How We Eat Can Change the World

Beloved,

The sun will come out tomorrow!

Sorry. When I saw the forecast:  sun, sun, 50 degrees, all weekend long, I couldn’t restrain myself. Amazing how one firy orb has the power to penetrate our grim, gray, unrepentant focus on war, recession, earthquake, earthquake, chagrin, cynicism, despair at the world; has the power to make us giddy, like children, receiving the Kingdom of God. It’s no wonder people since the beginning of time have thought that this Kingdom originated from above, with a sun like ours.

This Sunday (that’s right, they even gave it a DAY), we’ll be putting our faces into the light. We’re not yet halfway through Lent, but there’s talk of Easter already. There’s a**eluia-talk, and Messiah-talk, and community-garden-talk, and tulip-talk, and egg-hunt talk. We’re keeping it on the down low for now, but we all know it’s coming. We all know it’s inevitable, that death will give way to new life. We, like sunflowers, can’t help but turn toward the light.

This week’s Lenten simple shift brings to the fore:  How We Eat Can Change the World. I’ll be preaching on it, Gianna will liturgize. An ancient religious cult like ours, whose most important ritual event is a meal, must have something to teach us about a thing we do with such frequency:  putting food into our bodies. Scripture tells us that our bodies are Temples of the Holy Spirit, and God dwells in us–it also says that we are not are own, but we were bought with a price; therefore we must glorify God in our bodies. (I Corinthians) Whew!  Think about THAT before lunch today.

The choir will sing, Bobby McFerrin’s arrangement of the 23rd Psalm; Laura Ruth is back with us, and prays with us, to music. We’ll share communion together:  homemade bread, local hard cider, and fresh-squeezed juice. After church:  deacons meet, Cantata rehearsal, Rooftoppers gather to share one another’s burdens. And we’ll have our Recession-Proof Clothing Swap! We’ll also keep worship lean this week so we can get outside for sun-worship after our Son-worship. It all belongs to the Lord!

heaps of Friday blessings,
Molly