Sermon for October 29th
“How Abundant Livers Live”
There comes a time in our lives when we figure out how it is we are supposed to live. It probably runs through stages.
At an early stage we seek pleasure and we strive to avoid pain and this is what motivates us. Our lives are pretty simple and pretty self-centered.
At some point we begin to realize authority in our lives and we live to please the people who have power over us. We wish to be loved by our parents and so we strive to please them. We want to do well in school and so we conform.
It comes to us that there are higher callings for us. There is the will to power and the will to prestige. Our circle widens and we come in contact with other people and learn to manipulate systems to our advantage.
Sometimes we realize that our best interest is served when we seek not to serve ourselves. We discover the joy of giving to other people and we find satisfaction in reaching out beyond ourselves.
On occasion we come to a point in our lives when we know the ultimate purpose of our lives transcends anything we can remotely understand as having anything to do with our power or our popularity or our self interest. We discover a level of living that initiates with our concern for the world around us. We learn compassion on a level we never knew before and our actions are completely selfless and completely given without even thinking it.
Abundant livers live abundantly. They discover the secret to life lies in a sphere beyond what they ever imagined.
Do you know any people who have lived like this?
Have you ever discovered the joy of living that was truly modeled after the Gospel yourself?
If you have thoughts to share publically leave a comment with this post. For personal thought write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net
I look forward to your ideas.
Charles
I was home in Wiley, CO, this weekend (which I must say is a town full of people who give and give and give.) There is one couple there (he was always the postman when I was growing up and always had a sucker for me when I met him at the mailbox.) The Sheltons are both now retired and have a pumpkin patch of a few hundred pumpkins that they grow and don’t sell but just give away to anyone who wants them. All of the school classes are welcome to come on field trips and take pumpkins. They donate them to the church for their annual pumpkin carving potluck. My kids were even offered a pumpkin just this weekend. I find this remarkable because the going rate for a pumpkin is in the neighborhood of $5 and the price and scarsity in that county of water is not to be misunderstood when counting their generosity. They do it just so the kids have something to enjoy.