood something that others that are more “intellectually sophisticated” may fail to grasp!

     We come to church on Sunday morning to meet the Risen Lord! The faithful enter into Christ’s presence by the two means that God has given us--God’s Holy Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. We cannot meet the Risen Lord without the hope and desire to meet Him here. We cannot partake of the spiritual food unless we come with humility, realizing our own sinfulness. We cannot be nourished unless we believe our souls must be fed. And we cannot experience the Risen Lord without a longing in our hearts to see Christ, face to face.

***

     Last Sunday, when we read the first part of John 6, we heard about the faith of a child and Jesus miraculously feeding 5,000 people with a couple of loaves and a few fish--and having 12 baskets of leftovers, after the hungry crowd had been “filled” or “satisfied,” like they never had before. But when the people misunderstand the “signs” of God’s grace and love, Jesus returns to the mountain before the crowd can take him by force and make him their king.

   The crowd doesn’t give up easily when they can’t find Jesus and his disciples. They follow them by boat all the way to Capernaum, a fishing village--population around 1,500--on the north side of the Sea of Galilee. This is where Jesus makes his home after leaving Nazareth during his ministry years.

    Jesus doesn’t answer their question of, “When did you get here?” He gets right to the point. “You are looking for me,” he says, “because you ate your fill of the loaves--not because you understood the “signs.”  He explains the spiritual realm by contrasting it with our physical world. He says, essentially, don’t “work” for “food that perishes”--food for our physical bodies-- but for the “food” you need for your soul. Then he surprises them by saying they don’t need to work for this food at all! For the Son of Man--Jesus--will give it to them! But they don’t understand; they ask what kind of “work” they must do for God to get this food?

   Jesus says, “Believe in him whom God sent.” Believe in me.

   And how do they respond? “What else are you going to give us so that we believe? Our ancestors got manna (bread) from heaven.” One day after Jesus miraculously feeds the 5,000, they want another miraculous feeding!  They stand in the presence of the Son of God, without knowing or caring who he is.  Jesus knows their needs are far greater than bread for this world. But they have looked for Jesus so that he will give them what they want.  He tells them they need, instead, “the bread of God… that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” And they can’t think past their bellies. Sure, they say. Sounds good. Give it to us. “Give us this bread always,” they say.

    “I am the bread of life,” Jesus goes on, showing his love and compassion. “Whoever comes to me will never hunger. Whoever believes in me will never thirst.”

    Our lectionary passage ends before we find out how the crowd responds to Jesus’ invitation. In verse 36, we find out that what we expect would happen--happened. Jesus says, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.”

***

     Brothers and sisters, it is easy to find fault with the hungry crowd that only cared about their immediate bodily needs and did not want to hear Christ speak of their need for nourishment of a different kind. We, too, need that nourishment! But we don’t often think of our spiritual needs when we come to Christ. We more often ask for our needs in this world--physical healing for ourselves and our loved ones, better jobs, better weather, better crops, more money, and help with decisions that affect only our future in this life, without a thought to our life in the world to come--or the salvation of the world that God so loves. We come to Jesus like the crowd, not trusting that God knows our real needs and that what we think we need is really not what we need at all. The conversation is one-sided. We talk to God, and we don’t want to wait and listen for his answer. We want our bellies filled, our families blessed. We aren’t grateful for the many miracles we have seen in our lives. We say to the Lord, “What have you done for us lately?” In the meantime, some of our neighbors have never heard the gospel. Some of our neighbors around the world have barely enough food to eat or adequate housing, and we aren’t anxious to help them. We blame others for their problems; we blame the Lord for ours, without admitting that sin is what often gets us into trouble. We say we believe in Christ; He is our Lord and Savior, but then we don’t seek out His will or His strength to obey. We go our own way.

     Friends, in a few moments, we will prepare to serve Communion. I will share with you the “Invitation to the Table.” This is the table of God’s mercy and grace. This is the Table for sinners. You will only find love and acceptance--not condemnation-- here. It is the table of “company with Jesus, and all who love Him.  It is the table of sharing with the poor of the world, with whom Jesus identified Himself.  It is the table of communion with the earth, in which Christ became incarnate.” I will say, “So come to this table, you who have much faith, and you who would like to have more; you who have been here often and you who have not been for a long time; you who have tried to follow Jesus, and you who have failed; come.  It is Christ Himself who invites us to meet Him here.”

    Come to this table, anticipating His comforting presence and to be nourished on the “Bread of God, the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Come because, friends, if you don’t, Jesus will miss you! This is the table of welcome. There are no “outsiders.” You don’t have to be a member of our congregation or any congregation. You only have to believe in Jesus, the Son of God, and seek to follow in His ways. We are united and reunited as One Body as we commune together in Jesus’ name. We come, humbled by our sinfulness, to drink the cup of forgiveness and partake the bread of eternal life. We come because we know our souls must be fed. We come with hope. We come by faith. We come with a longing in our hearts to see Christ, face to face.

Let us pray.

Holy One, Bread of Life, thank you for loving us so much that you allowed your Son to be broken and spilled out for the sake of our salvation. Thank you for your Word that reminds us who you are--and how sinful we are, how we are just like the crowd who experiences miracles every day and yet asks you, Lord, for more and more. “What have you done for us lately?” we say. Thank you for your mercy and grace! Lead us into your presence, Lord, anticipating your Spirit’s transforming power working in our hearts, in our congregation, in our community and in our lives. Nourish our faith, Lord, so that we are empowered to love and serve you and love and serve our neighbors, as you call us to do. Teach us to seek your will, listen for your voice, and courageously obey. Be with us as we seek to minister in your name, as our group travels to Spirit Lake Indian Reservation to share the hope of Christ and feed children in need. Keep us safe. Help us to be a blessing, to be your hands and feet. In Christ we pray. Amen.

  

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       [1] Ronald P. Byars. The Future of Protestant Worship: Beyond the Worship Wars    

           (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002)72.