Grace United Methodist Church - Franklin, IN
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • What is tithing?
    • Narrative Budget
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Kroger Community Rewards
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast
  • About Us
    • Staff
    • What to Expect
    • What We Believe
    • Calendar
    • Upcoming Events
    • Institutional Partners
  • Classes & Small Groups
    • Adult >
      • Classes and Spiritual Formation Opportunities
      • Small Group Locations & Times
    • Youth
    • Children
  • Missions
    • Service Opportunities
    • Ministry Partners
  • Give
    • Giving
    • What is tithing?
    • Narrative Budget
  • Preschool
    • Home
    • Classes
    • Calendar
    • Kroger Community Rewards
  • Resources
    • Sermons
    • Blog
    • The Kids These Days podcast

On a Roll with Daniel - Daniel 1:5-11

6/28/2022

0 Comments

 
Can food can tell us about our ultimate allegiance to God? It is a great question, if we remember that when we read Daniel, we remember that Daniel is in Exile. He is not on his home turf, and he dealing with a foreign king. As we have shared before, the Exile is the watershed event in Israel’s history. Nothing is ever the same after the Exile when Israel goes into captivity.

Second, the Exile is a tragedy par excellence, prompting the prophets of Israel like Jeremiah and Ezekiel to ask a series of difficult questions: such as, has God abandoned us? How is it possible to be faithful to God when we have lost it all? Will there ever be a day when life will return to normal? 

The book of Daniel addresses these questions and looks to help people who are disoriented, dislocated, and disillusioned. It seeks to ask the question that we asked two weeks ago, what is God up to? What does it mean to trust God in a day when no one else is living out that trust, when allegiance to the God of Israel has fallen on hard times, even among God’s people? In Exile, Israel is down to a faithful few – to a remnant. Are we?

That’s Daniel’s situation: he is away from home, in a land he doesn’t like, with a ruler who wants to pressure him to go against his faith and conscience.  

To be sure, this all might sound odd, of how faith and food come together. But if we understand how allegiance to God is symbolized by food, we can realize something very important when Nebuchadnezzar offers Daniel the royal rations: Will he eat what Nebuchadnezzar gives him or not? Where does Daniel’s true allegiance lie? Daniel has a choice to make. He can eat the defiled food of the king and become unhealthy, or they can eat their own vegetables and remain healthy.

It seems like a clear choice. But it is also a choice that comes in many different ways, each and every day? How do we share our faith in God when others do not? How will we offer ourselves to God’s purposes when others go a different way? There is always a challenge to live according to God’s faithfulness.

Pastor Andy Kinsey

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018

    RSS Feed

Grace United Methodist Church
1300 E Adams Dr,
Franklin, IN 46131

Phone: 317-736-7962
Email

Weekend  Worship Services
Saturday: 5:30pm 
Sunday: 9:00am & 11:00am

Picture