How You Live

Reverend Philip Stringer

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:52-58

LET US PRAY: Gracious Lord, Bread of Life, feed us with your Word, and speak to our hearts, that we may love and serve only you, now and forever. AMEN

This past week Patty and I went to the coast to visit some of my business customers. It was a nice trip for the most part but didn’t go entirely according to plan.

One of my customers is on Ocracoke Island and the only way to get there is by ferry. We were staying in Beaufort, so on Wednesday night I bought passage for us on the Cedar Island Ferry. We would leave Cedar Island at 10AM and arrive at Ocracoke 2 hours and 15 minutes later. Our return passage was on the last ferry of the day, at 5:30PM, which would put us back at Cedar Island by 7:45PM.

Everything went smoothly until we arrived at the terminal for our return trip — that is when we were informed that the Coast Guard had conducted an inspection and had found a safety code violation. The ferry was shut down and wasn’t running. Our only options were to stay overnight in Ocracoke and take the 7:30AM ferry back to Cedar Island — or — drive to the north end of the island to take the ferry to Cape Hatteras, and then drive up the outer banks to Nags Head, Manteo and around the sounds back to Beaufort — which was about a 6 hour trip.

The only hotel room left on Ocracoke was $189 for the night. We opted to take the outer banks route and got back to Beaufort at around 1:30AM.

Plans don’t always work. Have you noticed that? I’ll even go so far as to say that plans RARELY work. At least not as plans are PLANNED to work. Sometimes — as I look back over my life — I wonder why I plan at all because I rarely end up where I intend. And yet, oddly, it is the plan that didn’t work that led me to the place I am.

The drive back to Beaufort actually wasn’t that bad. In fact, it gave us one of our most memorable moments. We have been to the Bodie Island Light House several times — but we have never been there at night! We got there not long after dusk and to see it “do its thing” in that twilight was absolutely beautiful! I’ll show you pictures after church — it was beautiful!

And, of course, we had 4 more unexpected hours in the car together to do nothing but talk.

It was not what we planned — and I certainly wouldn’t plan to do it that way again — but it actually wasn’t so bad.

So perhaps the value of a plan isn’t always that it works; Perhaps the value of a plan is often simply that you are being deliberate — thoughtful and intentional about the moment.

Plan as best you can but remember: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

But that is not true with the life that Jesus gives. Today, I want you to remember what the Scriptures proclaim to us -- That the life that Jesus gives is unlike anything else in the world. It is a life that expresses itself in love and graciousness. AND ITS SOURCE -- the fountain from which it flows -- is the love and grace of God, which are eternal.

In other words: The source of the life we receive in Christ can be trusted to always be there, and always be good.

That is different from everything else we experience in this world. Ferrys get shut down. Bodies weaken. Loved ones die. The Earth’s resources get strained and tired -- and we can understand that because we are tired, too. What we are learning about the earth is true of us, also. There is only so much we can take. Our resources are limited and we get exhausted.

Like anybody else, I like to think of myself as patient and kind, given the right circumstances. But that’s the catch, isn’t it?

Patty and the girls will tell you that: rob me of a little bit of sleep and I become a grump! When I experience frustration and stress in one part of my life, it’s likely to spill over into the other parts of my life, too. It’s probably true for you, also.

Sometimes we reach the end of our patience, and sometimes we have loved all we can love. There is only so much that we can take. But the good news we hear today is that even when we have reached the end of our rope; even when we cannot find the strength and desire to love, God continues to be God, and God continues to love.

Jesus spoke to a crowd of people who were historically intertwined with God. They were Jews -- the descendants of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Rachel. They were the people who had entered into covenant with God through Moses, ordered themselves under David and struggled in exile and slavery. They were the recipients of the prophets’ teachings. But like us, they had limits to their capacity to love. They had limits to their will to follow in faith. They grew weary of having faith and trusting in God’s faithfulness.

If any people on the planet were to live as God intends, it would be the Jews. But the truth is that the love and good intentions of people aren’t enough.

And so Jesus spoke words of encouragement and love and hope and promise to them.

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The life that Jesus gives is unlike anything else in the world. It is a life that expresses itself in love and graciousness. AND ITS SOURCE -- the fountain from which it flows -- is the love and grace of God, which never ends.

I like to do woodworking in my shop in the evenings. I have found that for me, life is more fulfilling when I spend my time creating things just for the fun of it, rather than sitting in front of the TV all of the time.

When I make things, I put my heart and mind into it. I especially like making things as gifts for others because I find myself thinking about the person as I am working.

And so the things that I make, to me, are special. But they become even MORE special to me when I get to use certain tools.

(show some tools from Grandpa, Uncle Fran, Uncle Vernon, Dad & Dad). When I use these tools, I think of them, too. The tools are treasures to me because they remind me of people I have loved.

And so I would never treat these tools recklessly, and I would never make something evil with these tools -- (wouldn’t anyway, but especially not with these tools!) — because I remember where they came from.

Do you see the connection in that for the living of our lives?

St. Paul said, “Be careful how you live.” Because the life you have received in Christ is a precious treasure.

How you use your days is entirely up to you. But Jesus speaks to us, saying, “Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.”

Do you live your life for things that do not matter?

Do you live your life to do evil?

Do you live your life to do good?

Sometimes the things in my shop don’t turn out the way I expect. Sometimes it’s my fault. I measured wrong or didn’t allow for this factor or that. Sometimes things don’t turn out as I expect because there is a flaw in the wood — or a tool doesn’t work. When that happens, it’s rarely fatal; it simply means that things will be different than planned.

Be careful. Not because there is a chance that the fountain of God’s love will be shut off -- it will not. Rather, be careful how you live because it is a treasure you are living.

Life rarely unfolds as we expect, but the faithfulness of God goes with us, wherever it leads.

The life that Jesus gives is unlike anything else in the world. It is a life that expresses itself in love and graciousness. AND ITS SOURCE -- the fountain from which it flows -- is the love and grace of God, which never ends.

Like the tools given to me in my workshop, the life we receive from Christ is a treasure to be used with loving care. With it we can accomplish what we can never do on our own. Where it takes us is not always where we expect to go. And the roadblocks and broken ferries of life often throw wrenches into our plans. Even so, when we have reached the limits of our strength and love, the love of God continues on in us, bringing life to a weary world.

AMEN