"You are what you eat" | Rev. Dr. Donovan Drake preaching | 08.23.26

"You are what you eat" | Rev. Dr. Donovan Drake preaching | 08.23.26

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Well, it is the kickoff to the new school year, which means that in nine months we'll all be more intelligent than we are right now. So if you don't understand the sermon, the good news is you will someday. Even so, some of you have already figured out that we have a theme for this year, this school year at Westminster, and the theme is taste and see that the Lord is good. Why the theme? Because it's more and more challenging to be the church these days. The church is up against all the pressures that keep us from being in community, that keep our minds distracted from our mission and ministry. The encouragement is for all of us to put a little bit more discipline into our discipleship, to encourage one another to go deeper in the faith, to get the focus on what life is all about. So taste and see what it's like to invite the Holy Spirit into your life through prayer and trust. Taste and see what it's like to take a Sabbath. Put the phone away, put the next thing on the agenda away, and rest. Taste and see what it's like to memorize a word from God, that God is our refuge and strength, the very present help in times of trouble, so that when you're in trouble, you'll have something to lean on. Taste and see what it's like to sacrifice some precious time for someone else so that you'll know this neighbor that Jesus speaks so highly of. Push out into the deep water, volunteer with room in the inn. Hey, we need a few more bus drivers this year. How hard is that? Habitat, read to a child in a school somewhere. The more we taste and see, the more we see clearly the ways of God, and the more we live and move into the being that is the body of Christ. Or as Paul says it from Romans 12, verses 1 through 8, hear the word of God. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God's mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, prophecy in proportion to faith, ministry in ministering, the teacher in teaching, the encourager in encouragement, the giver in sincerity, the leader in diligence, the compassionate in cheerfulness. This is the word of the Lord. You know, we are adept at responding to negative stimuli. The political candidate knows this and has used, is using, will forever use, fear to get elected. Talk radio gets its ratings and its wealth by knowing how to make us fume, cranking it up year after year. Rage is the candy, and we are what we eat. Overwhelmed, overstimulated, over and out. But that's not us. We are a Christian people, and that label was not bestowed upon us at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but it is our calling. It is our calling at any given moment to follow or to deny moment to moment, moment to moment. It is a calling that is not done alone. Jesus didn't do his own calling, he didn't do it alone. The angel doesn't say to Joseph, you shall name him Jesus, which means God with me. No, you shall name him Jesus, that means God with us. Paul says, Don't think of yourself more highly. In other words, don't let your God get in the way of God with us. We don't really know God until we meet the other. The other people around us, the strangers, the friends. Jesus is found in community, communion, come, taste, and see that the Lord is good. We hunger for it. And Paul knows that the faith can be tenuous. He says, I appeal, I appeal, I appeal, I appeal to you, therefore. Sounds like he's signaling his main point. He has laid out his whole argument, a theological argument that's 11 chapters long, but now the appeal is to put the theology into action, be of some earthly good. Don't get me wrong, the theology is good stuff. Paul writes, we know that we have been buried with him in his baptism into death, so that Christ was raised from the dead by the Father, so we might walk in newness of life. That's good stuff. Paul writes, we know that all things work together for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose. That's great stuff. Paul writes, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Wow, that's amazing stuff. But until we live out that word, we're just holding the menu and missing the feast. I appeal to you on the basis of God's mercy, on the basis of God's healing. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind. And I appeal to you. Can we get a taste of that? That's the focus. Try to bite off just one more crumb of the faith. Just a crumb. That's all we're asking. See where it goes. I'm not asking for any of us to quit our jobs and go on to the mission field. No. Just a crumb. Just step out a little bit. Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England. Have you ever read Cider House Rules? That's the blessing that is heard by children orphans. When the lights would go out every night in the darkness of Maine. Orphans, those ones left behind. No heritage to speak of, nothing left behind, the blessing every night. Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England. Good night, you princes of Maine, you kings of New England. And the child asks, Why does the doctor say that? And the other child responds, Maybe to scare us. And another responds, Don't be silly. The doctor loves us. Then why does he say it? I don't know. But I like it. What I like about that little story is the power of a blessing. How much energy does it take to give a blessing? How much energy does it take to receive a blessing? We're talking about making a difference in this world. How much energy does it take to that when the lights go out, that we hear a voice of God that says, You are a child of God, and that is what you are. You're children of God. To hear that blessing every night, you are a child of God, and that is who you are. And then to take that blessing and let it shine out into the world. That's our call. To be a light, to have people say, Why do they say that? Why do they call us children of God? Why do they shine so brightly on? I don't know. But I like it. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, we should have started this yesterday. I'm sorry. The church is falling way behind. But today is the day that the Lord has made, so what's your crumb? What's your crumb of sacrifice that you can give to the world? Beth and I were hiking at a conference after a conference that we were at. It was at Yosemite, the where we were hiking. We decided to go there for a couple days, and apparently we weren't the only ones. I mean, people came from north and south and east and west to Yosemite. Parking lots full, full. But uh we took the path less traveled by, and it made all the difference. We were told by a ranger to uh you go with the crowds for a bit and then get away from the crowds, and there's this trail that goes to see these amazing sequoias at the top of a mountain. Uh it turns out that mountains are mostly uphill. They don't go over that in Iowa, but I'm a quick study. Well, we were going up and up and up and up and up and up and up, and finally we spotted civilization. There was a couple coming down the trail, and I greeted them with the words, Is it worth it? And this woman said in a thick German accent, Oh yes, it's beautiful. The trees are massive and they're plentiful, and beneath them fields of flowers of yellow and purple and blue. It's like heaven, it's beautiful. As if she was saying, Taste and see. Well, her eyes, her words, her accents. I I had what I needed for the journey. I was ready to move on. But as I said, Beth was with me, and she started a conversation. She would talk, they would talk, she would talk, they would talk, she would talk, they would talk. This couple was probably in their forties, and they looked like a German couple in their forties. The man now was leaning back, leaning back on a log with his legs crossed. Very comfortable he looked. We were gonna be there for a while. Heaven can wait. And he started talking about their time in the states and that they've been horseback riding and then they were gonna continue to do some horseback riding, and then and then they seemed strangely interested in our lives. As if we mattered. And we just talked to one another. I don't know how long, maybe thirty, forty minutes. There on a trail. And then after a while, we broke camp and we continued up the mountain and we reached heaven, and the wonder of it all, the trees were stunning, the flowers amazing. But as lovely as that all was, the chance meeting of this German couple, the interest that we found in each other's humanity, the time of listening, of wondering, of laughing, of sharing, that's what stays with me. And I'd like to think that if Jesus was coming down that trail and I yelled out, is it worth it? He would have leaned back on the same tree and taken the time. And, you know, I suppose Jesus may have could have would have might do it better. I don't know, but that German couple, they were pretty good. And I'm not quite sure whether we entertained angels unaware. Do you think that you could spare some moment in time with someone else who is different than you? Get a larger slice of Christ's mercy. Do you think that we could just find it in ourselves to taste and see something of ministry? What would that day be like? What if what if what if we went bigger? Just a little bigger. I'm not I'm not asking for much. Just a little bit. I remember when my daughter was having thyroid surgery. Happened soon after we moved here. I was in the waiting room with Beth. It was an overnight stay for this surgery. I don't know if it still is. It was nothing really, unless it's your thyroid or if it's your daughter's thyroid, then it's something. And I remember being in the waiting room, and a man came in who's not a member of this church, but I know him. And we'll call him Tom. And he came into the waiting room, took time off from work, hours, and sat down with me. And we just talked. And while we were talking, it occurred to me I I was not thinking or worrying or fearing or fretting. But that I was in community. He was just there and he brought peace. And I'd like to think that if Jesus came into the waiting room, he would have done the same thing. I suppose Jesus would have done it better. I'm sure he would have done it better, but I don't know. Maybe he'd do it just like Tom. Or maybe where two or more are gathered. Jesus was there. I appeal. I appeal. I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God's mercy, on the basis of God's healing. Present your bodies as living sacrifices. Give holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Your reasonable act of worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the will of God. What is good. What is good? Good people, acceptable, and perfect. All ministry starts small. It starts with dropping your net, it starts by rowing the boat out to the deeper water. It starts with you give them something to eat. It's just small. And then it grows from there. Taste and see that the Lord is good.