Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Bread of Heaven Sermon at United Church of Beloit 8/4/19




Isaiah 55 New International Version (NIV)
Invitation to the Thirsty
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Isaiah 55,
Words of prophecy 700 years before Christ. Using images of ordinary things like bread, milk, to convey the presence of God! This was written to those in exile, they likely had nothing that was free at that time!
Wine and milk and bread available without cost!

To pay attention to God, to discern God’s presence even in people who were exiled-basically prisoners of war-- far from their homeland. That even in the midst of suffering God’s love is right there with them! Despite their homeland, their holy city of Jerusalem, and the Temple all being destroyed, God was present.

And to prophecy the coming Messiah, the savior! The gift of the messiah would bring them eternal life--the covenant of God’s promises thru out millennia. Specifically that a descendant of King David would bring them to freedom, for all eternity! Jesus, a direct descendant of King David was the fulfillment of this prophecy.

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways  and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

God requires living faith, as indicated in repentance and change of behavior 
And God has unlimited  compassion . . . will abundantly pardon. 

This is a reminder to keep God foremost in thoughts and in our hearts. 
A reminder that unrighteousness is anything that turns us away from God. Turn TOWARD God, and God will have mercy, and freely pardon. 

As elsewhere in scripture...all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of GOd, but The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 
Which brings us to our Gospel lesson… 

Mark 14 New International Version (NIV)
22 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
23 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
24 “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “Truly I tell you, I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

During our trip to our national meeting in Cleveland...one of the first nights, part of our merry band were gathering for supper, and one of the folks, not a pastor, a lay leader in her congregation, told about being a camp leader,  on the last night of camp serving communion. And how special and meaningful that was for her. Years later, she cherishes that memory! And my friend Pastor Dawn shared about the first time she served communion to her son, her grown son who has autism and rarely would come forward to receive, he takes it afterwards. But one day he walked forward, hands out. And how beautiful that moment was for her. And then i shared about my favorite service here, Maundy Thursday. The night before Good Friday, When we share the story of Jesus’ last supper, the beginning of the tradition of holy communion. And what is so precious to me, is that Pastor Steve and i get to serve each of you ourselves, that we come to each of you, saying the Body of Christ, the blood of Christ-for you, It’s so personal. 

Rachel Held Evans, in Searching for Sunday.
 "The sacraments ...reminded me that Christianity isn’t meant to simply be believed; it’s meant to be lived, shared, eaten, spoken, and enacted in the presence of other people. … I can’t be a Christian on my own. I need a community. I need the church."

The Table of Lord goes by many names, The Eucharist (from the word for Giving thanks!) the Lord’s supper. Holy Communion. All these are correct. All convey aspects of the depth of meaning of this sacrament. 

We call it Communion--from the root word that also gives us “Community”, being together. 

I especially love this meaning.. Because it is what we were created for. We discussed this before.. That God, created us to be together with God and each other. And Jesus who came to embody that perfect community and to show us how it’s done and to give us the gift of the holy spirit to make it happen; 

Also RHE: Church is a moment in time when the kingdom of God draws near, when a meal, a story, a song, an apology, and even a failure is made holy by the presence of Jesus among us and within us

Yes Jesus is present always, among us and within us. Brother Lawrence, a 17th century monk wrote of cherishing the presence of God even in the mundane tasks of kitchen duty! I confess, I almost never think of the presence of God while I’m cleaning the kitchen.. But if somehow i do, i know that Brother Lawrence is right. That God is there even in the very mundane. Recognizing that God is present in the most ordinary of moments, can help us to live out our faith more completely. 

In the Gospel lesson, note the sequence there… Jesus gives, teaches, they worship, then go out. 

In our pastors’ discussions, I have said that church isn’t just here in these 4 walls. The “real Church” if you will, is afterwards, at coffee hour, in the lunch after, in the taking of flowers or a treat to a shut in. helping serve meals on wheels, volunteering or giving to Caritas and other organizations. Helping provide school supplies to needy families!! A brief, Friendly chat with the clerk at Woodman's or Walmart….it’s sharing a bit of time and self, during the rest of the week. That’s the real church. It’s the relationships. Spending time together, having a bite together, serving others together. 

author Jean Vanier...Unity....Unity does not come from the acceptance of exterior structures or laws, dogmas or ways of worship. It surges up from a life that flows within us and through us all together. It is hearts and minds bonded together because they are bonded in communion with Jesus.


Did you ever notice in the gospels how often Jesus is depicted at a meal with others? And of course, it’s mostly not with the people you’d expect. Jesus said believe in me, but the way he showed to do that, is to spend time and often, a meal together! 

Henri Nouwen says that when we have a meal together with others, A spiritual bond grows, and we become food and drink for one another. In the most complete and perfect way, this happens when Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist -in Holy Communion.

We work and live and love with other people. We laugh and cry with others. We celebrate births and mourn losses, and a lot of the time we do it over a meal. Jesus knew how important it is to enjoy a meal together and turned His very last meal on Earth into one that His followers could have together to completely and perfectly remember Him.

Jesus gave us the gift of this meal...his Self to share together. Jesus gives, teaches, we worship, then go out. 

At the table, we
Remember Christ’s sacrifice, 
It joins us into one body..
We confess, 
We’re forgiven…
We give thanks
We go out -together- to serve.

The table is set for each of us. Let us come to it-together :)