Soup and Sermon

During the Lenten season, our local community has a tradition of soup and sermon on a weekly basis. It is housed at our Church, but the churches in our town host it on a rotating basis. This week, the Wesley United Methodist Church was the host. Tables of eight enjoy a soup and cracker lunch prior to the pastor of the host church giving a twenty minute talk with a Lenten theme. There is an opportunity for fellowship with other Christians of other denominations during the lunch.

I have been looking for a Lenten enrichment opportunity. For all of the years we have lived in the parish, I have thought I should go, but never took the time or made the effort. This year, I vowed would be the year I would make it to just one.

This week was the one week I was sure I would make it to there. The phone rang just before I was supposed to walk out the door. By the time I hung up and drove over, it was almost noon. They start serving the soup at 11:45 and the sermon begins at 12:05. Almost noon was still ahead of the speaker, though, so I was in the right place at the right time.

The speaker was very inspirational. His talk was about unconditional love. The most impacting part, though, was when he spoke about God's favorite person. He said the person to our left was God's favorite person. Then he said the person to our right was God's favorite person. And then, he said the person between the one on the right and the one on the left was God's favorite person. He reminded us that each one of us was why Jesus sacrificed his life on the cross. It wasn't to save some random person, but it was to save his favorite person, and that is each of us.

It was powerful and motivational. I left Soup and Sermon with a feeling of peace, and of hope, and of greater respect for God's favorite person. I don't think this will be my last Soup and Sermon this Lenten season.