God, Bless the Farmers and Ranchers!

We are coming to the end of the summer series on the intersection of theology, agriculture, and the land - a series I've subtitled, "Celebrating Creation Ft. Collins Style".  I have loved getting more acquainted with the emphases of CSU as a land-grant university and getting to know more of the folks in the congregation who are involved with farming and ranching.

This coming Sunday, we are celebrating God's goodness as it finds expression in the lives of farmers and ranchers, folks who live and work hard, bringing the fruits of the soil to maturity and, finally, to harvest so that those of us not directly involved in producing our own food have something to eat.  OK...so we have A LOT to eat!  The sermon title puts it succinctly: "If I Don't Work, You Don't Eat!"  And if you stop to think about, coming from the mouth of a farmer or rancher, that is absolutely true!

And while the process begins with farmers and ranchers, they certainly aren't the only ones involved in seeing that a bountiful harvest is brought to market for us.  There are many others whose lives and livelihoods are deeply involved in that industry.  And we express gratitude to them, too.

In addition to gratitude and blessings, I also want to encourage us to listen for God's voice as we walk down either the farm row, through the animal pen, or down the supermarket aisle.  Deuteronomy 8:3 reminds us that we don't live by bread (food for the body) alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.  If that's so, we should be paying a lot more attention to the things through which God might be speaking to us.  No better place for most of us to start with than the grocery store!  I would challenge each of us to listen for "God's word" in the beauty and bounty of those sacred aisles.  It's real important that we look for ways to tie our faith to the common things of life that we experience day-in-and-day-out.

Finally, we'll be celebrating communion together this Sunday.  Talk about the direct tie between food and our faith!  God seeks to nourish not only our bodies but our souls, as well.  And Christ gave Himself to and for us with the reminder from John's Gospel that our dependence upon Christ for our spiritual life is no less real than our dependence upon food for the health of our bodies.

Between 10 and 11 AM outside by the South doors on the South lawns of the Church (where the big parking lot is), a few of our farmers and ranchers will be on hand to tell us about their lives and work - this is especially geared toward young children, who are encouraged to worship with the rest of the congregation on communion Sundays.  You won't want to miss "Abbey" - she's precious!

See you Sunday,

Steve
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