Loving God, shine with mercy and power on the needs of this dear reader; in Christ Jesus I pray, amen.
The texts for this week have puzzled me along with many in terms of what would we as the church say to ourselves about where we are and where we need to be? We may find that we are like that story I have shared many times of the young man in days past, who worked long and hard to save money to buy passage to come to America. His dream was to sail to freedom and a new opportunity, so every free moment he had he did what he could to make money to save for his trip. He had a goal and once he reached the goal ran to the ticket office and bought his passage on a fine ship bound for America. It dawned on him that he had not saved any money for food, so he asked for help and he scraped together enough money for a piece of hard cheese and hard bread. "Well," he said, "At least I can divide it so that when the people sit down to eat, I will have a meager breakfast, lunch, and dinner." And for two days he watched the other passengers respond to the dinner bell, while he went to the place where he had hidden his meals. He would sometimes look in the windows and was amazed at what fine food was being offered to these lucky passengers." Finally, one of the men he had befriended saw him and later asked him, "Friend, why do you not come in?" The man shyly replied, "I did not pay for the food." The man laughed and said, "Son, the price of your ticket paid for all the meals onboard as well! You've been missing out! Please join us!" Is this you or your church?
The Gospel passage says God is good to us and we don't respond like we should or take advantage of that goodness. The Epistle says that ours is a faith that can be used to overcome the challenges and opportunites that life brings us, and the Prophet Isaiah talked of what better people God's people could be if they did what God asks. It may be that the Christian church in some settings is that hungy young person looking in to what others are enjoying because we have not realized we have full and complete access into what God offers.
On what will you dine today?
PRAYER: Lord, I confess that many times I have found myself looking in while others dine and it was only because I was not where I knew I should be. Help me today find that place of connection and purpose so that I might not onlydine richly, I might invite someone to dine with me on the good things of God. I pray this in Christ Jesus' precious name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord.
Eradio Valverde
