24-7?

Pentecost 10b15, John 6:24-35 with Ephesians 4:1-17 and II Samuel 11:26-12:13a in b.g.

August 2, 2015

Text – Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." (verse 35)

Anti-text – Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." (verses 16, 27)

 

Sometimes I am confused by what Jesus says. Can you identify? Listen ... Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will NEVER BE HUNGRY, and whoever believes in me WILL NEVER BE THIRSTY."

 

Really?

 

Now I do realize that in some ways Jesus may well have been speaking metaphorically. He isn't just talking about having our bellies filled with meat and potatoes or some kind of quinoa and avocado salad. He is also very likely speaking about more than having our thirst quenched with the newest kind of sugar free or zero caloried pop.

 

But still! NEVER BE HUNGRY? NEVER BE THIRSTY?

 

Sometimes as I really try to hear Scripture I find myself arguing, even wrestling with God. Does that ever happen with you?  

 

People phone the church every month. Some of these people are on welfare, some are battling mental illnesses, some are struggling to live in any kind of lasting or caring relationship with others in their family or at work. Often their calls come near the end or beginning of the month. In some ways a number of these people are literally hungry and thirsty. Although Jesus may have been talking beyond such literal need in John's 6^th chapter, doesn't he care about these people who call the church - Lance and Patty, Dan and Maxine, Curtis and Thomas? Doesn't Jesus care that thousands if not millions of children on the streets of Calcutta and New York, Vancouver and Richmond are literally hungry and thirsty? And not only children but old women and men, even babies are crying out because of their hunger and thirst right now. . .   

 

Some in this country and other rich nations say, "God helps those who help themselves". I have looked but I don't find that particular saying in our Scriptures. Rather I hear Jesus saying things like, "Love your enemies". I hear the prophets again and again enjoining Israel (and by implication also us) to care for the lonely, the widowed, the sick".

 

In our better moments, we do we try to obey Jesus in such reality. . .

 

But today's Gospel keeps echoing in my being. Jesus declares that He is the bread of life. ALL WHO COME TO HIM, he says, will never be hungry, never be thirsty. It's so hard to believe, to accept.

 

Maybe, just maybe, it's meant to be hard, even impossible.

 

After all, when life is easy we tend to neglect or even forget God. When life is easy we may attempt to relegate God to some small, manageable compartment of our lives. We live in one of the most affluent parts of the entire world. This week at worship, across Vancouver, somewhere between 7 and 10% of people will make time to collectively worship, hear Scripture, pray, make a financial donation to care for others as they understand God calling them to do so. I do realize that worship doesn't necessarily translate into discipleship. But regular worship is part of following Jesus, is part and parcel of seeking to know and do God's will. We must know that following Jesus, responding with our lives to the love of Jesus isn't easy. Loving our enemies – not easy. Forgiving others - not easy. Loving ourselves – doing that which God calls us to for our own well being both now and in the future - not easy. Trusting God with our own mortality and the mortality of those we most deeply love – not easy.

 

Where are people coming to trust Jesus and seeking to follow Jesus in the numbers of thousands and millions? Today that's occurring in the Majority World, that part of the world we used to arrogantly refer to as the "Third World". It is in those places where people daily struggle for bare necessities, food and water, a safe place to sleep and rest, that people seem to have a clearer picture than we do of what actually matters, of what is lasting. There they cannot and do not deny the realities of mortality or immortality. There they cannot and do not cling to the illusion that they somehow are god-like and in control of their own "destiny".  As they struggle in life they are being moved to put their trust in God. Such trust means that they daily talk to God, listen for God, seek to obey and love God in all parts of their lives. They acknowledge and know their hunger on so many levels. And their hunger is often met and satisfied in Jesus of Nazareth and his followers.

 

These people are often joyful as they worship. They don't care about "how long" worship "takes". In their worship they are encountered by God and are being challenged and comforted, discovering a community beyond "normal" limitations with others joined to Christ. This is what matters.

 

On the other hand we are so easily sidetracked, even bamboozled. We are sucked into thinking that what actually matters is how we look – or what we have – or what we can get – or even what others think of us. We are deceived into being terrified that we don't have enough. How much is enough? Will we ever have enough to rest and be?

 

Nevertheless (thanks be to God!) Jesus comes to us wherever we are, whatever we have or don't have, to whatever we have or haven't done. He draws near through seemingly simple, ordinary things, through Word and Sacrament. He comes inviting us to rest, to listen, to dwell in Him. He comes giving us Himself – even as bread that nourishes us for life with God and with others, now and forever.

 

Make no mistake. The relationship with Jesus is not easy. He moves us to begin to see ourselves. Part of our being drawn near to Him, even our desire to draw near to Him is selfish. We are hungry. We want to be fed. We are lonely. We long for companionship.

 

But there is much more to this relationship with Jesus than our frequent self centeredness. Often we are insecure, jealous, afraid. As Jesus draws us near to Him, we begin to see all of that. We are ashamed. We have so much. We exhaust ourselves trying to hold onto "this". Jesus reaches towards us through all of that to embrace us, in order to free us from ourselves, our fear, our false conviction that we have to control things. He wills to free us in order that we may love and serve Him in caring for others. As these realizations begin to wash over us, even for moment we can breathe, smile, laugh, cry. Whatever is happening around and within us, to and through us - He loves us. He is the bread of life. Speak. Listen. Cry. Laugh. Rail. He is with us and for us.

 

But even that's not all. That's only the beginning. Being nurtured by Him, we also begin to see others. Not the way we saw them before – as our competitors or enemies, as ones that we were "better than" or "less than" or.... fill in the blank. No! We begin to see others – as people, people in need who are being loved and fashioned by the same God, the same Father of Jesus, this One in whom we live and move and have our being, this One whose Son today tells us that He is the Bread of life. We begin to see others and their need to know him, His love, His forgiveness, His direction and the ability he brings to see themselves and others in new ways – ways that lead them and us – to sacrificially give of themselves to aid and support others.

 

Dear people- we need this Bread of life to live, here and now and always. Without him, we live under an oppression that we continually seek to escape even as we are being driven by forces that we delusionally think we can somehow can limit or control. Such forces are so much more powerful than we are.

 

Dear people – the world also needs to feed on this Bread of life in order to live here and now and always. Without him nurturing us, guiding us, we fight, hate and hoard – insatiably seeking  more and more and more, paradoxically resulting in less and less and less for all.

 

Dear people, although being known by and following the suffering, dying and rising Jesus is never easy – He is the truth. He continues to speak. May we by His grace be drawn near Him daily. Listen to him. He is the bread of life. And somehow He promises far beyond my meager understanding that "Whoever comes to him will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Him will never be thirsty. May it be so in us and through us, for Christ's sake. Amen.

"Blown Away"

Pentecost 9b, July 26, 2015 BLOWN AWAY!

Text – Ephesians 3:14-21 with II Samuel 11:1-15 and John 6:1-21 in b.g.

 

Sometimes in the church I am literally blown away by my experience with people. Do you know what I mean?

 

Sometimes, this being "blown away" occurs in a negative sense. There is a fine, seemingly upstanding couple. I, at least, think of them as friends. But one day they abandon their business without so much as a good bye to anyone in the church, including their Pastor. A few days later we discover that they have been engaged in less than honest business practices. To our horror, there are criminal charges pending.

 

There have been other negative examples of being blown away by our life in the church together. The treasurer of a local congregation has "misappropriated" funds entrusted to them.  Some Pastors have abused their power by entering into sexual relationships with members of their own parish. And finally, I have been "blown away" in a negative sense when different members of congregations fight amongst themselves or when a congregation and synod begin to snipe at each other.

 

But there have also been many times when I have been "blown away" in positive ways by experiences with and among people within the church.

 

Recently I was visiting a parishioner having just completed my prayer with him. My eyes hadn't even opened yet when this man began to pray for me. He prayed for me in powerful, honest even ardent ways, ways that were insightful, humbling, joyful and uplifting. I can't tell you what such praying means to me. To hear someone else pray for me and for our work together in this community and in the church at large is humbling, enlivening, strengthening. I was walking on air for the rest of the day and that week.

 

There have been many times when I have been moved by the anonymous and bountiful generosity both of individuals within the church and of congregations as a whole. Individuals approach me offering gifts of money to those in need. They tell me, "No, we don't need a receipt Pastor. Just let me know when there is a need!" In those moments my heart is warmed.

 

I clearly remember one of those gifts appearing as a parishioner was dying. She desperately needed admittance to a hospice house but didn't have the requisite funds. That particular hospice house necessarily had a per diem fee of over $100. With the promise of anonymous congregation support that lady entered hospice care. Weeks later when she died the amount owing was in the thousands of dollars. Yet those parishioners gladly and anonymously picked up the fee.

 

And, I have watched time and again as congregations have opened their doors often without any charge to groups that help others. Groups such as community kitchens, food pantries, AA and NA. Sometimes such groups meet in the same church building for years.  At other times congregations open their buildings for people to come in and have coffee or a place to sleep – a place out of  the cold and the wet. Indeed some congregations open their buildings to provide sanctuary to a person or persons who have fled as refugees but are now at risk of being deported to countries where they may in fact even die or at the very least be unjustly imprisoned.

 

Yes, I have been blown away by the interaction of people within the Church many times in my life – both positively and negatively.

 

Once again we are gathered here – such as we are, the Church, part of the body of Christ. This, in and of itself, is an incredibly audacious, faith claim.

 

As part of the body of Christ we are allowed both to hear prayers and to offer prayers. Today we hear a prayer from the author of the letter to the Ephesians for his or her church. Such a prayer it is!

 

The one praying is on his or her knees. Sometimes as we pray it is good  to "be on our knees". This is a sign of humility, a sign that we need help from beyond ourselves, that we are not in control. We don't have everything figured out or worked out.

 

As we listen to this particular prayer we hear God being asked to profoundly bless that congregation. The one praying asks that the congregation will be strengthened in their inner being through the work of God's own Spirit. The one praying also asks that the risen, suffering Christ may dwell in their hearts through a trust that grows as they become more and more rooted and grounded in love.

 

The overriding implication which runs throughout this letter to the Ephesians is that such love doesn't come from the Ephesians themselves but from beyond them, from Jesus their Lord and Saviour who has died and is raised for them and the world. He is the One who calls them to live in love. Such love is not merely a feeling. Christ's love is that which drives them, moves them and embraces them into caring for and about all others.

 

The person praying acknowledges that Jesus' life, death and resurrection is that which breaks down the barriers which we humans have been confined by and limit ourselves to. These  barriers include such realities as hatred, exclusion and deep fears that there isn't enough. These barriers may also be accompanied by thoughts or feelings that we just can't reach out, care, love and be forgiven or forgiving. Jesus' life, death and resurrection can penetrate these barriers for us. 

 

Indeed as we are grounded in Christ's love such barriers lose their power over us. We can be freed to see and move beyond ourselves and our fears. This is part of the mystical fullness of God.

 

What a prayer this is for the congregation in Ephesus.

 

What a prayer this is for us – for all people who are joined to Christ and therefore to each other.  May we be filled with the fullness of Christ – daily rooted and grounded in His love.

 

For in Him, we too can be blown away.  Blown away by and in God's Spirit in ways that despite our short comings, our failures, our propensity to do and say things that are hurtful, God can still use us, change us, even transform us to help feed and love this world.

 

Somehow in that ongoing movement, that "being blown away" are the glimpses of the wonder of the ineffable God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Somehow, in such being "blown away" we get glimpses of and are graciously participants in the breadth and length and height and depth, the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. 

 

This is a knowing that is beyond intellect but which involves all that we can and ever will think. This is a knowing that is beyond sight and smell but which involves all of the senses that we will ever experience. This is a knowing that can only begin to crawl with being known but then ushers us into wonder, joy and awe – a humility that is the beginning of wisdom.

 

So, don't be afraid of being blown away – so long as the One who is doing the blowing is the Spirit of God – the breath of life who leads us to trust the bread of life!

 

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.