When Life Gives You Lemons…

for Sunday, May 25, 2014
6th Sunday of Easter
Year A
lectionary focus: 1 Peter 3:13-22
prop: a lemon

Welcome!

This is a lemon. Lemons taste sour. They make our faces go like this. (Make the face.) I have often wondered about the first person to eat a lemon. If they had be expecting a sweet taste, like with an orange, imagine their surprise with the lemon. What if that person had said, “Yuck! These should not be eaten by people!” And from then on, we thought lemons were bad or poisonous. Instead, it seems that the first person to eat a lemon probably said, “Oh! That is sour! But I bet it would be really good if we mixed it with something sweet to make a tart, refreshing flavor!” That first person, with their positive thinking, mixed the intense sharpness of lemon juice with the sweet power of sugar…and we all now enjoy lemonade. This manipulating the chemistry of food is what we are doing when we cook. And lemonade is by far one of the best examples ever of taking an unpleasant flavor and making it lovely. In fact, it is such a good example that we have a saying in our culture: if life gives you lemons, make lemonade. This saying is not warning you that people will be handing you lemons throughout life; this saying is advising you to take the unpleasant things that happen in your life and make them into something lovely.

In our Bible story today, St. Peter gives us just such advice. No, you’re not going to read anything about lemons and lemonade, but St. Peter does say that there will be difficult, dreadful, distressing moments in our lives. And St. Peter says that in these moments, we should look for and work for ways to show these things into God’s good. And in our hearts, we will have peace knowing that we are doing the right things and that God is with us and that we will get through the difficulties. In other words, St. Peter is saying, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Today during our fellowship time, we have lemonade to go with our donuts. And the next time you are faced with something scary or difficult, look to see how you can make things better. Look for ways to make lemonade and continue to share God’s love.

Will you say a prayer with me? (This is an echo prayer: the leader says a line and the children repeat it.)

Dear Lord,
Thank You
for lemons!
Thank You
for lemonade.
When life gives me lemons,
help me
to make lemonade
and to share Your love.
Amen

We are not Christians alone.
My mission is to share, inspire, and encourage.