Who do we live to?

“Who do we live to?” I know this is an odd question, it is even ungrammatical which is a bit of a departure for me, but the answer to the question is the title of today’s sermons – “We do NOT live to ourselves.”

This comes from St. Paul’s letter to the church at Rome, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.” (Romans 14:7) There are no doubt many ways to interpret this text but the way I went today was to use this a reminder to all of us that we are in community and that we are not alone nor are we self-made people. Furthermore, we need to be the kind of people who “live to” those around us not only by being helpful and giving but also by being willing admit that we need help and being willing to receive.

Knox Presbyterian We do NOT live to ourselves

St. Mark’s Presbyterian We do NOT live to ourselves

These sermons are sort of the first part of what is going to be a sort of two part kind of thing, not a series and not a long sermon broken into two. There might be some confusion, or at least a feeling of confusion as I had to keep myself from drifting into a sermon about the folly of the “self-made person.” I hope I was able to keep that impetus under control and I think that I might have to actually blog about what I think about that some time just to get it out.

In the mean time, enjoy these sermons and I would love to see any comments and interact with anyone about what I had to say here, or anywhere.

Blessings,