Matthew 25 - Bread Line

The second sermon in my series on service focuses on serving the hungery. Here are some thoughts:

MAIN IDEA – Hunger is a major issue in the world. Millions of people die of hunger, live with hunger, and go without. It affects education, relationships, and many other aspects of life.
Spiritual hunger is a major issue in the world. Millions of people claim to have a faith of one kind or another, but seem to be walking around like zombies without any sense of passion or joy for life. They are living, but they seem to have a hunger for something more, for something fulfilling that can give some hope.
I live in a context and preach to a society that knows spiritual hunger in a very real way, but does not truly know physical hunger. I have never experienced physical hunger; I have never wondered where my next meal will come from. Yet I recognize that many hunger and I recognize that those who feel the pangs of hunger the greatest are the ones whom Christ loves as deeply and as passionately as Christ loves me. I am called to reach out to those who are hungry.
The same goes with the spiritually hungry. It may be a lost passion, it may be a true sense of despair and hurt, but there is a rotting on the inside that is a part of their life, and Christ loves them as well. I am called to reach out to those who are hungry.
Yet it is important that I remember the source of my nourishment before doing anything else. I need to remember how Christ has redeemed me and given hope to my life. Then I will be able to offer food.
A challenge that I face is maintaining my passion and my own sense of connection and spirituality as I reach out to and help others physically and spirituality. I need to remember to stay close to Christ as I reach out to others.
Open my eyes to the hungry, Lord. Open my eyes to their hurting, their pain, and their sorrow. Help me to imagine what it might be like to live with insecurity and unknowing and awaken me to ways in which I can help. Stir my heart to those in need of your love and grace, and continue to remind me of the ways that I have been redeemed.
Amen

THEOLOGICAL IDEA – Christ offers himself as the broken bread and in doing so unites the church. There is something powerful and profound about this “sacramental” act. In offering himself Christ is offering his grace to the church and promising to be with the church. Thus in ecclesiology itself do we find the life-giving bread of Christ through worship, fellowship, and sacrament.
Throughout this series of sermons we need to remember some of the major critiques and contributions of liberation theology. We must be careful to presume to offer a theology to those who are starving from our place of comfort. We must go to where the hungry are, live with the hungry, imagine what it is like to be hungry, and then from there offer the bread of life as well as physical bread.