The Scripture Readings this week are:
- Isaiah 55:1-9
- Luke 13:6-9
The Sermon title is Eat! Grow! Be Fruitful!
Early Thoughts: What would help you grow? Are those things readily available? What would life look like if what we needed to grow and be fruitful was indeed readily and freely available?
This week gives us an interesting combination of Scripture readings. In Luke we have the short little story about a tree that has thus far been unproductive and so the owner wants to get rid of it. Why let it waste space and resources? But the caretaker, the gardener, calls for grace, realizing that with proper care things can change. I wonder where we might see ourselves in that story. When have we been the tree, the gardener, the owner?
Paired with that we have Isaiah 55, where the listener is invited into God's abundant life. An abundance where we can get basics at no price. An abundance where we are questioned as to why we spend our energy/resources for things that do not actually satisfy us. An abundance based on reveling in the presence and promise of God. Is that the world in which we live today?
It is my belief and understanding that in the Reign of God we are all invited to eat and drink deeply of those things that feed and satisfy our bodies and souls. It is my belief that God wants all of us to grow strong so that we would be fruitful (I also believe that there are many ways we can be fruitful, many ways we can bear good fruit). It is my belief that God wants us to care for each other to allow and encourage growth --- and God does not want us to fall into the trap of seeing something as a lost cause, a waste of resources, good only to be cut down and discarded.
How do we live as if those things are true?
--Gord
No comments:
Post a Comment