Our Jewish friends have a beautiful phrase in Hebrew that all of us might well take into our vocabulary.

"L’Chaim!" means "to life!"

It is a toast to life, a salute to the incredible miracle of being among the living. It is a word which recognizes life, rejoices in it, affirms it, and does so in such a way as to include the all-important note of celebration and appreciation.

Such a phrase suits us well as a title for this sermon on Jesus’ sentence which breathes that joyful, affirmative spirit of the life which he grants to us by his rising again from the dead: "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

All Kinds of Symbols

Such a sentence has no small appeal to our mind and imagination as we try to picture the abundant life which is promised. We are not …