Sermon 7-24-24 Body Mind and Soul
The following sermon was given to women in a remote village, Muguluka, in Uganda. Kasone Joan has created HEFO (Hope Empowerment Foundation Organization), to empower these oppressed souls, and bring economic development to their lives. But there is more, so much more going on here. Let us begin…
Our body is the first way that we identify ourselves. We say we have brown hair or brown eyes or that we are tall or thin. We speak of ourselves as coming from a certain mother and father, with siblings and children. Our first way of identifying ourselves is through the physical body.
We then, as we grow both physically getting older and as we mature in our ways, we begin to identify ourselves through the mind. We say we love to learn, or that we enjoy reading or doing puzzles. We learn words to describe ourselves and how our mind works. We describe ourselves as kind or mean-spirited, as smart or slow. In both body and mind, we compare ourselves to others, and try to improve ourselves or we try to prove ourselves as better than others. We begin to care how we appear to other people, both in body and mind. We learn to desire material things, and through them, to raise ourselves in our mind and hopefully in the mind of others.
For example, we want a better house. We want a better spouse. We want more children. We want to raise our status in the community through the possessions we have and the money we earn. At some point, we may get to the point where we are comfortable and have enough things: housing, food, and money; but then we want more. We want to be better than our neighbors.
Do you recognize yourself?
Now let’s turn to scripture, 1 John 2:15-17 from The Message. It says: Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
You see, when we become the body only – when we are concerned with the body and the physical world only, we forget God. We have put God on a shelf, spending all of our time trying to get more things, or to improve our body and our things. We don’t think that we need God or anything spiritual. God becomes a distraction from the needs of the body, such as food, clothing and shelter.
When we are in this space, we also think that our minds are more important. We learn more about the world and how it works. We learn how to earn more money and how to improve our physical lives. We think, think, think, without concerning ourselves with God.
And yet, HEFO has been teaching you how to use your brain, how to read, and how to make money. HEFO might SEEM to be about the physical and the mind. Yet, take a moment and consider how HEFO is aligned with God’s Will. You see, God’s Will is for all of the world to operate from a foundation of Love. When people are only concerned with their body, their own needs, and comparison with their neighbor, this is pushing their own will, not God’s Will. When a person leaves out God, they also leave out Love.
When we start from the foundation of God’s Will and God’s Love, then the world changes. For example, God’s Love poured through Joan to all of you. God loves you so much that God sent Joan to Muguluka to help you. You are the recipients of God’s Love through her.
When I heard from Joan about you, God’s Love poured through me, and I then knew that I wanted to help by bringing myself and resources to help Joan, who then could help you even more. God’s Will is what brought us here, not our own will. When God’s Will and Love is present, then the needs of the physical world is taken care of. When God’s Will is present, there is enough food, enough clothing and shelter, and more than enough Love to go around.
Without God’s Will and Love, people forget, people become small, and they argue, and they think they are not good enough or that they don’t have enough. Their lives are constricted to just what is right near them. They get consumed with the worries of the day. When God’s Light shines into them, through whatever means, their lives change. They begin to shine God’s light outward. They begin to share God’s love with others. They also become God’s hand and feet, sharing not only Love, but also food, clothing, shelter, knowledge, and companionship. When we shine God’s Light, the entire world is a better place.
Amen.
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