Rev. Reed Lee Pedersen's
Some of you may have heard of an eating style called, The Ketogenic Diet. While it has been around for a while, it seems to have gained steam over the past year. This diet is a high fat, medium protein, low carbohydrate diet that allows the body to run on fat rather than glucose from breads and sugars. This is a form of eating I have tried and had decent success with. So we have a dilemma here. If carbs are the enemy in a keto diet then what do we do with Jesus who proclaims, “I am the bread of life.” (John 6:35)? Is Jesus the enemy to those seeking to lose weight by means of putting down the bread and picking up an avocado? Jesus continually gives his carbo-loading self to the world. He cannot seem to stop himself (even to death!) of engorging us with his love, forgiveness, power…and that bread of life. On Sunday’s we hear the words, “Body of Christ given for you. Blood of Christ shed for you.” Now these would both be keto friendly, but at the same time they are bread and wine!? Our country’s addiction to breads, grains, and sugars has led us astray and helped boost the obesity rate statistics. It seems that Jesus only wishes to further this problem by filling us with himself, the ultimate soul food, “the bread of life”. Are we going to stand for this? Are we going to allow for this carb monster Jesus from infringing his presence and mercy upon us? Are we going to allow our souls to look like Augustus Gloop being baptized in the chocolate river? Unfortunately, it has already been said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…” (Eph 2:8). It seems that we cannot earn this bread of life, but rather it is freely given to us. This bread of life will be with us always. What are those who have sworn off grains and sugars to do? It seems as if the world is helpless in defending against this bread. The sustenance which gives us eternal life will continue to fill our souls while building up the Body of Christ and possibly our guts. I am defenseless to this bread. I am powerless to its life. Darn you Jesus, why are you so tasty!? You may be the Savior of the world, but to the band of ketonians out there you are certainly evil!! Point to Ponder:
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AuthorPastor Reed is a first call pastor at Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. Archives
July 2019
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