Fast Food Christianity
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
A major theme in the lectionary texts this week is nourishment of the body and soul. Isaiah asks why we "spend [our] money for that which is not bread, and [our] labor for that which does not satisfy" -- but the truth of the matter is that we do it because it offers us what we desire (or think we desire)... even if it doesn't provide us with lasting sustenance. Of course, there's no better example of this than the American obsession with junk food, which has given rise to a powerful multi-billion dollar industry that is a key contributor to the epidemic of obesity. Concern in many quarters over this state of affairs has led to various public initiatives attempting to modify our behavior (such as laws requiring restaurant menus to provide nutritional information and New York City Mayor Bloomberg's controversial attempt to limit the size of sodas sold in restaurants). Yet the popularity of fattening convenience food products continues to grow (like our waistlines), while we ignore our health in order to pursue the instant gratification of a "sugar high." In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Dean Feldmeyer asks if a similar dynamic might be at work in our churches -- are we offering spiritual "junk food" that our congregants want to hear or are we challenging them with the nutritional spiritual fare that they need to hear?
Team member Leah Lonsbury considers the lectionary passages in the context of the nutritional content (or lack thereof) of the food we're offering for the mind. A new report from a federal commission chartered by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that there are some serious issues with American elementary and secondary education, both relative to the rest of the world and in terms of inequities within America. Isaiah says, "[L]isten, so that you may live," and talks about making an "everlasting covenant." The fact that we make school attendance compulsory suggests an implied covenant with our children -- but Leah pointedly asks if we are truly providing our children with the preparation they need to thrive in an increasingly education-driven marketplace. Leah offers several questions that will stimulate your thought process.
Fast Food Christianity
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Okay, confession time. I like... no... I LOVE McDonald's.
I'm a McJunkie. I know, it's not the popular thing, the politically correct thing, but there it is. I love fast food -- the sweet sauce on the savory beef in a Big Mac; the crunch of the pickle and onion on a Quarter Pounder; the salty crispness of the fries.
God help me, I love it all and about once every ten days or so I have to feed my fast food jones. I have to go to McDonald's and "strap on the feed bag," as my dad used to say.
But I don't do it every meal or even every day -- that would just be stupid. There are way too many empty calories in fast food to make it my main source of nourishment. As Morgan Spurlock showed in his 2003 movie Supersize Me, a diet of nothing but fast food will make you fat, listless, and unhealthy.
Gosh, I wonder... could this be a metaphor for what's going on in our churches these days? This week Isaiah and Paul ask: Are we getting wholesome, adult spiritual nourishment? Or are we being fed fast, easy, fattening theologies that we want to hear but do nothing for our spiritual health?
THE WORLD
When I was a kid, eating out was a big deal.
You got dressed up. Your parents rehearsed things like table manners before you left the house. You were advised about those parts of the menu from which you were allowed to order. You kept your elbows off the white tablecloth.
Today, eating out is no longer special. It's common... even mundane.
The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that the average American spends about $2,500 per year eating out (about $7,500 for a family of four). Seventy percent of Americans eat out once a week, and about 25% eat out 2-3 times per week.
Fast food, of course, is responsible for the vast majority this eating out. In fact, fast food restaurants are credited with the democratization of eating out. Every day, 25% of Americans eat at a fast food restaurant. We will spend about $110 billion on fast food this year, with about $32 billion of that going to McDonald's.
Is that good or bad?
In the books Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer, the authors allow that the fast food industry has had some positive impacts on our culture. Youth work opportunities abound. (About 12% of Americans [including your author] have worked for McDonald's.) More people get to eat out than ever before. The careful controls and regulations of the franchise system make eating out safer than it has ever been. The fast food industry crosses cultural and geographic boundaries and provides the same service to all comers regardless of class or ethnic origin.
But fast food also has its down side.
Writing in the February 24 edition of the New York Times magazine, investigative reporter Michael Moss tells of the billions of dollars spent by food manufacturers to create foods that contain addictive qualities: "...the food industry already knew some things about making people happy -- and it started with sugar."
The National Bureau of Economic Research has determined that proximity to a fast food restaurant is a significant contributing factor to obesity in children, adolescents, and pregnant women. Fast food restaurants tend to offer excessive amounts of sugar, carbohydrates, and fats with no or very little grains and greens, two essential ingredients in a healthy diet.
In response to demands for more nutrition and information, and fewer sugars and calories, the fast food industry has managed to stay one step ahead of the regulatory agencies by voluntarily releasing nutritional data about the foods they offer as well as including salads and fruits on their menus.
Finally, George Ritzer (The McDonaldization of Society) would have us look beyond the nutritional issues to the influence that the fast food industry has had on our culture in general. Fast food restaurants operate on three principles: 1) Streamline the process through technology; 2) Simplify the product; and 3) Put the customer to work. These three principles inevitably result in: A) Efficiency; B) Calculability; C) Predictability; and D) Control.
While those principles and outcomes are all very well and good for fast food restaurants, they have become values that have seeped into other parts of our lives including education, industry, government, and even religion.
THE WORD
All of the lessons in this week's lectionary deal in some way with the nutrition metaphor.
Isaiah reminds the children of Israel that working toward spiritual ends is as important as working for physical ends. If we work only for physical things, we will be disappointed when they wear out, break down, or are stolen or lost. He likens working for physical riches to purchasing food that tastes good but has no nutritional value, that doesn't "stick to your ribs." He invites his listeners to buy that good, rich spiritual food that fills you up and keeps you full.
The Psalmist speaks of that spiritual thirst and hunger that is as real and painful as physical thirst and hunger: "My soul thirsts... my flesh faints... as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." But the thing the Psalmist thirsts and hungers for is God.
In First Corinthians, Paul speaks to the divide between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians in the early church, and he warns those Corinthian Christians that a separation based upon ethnicity or tradition is as foolish as one based upon food. For the early Jews, Moses was their conduit to the Holy Spirit even as Jesus is ours. But it's the same Holy Spirit.
What difference does it make what we eat if we are all nourished from the same source? You eat the steak and I eat the roast. Are we not nourished by the same beef? You drink from the stream at this place and I drink at another. Is our thirst not slaked from the same source?
Food is a longstanding metaphor in the life of the people of God.
From the feeding of the 5,000 to the Last Supper, from the image of Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors to his last brunch by the Sea of Galilee with his disciples after the resurrection, food is both a sign and a symbol of the activity of God in our lives.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:35).
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The lectionary is meant to ignite our exploration of scripture, not to limit or stifle it. So there is no need to limit our exposition of the food metaphor to only those passages that appear this week.
Neither, however, do we want to spend the entire sermon creating an annotated bibliography of "food passages."
Let us illustrate joyfully how important the food metaphor is in scripture, and how that metaphor is played out in the contemporary church from our celebration of Holy Communion to our gathering for pot-luck dinners and cookies and punch in the church basement.
The old aphorism "when we meet we eat" may be as much about our spirituality as it is about our stomachs.
Then, however, it becomes necessary to ask the hard questions.
Is the theology we share from the pulpit and in our study groups nutritious as well as delicious, or is it fast food theology, tasty and fun but without much nutritional value?
Does the contemporary church offer lasting nourishment in its worship services, or will our worshipers be hungry an hour later?
Does contemporary Christian music feed the soul, or does it simply sate the momentary craving for something sweet?
Does our use of technology really enhance the ancient and venerable message of the gospel, or does it simply buy into the McDonaldization of the church by streamlining the process, simplifying the product, and putting the customer to work?
Are we organizing and mobilizing our churches to transform lives and renew souls, or are we more interested in efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control?
The food metaphor has grown from simple and direct in first-century Judea to complex and layered in twenty-first-century America. But it still offers much illumination for the Christian who is willing to unpack it in a theologically responsible way.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Learning to Bear Fruit
by Leah Lonsbury
Luke 13:1-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Psalm 63:1-8; Isaiah 55:1-9
Images of food and nourishment, thirst and satisfaction, inability to bear fruit and rich abundance fill our passages for the Third Sunday in Lent. These images point us to literal nourishment -- bread, milk, and wine -- and also to spiritual food and drink that comes from the one who creates, blesses, and sustains. Isaiah invites us to "eat what is good and delight [ourselves] in rich food," holding up the blessings and provision of God as an invitation into deeper relationship, "an everlasting covenant," a love that is steadfast and sure and binds God and God's people together.
The Psalmist cries out to experience those blessings, that connection again, and her soul is then "satisfied as with a rich feast." God's steadfast love and promises remain, even when unseen. She recalls this when she sings: "[F]or you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me."
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we are reminded that a covenant requires commitment from more than just one party. We should be vigilant in how we are living and with the choices we are making about where we will seek our nourishment, especially because life is fragile and unpredictable (taking us back to Ash Wednesday). Be thoughtful and careful, Paul is saying. Remain faithful to God's covenantal love and provision, because you don't know what will come your way in this life. Be ready. Make choices that nourish you through God's abundant path. Do not rest easy or be arrogant, thinking you have it all figured out. Paul writes: "So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall." Return to God again and again.
Jesus echoes this in our passage from Luke's gospel. He holds up two examples of the need to take care and return to God and covenantal living. Through a parable, he reminds those who would listen not to waste the rich and nourishing soil God provides and to get busy bearing fruit. Isaiah's line "listen, so that you may live" could be an easy addition to this parable. Listen, so that you may bear fruit, so that your life may be the beacon that draws the nations to you. Seek God and forsake the ways that starve you and fill you up in ways that will only bring you down. Follow my higher, more satisfying, more nourishing, more blessed way. Follow so that you too might bear fruit. This life is fragile and your chances are not unlimited, so hold fast to the life-giving covenant with God.
On February 20th, the Democracy Now broadcast covered a recently released report (Adobe PDF) from the Federal Commission on Equity and Excellence. This commission was charged with providing advice to Education Secretary Arne Duncan "on the disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap, with a focus on systems of finance, as well as ways that the federal government can address such disparities" [from Homeroom, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education].
The 27-member commission, which included scholars, teachers' union leaders, state and local education officials, and education reformers and advocates, found and reported that "No other developed nation has inequities nearly as deep or systemic. No other developed nation has... so thoroughly stacked the odds against so many of its children."
This commission, set to work by the U.S. Department of Education itself, has sounded an alarm bell and highlighted the urgent need to eliminate "education disparities affecting millions of underserved and disadvantaged students."
Democracy Now's Amy Goodman reported on Wednesday...
The panel goes on to call for greater investments in public education, better training of teachers, equality in allocating funds, and a new push for more ethnically diverse schools. The commission was created by the Department of Education, but its findings largely reject the department's bipartisan education reform effort, saying the focus on charter schools and standardized testing has been "poorly targeted."
Through the system of public education, the U.S. has made a covenant with its children that it will (we will) provide the nourishment of mind and body (and in many ways soul) they will need. We have promised our children that we are about the business of preparing them for our world -- and the commission's report indicates that in many ways we have failed to uphold that covenant. We have broken our promise.
The commission's report may serve as prophetic if the U.S. Department of Education, the administration and congress, and their constituents will listen, be influenced, and act. This may be our Isaiah saying, "Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live." The millions of underserved and disadvantaged students whose future, whose fruit-bearing potential hangs in the balance, cannot wait. Their lives are fragile and their chances are not unlimited.
Again from Homeroom...
While the commission was autonomous and its recommendations do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Education, Secretary Duncan said, "The commission has sounded a powerful and important alarm about the distance we still have to go to improve education for every American child."
Who will hear and heed that alarm bell? It's sounding amidst the noise of political wrangling in Washington, and it is muffled by loud and arrogant assumptions of American educational superiority that continue on despite a reality that tells a very different story.
One of the report's forewords from Christopher Edley Jr. and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar begins to tell that different story and rings with Paul's warning -- "So if you think you are standing; watch out that you do not fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). It begins this way...
This report summarizes how America's K-12 education system, taken as a whole, fails our nation and too many of our children. Our system does not distribute opportunity equitably. Our leaders decry but tolerate disparities in student outcomes that are not only unfair, but socially and economically dangerous. Our nation's stated commitments to academic excellence are often eloquent but, without more, an insufficient response to challenges at home and globally. The data the commission reviewed make clear that officials, administrators, and constituents at all levels of government must attack our education failings as a moral and economic imperative.
After considering our texts for this week and the commission's report, the preacher might examine some of questions found below. They can be asked specifically about how we "feed" and keep our promises to our children via education or applied more generally to other areas of our own adult lives that need addressing during this Lenten season.
• How can we return to that thoughtful and careful way?
• How can we nourish our children and allow them to "eat what is good, and delight [themselves] in rich food" so that they too may be beacons of light and bearers of good fruit?
• How can we uphold our covenant and offer our children the life of abundance via the education we provide?
• How do we need to repent of the systemic racism and classism inherent in our education system, and what can we do to make change?
• How can we avoid leaving our children "thirsty"?
• How can we satisfy our children's souls, return their joy, and open to them the higher way?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Wondering What to Eat?
With all the health advice around us, it's hard to know what to eat these days. Perhaps finding healthy food requires us to look beyond what we usually eat.
Dawn Starin writes in Yes magazine that " 'food' is a culturally specific concept," and adds that many cultures happily eat insects.
"An insect-eating society," she writes, "teaches its children to eat insects. People who do not grow up with that custom may find it hard to imagine. Such cultural differences often have a geographical and economic basis. In general, there are fewer edible insects in temperate climates, and therefore it may have been inefficient in terms of time and energy to incorporate insects into the diet. Quite simply, it wasn't worth it. But times are changing, and so are diets."
Even the Bible allows for the possibility of eating insects. Starin notes, "In Leviticus 11:22, among the laws codified and observed by the Israelites between 3,500 and 2,500 years ago, it is stated that 'even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.' " What we eat and find tasty is a function of our culture and looking at other cultures can make us think again about what we put on our plates.
* * *
What We Can All Learn from the Google Cafeteria
Food is more than food -- it's also the glue between people. Eating together is a powerful social connection and that's just as true now as it was in Jesus' day. As Darya Pino writes on summertomato.com, "In an era where efficiency and individualism are a way of life, it is easy to forget that we have three opportunities each day to sit down and connect with someone over an intimate and enjoyable experience: our daily bread."
Pino observes that the famous gourmet cafeteria at the Google headquarters was meant to be more than an employee perk -- it was designed to get employees to mingle outside their departments. "Sitting down to a communal meal encourages mingling of both people and ideas. Employees from different departments that normally have little reason for interacting are more likely to strike up conversation while in line for lasagna than at any other time of day.... The food culture at Google makes it more than a fun place to work, it makes it a better company." The message from Google to companies just getting started: "Feed talent: both figuratively and literally."
* * *
Television Is Fried Food for Your Mind
We are interconnected beings -- body, mind, and spirit tied together. What's bad for one part of us is bad for our whole being.
In Psychology Today, Peter Bongiorno makes a connection between the food we give our bodies and the food we give our minds. He observes that a steady diet of television leads to long-term unhappiness -- and physical maladies. Food for the body and food for the mind go hand in hand, as we so often eat while watching TV. "Unfortunately, more long-term use of TV seems to be where the problem comes in: watching television over two hours per day and eating while watching television are each associated with obesity. In our country, 60% of people are obese -- and this obesity is a leading cause of a lower life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. It has been shown that each extra daily hour of television children watch is associated with an 8% increase in developing depressive symptoms by young adulthood."
Television makes us happy for a little while, in the same way unhealthy food does -- and then we pay the price. Bongiorno says that "Analysis of over 30 years of U.S. national data shows that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, but the longer-term effects are not good." Unhappy people watch 30% more television than unhappy people -- although we might wonder which came first, the television or the unhappiness. "TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does. We looked at eight to ten activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more -- visiting others, going to church, all those things -- were more happy. TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise. In short, happy people do not watch a lot of TV."
* * *
From team member Ron Love:
Howard Hendricks, who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary for more than sixty years, died on February 20 at the age of 88. In the course of his teaching career he instructed more than 10,000 students. During this time he authored 16 books, was the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, and was the chaplain to the Dallas Cowboys. Hendricks always maintained that his field of ministry was Christian education.
Charles Swindoll, who studied under Dr. Hendricks, said, "The best stuff I learned from him I couldn't take from my notes -- there's no course in wisdom."
Application: When Isaiah said, "Listen, so that you may live," he was trying to share the wisdom of living life under the direction of God.
* * *
On Easter Sunday, Pastor Robert Jeffress will conduct his first worship service in the new structure for the First Baptist Church of Dallas. And at $130 million, it is the most expensive church building ever to be built.
A guest who was scheduled to speak and recently declined to do so is quarterback Tim Tebow. When Tebow learned of Jeffress' intolerance of other faiths and specific minority groups, he realized that he could no longer endorse the pastor with his presence. Tebow announced his resignation in a Twitter message that said in part, "I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring faith, hope, and love to all those needing a brighter day."
Application: Paul cautioned us to avoid idolaters and those who are indulgent.
* * *
The New York Times has reported on a new test that holds promise to stop the stubborn and persistent disease of leprosy.
Dr. Monica Green, in a "Letter to the Editor" of the Times, wrote: "Equally stubborn, however, are the negative attitudes toward leprosy." She cautioned that the bells that lepers were forced to wear in medieval Europe may not have been required to keep the uninfected away. Historians now think that since leprosy destroys the larynx, causing an inability to speak, that "bells and clappers attracted the attention of passersby after the voice failed."
Application: Paul cautioned us against being self-focused and exclusionary.
* * *
In Papua New Guinea, Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother, was accused of being a witch. When a 6-year-old boy died in the hospital, the child's mother and uncle, Janet Ware and Andrew Watea, accused Leniata of sorcery. In the public square, before a large crowd of adults and children, Leniata was stripped of her clothing, tortured with a hot iron, then doused with gasoline and set alight on a pile of car tires and trash.
Application: Paul cautioned that our actions should never be ones that "desire evil," such as those that Ware and Watea perpetrated upon Kepari Leniata.
* * *
Roger Clemens, when asked what his thoughts were on not being selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame, gave a rather cavalier response: "I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If those guys feel I deserve to be there, then I deserve to be there. If they feel I don't, then that's okay too."
Application: Clemens' attitude is a frivolous one from any person who has admitted to being a sinner, committing a falsehood, or breaking the rules for personal gain. It certainly is not a statement of repentance like Jesus calls us to undertake.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, you are our God. We seek you, our soul thirsts for you;
People: our flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Leader: So we have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
People: beholding your power and glory.
Leader: Because your steadfast love is better than life, our lips will praise you.
People: So we will bless you as long as we live; we will lift up our hands and call on your name.
OR
Leader: Come to God's table and be filled with good things.
People: We come to God, hungry for the food that satisfies.
Leader: Come and receive that which God offers abundantly.
People: We come, knowing that have fed on husks too often.
Leader: The manna of heaven is before us. Let us dine with God.
People: We are thankful for the gifts of our abundant God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Break Thou the Bread of Life"
found in:
UMH: 599
PH: 329
AAHH: 334
NNBH: 295
NCH: 321
CH: 321
LBW: 235
ELA: 515
W&P: 665
AMEC: 209
"For the Bread Which You Have Broken"
found in:
UMH: 614/615
H82: 340/341
PH: 508/509
CH: 411
LBW: 200
ELA: 494
"Take Time to Be Holy"
found in:
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 43
AMEC: 286
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
"Bread of the World"
found in:
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
"O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee"
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
W&P: 686
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
"Fill My Cup, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 47
"God, You Are My God"
CCB: 60
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who offers the food that leads to abundant life: Grant us the wisdom to receive our nourishment from you that we may find strength to serve you through serving others; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to you, O God, and ask that you would open your hand that we may be fed. As your children in the wilderness, we need that manna from on high. Feed us and strengthen us for service in your realm. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our weakness for things that do not nourish or satisfy.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered the food that gives life, which is both eternal and abundant, and yet we find ourselves gorging at the trough of the world. Our appetite for junk food and fast food is surpassed only by our appetite for quick and easy spirituality. We want salvation to come in clever sayings and witty remarks. Forgive us and give us an appetite for what is truly spiritual. Amen.
Leader: God desires us to be whole and healthy in spirit as well as in mind and body. God gladly calls us to the heavenly table where the manna of God satisfies our every desire.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Praise and glory and worship are yours, O God, for you are the very foundation of all being. You have created us and you know what we need for our wholeness and salvation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered the food that gives life, which is both eternal and abundant, and yet we find ourselves gorging at the trough of the world. Our appetite for junk food and fast food is surpassed only by our appetite for quick and easy spirituality. We want salvation to come in clever sayings and witty remarks. Forgive us and give us an appetite for what is truly spiritual.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from you. We thank you for those who have eaten of the heavenly manna and, out of the strength they have found there, have fed us. We thank you for parents, teachers, pastors, friends, and strangers who have shared your food with us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those in need. We pray for those who do not receive enough nourishment for their lives. We are touched by those who find their hunger for physical food unfulfilled. And we are touched by those who may have plenty of food for the body but do not have any for their souls.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about favorite foods. Some are nourishing, and some are not. It is not enough to just eat what we like. We must remember to eat what we need for life.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Bearing Fruit for God
Luke 13:1-9
Object: some fertilizer
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you have ever tried to grow a plant or a tree? (let the children answer) Did it live? (let them answer) How did you take care of your plant? (let them answer)
There is a story Jesus tells in the Bible about a man who had a fig tree planted on his farm. He asked another man who worked for him to take care of the tree. After a while he came back to pick some of the fruit that had grown on the tree, but he was surprised to find that the tree had no figs. The owner was disappointed, and he told his worker to cut it down. But the worker asked him to give the tree one more chance. So he told the worker to give the tree some fertilizer and if it did not grow in one year then he should cut it down.
Fertilizer helps plants to grow strong so that they will produce fruit, flowers, or whatever they are supposed to produce. If you want a strong plant, one that grows and grows, you must fertilize it. Fertilizer is very important for plants and trees.
Jesus told this story so that we would learn something very important about ourselves too. Sin makes us weak. We all sin. Every one of us is a sinner. Sin makes us very weak and keeps us from living the way that God wants us to live. When we are weak, we cannot even do the good things that we want to do.
There is only one way to make things better so that we can get over our weakness. We must tell God how sorry we are for our sin. This is called repentance, and it is as good for us as fertilizer is for a plant.
Tell God that you are sorry and ask him to forgive you, and you will get rid of your sin. When you do not have the sin, then you can grow strong and be the way that God wanted you to be.
The next time you see someone feeding a plant some fertilizer to help it grow strong, I hope you will remember how telling God you are sorry for your sin will also help you to grow strong. Will you do that? (let them answer) Good. God bless you very much.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 3, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Leah Lonsbury considers the lectionary passages in the context of the nutritional content (or lack thereof) of the food we're offering for the mind. A new report from a federal commission chartered by the U.S. Department of Education indicates that there are some serious issues with American elementary and secondary education, both relative to the rest of the world and in terms of inequities within America. Isaiah says, "[L]isten, so that you may live," and talks about making an "everlasting covenant." The fact that we make school attendance compulsory suggests an implied covenant with our children -- but Leah pointedly asks if we are truly providing our children with the preparation they need to thrive in an increasingly education-driven marketplace. Leah offers several questions that will stimulate your thought process.
Fast Food Christianity
by Dean Feldmeyer
Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Okay, confession time. I like... no... I LOVE McDonald's.
I'm a McJunkie. I know, it's not the popular thing, the politically correct thing, but there it is. I love fast food -- the sweet sauce on the savory beef in a Big Mac; the crunch of the pickle and onion on a Quarter Pounder; the salty crispness of the fries.
God help me, I love it all and about once every ten days or so I have to feed my fast food jones. I have to go to McDonald's and "strap on the feed bag," as my dad used to say.
But I don't do it every meal or even every day -- that would just be stupid. There are way too many empty calories in fast food to make it my main source of nourishment. As Morgan Spurlock showed in his 2003 movie Supersize Me, a diet of nothing but fast food will make you fat, listless, and unhealthy.
Gosh, I wonder... could this be a metaphor for what's going on in our churches these days? This week Isaiah and Paul ask: Are we getting wholesome, adult spiritual nourishment? Or are we being fed fast, easy, fattening theologies that we want to hear but do nothing for our spiritual health?
THE WORLD
When I was a kid, eating out was a big deal.
You got dressed up. Your parents rehearsed things like table manners before you left the house. You were advised about those parts of the menu from which you were allowed to order. You kept your elbows off the white tablecloth.
Today, eating out is no longer special. It's common... even mundane.
The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that the average American spends about $2,500 per year eating out (about $7,500 for a family of four). Seventy percent of Americans eat out once a week, and about 25% eat out 2-3 times per week.
Fast food, of course, is responsible for the vast majority this eating out. In fact, fast food restaurants are credited with the democratization of eating out. Every day, 25% of Americans eat at a fast food restaurant. We will spend about $110 billion on fast food this year, with about $32 billion of that going to McDonald's.
Is that good or bad?
In the books Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer, the authors allow that the fast food industry has had some positive impacts on our culture. Youth work opportunities abound. (About 12% of Americans [including your author] have worked for McDonald's.) More people get to eat out than ever before. The careful controls and regulations of the franchise system make eating out safer than it has ever been. The fast food industry crosses cultural and geographic boundaries and provides the same service to all comers regardless of class or ethnic origin.
But fast food also has its down side.
Writing in the February 24 edition of the New York Times magazine, investigative reporter Michael Moss tells of the billions of dollars spent by food manufacturers to create foods that contain addictive qualities: "...the food industry already knew some things about making people happy -- and it started with sugar."
The National Bureau of Economic Research has determined that proximity to a fast food restaurant is a significant contributing factor to obesity in children, adolescents, and pregnant women. Fast food restaurants tend to offer excessive amounts of sugar, carbohydrates, and fats with no or very little grains and greens, two essential ingredients in a healthy diet.
In response to demands for more nutrition and information, and fewer sugars and calories, the fast food industry has managed to stay one step ahead of the regulatory agencies by voluntarily releasing nutritional data about the foods they offer as well as including salads and fruits on their menus.
Finally, George Ritzer (The McDonaldization of Society) would have us look beyond the nutritional issues to the influence that the fast food industry has had on our culture in general. Fast food restaurants operate on three principles: 1) Streamline the process through technology; 2) Simplify the product; and 3) Put the customer to work. These three principles inevitably result in: A) Efficiency; B) Calculability; C) Predictability; and D) Control.
While those principles and outcomes are all very well and good for fast food restaurants, they have become values that have seeped into other parts of our lives including education, industry, government, and even religion.
THE WORD
All of the lessons in this week's lectionary deal in some way with the nutrition metaphor.
Isaiah reminds the children of Israel that working toward spiritual ends is as important as working for physical ends. If we work only for physical things, we will be disappointed when they wear out, break down, or are stolen or lost. He likens working for physical riches to purchasing food that tastes good but has no nutritional value, that doesn't "stick to your ribs." He invites his listeners to buy that good, rich spiritual food that fills you up and keeps you full.
The Psalmist speaks of that spiritual thirst and hunger that is as real and painful as physical thirst and hunger: "My soul thirsts... my flesh faints... as in a dry and weary land where there is no water." But the thing the Psalmist thirsts and hungers for is God.
In First Corinthians, Paul speaks to the divide between Gentile Christians and Jewish Christians in the early church, and he warns those Corinthian Christians that a separation based upon ethnicity or tradition is as foolish as one based upon food. For the early Jews, Moses was their conduit to the Holy Spirit even as Jesus is ours. But it's the same Holy Spirit.
What difference does it make what we eat if we are all nourished from the same source? You eat the steak and I eat the roast. Are we not nourished by the same beef? You drink from the stream at this place and I drink at another. Is our thirst not slaked from the same source?
Food is a longstanding metaphor in the life of the people of God.
From the feeding of the 5,000 to the Last Supper, from the image of Jesus eating with sinners and tax collectors to his last brunch by the Sea of Galilee with his disciples after the resurrection, food is both a sign and a symbol of the activity of God in our lives.
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me (Revelation 3:20).
Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:35).
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The lectionary is meant to ignite our exploration of scripture, not to limit or stifle it. So there is no need to limit our exposition of the food metaphor to only those passages that appear this week.
Neither, however, do we want to spend the entire sermon creating an annotated bibliography of "food passages."
Let us illustrate joyfully how important the food metaphor is in scripture, and how that metaphor is played out in the contemporary church from our celebration of Holy Communion to our gathering for pot-luck dinners and cookies and punch in the church basement.
The old aphorism "when we meet we eat" may be as much about our spirituality as it is about our stomachs.
Then, however, it becomes necessary to ask the hard questions.
Is the theology we share from the pulpit and in our study groups nutritious as well as delicious, or is it fast food theology, tasty and fun but without much nutritional value?
Does the contemporary church offer lasting nourishment in its worship services, or will our worshipers be hungry an hour later?
Does contemporary Christian music feed the soul, or does it simply sate the momentary craving for something sweet?
Does our use of technology really enhance the ancient and venerable message of the gospel, or does it simply buy into the McDonaldization of the church by streamlining the process, simplifying the product, and putting the customer to work?
Are we organizing and mobilizing our churches to transform lives and renew souls, or are we more interested in efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control?
The food metaphor has grown from simple and direct in first-century Judea to complex and layered in twenty-first-century America. But it still offers much illumination for the Christian who is willing to unpack it in a theologically responsible way.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Learning to Bear Fruit
by Leah Lonsbury
Luke 13:1-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Psalm 63:1-8; Isaiah 55:1-9
Images of food and nourishment, thirst and satisfaction, inability to bear fruit and rich abundance fill our passages for the Third Sunday in Lent. These images point us to literal nourishment -- bread, milk, and wine -- and also to spiritual food and drink that comes from the one who creates, blesses, and sustains. Isaiah invites us to "eat what is good and delight [ourselves] in rich food," holding up the blessings and provision of God as an invitation into deeper relationship, "an everlasting covenant," a love that is steadfast and sure and binds God and God's people together.
The Psalmist cries out to experience those blessings, that connection again, and her soul is then "satisfied as with a rich feast." God's steadfast love and promises remain, even when unseen. She recalls this when she sings: "[F]or you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me."
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, we are reminded that a covenant requires commitment from more than just one party. We should be vigilant in how we are living and with the choices we are making about where we will seek our nourishment, especially because life is fragile and unpredictable (taking us back to Ash Wednesday). Be thoughtful and careful, Paul is saying. Remain faithful to God's covenantal love and provision, because you don't know what will come your way in this life. Be ready. Make choices that nourish you through God's abundant path. Do not rest easy or be arrogant, thinking you have it all figured out. Paul writes: "So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall." Return to God again and again.
Jesus echoes this in our passage from Luke's gospel. He holds up two examples of the need to take care and return to God and covenantal living. Through a parable, he reminds those who would listen not to waste the rich and nourishing soil God provides and to get busy bearing fruit. Isaiah's line "listen, so that you may live" could be an easy addition to this parable. Listen, so that you may bear fruit, so that your life may be the beacon that draws the nations to you. Seek God and forsake the ways that starve you and fill you up in ways that will only bring you down. Follow my higher, more satisfying, more nourishing, more blessed way. Follow so that you too might bear fruit. This life is fragile and your chances are not unlimited, so hold fast to the life-giving covenant with God.
On February 20th, the Democracy Now broadcast covered a recently released report (Adobe PDF) from the Federal Commission on Equity and Excellence. This commission was charged with providing advice to Education Secretary Arne Duncan "on the disparities in meaningful educational opportunities that give rise to the achievement gap, with a focus on systems of finance, as well as ways that the federal government can address such disparities" [from Homeroom, the official blog of the U.S. Department of Education].
The 27-member commission, which included scholars, teachers' union leaders, state and local education officials, and education reformers and advocates, found and reported that "No other developed nation has inequities nearly as deep or systemic. No other developed nation has... so thoroughly stacked the odds against so many of its children."
This commission, set to work by the U.S. Department of Education itself, has sounded an alarm bell and highlighted the urgent need to eliminate "education disparities affecting millions of underserved and disadvantaged students."
Democracy Now's Amy Goodman reported on Wednesday...
The panel goes on to call for greater investments in public education, better training of teachers, equality in allocating funds, and a new push for more ethnically diverse schools. The commission was created by the Department of Education, but its findings largely reject the department's bipartisan education reform effort, saying the focus on charter schools and standardized testing has been "poorly targeted."
Through the system of public education, the U.S. has made a covenant with its children that it will (we will) provide the nourishment of mind and body (and in many ways soul) they will need. We have promised our children that we are about the business of preparing them for our world -- and the commission's report indicates that in many ways we have failed to uphold that covenant. We have broken our promise.
The commission's report may serve as prophetic if the U.S. Department of Education, the administration and congress, and their constituents will listen, be influenced, and act. This may be our Isaiah saying, "Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live." The millions of underserved and disadvantaged students whose future, whose fruit-bearing potential hangs in the balance, cannot wait. Their lives are fragile and their chances are not unlimited.
Again from Homeroom...
While the commission was autonomous and its recommendations do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Education, Secretary Duncan said, "The commission has sounded a powerful and important alarm about the distance we still have to go to improve education for every American child."
Who will hear and heed that alarm bell? It's sounding amidst the noise of political wrangling in Washington, and it is muffled by loud and arrogant assumptions of American educational superiority that continue on despite a reality that tells a very different story.
One of the report's forewords from Christopher Edley Jr. and Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar begins to tell that different story and rings with Paul's warning -- "So if you think you are standing; watch out that you do not fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12). It begins this way...
This report summarizes how America's K-12 education system, taken as a whole, fails our nation and too many of our children. Our system does not distribute opportunity equitably. Our leaders decry but tolerate disparities in student outcomes that are not only unfair, but socially and economically dangerous. Our nation's stated commitments to academic excellence are often eloquent but, without more, an insufficient response to challenges at home and globally. The data the commission reviewed make clear that officials, administrators, and constituents at all levels of government must attack our education failings as a moral and economic imperative.
After considering our texts for this week and the commission's report, the preacher might examine some of questions found below. They can be asked specifically about how we "feed" and keep our promises to our children via education or applied more generally to other areas of our own adult lives that need addressing during this Lenten season.
• How can we return to that thoughtful and careful way?
• How can we nourish our children and allow them to "eat what is good, and delight [themselves] in rich food" so that they too may be beacons of light and bearers of good fruit?
• How can we uphold our covenant and offer our children the life of abundance via the education we provide?
• How do we need to repent of the systemic racism and classism inherent in our education system, and what can we do to make change?
• How can we avoid leaving our children "thirsty"?
• How can we satisfy our children's souls, return their joy, and open to them the higher way?
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Wondering What to Eat?
With all the health advice around us, it's hard to know what to eat these days. Perhaps finding healthy food requires us to look beyond what we usually eat.
Dawn Starin writes in Yes magazine that " 'food' is a culturally specific concept," and adds that many cultures happily eat insects.
"An insect-eating society," she writes, "teaches its children to eat insects. People who do not grow up with that custom may find it hard to imagine. Such cultural differences often have a geographical and economic basis. In general, there are fewer edible insects in temperate climates, and therefore it may have been inefficient in terms of time and energy to incorporate insects into the diet. Quite simply, it wasn't worth it. But times are changing, and so are diets."
Even the Bible allows for the possibility of eating insects. Starin notes, "In Leviticus 11:22, among the laws codified and observed by the Israelites between 3,500 and 2,500 years ago, it is stated that 'even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.' " What we eat and find tasty is a function of our culture and looking at other cultures can make us think again about what we put on our plates.
* * *
What We Can All Learn from the Google Cafeteria
Food is more than food -- it's also the glue between people. Eating together is a powerful social connection and that's just as true now as it was in Jesus' day. As Darya Pino writes on summertomato.com, "In an era where efficiency and individualism are a way of life, it is easy to forget that we have three opportunities each day to sit down and connect with someone over an intimate and enjoyable experience: our daily bread."
Pino observes that the famous gourmet cafeteria at the Google headquarters was meant to be more than an employee perk -- it was designed to get employees to mingle outside their departments. "Sitting down to a communal meal encourages mingling of both people and ideas. Employees from different departments that normally have little reason for interacting are more likely to strike up conversation while in line for lasagna than at any other time of day.... The food culture at Google makes it more than a fun place to work, it makes it a better company." The message from Google to companies just getting started: "Feed talent: both figuratively and literally."
* * *
Television Is Fried Food for Your Mind
We are interconnected beings -- body, mind, and spirit tied together. What's bad for one part of us is bad for our whole being.
In Psychology Today, Peter Bongiorno makes a connection between the food we give our bodies and the food we give our minds. He observes that a steady diet of television leads to long-term unhappiness -- and physical maladies. Food for the body and food for the mind go hand in hand, as we so often eat while watching TV. "Unfortunately, more long-term use of TV seems to be where the problem comes in: watching television over two hours per day and eating while watching television are each associated with obesity. In our country, 60% of people are obese -- and this obesity is a leading cause of a lower life expectancy, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. It has been shown that each extra daily hour of television children watch is associated with an 8% increase in developing depressive symptoms by young adulthood."
Television makes us happy for a little while, in the same way unhealthy food does -- and then we pay the price. Bongiorno says that "Analysis of over 30 years of U.S. national data shows that spending time watching television may contribute to viewers' happiness in the moment, but the longer-term effects are not good." Unhappy people watch 30% more television than unhappy people -- although we might wonder which came first, the television or the unhappiness. "TV doesn't really seem to satisfy people over the long haul the way that social involvement or reading a newspaper does. We looked at eight to ten activities that happy people engage in, and for each one, the people who did the activities more -- visiting others, going to church, all those things -- were more happy. TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less. The data suggest to us that the TV habit may offer short-run pleasure at the expense of long-term malaise. In short, happy people do not watch a lot of TV."
* * *
From team member Ron Love:
Howard Hendricks, who taught at Dallas Theological Seminary for more than sixty years, died on February 20 at the age of 88. In the course of his teaching career he instructed more than 10,000 students. During this time he authored 16 books, was the pastor of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth, and was the chaplain to the Dallas Cowboys. Hendricks always maintained that his field of ministry was Christian education.
Charles Swindoll, who studied under Dr. Hendricks, said, "The best stuff I learned from him I couldn't take from my notes -- there's no course in wisdom."
Application: When Isaiah said, "Listen, so that you may live," he was trying to share the wisdom of living life under the direction of God.
* * *
On Easter Sunday, Pastor Robert Jeffress will conduct his first worship service in the new structure for the First Baptist Church of Dallas. And at $130 million, it is the most expensive church building ever to be built.
A guest who was scheduled to speak and recently declined to do so is quarterback Tim Tebow. When Tebow learned of Jeffress' intolerance of other faiths and specific minority groups, he realized that he could no longer endorse the pastor with his presence. Tebow announced his resignation in a Twitter message that said in part, "I have decided to cancel my upcoming appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring faith, hope, and love to all those needing a brighter day."
Application: Paul cautioned us to avoid idolaters and those who are indulgent.
* * *
The New York Times has reported on a new test that holds promise to stop the stubborn and persistent disease of leprosy.
Dr. Monica Green, in a "Letter to the Editor" of the Times, wrote: "Equally stubborn, however, are the negative attitudes toward leprosy." She cautioned that the bells that lepers were forced to wear in medieval Europe may not have been required to keep the uninfected away. Historians now think that since leprosy destroys the larynx, causing an inability to speak, that "bells and clappers attracted the attention of passersby after the voice failed."
Application: Paul cautioned us against being self-focused and exclusionary.
* * *
In Papua New Guinea, Kepari Leniata, a 20-year-old mother, was accused of being a witch. When a 6-year-old boy died in the hospital, the child's mother and uncle, Janet Ware and Andrew Watea, accused Leniata of sorcery. In the public square, before a large crowd of adults and children, Leniata was stripped of her clothing, tortured with a hot iron, then doused with gasoline and set alight on a pile of car tires and trash.
Application: Paul cautioned that our actions should never be ones that "desire evil," such as those that Ware and Watea perpetrated upon Kepari Leniata.
* * *
Roger Clemens, when asked what his thoughts were on not being selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame, gave a rather cavalier response: "I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. If those guys feel I deserve to be there, then I deserve to be there. If they feel I don't, then that's okay too."
Application: Clemens' attitude is a frivolous one from any person who has admitted to being a sinner, committing a falsehood, or breaking the rules for personal gain. It certainly is not a statement of repentance like Jesus calls us to undertake.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: O God, you are our God. We seek you, our soul thirsts for you;
People: our flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Leader: So we have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
People: beholding your power and glory.
Leader: Because your steadfast love is better than life, our lips will praise you.
People: So we will bless you as long as we live; we will lift up our hands and call on your name.
OR
Leader: Come to God's table and be filled with good things.
People: We come to God, hungry for the food that satisfies.
Leader: Come and receive that which God offers abundantly.
People: We come, knowing that have fed on husks too often.
Leader: The manna of heaven is before us. Let us dine with God.
People: We are thankful for the gifts of our abundant God.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Break Thou the Bread of Life"
found in:
UMH: 599
PH: 329
AAHH: 334
NNBH: 295
NCH: 321
CH: 321
LBW: 235
ELA: 515
W&P: 665
AMEC: 209
"For the Bread Which You Have Broken"
found in:
UMH: 614/615
H82: 340/341
PH: 508/509
CH: 411
LBW: 200
ELA: 494
"Take Time to Be Holy"
found in:
UMH: 395
NNBH: 306
CH: 572
W&P: 43
AMEC: 286
"Seek Ye First"
found in:
UMH: 405
H82: 711
PH: 333
CH: 354
W&P: 349
"Bread of the World"
found in:
UMH: 624
H82: 301
PH: 502
NCH: 346
CH: 387
W&P: 693
"O Master, Let Me Walk with Thee"
found in:
UMH: 430
H82: 659/660
PH: 357
NNBH: 445
NCH: 503
CH: 602
LBW: 492
ELA: 818
W&P: 589
AMEC: 299
"What Does the Lord Require"
found in:
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
CH: 659
W&P: 686
"Be Thou My Vision"
found in:
UMH: 451
H82: 488
PH: 339
NCH: 451
CH: 595
ELA: 793
W&P: 502
AMEC: 281
STLT: 20
Renew: 151
"Fill My Cup, Lord"
found in:
CCB: 47
"God, You Are My God"
CCB: 60
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who offers the food that leads to abundant life: Grant us the wisdom to receive our nourishment from you that we may find strength to serve you through serving others; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We come to you, O God, and ask that you would open your hand that we may be fed. As your children in the wilderness, we need that manna from on high. Feed us and strengthen us for service in your realm. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our weakness for things that do not nourish or satisfy.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered the food that gives life, which is both eternal and abundant, and yet we find ourselves gorging at the trough of the world. Our appetite for junk food and fast food is surpassed only by our appetite for quick and easy spirituality. We want salvation to come in clever sayings and witty remarks. Forgive us and give us an appetite for what is truly spiritual. Amen.
Leader: God desires us to be whole and healthy in spirit as well as in mind and body. God gladly calls us to the heavenly table where the manna of God satisfies our every desire.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
Praise and glory and worship are yours, O God, for you are the very foundation of all being. You have created us and you know what we need for our wholeness and salvation.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. You have offered the food that gives life, which is both eternal and abundant, and yet we find ourselves gorging at the trough of the world. Our appetite for junk food and fast food is surpassed only by our appetite for quick and easy spirituality. We want salvation to come in clever sayings and witty remarks. Forgive us and give us an appetite for what is truly spiritual.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received from you. We thank you for those who have eaten of the heavenly manna and, out of the strength they have found there, have fed us. We thank you for parents, teachers, pastors, friends, and strangers who have shared your food with us.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those in need. We pray for those who do not receive enough nourishment for their lives. We are touched by those who find their hunger for physical food unfulfilled. And we are touched by those who may have plenty of food for the body but do not have any for their souls.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Talk to the children about favorite foods. Some are nourishing, and some are not. It is not enough to just eat what we like. We must remember to eat what we need for life.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
Bearing Fruit for God
Luke 13:1-9
Object: some fertilizer
Good morning, boys and girls! How many of you have ever tried to grow a plant or a tree? (let the children answer) Did it live? (let them answer) How did you take care of your plant? (let them answer)
There is a story Jesus tells in the Bible about a man who had a fig tree planted on his farm. He asked another man who worked for him to take care of the tree. After a while he came back to pick some of the fruit that had grown on the tree, but he was surprised to find that the tree had no figs. The owner was disappointed, and he told his worker to cut it down. But the worker asked him to give the tree one more chance. So he told the worker to give the tree some fertilizer and if it did not grow in one year then he should cut it down.
Fertilizer helps plants to grow strong so that they will produce fruit, flowers, or whatever they are supposed to produce. If you want a strong plant, one that grows and grows, you must fertilize it. Fertilizer is very important for plants and trees.
Jesus told this story so that we would learn something very important about ourselves too. Sin makes us weak. We all sin. Every one of us is a sinner. Sin makes us very weak and keeps us from living the way that God wants us to live. When we are weak, we cannot even do the good things that we want to do.
There is only one way to make things better so that we can get over our weakness. We must tell God how sorry we are for our sin. This is called repentance, and it is as good for us as fertilizer is for a plant.
Tell God that you are sorry and ask him to forgive you, and you will get rid of your sin. When you do not have the sin, then you can grow strong and be the way that God wanted you to be.
The next time you see someone feeding a plant some fertilizer to help it grow strong, I hope you will remember how telling God you are sorry for your sin will also help you to grow strong. Will you do that? (let them answer) Good. God bless you very much.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 3, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
