Census
Originally scheduled for
March 13
Every ten years the United States conducts a census. This is
required by the Constitution, and has been done every 10 years since
the founding of this nation. It's rather an important exercise,
because many federal programs are funded at the state level — and
the funding depends upon the population that the census finds. The
more people you have, the greater your funding. So you can see that
this is something that would be important to politicians. This is
why, for the first time in our history, President Obama has moved
the Census Bureau to the direct control of the White House – for
their "guidance."
You might ask, "what's to guide? Just count them." The difficulty
is in counting immigrants, particularly illegal immigrants from
countries where government agents are always suspected of
corruption. Getting an immigrant’s cooperation when he thinks you're
about to evict him from the country is not particularly easy.
Counting noses is one thing; knowing whether or not the nose belongs
to a citizen, legal immigrant, or illegal alien is another. The
census has no real direct method of doing this; they are obliged to
make an estimate of this number section by section. Hence the
"guidance."
We don't have a census in the church. But we do have something
which is used to determine whether or not someone is a Christian:
public communion. When a person takes communion, he is proclaiming
that he is indeed a follower of Jesus Christ. Of course, anyone can
take communion. But the apostle Paul assures us that those who take
it falsely — whether because they are not really Christians, or
whether they are Christians who are not practicing — will suffer for
it. Paul solemnly warns the church not to take communion if you are
not a practicing follower of Christ.
So when you take communion this morning consider your sins, and
repent of them. Come to him with a clean heart. He knows you are a
sinner, but repentant sinners are always welcome at the table of the
Lord. It was for such sinners that he died. And that is what we
remember; his death.
