Perishable Food and Soul Food

I have spoken several times now about my New Testament teacher at School for Deacons, his name is Scott Sinclair. He is a wonderful teacher with a depth of knowledge that is impressive at least. You will hear me refer to him often. And I like to give credit where credit is due.
In Scott’s class we learned that he and other scholars believe that the Gospel Acc to John was written as a manual on how to live the Christian Life. The other three Gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke, are more historical than John. It is thought that the author of John was portraying Jesus’ life from God’s point of view – an instruction book rather than a history book. I find it an interesting and helpful way to approach reading the Gospel of John. Keeping all this in mind, then, Chapter 6, where we are now is about the Eucharist and is preceded by a section on Baptism.
Last week’s Gospel from the beginning of Chapter 6 is set at Passover time. For the author of the Gospel, Passover equals the Eucharist. The crowds of people were following Jesus around because of the signs or miracles that he had performed - healing those who had diseases. Jesus had gathered the people on the side of the mountain and the familiar story of the Feeding of the 5 thousand follows. This part ends with Jesus escaping the crowd when he senses that they want to make him king. At night the disciples start across the Sea of Galilee in a boat without Jesus which isn’t explained, and they row three or four miles when Jesus comes walking across the water to the boat that holds the disciples. When he got into the boat it was immediately on the far shore of the Sea of Galilee. The crowds who were still searching for him were flummoxed because they couldn’t figure out how Jesus got there and they were continuing to be amazed at what had happened on the other side of the sea with the miracles of the feeding and healing. The crowd focuses on the spectacular nature of the signs and miracles. And they had rowed across the sea to find him. Jesus says they are still “hungry” and have worked hard to find him because they want the magic food from him again. As a rebuttal and perhaps defense, the people in the crowd talk about Moses and the manna from heaven because the Messiah, who they now think Jesus is, was expected to produce the miracle of that manna again. The crowd are looking for earthly signs of the coming of a new king and a new reign on earth. They are looking for earthly solutions to earthly problems. Jesus says to the crowd, don’t work for the food that perishes, but for the bread of life which is the true bread from heaven. This is what he has to share with them and with us. Jesus is talking about Food for the Soul versus Food that Perishes. Soul food and Perishable food. Being a nutritionist in my day job I immediately picked up on the “perishable food” idea. We think and talk a lot about the perishable nature of food at my work, because we first and foremost don’t want to make anyone more sick than they already are when in the hospital. Food borne illness is bad for people and it’s bad for business, too. If we eat something and it makes us sick we lose your trust in the food and in the person who gave it to us. Trust is implicit when one takes and eats food from another person whether at home or in a restaurant or a church. This is especially important in a hospital as patients are dependant on the Nutrition staff for their food and drink. The metaphor of hunger and thirst implies wholesomeness, trust, healing and renewal.
Jesus uses this metaphor of hunger and thirst throughout the book of John. We remember another scene from the Gospel of John when Jesus meets the woman at the well in Samaria. He offers her a drink of water that will keep her from ever being thirsty again and she is amazed and amused at his suggestion. She is the first person he tells about his true identity, as one who can provide a permanent solution to the hunger and thirst of the soul. She begins to trust and understand him when he tells her facts about her life that no stranger could have known. He uses a sign or miracle to get her attention and make her hunger for more and she begins to understand who he is. She tells others to “come and see” because she believes she has met the Messiah. Now here in this passage in John, Jesus is telling the crowd about his true identity as well – “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” It is the opinion of the author of the Gospel acc to John that we are saved by believing that Jesus is God infleshed; what we call the Incarnation; by believing that the Spirit of God can exist in our material world and satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.
So what it is about this perishable food, the potentially hazardous food (as we say in the hospital) that we are to look beyond? In John’s Gospel the miracles and signs are done to get one’s attention but are insufficient in themselves for really understanding who Jesus is. The miracles are food but perishable. When my daughter Sarah was in junior high she had a girl friend who invited her to church. The kids were rewarded for inviting other children to church by the promise of a limousine ride to the child who brought the most friends each week. I don’t know if Sarah’s friend won the limo ride for bringing her to church that week but I know Sarah liked going there. There was also a rock-climbing wall and a big-screen TV to watch bible videos on. Now far be it for me to criticize any other church’s evangelism program, but I always wondered what theology these tempting activities taught Sarah. I wondered how she understood Jesus’ presence in her life. I wondered if the fun and games did more than pull her in. She also attended the confirmation program led by Michael Carney, who was the previous vicar here at St. George’s. Both my daughters and my son were in that program. When it came time to be confirmed Sarah didn’t want to go to the Cathedral and stand up in front of all the other confirmands and their families. She asked me why I wanted her to do that. I was taken aback by her question but I said that by being confirmed she was showing her personal commitment to the baptismal promise that I had made for her many years before. She looked confused so I added that it showed that she believed in Jesus. She answered, well, that’s silly. EVERYONE already knows that I believe in Jesus, I don’t have to go to the Cathedral to prove it. So I said, honey, just do it for Mommy. It was a great moment for me, as you can imagine. She had partaken of the soul food that Jesus offers – the one that doesn’t leave us hungry for more but satisfies deep in our hearts. And she didn’t feel like she had to prove it to anyone, her love of Jesus had become part of her being.
Today, when we take the bread and wine, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are acknowledging our belief that Jesus is God in the flesh. We believe that Jesus died and rose from the grave and lives in the world with us by the power of the Holy Spirit and is alive with us here today in this room, in this Eucharist, when Amber breaks the bread. The miracles point us to this life that we live now together with Jesus – the hope of the resurrection and giving of the Spirit, the love that we have for each other, and in the real presence of Christ in the bread and wine.
God loved the world so much that he gave us his Son in human form, knowing that he would suffer as human beings do. Jesus says to us, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” It is the deep compassion of Christ for the suffering in the world that lets us trust, hope and love enough to be Christ for the world. And in the breaking of the bread when we see Jesus again we renew our trust, hope and love. Let us pray.
Dearest Lord Jesus – we ask you to send your Holy Spirit to be present in our gathering today. We thank you for the gift of your human life which inspires us to be Christ for the world. Bless our work as a parish and send us out to love and serve our neighbors as we follow in your Way. Amen.

Ephesians 4:1-16 • John 6:24-35

Prayers for the Godsquad Mission Trip

Heavenly Father,
We ask you to be with the Godsquad missioners as they go to make a difference in the lives of folks in Texas who are in need. Keep them safe and give them comfort in the challenges they will face. Let them feel your loving care for them and for those who they serve. We ask all this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Steadfast

Dear God - I thank you for my best friend, Freckles, whose steadfast presence in my life for 12 1/2 years has been a gift of joy. I am steadfast for her, too, especially now that she is blind. (But no less full of life!) Bless our life together as doggie and human being, as a sign of your steadfastness, too, for us in joy. Amen

"Since patience or tolerance comes from a certain ability to remain firm and steadfast, to not be overwhelmed by the adverse situations or conditions that one faces, one should not see tolerance or patience as a sign of weakness, but rather as a sign of strength coming from a deep ability to remain steadfast and firm."
—The Dalai Lama

Time to hit the dusty trail...

God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
In February of 2001 when I had received my call to ordained ministry by the power of the Holy Spirit I met with my rector, Thomas, several times. In one of those meetings he asked me what I would like to do for discernment. Now being quite new to the language of Episcopalian clergy, having been brought up Lutheran, I didn’t really know what Thomas meant by “discernment”, so I asked him what he meant. And he answered that discernment was a time of seeking to find out where God was calling me; a time to test my call to find some deeper meaning and direction. He asked me again what I wanted to do for discernment and I answered without hesitation without thinking, “hospice”. I had worked with some hospice patients at the nursing home where I was Nutritional Services Manager and I always wished I could do more than provide food in the way of comfort and compassion. Thomas introduced me to the Chaplain at a local hospital and I was fortunate to enter his training program for associate hospice chaplains. After some weeks I received the name of my first hospice patient, her address, and general information about her name, age, diagnosis and so forth. Now in this present time of privacy it is not allowed to disclose names and information about a patient to anyone except family members. However, this particular patient asked me to keep her name alive and tell her story and so what I tell you about her, I have her permission to tell, especially after her death. Her name was Pati, and she was 55 years old. I stood at her door one Friday afternoon after work, and was terrified. I wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into, how I was going to be of any use to her at all, whether she would even be glad to see me, although she had requested a chaplain’s visit. I said “Come, Holy Spirit” and I knocked on the door. She let me in herself. Pati was a thin brunette with a lot of energy despite the spreading breast cancer in her body.
Right away she told me that she didn’t want to talk about God. God had let her down badly and she didn’t think God cared about her at all. To say she was mad at God was an understatement. She considered herself a spiritual person but we could not talk about God. No praying, no communion, no psalm-reading; I was at a loss, especially in light of my extreme inexperience in all of this. Come, Holy Spirit. I told her we could just talk and that I was interested in her story and spending some time with her on a weekly basis and she seemed ok with that. So every Friday after work I went to visit her and we got to be pretty good friends – enough so that I could risk talking about my own journey and how I got to be at her door that first day. I told her the story I told you about losing my job and feeling a strong call to ordained ministry at that time and about how I was in discernment for ordination, and that without the call of the Spirit and the direction of the Spirit through Chaplain Schwing I would never have ended up at her house. And THAT was enough evidence for me at least that God had not forgotten her. God had put us together at this time and place to be healing and comfort for each other. My presence had to be enough evidence that God cared about her still. I don’t think she really totally believed me, but she was polite enough not to argue. After that we didn’t talk about God anymore. At this point that I realized her beef was really with the church and a particular philandering preacher rather than with God exactly, but for her it was all the same. The church and pastor she loved let her down and God let her down and that was it. She had closed the door but cracked it open a little to let me in and I tried hard to bring some light in with me. The Holy Spirit put words in my mouth that I didn’t know I had during that time and taught me to be patient and forgiving and loving. I fell in love with this soul called Pati. I visited her for nine months. I never missed a visit and she never called me off. At one point she asked me how many patients I saw each week – she thought she was just one of many. When I told her she was the only one I saw something in her change. As time went on she became more and more sick and vulnerable, of course. By this time I was vulnerable, too, as I had grown to love her great sense of humor and somewhat cynical view of life. One day we were going over the whole issue of God forgetting about her again when she stopped and was quiet. She said she had been waiting for a miracle – to literally hear God’s voice and feel God’s presence. She wanted a big and showy gesture from God– to make up for her disappointment and anger about her church experiences and especially to make up for the years she was losing with her kids to cancer. What she got was me for a chaplain, not much in your way of showy gestures. But she stopped talking and said, “I get it. Now I get it. God called you to come and be with me now.” I said, “yes.” “God sent you to be with me.” “Yes, that’s right.” And I started crying, not her. She comforted me, not the other way. God’s power was made perfect in my weakness because she got it that God had not forgotten her and loved her still. For me, her awareness was everything I had hoped and prayed for. It was a miracle for us both.
Today, July 5th, is the 7th anniversary of Pati’s death, so it is right and proper that I would tell you about her on this day. I am grateful to share her story with you. I was privileged to lead her memorial service and that afternoon I met a group of ladies in turbans covering bald heads from chemotherapy. They introduced themselves as the “boat people” from Pati’s cancer support group, that was what Pati called them. Why boat people? Because we were all in the same boat, they said. That was Pati, witty and bright to the end.
In our Gospel for today, Jesus sends the disciples out two by two to spread the gospel by comforting and healing – or in Mark’s words, “They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.” It seems like a dauntingly immediate task – take no shoes, bag, cloak; travel lightly, move urgently, repudiate violence, shake the dust off your shoes if someone is unfriendly to your mission. Jesus has work of love, comfort, compassion, healing and miracles for us to do. We are weak, says St. Paul, but God’s power is made perfect in our own weakness. Paul says, “So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 10Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.” For me this is the essence of faith – knowing my own weakness and having confidence against all odds that God will give me the courage and words to do God’s work in the world. Marcus Borg, a contemporary theologian makes this comment about faith: “The Hebrew word for faith in the Old Testament is emoonah. What makes that word interesting is that it's the sound that a baby donkey makes when it is calling for its mother. There's something kind of wonderful about that. There is an element…I don't know if you want to say of desperation in it or not, but there certainly is an element of confidence also that the cry will be heard.”
We have confidence that our faithful cry will be heard – that God hasn’t forgotten us here in Antioch, though the budget is a challenge and the numbers are fewer than in the past, and now we are setting out on a new journey that has yet to be charted; but our weakness and our awareness of our weakness, is God’s strength and God’s power will be made perfect in our weakness. Now God sends us out into the field to preach and teach the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by word and deed. Even if we don’t know how to start. Don’t pack anything, don’t take a lunch – the mission is urgent! And God will give us the grace to do the work God has called us to do in 2009 in Antioch, California. Amen.
- 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 and Mark 6:1-13

Lord we pray for those who have died in the past weeks and for their families and all those who love them. We especially pray for Ray who we loved and knew and hoped for and will miss. Bless his daughter and grandchildren that the best of him may live on in them and that they may be strengthened in his love and Yours. Amen.

We Love You...

For an old friend who died too young. For a friend not seen for many years and yet it was just like yesterday. For a friend who wanted to stay longer at the party but had to go... we love you and we will miss you, Kirk.

Perserverance

“Have you still no faith?” These words from Jesus to the disciples during the storm must have stung, considering their devoted friendship and loyalty. Jesus had been teaching parables to a large crowd from a boat close to the shore for many hours. He asked to cross to the other side, perhaps for some private time with the disciples and so they took off across the water in the same boat. Jesus then fell asleep on the cushions, exhausted. Soon the storm began to rage, threatening to send them all to a watery death. The disciples woke him up to warn him about the storm, or at least to make him aware of the fearsome weather they were facing. Jesus responds in a frustrated and weary way – not a very flattering picture of him at that moment. His attitude seems to be that of a long-suffering parent – “Don’t you get it yet?” And yet we see that the disciples DO “get it”. One of the themes we hear in Mark’s gospel is the necessity of being open to the reality of who Jesus really is – the Son of God. This faith is what makes miracles possible. My New Testament professor, Scott Sinclair says, “In Mark faith produces miracles but miracles do not produce real faith.” So it seems that in this story of the stilling of the storm and the sea, the miracle was possible because the disciples were open to Jesus’ power and authority, believed in him, and did, in fact, have faith. This is just one of the puzzling and ambiguous stories we find in Mark’s Gospel, put there to cause us to ponder and think.
Each Sunday one of the focuses of our worship is the proclamation of the Gospel. The readings from the different Gospels follow a pattern. The Sunday readings from the Bible are divided into three years which are called A, B and C. The A years contain readings from the Gospel of Matthew, the B years contain readings from the Gospel of Mark and the C years contain readings from the Gospel of Luke. What happened to John? The readings from John come during Easter and other special times. We have just finished some readings from John and are now in year B – moving into the series of readings from Mark. So that’s where we are in the liturgical scheme of things. The Gospel of Mark was most likely the first one written – possibly before the fall the Temple in Jerusalem around year 70 of the current era. Mark based his writings on stories and sayings that he had heard repeated from those who had known Jesus personally. What prompted Mark to write down what he knew were two crises in his world. One was the arising of competing and false “Christs” or “Messiahs” who claimed to be like Jesus and were threatening to lead susceptible believers astray. The second challenge in the society of the time was the nightmarish persecution of the Christians that had begun after Jesus’ death. Even though they were technically still Jews, the early Christians were persecuted and martyred for their beliefs and had to worship in secret to be safe. So Mark set about writing down what he knew about Jesus as a response to these two ongoing events of his time. Similarly, St. Paul was part of the spreading of the Word to the gentiles in the surrounding countries – and we talked a little last time I preached about his trials and tribulations. The first century Christians faced an uncertain life in Christ – threats from other religious groups and government – and the uncertainty of not knowing who they could believe. Another theme of Mark’s Gospel rises out of these problems - the necessity of perseverance in the face of suffering for followers of Christ. This suffering is to be accepted as part the Way to the cross just as Jesus did accept his own suffering.
In our reading from 2nd Corinthians today we hear a little about St. Paul’s struggle to maintain relations with the churches he had established. There had been some falling out with the people at Corinth and letters we do not have today may have been passed back and forth by Titus – a co-worker with Paul. Finally Paul receives reassuring news about the Corinthians’ feelings toward him and 2nd Corinthians is written in response to this good news. These letters were written in approximately the same time frame as the Gospel of Mark – before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70. So in this reading we hear about the trials of Paul and his co-workers to keep up their walk with Christ on the Way to the cross – perhaps some are thinking of giving up because Paul exhorts them not to “accept the grace of God in vain.” “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.” Can you tell this is one of my favorite verses?
So we hear of the trials and sufferings of the early Christians – the threats from without and within and the temptation to give up in the face of all these challenges. We know that Mark believes perseverance during suffering leads to faith which can produce miracles and encourages believers to follow Jesus on the Way to the cross no matter what may come. Perseverance on the way to the cross can produce miracles.
Well, then, what about us, here in modern-day Antioch, Ca? What circumstances of contemporary life make it difficult for us to be faithful to following the path Jesus took? What encourages us to continue and not give up in the face of hardships? And what are the hardships of living the life of Christ and following his path to the cross for us today?
Could the challenge to our faith in contemporary times come from within rather than from without? No one in 2009 in America will literally be fed to the lions for professing to be a Christian. There may be some false prophets out there for sure, I will not deny that. But I think that the real challenge for us is to live a life steeped in the Way of Christ in a society that, for the most part, doesn’t get it. We are challenged to intentionally live a life that is not anything like the lives around us. What percentage of Californians go to church each Sunday morning? How many pray over meals in restaurants? What keeps us from personal prayer? Do we think, I am too busy, too tired, too overwhelmed by keeping things going to attend to my spiritual life? Too embarrassed at being different? Afraid to offend? Or be politically incorrect? Too caught up in the social and economic daily struggle? Or what if, one day, we wake up and find that our connection to God is gone? We feel that God has abandoned us – because something terrible has happened – or out of the blue - the real dark night of the soul – when we pray and we hear no response. This happens to priests, deacons, bishops, lay people, mystics, monks, sisters, people of all religious persuasions - even Mother Teresa. What then? Our challenge is within us to follow the path that Jesus took to the cross. We shouldn’t be deceived into thinking we have it any easier than all Christians throughout the centuries. A life lived in Christ is not easy. It is not easy but it is everything.
At our baptism we or someone acting on our behalf pledge us to participate in the life of Christ in five ways: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers? Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ? Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being? These are our walking orders – teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, resisting evil, repentance, proclamation, serving Christ, loving your neighbor, promoting justice & peace, and respecting the dignity of all. God grant us all perserverance on our way.
Perseverance can produce miracles on the way to the cross. The storm was stilled after the disciples called out to Jesus – because they HAD FAITH he could do something, even if he was a little cranky about it. In their dark scary night they believed in the miracle of safety and sanctuary in Jesus’ presence. They had the faith that could lead to miracles.

We have the faith that leads to miracles on the way to the cross. Let it be so. Amen.