Loving others is hard when you have not been loved in the first place.
Comfort Food. It's a theme I tend to revisit in my blog entries.
There is a question I'd like to ponder today.
What is comfort?
I'm sure we all understand what 'food' is. (my belly sure does.)
Last time I spoke on comfort food, we saw the definition.
"To cheer, to console."
The emphasis is very close to the word love.
Lets take a look at that word and see what Webster's has to say.
I have been reading Max Lucado's book A Love Worth Giving.
Some of it has been hard to swallow.
Have you ever gotten a big mouthful of food you thought you were going to like only to want to spit the stuff back on your plate?
Sometimes dealing with the subject of love is like that.
We all know we need love in our lives. We want to hear about love and it's importance.
We know the world needs love.
Then comes the words of our Lord.
"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13.15 NIV)
Jesus washes their feet and shows them an incredible amount of love.
He gives them all they need so they can return to Him later and find forgiveness.
In fact, they are already forgiven. The washing of the feet signifies cleansing and forgiveness.
The disciples didn't even realize they need it, yet. Later they would.
Jesus is saying, "I have loved you this way. This is how you should do it also."
He gives them not just comfort, but he shows them love.
As I delved into Lucado's book, I found myself actually getting more angry.
"No one has loved me like that!"
"And, you want me to go love other people, even the people in my own house?"
I have to say, it's a hard pill to swallow; especially if love and compassion are items NOT regularly found in your immediate surroundings.
We tend to think of ourselves first.
We humans tend to make a circle two feet around us and worry about what's going on right there.
Inside of this circle, we only tend to think about what's coming in to service us, not what's going out to service others.
In our marriages, do we tend to think about how much love our spouse is giving to us?
Or do we take the initiative to love the other person in spite of what we feel we are receiving in the first place?
With our children, do we make the most of this opportunity to show love to them?
Or, do we get lost in some past notion of how our parents missed the point and failed to give us the love and compassion we needed as kids growing up?
Many times there is nothing we can do about what happened back there.
There is something we can do about what's right in front of us at the moment.
And, Love is the answer to what ails us.
While I was at Fairview UMC outside Pickerington, I took the initiative to start a Comfort Food Ministry.
I got this idea off an e-mail I got one day from a coupon service I receive daily.
The coupon was for a business out of Florida where a woman had taken a Chicken Soup/Comfort Food idea and turned it into something wonderful.
People can contact her and she will ship homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, rolls, cookies, to anywhere in the world (for a fee, of course).
I immediately got to thinking. I can do that.
We could start making some food once a week and just taking it to any random person living in town here.
I have been a supporter of kindness ministries since my days in the Nazarene Church during the 1990's.
It was back there that I became acquainted with Steve Sjogren's book Conspiracy of Kindness.
Steve is a pastor out of the Cincinnati area who helped define what servant evangelism is all about.
Simply standing on a street corner handing out cans of pops for free.
Going door to door with light bulbs or some household item people could use.
A Comfort Food Ministry fits right in here.
We make up some food, put it in Ziploc/Gladlock containers.
On top of the container goes a little note.
"Comfort Food Ministry"
________ United Methodist Church
(Maybe your church address or phone number)
Our hope is that you might experience the Love of God today.
God's Love is free.
Just like this bit of food is free.
God Loves You and we do too.
(insert Scripture Verse)
Not everybody is going to accept it. Not everybody is going to like it.
YOU might not like it.
You might think, "Well, nobody ever loved me like that."
"Where were people when I needed them? And, you want me to go out and love other people, like this?"
Do we make it personal? As humans, we tend to do just that.
And, just because someone doesn't like what we are doing, we get mad, we give up and walk away.
However, we need to take a step beyond comfort and move towards love.
We can't just sit here and expect everyone to come to us to find what they need, albeit, comfort or love.
We should go to them.
Servant evangelism can be one tough cookie to bite into, especially if we have not been loved.
What we are being asked to do is go forth and show others love in a special way.
To tell others about a God who cares for us.
To put our hearts and souls on the line and share what we have with those around us.
As Christians, not just humans, we need to make the central focus here on God and not us.
It's God's Love we are distributing, not our own.
And, somehow, that should make it easier.
We are not using just our own resources.
We are using God's resources to go forth and share His Love with the world.
It's easy to get bent out of shape when people reject us personally.
But, when it's God Love and not our own, the rejection is somehow different.
It takes a step we might not be familiar with unless we have experienced God's Love firsthand.
Do you know what God has done for you?
Do you know God's Love in the center of your being, your heart?
This life, work, whatever you want to call it as a Christian is not about a job, duty, or responsibility
That sounds very human oriented.
This is a spiritual issue. One that goes to our soul and spirit.
Many a folk who have sat in the pews I preach to have never experienced God’s Love.
Tragic.
There are people who have sat there through their whole lives, never having opened the door to God’s Love.
People who have never experienced forgiveness, mercy, and grace.
Just good 'church going people'.
No wonder people look at the church and don’t see an atmosphere of love.
It's kind of hard to share it if you don't actually understand it in the first place.
Have experienced God's Love today?
Pull up a chair and have some Comfort Food.
Comfort Food. It's a theme I tend to revisit in my blog entries.
There is a question I'd like to ponder today.
What is comfort?
I'm sure we all understand what 'food' is. (my belly sure does.)
Last time I spoke on comfort food, we saw the definition.
"To cheer, to console."
The emphasis is very close to the word love.
Lets take a look at that word and see what Webster's has to say.
Definition of LOVE
transitive verb
1: to hold dear : cherish
4: to thrive in [the rose loves sunlight]
If comfort is similar to a big hug, love would be a showering of kisses.
If comfort were holding one's hand during a hard time, love would be supplying one with all they needed.
If comfort were listening to someone's problems, love would want to find some way to help answer those problems.
Love is what brings comfort.
Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew?
That is a matter directly related to food and eating, but it is also very spiritual.
With this message I think I am trying to take out two birds with one stone. (metaphorically)
I'd like to deal with the subject of our being loved and showing love while introducing a subject close to my heart, servant evangelism.
(Wait a minute, is that three birds?)
Have you ever bitten off more than you can chew?
That is a matter directly related to food and eating, but it is also very spiritual.
With this message I think I am trying to take out two birds with one stone. (metaphorically)
I'd like to deal with the subject of our being loved and showing love while introducing a subject close to my heart, servant evangelism.
(Wait a minute, is that three birds?)
I have been reading Max Lucado's book A Love Worth Giving.
Some of it has been hard to swallow.
Have you ever gotten a big mouthful of food you thought you were going to like only to want to spit the stuff back on your plate?
Sometimes dealing with the subject of love is like that.
We all know we need love in our lives. We want to hear about love and it's importance.
We know the world needs love.
Then comes the words of our Lord.
"I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." (John 13.15 NIV)
Jesus washes their feet and shows them an incredible amount of love.
He gives them all they need so they can return to Him later and find forgiveness.
In fact, they are already forgiven. The washing of the feet signifies cleansing and forgiveness.
The disciples didn't even realize they need it, yet. Later they would.
Jesus is saying, "I have loved you this way. This is how you should do it also."
He gives them not just comfort, but he shows them love.
As I delved into Lucado's book, I found myself actually getting more angry.
"No one has loved me like that!"
"And, you want me to go love other people, even the people in my own house?"
I have to say, it's a hard pill to swallow; especially if love and compassion are items NOT regularly found in your immediate surroundings.
We tend to think of ourselves first.
We humans tend to make a circle two feet around us and worry about what's going on right there.
Inside of this circle, we only tend to think about what's coming in to service us, not what's going out to service others.
In our marriages, do we tend to think about how much love our spouse is giving to us?
Or do we take the initiative to love the other person in spite of what we feel we are receiving in the first place?
With our children, do we make the most of this opportunity to show love to them?
Or, do we get lost in some past notion of how our parents missed the point and failed to give us the love and compassion we needed as kids growing up?
Many times there is nothing we can do about what happened back there.
There is something we can do about what's right in front of us at the moment.
And, Love is the answer to what ails us.
While I was at Fairview UMC outside Pickerington, I took the initiative to start a Comfort Food Ministry.
I got this idea off an e-mail I got one day from a coupon service I receive daily.
The coupon was for a business out of Florida where a woman had taken a Chicken Soup/Comfort Food idea and turned it into something wonderful.
People can contact her and she will ship homemade Chicken Noodle Soup, rolls, cookies, to anywhere in the world (for a fee, of course).
I immediately got to thinking. I can do that.
We could start making some food once a week and just taking it to any random person living in town here.
I have been a supporter of kindness ministries since my days in the Nazarene Church during the 1990's.
It was back there that I became acquainted with Steve Sjogren's book Conspiracy of Kindness.
Steve is a pastor out of the Cincinnati area who helped define what servant evangelism is all about.
Simply standing on a street corner handing out cans of pops for free.
Going door to door with light bulbs or some household item people could use.
A Comfort Food Ministry fits right in here.
We make up some food, put it in Ziploc/Gladlock containers.
On top of the container goes a little note.
"Comfort Food Ministry"
________ United Methodist Church
(Maybe your church address or phone number)
Our hope is that you might experience the Love of God today.
God's Love is free.
Just like this bit of food is free.
God Loves You and we do too.
(insert Scripture Verse)
Not everybody is going to accept it. Not everybody is going to like it.
YOU might not like it.
You might think, "Well, nobody ever loved me like that."
"Where were people when I needed them? And, you want me to go out and love other people, like this?"
Do we make it personal? As humans, we tend to do just that.
And, just because someone doesn't like what we are doing, we get mad, we give up and walk away.
However, we need to take a step beyond comfort and move towards love.
We can't just sit here and expect everyone to come to us to find what they need, albeit, comfort or love.
We should go to them.
Servant evangelism can be one tough cookie to bite into, especially if we have not been loved.
What we are being asked to do is go forth and show others love in a special way.
To tell others about a God who cares for us.
To put our hearts and souls on the line and share what we have with those around us.
As Christians, not just humans, we need to make the central focus here on God and not us.
It's God's Love we are distributing, not our own.
And, somehow, that should make it easier.
We are not using just our own resources.
We are using God's resources to go forth and share His Love with the world.
It's easy to get bent out of shape when people reject us personally.
But, when it's God Love and not our own, the rejection is somehow different.
It takes a step we might not be familiar with unless we have experienced God's Love firsthand.
Do you know what God has done for you?
Do you know God's Love in the center of your being, your heart?
This life, work, whatever you want to call it as a Christian is not about a job, duty, or responsibility
That sounds very human oriented.
This is a spiritual issue. One that goes to our soul and spirit.
Many a folk who have sat in the pews I preach to have never experienced God’s Love.
Tragic.
There are people who have sat there through their whole lives, never having opened the door to God’s Love.
People who have never experienced forgiveness, mercy, and grace.
Just good 'church going people'.
No wonder people look at the church and don’t see an atmosphere of love.
It's kind of hard to share it if you don't actually understand it in the first place.
Have experienced God's Love today?
Pull up a chair and have some Comfort Food.
