Most of us, as we grew toward adulthood, remember our parents stressing for us the difference between our “needs” and “wants.”  The contexts for these life lessons were varied: a candy bar at the grocery check-out line that made our mouths water … a new bicycle for Christmas to replace the one we never rode … the latest designer jeans that would assure our fitting in … a cute puppy or kitten that we promised we’d feed and walk.   

 

Funny, isn’t it, how we grown-ups continue to wrestle with the difference between our “needs” and “wants”? Even as our refrigerators and homes and garages abound with way more than we can eat or use up or wear out.

 

The Apostle Paul speaks to us this week of the relationship between what we sow and what we reap. And he reminds us of God’s call to respond to the abundant blessings we enjoy … not because we’ve earned these blessings, but because they’ve come to us for a greater purpose. Join Christians throughout the world on this World Communion Sunday as we gather around the family table to celebrate the extraordinary abundance of God’s grace.