Eric's Sunday Sermon; A How To Diet of The Spiritual

It is interesting how much time and effort goes into our diets. Now we do not speak of those that are so needy that any food is good food. For those we pray. Here we are talking about folks that have the time and money to buy food that they want to eat. And for those we pray also. I read an article and the fellow described the method he used to calculate how many diet and fitness books were out there that were searchable on the internet. The answer was about 280,000. That is a lot. So there are at least 280,000 folks that are very interested in diet and fitness. Some of the books are obviously best sellers and some are lucky to have sold a single book. But through extrapolation it becomes quite obvious that there are millions of folks that take diet and fitness at least serious enough to read about it.

Of course someone would have to be a real hermit not to have had some conversation about diet with someone. You have got your parent worried about what their child eats and you have the spouses worried about what the other spouse eats. Hey public schools are way out front on suggesting what children should be eating.

Now you got your FSIS, USDA, FDA and CDC all looking directly at your food and spending billions and passing laws and regulations regarding your food. We certainly focus a great deal of attention on food.

Fitness is a little different as it is a free-for-all of private enterprise. There are more ads regarding your abs than about food or drink which is saying a whole lot. “I need to look like that”. And now we get into the push and cost of healthcare as a direct result of the food we eat and the exercise we get. I have not heard about even one time in a half a century that a doctor told a patient that the needed to gain some weight. I make a couple of exceptions that had to do with cancer recovery. (of course we are not dealing with the oddball issues here, God bless and pray for the anorexic)

Well all that talk about food got me hungry. We have an awesome writer here called Carb Diva. She celebrates food and so reading them really gets you hungry in an all good way. And by golly we should celebrate the wonderful food that we have been given. We should all gather as often as possible and share our meals in celebration that we have them. /// a moment of silence here in deep prayer for those who do not have enough to eat – especially the children /// And so it is that we as people eat too much and need to “diet” and we eat the wrong foods and need to “diet”. We have to pay attention. Me, well I need more fresh veggies. You very well may need more protein. And my daughter needs more meat or the alternatives. My son needs more water and milk. And we all need more fresh organic juice.

So that brings us to why this sermon has been all about food. We pay attention and delight in food. It is essential to life. We need it and most of us need a little better kind just for our individual bodies.

Well I need more of something else. I need a steady healthy diet of something else. Ain’t no Facebook ads for it and you will not see it advertised on TV. They do not sell it at the local produce place or the grocery store. You cannot get a discount and there are no coupons or daily specials. There simply are no deals out there to be had and if you found one, walk the other way.

We are talking about the great food for our souls. It is a combination type casserole. It does not come independent of the other ingredients you have got to put them together into a dish. We are talking about the substance of spirituality and love. They cannot be served separately and have the same effect. They must be combined to be of quality. You have heard it said that faith without works is dead and that works without love are useless in the end. Well taking in and putting out spirituality without love is worthless. And Love without a connection to something greater is fleeting and a single signpost on a very long road.

Oh it is acknowledged that we shall worship and control food. So why don’t we spend the same dollars, time and energy on our spiritual side. Clearly we are mind body and soul. Clearly we are of one body with many parts and each is important to the whole. So why food for the body more than spiritualness and love for the mind and soul? Be easy I do not accuse you or me for that matter as I am a big bodied man and love my food. I would not dare throw stones in this glass house of food. We recently took on eating really healthy and in two months lymphoma which was growing did a U turn and shrunk. We are ecstatic. I ain’t afraid of dying but super duper I love living. But hold on a second there old Nelly. Don’t let the other horses out of the barn so fast. We also prayed and had many pray for us. We were also showered with an outpouring of love and compassion from many many folk. Now I got a great oncologist and he just through up his hands and said – what the heck! He says it is beyond his science.

So I debate with myself about saying to spend more time on spiritual fitness and love. It requires also the action of living. And that living is tied too closely to fitness and diet. So this old preacher man came full circle.

You had better, unless you live on a mountain in a monastery, pay more attention and devote more time to the spiritualness and love. But great sakes alive pay attention to the body.

I think the diet and fitness gurus are doing a great service. But I worry that our clergy are not for they do not rapt their audiences in a fervent love and wish to nourish the soul.

How about it; a three pronged attack? We take care of ourselves, we connect with God and we do good works for man. I am not perfect but I can give this a shot. Every time I think about spending money on eating healthy I will think about donating so others can also. That is good for my soul and my soul is always hungry.

So while I suggest things about food diet and fitness we really should also increase our diet of the spiritual. Now I am not saying which diet to follow for our spiritual. Just that it might be good to increase intake of whatever diet we are on.

This is just a good notion to keep in mind with all this talk of intake: “What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them." That would be in Matt 5.

Let us fast. Just one meal. And think about it. I heard that if all Americans fasted one meal a week and donated the money saved and that got dispersed properly that there would be no starvation in the world. Now we know the world does not work that way. But the notion is still there. And so I end with this about all of the above. Denial. Somehow if we deny ourselves something that something becomes more precious. In my life when I unwittingly deny myself my contact with God, by acting the fool, I crave for that contact to return. I do not suggest doing that, but I suggest thinking about that. When I am hungry I eat. I should always be hungry for my connection with God.