AtomFood for the Soul—for us and to share with Others
A few years ago we learned a table grace that sets the stage for today’s Gospel:
Lord, thank you for this food…food for the body and food for the soul. May we never lack for either, give us an appetite for both. Amen. Food for the Body and Food for the Soul!
From John 1…
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you (this is a plural you), you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Pastor Alvin Rogness, former professor at Luther Seminary told the story:
I hadn’t seen him for some time, but during the years I had lived in this Midwestern city, I had often eaten in his café. W became close friends. Coming as a young immigrant from Greece, he had worked long and hard until his eating place was the finest in town. Now, at the age of 70, he was beginning to turn things over to his son. Seated with me at the table, he reflected on how well things had gone for him. But, then he paused, and with tears forming in his eyes, he said, “But Al, I haven’t taken time for my soul.”
He was a successful man. He was reasonably rich. The community esteemed him. What else did he need? Jesus once said it bluntly, “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul?”
It is as if each of us has a bag to fill. We use our years to fill them with good things, family, friends, money and property, honor, perhaps power. Then comes death, and we must leave our bags behind. AND…if we have accumulated our cargo at the expense of our souls, then what? Then EVERYTHING is gone!!
My friend forgot that the soul itself has needs, quite apart from food and shelter…even honor and power. The soul has need of a life with God. It needs to feed on the Word and the sacraments. It grows through prayer and praise. It becomes strong as it reaches out in service and helping others.
It is good for each of us to take stock. What if we were to die today? What would we leave behind? Memories that are cherished by our families and friends…we hope. Maybe some property or trust funds for our children and others. Perhaps the fruit of our labors, whether in business, in the home, in our professions. But, we do leave it ALL behind!
Stripped of it all, we go to live forever with our Lord. And it is our Lord’s hope that we may have used the swift years on earth to prepare for the full life on the other side. For, if we have let that which is eternal about us wither and die from oversight, neglect, or even repudiation, the loss is enormous. Rogness concludes: This is what my friend meant when he said, “I haven’t taken time for my soul.”
People of God, today we’re gathered in worship to receive this FOOD for the SOUL. Our hunger for God’s food is what has brought us here…and…We’ve learned, over the years, that this food for the soul is what sustains us, is what nourishes us, is what gives us inner purpose, peace, and contentment…and…this doesn’t just instantaneously happen…
A letter to the editor appeared from a person suggesting that worshiping God week after week wasn’t doing him any good, as far as he could see. He wrote that in all his years in church, he couldn’t remember more than a half dozen sermons, that the same hymns were sung over and over and much the same crowd was there…some of whom he liked, some of whom he didn’t care for. The story is told that his letter sparked an intense exchange of letters to the editor that lasted for several weeks…but it the debate quickly ended when a letter arrived that finished the conversation. This letter said:
To the editor: I’ve been married to my loving wife for 45 years now, and for the life of me, I hardly remember the specifics of more than a half dozen of the 50,000 meals she has served me in that time. But, over the 45 years that I’ve been pulling my chair up to the table for each meal… I’ve noticed I must have been well-fed because I seem to have grown amply around the edges and am actually have become abit over-nourished in the middle. It seems to me whether I REMEMBER the meals is not as nearly as important as BEING THERE FOR the meals!!
The soul has need of a life with God. It needs to feed on the Word and the sacraments. It grows through prayer and praise. It becomes strong as it reaches out in service and helping others.
And, whether I REMEMBER the meals is not as nearly as important as BEING THERE FOR the meals!!
And, this is why I’m here today….why you’re here…it’s part of the Gospel today, but, it’s only the first half of the Gospel.
In the Gospel this week…we encounter men who were seeking this “Food for the Soul”…and Phillip, after he encounters Jesus (the giver of this food) goes and tells his friend Nathanael, “I’ve found the Messiah…I’ve found the one who provides FOOD FOR THE SOUL”…and brought him to Jesus.
The rest of today’s Gospel…and our call is, in that as this gift of “Food for our Souls” is given to us today, it’s also given to us to give to others around us. God gives us this Food for the Soul to share…because there is enough for all!!
This is what evangelism is…no more and no less…having received, it’s then inviting someone into the presence of Jesus. After all, it was Luther who commented that Evangelism is nothing more than “One beggar telling another beggar where to find food”, Food for the soul.
This week, while I was at several of the high-rises in town, offering “Food for the Soul” to many in the high rises of DL, one follower of Jesus took me aside to tell me, with deep concern in her voice, about a new person in her building.
She said, “Pastor, this person never was able to experience Sunday school, she never attended church, and in fact, doesn’t know anything about Jesus…what should I do?” Then she told me that she had invited her to our communion worship that day…and….
guess who was in our communion worship that day—her new friend.
That day evangelism took place when “one beggar told another where to find food”…food for the soul…
Lord, thank you for this food…food for the body and food for the soul. May we never lack for either, give us an appetite for both.
I wrote some musings in the January newsletter about the importance of providing this “food for our soul” for our children. After a couple introductory stories…
I write this today because, as I look over the congregation at a Sunday worship service and look for the children, I have a concern because you see, while there are many children in worship, there are also many children who are not in worship…and thus are not learning of the importance of worshipping the giver of life and salvation and in doing so, receiving the necessary “food for their souls”!!
I affirm the choices of parents who, when they know they will be unable to worship on a given Sunday morning, come, with their family, to Saturday evening worship.
I have a growing concern as I watch so many activities, which are good activities in and of themselves, seemingly being elevated to a higher level of importance than worship.
I affirm the choices of parents who live out the baptismal promises of bringing their children to worship and teaching them the Lord’s prayer, the creeds, the ten commandments, and, in doing so, are feeding them “food for their souls” on a regular basis.
I get concerned because, keeping a Sabbath time is, and will continue to be, foundational to growing into a relationship with God.
In today’s language…it’s more important than ever for parents to be evangelists to their children…to make sure they are receiving “Food for the Soul”. Actually, many times the Nathanael’s we’re called to share the Good News of Jesus with live in our own homes…starting at the earliest of ages!!
One final story for today: The story of the man with two umbrellas:
Rev. Gordon Targerson, a Baptist pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, tells the story of his crossing the Atlantic by ship some years ago. He noticed on several occasions a dark-skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible. One day he sat down beside him and said, “Forgive my curiosity. I’m a Baptist minister. I notice you are a faithful Bible reader. I’d like to meet you.”
After introductions, the dark-skinned man said, “I am Filipino. I was born into a good Catholic home. I went to the United States as a young man to study in one of your fine universities, intending to become a lawyer. On my first day on campus, a student dropped by to visit. He welcomed me and offered to help in any way he could. Then he asked me where I went to church. I told him I was Catholic. He explained that the Catholic Church was quite a distance away, but he sat down and drew me a map. I thanked him and he left.
“On the following Sunday morning it was raining. I decided to just skip church. But then there was a knock on my door. There stood my new friend and he was holding two umbrellas. He said that he worried that I might not be able to read his map. So, he said he would escort me to the Catholic Church. I hurriedly dressed, thinking all the while what an unusually thoughtful person he was. I wondered what church he belonged to.
“As we walked along I asked him about his church. He said that his church was just around the corner. So, I suggested that we go to his church this Sunday, and then to mine the following Sunday. He agreed. But somehow I felt so much at home in his church that I never got around to finding mine. After four years I felt that God was leading me into the ordained ministry rather than into law. I went to Drew University Seminary and was ordained a Methodist minister. Then I returned to the Philippines to serve in a Methodist parish. My name is Valencius, Bishop Valencius, Bishop of the Methodist Church in the Philippines.”
Then, Pastor Targerson reminds us that the hero of this story is not the Bishop. The hero is that anonymous young man with two umbrellas. Whether they ended up at the Methodist or Catholic or Lutheran church doesn’t really matter.
Go all the way back to the beginning of Christian history and you’ll always find this person. He is behind almost every follower of Jesus: that unnamed man or woman with two umbrella: that “beggar” who knows the importance of sharing his “food for the soul” and the importance of building a bridge of friendship with another person. Because, when this happens, across that bridge walks the living Christ who is ready to offer his gifts of life and salvation…food for the soul…to all!!
Today we gather to receive God’s gift of “Food for the Soul”. It’s an incredible gift of grace given to all…Come and eat, come and drink…this gift is given for you…
I pray that you receive this gift of “food for your soul” in this time of worship!!
AND then, we’re reminded that this gift is given to you to share with others.
Every person today is invited to be that person with two umbrellas…invited to be like Philip…to tell every Nathanael God has placed in your live that THIS is where you find food…
Food for the Body and food for the soul.
May we never lack for either…(which I pray we don’t)
AND…
Gracious God, give us an appetite for sharing…both!! AMEN.
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