| John 6:51-58 "It's Dinner Time!" |
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| Written by Rev. Don Lee | |
| Saturday, 19 August 2006 | |
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The older I get, the harder it gets to remember things! So I could really identify with the following story: Two couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?" "Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological techniques visualization, association, etc. It was great." "Wow, that's great! What was the name of the clinic?" Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember. Then a smile broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that flower with the long stem and thorns?" "Oh, you mean a rose?" "Yes, that's it!" He turned to his wife, "Rose, what was the name of that memory clinic?" The last couple weeks we’ve been talking about…? “Living Bread.” The Church as the Community of the Bread broken, the Wine poured and the Communion table, our place of remembering. At this table we discover we are all family and it is here we are reminded that only when we can be “the Bread broken” for each other, can we be “Living Bread” for the world. So, what would it look like to be truly for the world, “Living bread?” Our reading comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 6, verses 51-58 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be recreated, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen. There is a Missional side to what Jesus is saying. If we can embrace “both sides of the equation,” that on God’s side (Jesus is life) and on the human side (that our soul’s most intimate longing is for the life Jesus gives), then to keep this living bread to ourselves is not only selfish and uncaring, its a denial of our identity as a community and a fundamental misunderstanding of the bread God gives us. As in the feeding of the 5000, only when the disciples shared what little they had, did God act. Only in our willingness to share “with others” what we have received from God is the Kingdom shared. Let’s take this a little deeper. David Bosch, author of “Transforming Mission,” describes 4 common “missionary motives.” Think about where you would place yourself. Conversion motive, which emphasizes the value of personal decision and commitment- but tends to narrow the reign of God spiritualistic-ally and individualistically to the sum total of saved souls; Eschatological motive, which fixes people’s eyes on the reign of God as a future reality but, in its eagerness to hasten the irruption of that final reign, has no interest in the exigencies of this life; Plantation ecclesiae (or church planting) motive, which stresses the need for the gathering of a community of the committed but is inclined to identify the church with the Kingdom of God; and Philanthropic motive, through which the church is challenged to seek justice in the world but which easily equates God’s reign with an improved society. P.5 Sharing the gospel is more then: * Leading people to Jesus or * Being counter cultural or * Building the church, or even * Feeding the hungry and comforting the afflicted. The Gospel narratives present a unified picture of Jesus constantly intuiting the needs of others! Whether it was food or hope or grace or intervention or invitation, Jesus seeks to identify a person’s greatest needs and then moves to meet them. His mission has become our co-mission! In describing the 2nd and 3rd century Church, Michael Green writes: “They were scattered from their base in Jerusalem and they went everywhere spreading the good news which had brought joy, release, and a new life for themselves. This must often have been not formal preaching, but the informal chattering to friends and chance acquaintances, in homes and wine shops, on walks, and around market stalls. They went everywhere gossiping the Gospel; they did it naturally, enthusiastically, and with the conviction of those who are not paid to say that sort of thing. Consequently, there were taken seriously, and the movement spread, notably among the lower classes.” Constants in Context p.86 Hmmm… Gossiping the Gospel! Why does that sound so radical? Because for most of us, it is! Most of us are pretty good at living our faith (whether feeding the homeless or advocating for the poor or oppressed among us). Were not so good at tending to the deeper, more spiritual yearnings of the human soul, our own or others. WE DON’T NEED TO DO MORE MISSION. We need to do more mission …“FROM THE SOUL!” As partners in CHAP (Community Homeplace Assistance Program), we have entered into relationship with a new family; a single mother with a thirteen year old and a 7 month old about to be evicted from their apartment. The mom receives no child support and while gainfully employed a significant portion of her modest salary goes toward childcare. She previously lived two years in a shelter before finally getting into an apartment. We’ve assigned the family mentors and a financial advisor. In addition CHAP is assisting with her rent through October while she gets her finances ironed out. CHAP is providing furniture, clothing and school supplies for her oldest child. What this mother needs is a hand up, and not a handout. CHAP’s goal is to be holistic in its approach to help families who are becoming homeless, get back on their feet and become self-sufficient. It assists with everything from financial assistance and financial planning, to childcare, medical and legal aid, and counseling. While CHAP is an interfaith effort, I believe our involvement is faithful to Christ’ mission to be in relationship with the whole person (physical, emotional, and spiritual). God cares about the whole person. In every church I have served there are those who say the church should only be about spiritual issues and stay out of social service or public policy. I understand these concerns; after all politics can be so divisive to a church and social service agencies are so much better equipped to assist the poor. An easy answer is to say that poverty, racism, and war are spiritual issues. For me, an answer more faithful to the Biblical witness is that the person, mission, and ministry of Jesus Christ define my identity as a “Christian”. And you cannot read the Gospels and miss Jesus’ message; that “to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is what we are made for” and anything that blocks access to loving God in this way is God’s business (i.e. church business)! The July 23 edition of The Austin American Statesman, contained an interview with Linda Ledbetter, a teacher of history and American government in Forsyth County, GA. She was quoted to say, “We don’t have a race problem [here]. I don’t think we ever had a race problem.” Ledbetter is also one of the county’s five elected commissioners. When she’s asked by students about the county’s racial expulsions of blacks in the early 1900’s Ledbetter tells them, “I don’t know. I wasn’t here, I didn’t see the signs.” However, Ledbetter admits that her grandmother told her about the lynching, the warning signs, and cross burnings. “I don’t go into the rape and all,” Ledbetter is quoted to say, “because I don’t want to foster any bad racial issue, and any time anything in our history has been brought up, it’s to cause trouble…I don’t go into it because these kids aren’t racists…they don’t care.” The problem, as I see it is that Jesus wants us to care! Racism (like all “isms”) steals a person’s dignity and denies their sacred worth leaving them (in the words of Jesus’ parable, the Good Samaritan) stripped, beaten, and half dead. All of God’s beloved children deserve better then that. God is calling some of you into politics; you just don’t know it yet! For God to move in and through public policy to create a more just and loving society will take “public servants” with hearts GPS enabled (that is “tuned to God’s Pervading Spirit”), and committed to advancing the reign of God on earth. And from where I’m standing, you are as good a pool as any for God to pull from. Yes, I know most of us would rather be “dead” then run for public office but if we want peace and justice, we need to invest ourselves in justice and peacemaking. Or have we forgotten that Jesus calls us to a life of radical …inconvenience? I’m in my 8th year as Senior Pastor here so I think I’ve earned the right to say: This congregation is the most talented, gifted, creative, successful, courageous, opinionated, pigheaded, passionate group of people I have ever served. Truly a force to be reckoned with! Why did God make you this way? Certainly not to build and enrich your own kingdoms! Your passion, your gifts, your talent, your strong will, your beliefs, and life experiences are the ingredients that God has mixed together and baked…. It is your own unique texture and flavor and aroma as God’s Living Bread for the world. And Jesus calls us to bring the full resources of our combined humanity to the table and share them generously! Be ‘the Bread’ God has made you to be. God has not called you to a regular, harmless life. You are called to be dangerous. Jesus was dangerous. When he saw a need he believed he was there to do something about it. He reframed obstacles as opportunities. He acted from the heart and soul, not just from the body or mind or pocketbook. Jesus had a clear understanding of his life purpose and he used his gifts, his talents, his passion, his resources to change his world. God is calling all of us to a “holier” life. Writer and Cancer specialist, Rachel Remen shares a story about Josh, a gifted cancer surgeon who had become highly disillusioned, depressed and cynical. Tired of hearing the same complaints day after day, and seeing the same diseases over and over again, he was considering early retirement In consultation, she had encouraged him to begin journaling about his day by addressing three questions, 1) What surprised me today? 2) What moved me or touched me today? 3) What inspired me today? He reluctantly agreed. At first, the most surprising thing in a day was that a cancer had grown or shrunk two or three millimeters, and the most inspiring thing was that a new or experimental drug had begun to work. But gradually he had begun to see more deeply. Eventually he saw people who had found their way through great pain and darkness by following a thread of love, people who had sacrificed parts of their bodies to affirm the value of being alive, people who had found ways to triumph over pain, suffering, and even death… The surgeon reflects, “At the beginning I couldn’t talk about it and I just wrote everything down. But I think when I began to see things differently, my attitude started to change. Maybe that showed in my tone of voice or in some other way. People seemed to pick up on it because their attitude seemed to change too. And after a while I just began talking to people about more then their cancer and its treatment. The first patient he spoke to in this way was a thirty-eight year old woman with ovarian cancer who had undergone major abdominal surgery followed by a very deliberating chemotherapy. In the midst of a routine follow-up one morning he suddenly saw her for the first time, her four year old on her lap and her six year old leaning against her chair. Both little girls were shiny clean, well fed, happy, and obviously well loved. Aware of the profound suffering caused by her sort of chemotherapy, he was deeply moved by the depth of her commitment to mother her children, and for the first time he connected it to the strength of her will to live. After they spoke of her symptoms, he had commented on this. “You are such a great mother to your kids,” he told her. “Even after all you have been through, there is something very strong in you. I think that power could maybe heal you someday.” She smiled at him, and he realized with a shock that he had never seen her smiled before. “Thank you,” she told him warmly. “That means a lot to me.” He was very surprised at this, but he had believed her. Encouraged, he began to ask other people one or two questions that he had not been taught to ask in medical school. “What has sustained you in dealing with this illness?” or “Where do you find your strength?” and found that people with the same disease had very different things to say. Things that he really wanted to hear about. In some way what they said was true for him, too, as he struggled to deal with the difficulties of his own life. “I knew cancer very well, but I did not know people before,” he told me. “He has always been a superb surgeon whose outcome data are remarkable, but in the past few months for the first time people have begun to thank him for their surgery, and some have even given him gifts. Write Remen, “He sat in silence for a few minutes, and then he reached into his pocket and brought out a beautiful stethoscope engraved with his name. ‘A patient gave me this,’ he said obviously moved. I smile at him. “And what do you do with that, Josh?” He looked at me puzzled, for moment and then he laughed out loud.” I listen to hearts, Rachel,” he said. “I listen to hearts.” P. 116-199 My Grandfather’s Blessings As God’s Living Bread we are to constantly intuit the needs of others and move to meet those needs. It includes a holistic approach of speaking and listening, as well as acting from the heart. We are the living bread that Jesus gives for the life of the world! That is our identity. So Church, what are you going to do “with that?” Our sacramental life as a church is our insurance against “Identity Theft.” Every time we baptize a child, youth, or adult; every time we break bread together, we remember our identity as a community of the Bread broken, the wine poured, and we renew our covenant to be God’s living bread for the hungry of this world. And so we pray, “God, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we now proclaim the mystery of faith…Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Amen.” |
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