If You Love Me, Feed My Hamsters

A friend sent me this cute story about the importance of sermons. My response is added at the end.

CHURCH ATTENDANCE

A church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them! So, I think I m wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

Signed: Missing the message.

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals for me. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today. When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment! "

RAY SAYS:
At this point, I like to challenge pastors and church leaders -- is there any other hunger out there besides "sermon-hunger"? Is there anything else we as shepards need to be feeding the sheep? As natives, most all our gatherings include food, so rarely to people ever leave hungry. So many pastors believe that the sermon is the weekly food pellet needed by the starving hamsters. But when do they dance? When do they sweat and pray? When do they take their prayers to the drum? When do they hear the council of elders speak? When will someone ask -- "nee pa stau mas?" (what is in your heart today?)...thanks for listening...