As we celebrate this meal together once more, I want to remind you that we do so because all the old stories are true.
There was once a garden on a mountainside with a river flowing out of it, and in the midst of the garden there were two magical trees. And it was a wonderful place and something terrible happened when the man and woman who lived there listened to a talking dragon.
There really was a great ship that carried two of every kind of living creature, and eight people survived a storm that covered the face of the earth. There really was an old man with a magic staff who challenged the Pharaoh of Egypt, commanding locusts and hail and in the end parted an enormous sea and millions of people walked through on dry ground. There really was a donkey that talked one time, and stars came down in a great thunder storm and fought for Israel. And once the sun stood still, until another battle could be won.
There really were giants and dragons on the earth in those days, and giant killers and dragon slayers. One shepherd boy killed a giant with his sling shot and then cut off his head. One man prayed and it stopped raining for three years, and then he prayed again and it rained. Another man commanded bears and they mauled his enemies. Another man rode in the belly of a great fish. And once, three young men defied the emperor and were cast into a fiery furnace and then came out again unharmed.
But the greatest story is about the child king who had a star over his house for a while after he was born and angels sung to shepherds about his birth. He grew up and cast out demons and walked on water and healed the sick, and when his enemies killed him, He came back to life three days later. All these old stories are true, these and many others. We celebrate that greatest old story and all the old stories here at this table because here we celebrate the Great Storyteller.
We know the old stories are true because something like magic has happened in our own lives. We used to have hearts of cold stone but now they are soft and warm. We used to hate God and His stories, and now we love them and we love Him most of all. And so we share bread and wine here with our King, and we remember the old stories and we believe. They are all true, and they are all coming true.
So, come and welcome to Jesus Christ.
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