In Search of ... Nurturing Love
Isaiah 55:1-9 (CEV)
3rd Sunday in Lent
03-07-10
Rev. Nancy Pfaltzgraf
One day while he was out for a long walk, Sam Foss began to realize how hot and tired he was. Just as this realization was dawning on him, he saw a big tree at the side of the road and stopped to rest in its shade. As he was about to sit down he noticed a sign on the tree that said, "There is a good spring inside the fence, come and drink if you are thirsty."
Intrigued and very thirsty, Sam climbed the fence in search of the spring and gratefully drank his fill of the cool refreshing water. Then he noticed a bench near the spring with a sign tacked to it that read "sit down and rest awhile if you are tired."
As he sat down, Sam noticed a barrel of apples nearby, also with a sign, that said, "If you like apples, just help yourself." He chose a plump red apple and just as he was taking that first delicious bite he looked up and saw an elderly man watching him, a huge smile on the man's face.
"Is this your place?" Sam asked the man.
"Yes," he said, "and I'm glad you stopped by."[1]
[1] Adapted from a story found on pg 163 of How to Be an Up Person in a Down World published in 1998 by Honor Books,
If you are thirsty,
come and drink water!
If you don't have any money,
come, eat what you want!
Drink wine and milk
without paying a cent.[Isaiah 55:1]
Like the vendors that could be heard seeking the attention of potential customers in the ancient Near Eastern marketplace, Isaiah sought to call his people from their spirit-deadened existence in Babylon into the heart of Divine Love to taste what is freely given and enjoy what cannot be bought at any price.
2Why waste your money
on what really isn't food?
Why work hard for something
that doesn't satisfy?
Listen carefully to me,
and you will enjoy
the very best foods.
3Pay close attention!
Come to me and live. [Isaiah 55:2-3]
Through Isaiah's words God calls us to stop, to listen, to find life, true life, abundant life, joy-filled life, life that feeds the soul and heals the heart, life that can be found in God and God alone. This call is heard in the words of the psalmist who wrote, "O taste and see that the LORD is good; happy are those who take refuge in him..." [Psalm 34:8] It echoes through Holy wisdom as she cries, "Are you confused about life, don't know what's going on? Come with me, oh come, have dinner with me! ... Leave your impoverished confusion and live! Walk up the street to a life with meaning." [Proverbs 9:5-6MSG] It sounds yet again through the words of Jesus who said, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." [John 6:35]
That's why were here isn't it? No matter what our conscious or stated reason for being here in this sanctuary at this moment in time, we have come, each and every one of us, because at the very heart of who we are, our souls are seeking life, the kind of life that can be found in God and God alone. I hope that in the midst of this worship experience you will taste and see that God is good. I hope that you will eat the bread of life and drink from the living water. I pray that something in our time together feeds your spirit and nourishes your soul.
But no matter how wonderful this worship celebration may be, if the only time you think about God, talk to God, seek God's will for your life, or spend time resting in God's love is the one hour we worship on Sunday morning, your soul and your life are malnourished. I think that's why so many of these references have to do with eating and drinking. We know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can not live for very long without food and water. We also understand that if we ate just one meal a week, no matter how good it was or how much we consumed in that one meal, we would more than likely lack the energy, the stamina, the strength to live a vibrant healthy life the other six days of the week.
Just as our bodies not only crave, but need healthy food and clean clear water, our souls ache for the life-renewing food and water that God offers us without price, without condition, without strings attached. Yet all too often we seek that satisfaction, that life in junk food -in earning more money, climbing higher on the ladder of success, having the most talented children, the biggest home, the most friends. It's not that these things are wrong in and of themselves. But they can become addictions just as powerful as drugs or alcohol or food or sex. And none of them will ever be a substitute for a life-renewing relationship with God. I think that is why steps two and three of all 12 Step programs are:
Step 2 [we] came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Step 3 [we] made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
One commentator put it this way:
Why should one waste one's precious resources on things that do not satisfy or sustain life?
Curious, Sam Foss asked the man about the signs he had found which pointed to the water, the bench and the apples. With a twinkle in his eye the man replied, "Well, the water was going to waste, the bench was gathering dust in the attic, and the apple tree produced more than we could use. My wife and I thought it would be neighborly to offer tired, thirsty passersby a place to rest and refresh themselves. But the surprise to us is that we've made a host of fine new friends in the process!"
I believe that this invitation to come and drink and eat is in reality an invitation into a deep and nurturing relationship with the Creator of the Universe; a day-by-day, minute-by-minute communion with the Heart of Love; the kind of relationship with the Source of Life, that we call friendship. But the question is: how do we find our way to the table of Life?
For me, the first step was to understand that God really was interested in my little life -all of it. The Creator of the Universe really did want to walk with me, every day. The God of all Creation really did desire to live in me, love through my heart, speak through my words, touch through my hands, dance through my body, sing with my voice, and smile through my eyes. Then it was in saying "yes" to the invitation and discovering all the ways in which I could drink in God's friendship and feast on Divine Love. In small spiritual growth groups, in meditation and prayer -alone or in the company of others, I find living water. In daily reading of scripture and other devotional material and paying attention to the ways in which those come at just the right time with just the words I need to hear, I taste the goodness of God. In discovering the ways in which sharing the things I love to do can meet the needs of the world, I quench my thirsting soul.
Right here, right now God is calling you: "If you are thirsty, come and drink water! If you don't have any money, come, eat what you want! Drink wine and milk without paying a cent! Come, come and find Life!" How will you answer? Amen
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