Good Shepherd United Church of Christ

In God Do We Trust?                                                               Isaiah 55:1-9
March 7, 2010                                                                          Psalm 63:1-8
Metairie, LA

The first Sunday of Lent this year I asked our youth and our children what they knew about the desert.  They knew many things about the desert; they knew that the desert can be a dangerous place, a place where a person can go thirsty or go hungry because the desert is a hot and dry and barren place.  Yes, you might run into a cactus here or there, but no luscious tomato plants, no wild strawberries, no cool watermelons in the desert.

In the desert you might come across a skinny old roadrunner bird or a wily coyote, but no flocks of sheep or herds of cattle.  These domestic animals that provide milk and cheese and meat do not fare well in the desert.

Today's scripture's play with our human hunger and thirst so as to draw us closer and closer to God.  The elements, food and drink, which we ingest daily, become opportunities for poets to comment on our relationship with God.  Today on communion Sunday, when we take bread and cup, may the meditations of Psalm 63 and Isaiah 55 compel our own spirits to cling to God.

In the case of Isaiah 55, the poet provides a riff on that saying about the person who "knows the price of everything but the value of nothing"....Hear that again: the person who "knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."  Please God, may we escape that fate.  Why do we spend money on that which is not bread?  Why do we labor for that which does not satisfy?  Why do we?

We all do, we must confess.  In the last decade Americans have acted as if we do not even know what the word "moderation" means.  Many of us did not just shop, we maxed out our credit cards.  We bought so many trendy clothes that we had to empty out our closets to make room for the new.  We bought (or longed for) houses with over sized garages so we could accommodate 3 cars.  We designed home theatres and chef's kitchens.  We bought children gadgets and toys that did not last, some even poison pretties, which cluttered their rooms.  We convinced ourselves that getting 3 for the price of 1 of anything was a bargain we could not refuse.  We did not just eat, we became "foodies" who craved delectable novelties as a sign of wealth and status.

And now we are in a state of reality therapy.  We track our overspending;  we buy smaller more fuel efficient cars.  We learn to cook local and to slow-cook, the latest fad that uses cheaper cuts of meat.  We are down-sizing our possessions and some of us our belt sizes.  We are bringing our cravings under control, learning to be moderate.

But the Biblical witness we hear this morning from the Psalmist is not really about moderation.  Rather it is about re-ordering our cravings.  Do we as a people, as a people gathered today to honor God, do we crave the company of God as intensely, as energetically, as frequently as we yearn for the next new vehicle or home renovation or latest I-pad?  Do we carefully save our best moments to spend with God?  Do we set aside an afternoon with God as excitedly as we plan the next Saints' party or Mardi Gras Ball or Irish-Italian Parade?  Probably not.  Psalm 63 challenges us with the question:  Are we enthusiastically cultivating and passionately pursuing the right things?  The things that make for the good life?

The Psalmist craves God like a coffee drinker craves that first morning cup.  The longing for God is so intense that it is felt on dry lips, parched throat and deeply drained into the belly.  The Psalm offers a vision of the faithful life as hungering and thirsting for God, feasting on God's presence.  The desire for God is paramount and the gusto for God sustains profound joy which endures the threats of desert living.

Though we are the richest nation and our people the fattest, we are famished for God;  starved for God.  We are satisfied with things that do not make for life, but are substitutes for the real deal.  Lots of toys, but not that much joyful laughter and merry making.  Fancy restaurants but not real nourishment.  And indeed we poison our children at schools with junk food and junk drink.  We gather hundreds of friends, maybe even a thousand, on Facebook, but is there someone, some one friend, with whom we can break down and cry when the marriage is on the rocks, or the child goes astray, or the boss brings the news of the lay-off?

Lent is a time to consider our primary attachments and re-order them according to the life and work of Jesus.  God sets before us a feast- come, everyone who is thirsty or hungry, come and eat for free.  Eat what is good and delight in God's presence.  We at Good Shepherd have some special opportunities to appreciate God's bounty, to practice a Holy Lent, a God-thirsty Lent.

One way is to share our abundance so that others are welcome at God's table.  Participate in the path of Jesus as re-told in the feeding of the 5,000;  please do.  Our food bank serves people trying to keep body and soul together.  We can never offer too much hearty soup, or too much canned tuna, or too many boxes of rice and beans.  Or participate in God's bounty by sharing items for the Baby Kits for Haiti .  Or orient yourself to God's presence by reading a psalm each day.  Delight yourself with a feast of poetry that invites soulful living.

On March 12 we have a generous invitation to join Shir Chadash for a soul-feast at their temple.  Set aside a Friday evening for prayer and fellowship and feasting with our Jewish neighbors.  Instead of the normal "Thank God it's Friday" routine, come and worship.

Today we take bread and cup.  We recall the table spread for the celebration of Passover, set for Jesus and his friends.  We remember that Jesus poured out his life for us and for the many, for the forgiveness of sins.  We offer an open table:  Come!  Any who seek a life made new, who long for a life turnabout, and a life set free from current discontents, from aimlessness, from meaninglessness that are the outcomes of our consumer culture.  Come!  God has prepared a satisfying feast.  God has provided you with a hungry heart and a thirsty soul to bring you into the company of those who long for their God, cling to their God, who sing songs of praise to their God.  Come, everyone, come.