Sun. July 26, 2009 (Helen Rose Pauls)

Helen Rose Pauls, speaking on 1 Timothy 4:1-16, gave us food for thought about our food, both good and bad food, fruits of the spirit, and noted that everything created by God is good. She introduced us to myths and facts about farming and where our food comes from and how it is marketed to us as something other than it is. She noted the ethics of farming are no different than the ethics of living, and our fresh and varied diet due to agribusiness should reflect our fresh and varied spiritual life as reflected in our godly living. Yet does it? Helen Rose favours backyard flocks in Vancouver as a way to engage people more personally with their food, and provide jobs as backyard veterinarians for her kids. People of a certain age born on the farm were raised with the 100-yard diet, but we should never count on raising all our own food these days. Similarly, our spiritual life ought to be larger than a 100-yard circle. How do we relate to our neighbours? Paul encourages Timothy with spiritual food, speaking of balance and spiritual strength, to be an ethical role model to serve and lead the church. Don’t argue doctrine - live it. Moral guidance is necessary, but how you give it is at least as important. Helen Rose noted the tremendous impact that mothers and grandmothers have on children as Eunice and Lois did on Timothy’s upbringing. Helen Rose outlined the spirit of ubuntu, learned while on a MCC tour of Swaziland, where AIDS coexists with the jacarandas in bloom. Ubuntu is that sharing and communion between us all, a compassionate willingness to share, celebrating the sacredness of all life, where the community faces hardship and deprivation with resilience. God asks no more of us than ubuntu, to walk, as Micah asks, humbly with Him. [AP] Listen to the sermon audio MP3 recording from Sunday, July 26th, 2009 using your browser's preferred media player.