Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35)
Dear Evergreen family,
One more time. “Why Church?” This is an extremely important question at this point in our history because our BC years (before covid) were different from the ones we’re living in now. While we never wondered about this much before, we now want to know that being somewhere in public is worth it. So, we need to know why church is worth it. It is worth it. We’ve previously looked at four reasons already (click here).
Here’s reason number five: “Church is Health Food.” Most of us spend decades being incessantly reminded by others that we should eat less of what we do and more of what we don’t. After enough years, most of us make some changes. We’re usually glad we did and wish we’d started eating like this earlier in life. We realize that the food we now eat doesn’t taste half bad, and we sometimes even lose our taste for the things we’ve learned to avoid. Personally, I cut out sugar a few years ago. Things with high added sugar content now make me feel weird. Things without added sugar taste better than they used to. I wish I’d made the switch earlier.
Church is health food. Even before that, Jesus is health food. He says so above. Since Church, at its core, is the Body of Christ, Church is health food. This means that it may take some time for us to realize how good it really is. It has its share of conflict. It has its share of immaturity. After all, it has its share of human beings! However, it is greater than the sum of its imperfect parts. It feeds us in unexpected ways when we make a commitment to dive in and give it time to do its thing in our lives. Given enough time, we may even realize that it was the resolved conflict and the forgiven immaturity that became among the greatest vehicles of grace for us. Those who have been at it for half a century or more wouldn’t give up their churches for anything in the world. They’ve figured something out. They’ve fed on Christ in a way that could only happen through Church. They’re alive in ways that surprise even them. Why Church? Another answer next week! Don’t forget to join us this evening by Zoom as we talk about “The Meaning of Getting Older No Matter What Age You Are.” The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/94652217682 (Meeting ID: 946 5221 7682, Passcode: 524882). May God bless us all. Your Fellow Minister in Christ,
Mark
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