A note in the church newsletter regarding retirement

(Although the following is not a sermon, I thought it appropriate to include within the blog. This is a section of a newsletter written by David Remington. - DAR)


CONSIDERING MY DEPARTURE FROM ST. JOHN’S, I do thank all of you for the love you have given to me, and my family. I am thankful too for the challenging times, and your patience. They made me think, re-consider, calm-down, and reclaim a touch of humility. It has been a long, healthy, and wonderful ministry that we have shared. Throughout the ages, God has led his people through the successive work of faithful leaders. From Moses to Joshua leading the Israelites into the Promised Land, from Elijah’s departure in a fiery chariot to Elisha’s miracles, from Jesus’ glorious ascension to the pentecostal experience and the succession of apostles and followers, down through the ages, the Church of God has continued its work inviting people into The Kingdom of God. Even though I am relinquishing my leadership of St. John’s Parish, you can be sure of God’s Presence to bring a successor who will lead you in the future. Keep drinking from the same cup. Keep washing one another’s feet. Seek justice, and walk humbly with God. Pray for your Parish Leaders and for your ability to accept the inevitable changes that will come. I wish you all a blessed and an affectionate farewell.

David +

Pentecost 16

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 16
PROPER: 21B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 28, 2003

TEXT: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48 – “And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.”

ISSUE: This passage is talking about the absolute necessity of faith and loyalty to our Lord, leaving the garbage dump of life behind. It is about moving on with Christ in as full a way as we can. Grasp for the future. Run for the prize. Seek renewed vision. Accept new leadership.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There have been essentially two sermons that have been difficult to plan and proclaim. I remember well my first Sunday at St. John’s on a Sunday in November of 1969. I couldn’t imagine, at the time, what I was going to say and what would be acceptable to a group of people that I did not know, except for a few vestry persons that I knew only through brief acquaintances and meeting where what we were all doing was to try and impress one another. The second most difficult has been what to say as we wind things up together. We all know that all good things do have to come to an end sometime, and that’s the way of life. Over the years, we have often worried about the parish when one of its active members dies. “St. John’s will never be the same,” some of us have said in our grief. But the fact of the matter is, things carry on by the very grace of God.
Well, when all else fails, I think, for this last time together, I’ll just talk with you about the Gospel and the Scripture readings, which have been my custom for many years. Life will go on, and we can’t miss the shear enjoyment and blessing of the Gospel of our Lord on this Sunday. And incidentally, this Gospel reading from Mark today is something of a challenge, but a profound way in which Jesus urges all of his disciples to learn to leave behind anything that separates them from him, and to continue their lives, their faith, and their ministries in constant faithful loyalty.
Last week there was concern among Jesus’ disciples over who was the greatest. Jesus’ response was to become identified as a vulnerable child and to serve all God’s children as brothers and sisters in the world. But you know the disciples often come across as dense. They just don’t always get the message, or they are quick to forget, like so many of us. Actually, the passage likely reflects some early factions within the very early church that were of concern as to their orthodoxy or legitimacy. That concern is reflected in this event where close disciples of Jesus challenge the right of others to speak in the name of Jesus.
The disciples in this passage come to Jesus concerned that another folk healer or exorcist is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. It is as if they think that the message, teaching, healing ministry of Jesus is already copyrighted. Obviously here the disciples still see themselves as part of a very unique community of Jesus, even if he does not want them to take on governmental positions in the Kingdom of God. He taught them that who was the greatest didn’t matter at all. What mattered was to be in the service of God’s caring and love.
In the passage from the Book of Numbers, which Mark may well have had in mind, Moses becomes very distressed that as he has led the people of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage, the people begin to complain. They are tired of the manna that God has provided. It would be better to be back in Egypt with the leaks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and garlic were provided for free. There had been a good time when the Israelites first came to Egypt under the leadership of Joseph. But time passed, and Joseph died, and their life in Egypt turned sour. They forgot that the food was for free, because they were slaves and badly oppressed. Funny how people even today like to reminisce about the good old days. Remember the good old days? The good old days were the crash of 29, and the deep recession of 39. World War II, the Korean conflict, the creation, making, and using the Atomic Bomb, the civil rights turmoil and riots, Vietnam that turned out to be horrible a disaster, the old Prayer Book in Elizabethan English that contained few of the liturgies we have come to cherish today. They were the good old days? Moses with the help of God was made to realize that new leadership had to be developed, and the load had to be shared, so seventy prophets or disciples were appointed and the Spirit of God came upon them, and they carried on a ministry with Moses. Outside the camp were two others, Eldad and Medad, and they were not with the other seventy, but they too received the Spirit of God. The seventy prophets wanted Moses to stop them. But, Moses said, “Would that all of God’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them all.” You can’t turn back to the good old day, and truly they weren’t that good anyway.
Jesus says “no” to this very concept of thinking that only certain people have the Spirit, the gnosis, and some secret exclusive knowledge of all that God has to say. If Judaism can cast out demons, and liberate people and share the love of God, leave them alone. Rejoice in that. If Islam can proclaim a God of love, care, and compassion of God; then recognize that the Spirit of God may be working there in ways we do not understand. If some Christian Pentecostal group is serving human need rejoice in God’s all encompassing presence in the world. The issue seems to be that Jesus wants his disciples to stop worrying about others, and keep focused on their own mission and calling as the disciples of God to all that are vulnerable and live into their own calling that leads to and encompasses the Kingdom of God, the Realm of God, the Dominion of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ve often thought that when we start worrying about what’s going on in someone else’s household, and presume to place judgment, we’d better be looking at what’s going on in our own household, which may be why Jesus starts talking to his own disciples about dealing with their own issues.
Scholars are inclined to believe that the reference here of not giving a cup of cold water to these little ones may not only refer to other disciples but to the abuse of children and slaves. It’s better to have a millstone (a form of capital punishment) `hung around your neck than to abuse a child. If your hand, foot, or eye, causes you to stumble by using your power over a child or anyone else, it would be better that they be cut off. The hand, foot (penis), and eye were sexual euphemisms at the time this passage was written, but the passage can also be interpreted as allowing ourselves to be freed from anything that makes us less than human.
The impact of this part of the passage is that the disciples, and the membership of the church are not to live in the ‘garbage dump,’ translated hell, where the maggots (worms never die) are, and the fires outside the villages never go out. Like the bad son in the story of the Prodigal Son, he came to his senses and decided to get out of the pigpen. Don’t turn back to the ways of the past and become caught up in a culture that is unseemly, in human, and is in a desperate need for change. Abuse is essentially anyway in which a person in power or position uses that power or position to humiliate or fail to respect the dignity of another human being. You cannot abuse another person and see them as you equal, or serve them at the same time. The garbage dump is also a place where we get rid of the things of the past that are worn out and finished.
The Israelites had to learn to cut themselves off from Egypt and go forward to their promised land. They had to learn to look forward to their future. The leeks, onions, melons, cucumbers, and the garlic were remembered with affection, but they were actually living in a world of bondage. They realized that with Moses help that it was time to move ahead and develop new leadership whose aim was for the Promised Land. There has to be a breaking away from the old ways even for Jesus’ own that they too keep themselves detached from the stifling way of the world, its corrupted culture, and make the appropriate changes the would make them instruments of preparing for the Realm of God, where there is no abuse, power hungry people bullies. Again it is the realm of being in the service of God. Whatever it is that is making you cling and hold on to the past - hand, foot, or eye – cut it off and move on to the glory of God and to the welcoming of all into God’s Kingdom. If you are holding on too hard to the past, you have to let go. If your foot is caught in the door, you’ll have to take off the hinges. If your eyes are only focused on the past, and you have no vision for the future; you’d better get a new pair of glasses. It is only in the march and the parade with Christ that encompasses many servant leaders that we find a meaningful future.
Recently in the news there was told a very dramatic story of a young man that had gone hiking in some beautiful western canyons where he was also climbing. A rock dislodged and caught his arm. He struggled for hours to free himself. He was hopelessly trapped. Finally he realized that his only way out of this predicament was to cut off his arm with a not so sharp penknife he carried in his pocket. Once painfully released he walked for miles before being found by strangers who summoned saving help.
So it is when we seem to be trapped by certain things in our lives. We have to cut ourselves off from what holds us: addiction, bullying, manipulation, pride, or abusing others. Change, renewal, breaking free is sometimes very painful, very risky at the least. Yet the Spirit of God is out there to rescue, to reclaim us to be our future hope. It is painful for us to now cut ourselves off from one another. As imperfect as it was, we can cherish the past, so long as we know that what lies ahead is what is really important. I am so very grateful and honored by the love you all have given to me, and the esteem in which many of you have and do hold my ministry here at St. John’s. But it is time now to make the break, to cut off the relationship. It is time to focus on the future and what God is calling both you as a parish, and me as a retired priest to be in the future world. Know well that Medad and Eldad are out there somewhere full of the loving Spirit of God. There are other priests and prophets bearing the Spirit of God, which will bring to you as much and even more than I have been able to give. Like Moses, after 40 years in the wilderness, I’ve gotten tired. There are other prophets and priests greatly skilled and talented in a whole variety of ways that will be there for you.
And so my dear folks, friends, parishioners, remain faithful, deeply committed, and always loyal to our Lord Jesus Christ alone, his way, his truth, and his life teachings. Let nothing separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Keep washing one another’s feet. Keep drinking from the same cup.
Thursday, September 25, 2003Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)

Pentecost 15

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 15
PROPER: 20 B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 21,2003

TEXT: Mark 9:30-37 – “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me by the one who sent me.”

ISSUE: The way we regard children today is very different from the time of Jesus. To refer to an adult as a child was a serious insult. Children had no rights, and were considered slaves, with no status or honor. In drastic situations, children were saved last before adult family members. But Jesus honors them, and teaches his disciples who are arguing over who will be the greatest, that unless they reach out to the very least of God’s children, they have no greatness at all. Perhaps from the early stages of our children, from their entrance into the church through baptism, we might begin then and there to teach them what is true greatness.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
One of the marks of my ministry from its very beginning has been for some forty years now, to stress the importance and the meaning of Holy Baptism. Both through my early training and continuing study, I have along with the wider church attempted to reform and recover the true and basic meaning of this Sacrament that the Christian Church has always honored, and proclaimed as a basic sacrament in Christianity.
In the history of the church and its emphasis on this basic sacrament familiarity seemed to eventually breed contempt. It became what you do to little babies and children shortly after they are born, and hopefully before they died for fear of what might become of an un-baptized child. (Actually the belief that un-baptized children, or adults for that matter, are doomed is hardly an appreciation and affirmation of the God of Love.) Deeply ingrained in the early church and its members was the belief that children were basically evil. In the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Proverbs, and in the Apocrypha’s book of Sirach, there are a number of passages that make it clear that a parent that doesn’t severely discipline a child can be in big trouble in the future. Spare the rod and spoil the child is the essence of these Hebrew Scripture teachings. Even in Roman culture of Jesus’ time, a father had the right to execute his own child, if he so wished. Of course, we have had a long tradition that children were the continual offspring of Adam and Eve, thereby being sinful, and the sacrament became a kind of washing up baby from its evil ways by virtue of its nature.
Baptism has also had a kind of magical mystique as time passed. Through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism there was a kind of zapping mechanism that was believed to take place. Through the pouring of the water on the child or adult person they became magically transformed into good Christians, and an on going relationship with Christ’s church was not often honored. The magic was enough. In the Christendom period, up until a few years ago, children were exposed to some kind of folksy patriotic religious training. In public school many of us, and many youngster with little formal religious training in the church, learned the Lord’s Prayer, some of Psalms (especially the 23rd Psalm), and the pledge of allegiance to the flag, under God. Christian religious training seemed to come through a form of cultural osmosis for many people. We call it folk religion from a culture nominally Christian, but a Christianity often without much depth or sense of responsible Christian community. Of course, today we do not have that Christian majority and popularity in an age of so many other religions, fads, and philosophies that are sometimes a challenge to Christianity.
The original call for Holy Baptism in the Christian Scriptures comes from conclusion of Matthew’s 28:19 Gospel account: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo I am with you always to the close of the age.” It really does not say anything about baptizing infants for their being evil, or for the purpose of saving them from hell. The commission does call for training, that is, teaching all people what Jesus taught his disciples. They are to be immersed into the name of the God of love, the Son of forgiveness, and the sustaining Spirit of love and hope. Baptism calls for the immersion, the literal dipping the world into the uncanny grace of God that says I love you just for the person that you are. The disciples are to be the servants with Christ to proclaim the good news of hope and love to the least, the last, and the lost. It is the call to immerse the world into that attitude and way of life.
In this gospel reading for this morning Jesus has already taught his disciples, still another time, that he will face suffering and persecution, death on the cross, as the result of his challenges to the culture of the time, and rise again in hope. Jesus is the Great Reversal in thinking and doing. The disciples have a very hard time getting it. They begin to argue in terms of who is the greatest among them, that is, who will have the most honor among them. What will be the pecking order among the disciples? Every body likes to be a hotshot sometime, who gets the prestige. The disciples who have traveled with Jesus simply cannot understand the concept of his suffering servant mentality, which is calling people to death of old ways and to the recovery of a new realm, dominion kingdom.
To demonstrate once again, Jesus takes a child and sets the child in their midst. We have to understand that the place of children in Jesus time is nothing like we think of them today. Strict sometimes very severe discipline was imposed. Most children died before the age of 16 years from unconquered disease and more especially from poor hygiene. Thirty percent of children died at birth. It was for children a time of terror. They experienced severe pain and suffering. Until the time of maturity, children had no rights and were considered as slaves, without the right of inheritance. Thus, when you hear the early church’s call for Christians to care for the widows and orphans, you have to remember that children who couldn’t inherit and were left penniless continued to live a life of suffering and poverty. Starkly different from our time, if a man had to save his family from a fire or other tragedy, the order was clear. He would save his father first, his mother secondly, his wife thirdly, and then the children. In a time of famine, children were fed last. People loved their children, especially the boys but for reasons of carrying on the family name, maintaining the family business, and being family servants. And a daughter-in-law that did not provide the family with a son was never accepted fully into the family.
Why did Jesus get crucified? From our standpoint, why would a nice guy like Jesus who used children in his illustrations for being saved from harm, or in his use of allowing children sit with him when he was teaching. From our point of view, Jesus was a nice guy in that regard. However, from his own time, what Jesus was saying to the early community, unless you put the last first and serve them you are not a follower of me. Children symbolized the vulnerable, the last, the least, often the lost by virtue of becoming orphans. The very fact that we now baptize little children, and have such respect for our children, and work so hard for their well being, and our hope that they will grow up to be free and liberated and special unique individuals comes from a Great Reversal, started by Jesus in the 1st Century. “Whoever welcomes a child [one of the least, last, and lost] in my name [Jesus] welcomes me, [and abides in a whole new way of life] and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me. [The Almighty God of Love, Caring, Compassion, Keeper of the Disenfranchised and Inclusion.]”
The Holy Baptism of our children is loaded with profound symbolism. The baptism and acceptance of a child into our church implies the acceptance of the last, least, and lost into the Family of God, the church. Those who can essentially do nothing for themselves belong to God, and are ours to train in Christ’s commission of caring and serving one another. They become a full part of the family worthy to sit down and the table of the Lord, and participate in the Lord’s Supper. Children often cry, scream, and yell in church. How ought we to see that behavior? There are times when many of us see such behavior as that of a bad kid. Not so. It is the cries and screams of the world, the last, the least, the lost the lonely who are in need. They are in need of food, or in need of being removed from the poop of injustice, poverty, cruelty, and violence. They cry out for attention, and they simply cry out because they are there, and the church if it is true to it’s Lord must unquestionably pay attention!
We immerse them in fresh cleansing water, and present them faultless before the Lord God. We drown them to the old ways of thinking of oppression, suppression, slavery, phony honor, and raise them up to a new life of love and hope. We put a garment upon them; we clothe them for their ministry dressed in the white robe of the resurrected Christ. We anoint them, sign them, mark them, as Christ’s own forever, and make them a worthy part of the royal priesthood of Christ. We give them a lighted candle, a burning banner of signifying their partnership with Jesus Christ. We feed them with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ that they may never know a time when they were not welcomed at the table of the Lord.
When we receive these children into the church by virtue of their Holy Baptism, we are beginning their training in the servanthood ministry. As priest, parents, Godparents (or sponsors) and congregation with Jesus Christ, we are all renewed in our own significance as those marked and anointed as Christ’s own forever, and forever his caring compassionate servants in the world bringing dignity and hope to every human being. The main rationale of the church of God is that it fulfill Christ’s mission of training, dying to itself, and with Christ raising up everyone that is fallen, disenfranchised, or excluded, and immersing the nations and the world’s factions into the Love of God.
So! Today, Olivia, Elise, Matthew, Emmett, and Amelia are accepted for themselves, and for all they symbolize. They remind us clergy, parents, grandparents, Godparents, and the wider church community of our responsibility to train them for a servanthood mission with Christ and for an understanding of their own great dignity and worth. We are all reminded of the great commission to reach out to all human beings and the human needs of the world in the spirit of providing hope, dignity, justice, respect, and love. These are the very stuff of which the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Realm, the Dominion of God is made.





September 18, 2003
Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(The congregation kneels. Selected persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving standing with the priest near the altar.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in St. John’s Parish: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially we thank you, Lord, for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you, Lord, for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and for all who have come from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The priest and the congregation offer the following prayer together.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fills our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be among you, and remain with you always. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)
THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE

The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424

The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425

The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431

The Recessional

The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)

Pentecost 14

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 14
PROPER: 19B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: September 14, 2003

TEXT: Mark 8:27-38 Peter’s Confession and Jesus’ Call
Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” . . . . . . . But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” . . . . . . “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

ISSUE: Following Jesus as Lord, denying ones self, and taking up the cross is a tremendous shift in the normal scripting of life, both for the time of Jesus and even for now. Jesus was building a new family whose emphasis was so very different. It would not be a family of intimate inner concern and self-serving, but a family of outreach, caring, and compassion. It would confront the world with daring wonder. In Jesus Christ the followers die with him, to be born into a new way of life, in the realm of God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This passage from the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the gospel accounts, is truly and important one. It marks one of the earliest accounts and statements of who Jesus is truly perceived to be, the Messiah. It also describes the stark reality of what it means to be a mission-oriented disciple of Jesus, which folks from the time of Peter himself have had difficulty comprehending.
Jesus raises the question among his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” He was not giving a test. Remember that in this time a persons identity was given by the family: who you married, education, place in the family, and occupation, and your role. What has developed when Jesus selected his disciples and abandoned his own family was the establishment of a new family relationship. He needs to know his identity role, place, in this newly established family. Without some kind of identification and status, or honor, Jesus could not be effective. He would be seen only as a meaningless misfit. Peter says that the people are saying that he is Elijah, Moses, one of the prophets. Moses was a great and highly respected leader and lawgiver. Elijah was a prophet of hope. Basically, the people are saying that like Moses and Elijah, Jesus is a distinctive man of God.
Who does Peter say that Jesus is? He says, “You are the Messiah.” Obviously Peter holds Jesus in very high regard. But, Jesus insists that this be kept quiet, just like he tried in last week’s healing of deaf man, to keep it quiet. HE did not want to snatch at more honor or status than was given to him, otherwise, he would become quickly rejected. Mark’s messianic secret is designed to keep Jesus within certain boundaries that would delay and prevent his rejection for claiming more than the community was willing to give. Peculiar to us of course, but that is the Middle Eastern way.
The concept of Messiah was not always clear at the time. For some folks, the Messiah was a leader like King David who was a militant leader, and unifying king. For others the Messiah was one similar to The Suffering Servant passages in the prophet Isaiah’s writings. Jesus tries to define for Peter what his messiahship will be like: the Son of Man will undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed, and after three days rise.
Peter rejects and rebukes Jesus for this kind of thinking. Jesus, in turn, challenges Peter and lays down the rules of this new family: “Follow me,” he says, “Deny your self, and take up the cross. You have to forfeit you life in order to save it.” Here is moment of great decision for the disciples who up to this point have chosen to be a part of the family of Jesus. There are very defined demands and expectations. Membership in the family of Jesus Christ is a very definite break with the way the world thinks. It’s actually becoming invested in all the great reversals of Jesus Christ.
At this point it is important to understand what is meant by denying ones self, taking up a cross, and dying. In our time we are inclined to see this denial and crucifixion as living a kind of dreary life. The modern world is inclined to see it that way. It is not likely that the disciples of Jesus would have bought into living a dreary life. Life was already pretty dreary for sinners and the peasantry. Some folks become very inclined today to see Christianity as a kind of perpetual Lent, whereby we are dismissing our own human needs. Not so with Jesus’ call to denial. The denial that Jesus is talking about is breaking with your old family and its intensive concern for family survival. It was a system that often denied basic human individual freedom. It was a very closed system, not very creative, and turned-in on itself. It was often judgmental, and very exclusive to wider human needs. It didn’t seem to go anywhere. To deny ones self was to deny living in that kind of way and family. Unless you died to the way and thinking of the world the beat of drudgery went on. To follow Jesus, of course, meant to die to the world’s way of thinking, and to rise again to a whole new way of life. You see, that in keeping with the old way of life, saving that kind of life you gained nothing, but to die to that old way of life, and to follow with Christ’s efforts to face the inevitable persecution that would come from the diehards, you were giving with Christ a rebirth to a creative world that showed love, that becomes inclusive, that reaches outward, that is hopeful, renewing, liberating, and genuinely refreshing. You become a part of the resurrected and renewed family of God.
For the 1st century this was truly radical stuff. It was surely radical for Peter, even though he had a great respect for Jesus, and could give him the messianic title of being the anointed one, the Christ. But Peter like other disciples found it difficult to break away from the way the world scripted everything.
You know the Saddam Hussein regime reveals the very worst of the Middle Eastern way of thinking. It is a dramatic example of how family can become so corrupt. Through what was considerable lying and deceit, Hussein attained enough honor to come to power. He surrounded himself with family to run the country, nepotism, in what became severely self-serving and corrupt. Human life outside of the family, and outside of the family’s good, and any threat to the family and its power is dealt with harshly. Even within the family, the death penalty is used without reservation to destroy any semblance of disagreement, revolt, or rebellion. It is not likely that in the time of Jesus, all families were like the Hussein Regime. But you can see the potential for brutal and violent corruption, especially when blind allegiance takes over.
In the family of God, in the realm of God, in The Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God, the gates are swung open. And the gates of hell are thrown open so that all the sinners and the cursed are set free to enter the Kingdom of God. And it is a new kind of family where forgiveness takes place, where love is the key word and way. Where people serve one another not just for self-serving purposes, but for the good of the whole community. This is the new family of freedom. It stands up to the criticism and persecution of the world. It dies to wanting and grasping at power, unique honor above others, and is born to seeing all folk as brothers and sisters, and as redeemable children of God. Here is the new way and the new Kingdom or Realm of God, where we die to the propaganda of the world, that we all have to take care of ourselves, and where the survival of the fittest is the law of the land, revenge and vengeance, pay back, destroying your enemies is the code of survival.
The realm of God we love your enemies, and those who differ from us. We bless and honor the poor and outcast, mourn with the grieving, and contend with the difficult. It is giving away to others and to human need in a sacrificial way. We rejoice in all those who work for justice and peace, and who attempt to bring an end to human prejudice without seeing them as a threat to the status quo. We endure the criticism of those who persecute us. We are a people who thank God for Jesus Christ, who has thrown open the gates of hell and heaven for all of our brothers and sisters of faithfulness and compassion to return to the Family of God.

“We walk in the presence of the Lord, in the land of the living.” Psalm 116:1-8.
HOLY COMMUNION
FROM THE RESERVED SACRAMENT

BY AN APPOINTED EUCHARISTIC LAY MINISTER
AT THE PERMISSION OF THE PRIEST-IN-CHARGE

Eucharistic Minister: Peace be to this house (place), and to all who dwell in it.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thought of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, the source of all health: So fill our hearts with faith in your love that with calm expectancy we may make room for your loving presence and your power to possess us, and to gracefully accept your healing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A selection from The Holy Gospel is read, especially that of the previously appointed Sunday Gospel.

Eucharistic Minister: The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to . . . .

The Gospel Reading

Eucharistic Minister: The Gospel of the Lord. Eucharistic Minister: Hear the word of God to all who truly turn to him.

Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.

God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is a true saying, and worthy of all to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

If anyone sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the perfect offering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.

And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

The following anthem is said by all.

O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.
Grant us thy peace.

Eucharistic Minister: The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving.

The Body of Christ, the bread of heaven. (Amen.)

The Blood of Christ, the cup of salvation. (Amen.)

After Communion.

Eucharistic Minister: Let us pray.

Gracious Father, we give you praise and thanks for this Holy Communion of the Body and Blood of your beloved Son Jesus Christ, the pledge of our redemption; and we pray that it may bring us forgiveness of our sins, strength in our weakness, and everlasting salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Eucharistic Minister: Let us bless the Lord.
Communicant: Thanks be to God.

The Peace is gently exchanged.

Eucharistic Minister: The Peace of the Lord
be always with you.
Communicant: And also with you.












Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(Selected person or persons offer the following prayers of thanksgiving.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in this place: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past.
We thank you for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow or failed to accomplish.
Especially we thank you for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained.
We thank you for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, and from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves and with us who stay; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The Congregation joins in saying the following prayer.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fill our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)

THE CELEBRATION AND
BLESSING OF A MARRIAGE

The Prelude
The Processional
The Exhortation p. 423
The Declaration of Consent p. 424

The Congregational response to the priest:
Priest: Will all of you witnessing these promises do all in your power to uphold these two persons in their marriage?
People: We will. p. 425

The Ministry of the Word
The Wedding Collect p. 425
Hebrew Scripture: Song of Solomon 2:10-13; 8:6-7
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Holy Gospel: Mark 10:6-9, 13-16
The Homily by The Rev. David S. Remington, Rector
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Marriage
The exchange of vows and blessing of rings. p. 427
The pronouncement of husband and wife. p. 428
The Prayers
The Lord’s Prayer p. 428
The Wedding Prayers p. 429
A prayer in loving memory of Tom’s mother, Norma Ellena.
(A selection of music may take place here.)
The Blessing of the Marriage
The Blessings p. 430
The Kiss of Peace p .431

The Recessional

The page numbers in the Wedding Service outline refer to The Book of Common Prayer. (The Red Prayer Book in the pew racks.)

Pentecost 12

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 12
PROPER: 17 B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: August 31, 2003

TEXT: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 – The breaking up of this lesson is not necessary, and causes the congregation to miss some of the points.
“You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” . . . Then he (Jesus) called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile . . . For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil thing come from within, and they defile a person.”

ISSUE: Jesus in this passage is dealing with the purity issues, not hygiene issues. The people are inclined to become too observant of the man made traditions, and less concerned with the issues of the heart. Jesus makes a radical move away from fundamentalist interpretations of the law. We are called upon to purify the heart with caring and compassion, mercy, and love.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Mark’s Gospel account in this 7th Chapter provides us with one of a most radical stance of Jesus. His approach to some of the Pharisees legalistic attitudes is another one of the reasons why Jesus is eventually crucified.
The most important value in Jesus’ time was a person’s honor, and standing in community. Jesus was increasing in status and honor as he preached, healed, and taught among the people. He became a threat to the leadership of the time, the Pharisee rulers, and they worked at controlling his increasing honorable status among the people be confronting and challenging him with questions that questioned his status. The questions that they ask of Jesus are not for the purpose of knowing more about him, and his ministry. They are challenges in the hope that he will discredit himself.
Mark reports that the Pharisees challenge Jesus because he and his disciples do not wash their hands before eating. In our time and culture the practice of washing your hands before a meal is a matter of hygiene, cleanliness. The practice of washing hands in Jesus’ time had nothing to do with hygiene was a purity issue. Pharisees had an extensive hand washing ritual before meals that was required by their law to keep them, and their food from pollution, and ungodliness. Their rules and laws were a part of what was called The Great Tradition. The following of these rules regarding washing before meals, and eating certain foods from certain vessels, and not mixing certain foods, and all the rules regarding what they could and could not eat, what they could and could not do on the Sabbath made them feel holy, and helped the Pharisees and a significant part of the Jewish community to feel right with God, and pure as they believed God wanted them to be.
Of course, many of the peasants and people of the land outside of the urban setting were unable to keep all of these laws and rules. Fishermen were always touch dead fish and animals, which made them ritually unclean. Farmers, tanners, merchants were always touching and were involved with things that the law declared unclean. Gentiles didn’t have a chance at being right with God. Check out Leviticus 11 – you’re Americans you can remember Chapter 11 – and read about all the religious dietary laws of forbidden foods. In a society where there was a limited supply of water, the hand washing rituals were difficult to keep. Thus, the Pharisees challenge Jesus about his disciples for not keeping The Great Tradition. “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” they ask. These were the scriptural traditions of the Torah, or Hebrew Law. Jesus responds with a daring insult. You hypocrites, or play actors, he calls them. Jesus calls upon another passage from Scripture in a passage from Isaiah 29:13, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrine.” They are abandoning the real commandments of God, and are holding on to old meaningless traditions. They manipulate the law for their own purposes.
For instance, instead of honoring and taking care of their parents, as the real law demands, they use the money which was take of the parents and declare that it is “Corban” or “gift” which is set aside for God. They use the keeping of the law to boost their own purity and honor rather than having sensitivity, compassion, and concern for others.
Speaking in terms of the food laws and traditions, Jesus makes the point that it is not what one takes into themselves that counts so much as what comes out of a person. It is not what you take in, but what comes out of a person is what counts. What comes from the human heart is what counts, and that can be evil condemnation of others for the sake of boosting one’s honor, or it can be motivations from love and compassion. Obviously the Pharisees are intending to discredit Jesus and his disciples in order to boost their own status and ego. They kept the law and all the traditions, but they never let that law transform them into a real child, or person, of God. They consumed the law, the traditions, the rules, and the regulations, but what came out was condemnation, hatred for others, looking at others with contempt and attempting to discredit them for their own personal gain and status. Jesus saw through that clearly and challenged them in return with their own scriptures. He challenges their whole fundamental religious tradition here in the Gospel of Mark. This riposte of Jesus is truly scathing, damning, and radical. It is most dangerous for him and his disciples. He is challenging some of the basic fundamental aspects of the religion of the time, and even some of the church’s traditions of today.
Please notice some of the dynamics that are going on in this passage. The Pharisees challenge Jesus on the basis of their Biblical interpretation of the Scriptures. They phrase it as a question: “Why don’t your disciples wash their hands?” What they mean is you and your disciples are impure because you are breaking the law of The Great Tradition. Jesus returns the punch with his own quotation from Hebrew Scripture of the prophet Isaiah: This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.” Does that seem familiar? I remember my youth when my Catholic and Protestant sides of the family would use the scriptures to beat one another over the head, and to ram certain Biblical passages down one another’s throats to make their respective points. I ask you, is that really the best use and purpose of the Bible? Human beings, religious as they try to be, turn the Holy Bible into some kind of an ecclesiastical baseball bat for clubbing the hell out of one another to make their point and to try to somehow make themselves feel that they are the saved, righteous, pure folk of God. Jesus won the battle with the Pharisees so let’s let it go at that.
I wonder why we do this sort of thing? Why is it we fight so among one another both within, and without of our denominations? Perhaps, just Perhaps, it is because we feel so desperately to be right with God. We feel that God wants us to be pure in his sight. We feel like, and learned somewhere along the way that we have to earn our salvation from God. Keeping right of the law and the traditions gives us some kind of feeling of salvation. It gives us some kind of assurance. It helps define us as the righteous people of God. But what does Jesus say? He says a resounding, “NO!” If you’ve been buying into all that stuff, and you’ve consumed that kind of religion, let is pass through the stomach, the intestines, and flush it down the toilet. It’s polluted religion. You don’t have to get right with God. If you believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are right with God. Jesus is God come among us, incarnate with us, and to embrace him as Lord is purification enough. Look who he came to, and who ingested him, Sinners: prostitutes, tax collectors, peasants, widows, lepers, children, sick, beggars. The already righteous and those striving desperately for honor and salvation were the very ones who rejected the grace. Just live not worrying about what you eat or what you drink or what laws you keep or don’t keep, or whether you are true to traditions; let the radical love of Christ rule in your heart with love, compassion, forgiveness, and caring. That’s the stuff that comes out, and the stuff that really counts. It’s hard, I know. It’s too good to be true. We just don’t get it. We just “have to” earn our salvation, and pay the price for our sins and shortcomings. We can’t let them go, so we strive for this illusive righteousness, and it’s already there. Run with it! Give yourself a break and be transformed from the guilt.
The church has struggled with stuff like this from the beginning. Early Church Christians from the Hebrew persuasion insisted that new Christians had to be circumcised, and had to follow the dietary laws. St. Peter supposedly supported some of these rules, until he finally had a vision where a sheet full of all the prohibited foods came down upon him, and he was told to eat. He was transformed. Paul who at one point had murdered followers of the Way becomes transformed and starts teaching the way of Christ. Just put on the armor of Christ, and what you eat and drink, and whether or not you are circumcised does not matter. You are saved and worthy of the grace of God through the love extended through Jesus Christ our Lord, who died to make it so, and to get your attention. Why don’t we get it?
v Robert Farrar Capon, a Biblical Scholar, teacher, author, and theologian in our church puts the Gospel this way in his book called The Parables of Grace: “Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement of the end of religion. Religion consists of all the things . . . the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God.
v [The Church] is not here to bring to the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical, and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that ‘while we are yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.’”
What a relief it is to know that it is by the very grace of God that we are accepted and loved, not by our works. What a relief it is to know that the Holy Bible is not an ecclesiastical fundamentalist battering ram, but a book of poetry, revealing the developing insights into the outpouring of the love of God for his people.

ADDENDUM
One of the problems many people have with Scripture interpretation is in not seeing the fullness of the context and of some of the passages. For instance: People hear that Jesus taught that the church should baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This is only half of that passage. It continues: And teach them all they should know about the faith, etc. Only appreciating half of the passage misses the point that the person baptized is to be taught and continue to grow up in the faith.
Another famous passage from Paul’s writings in Ephesians deals with how the husband is the head of the wife, like Christ the head of the church. This part of the passage sure makes the men happy, but the passage continues to spell out how a man is to love his wife, as he loves his own body. The two are one, but this part of the passage is easily forgotten, or ignored.
Today’s reading about the law reminds us that indeed there are laws to be kept, but the message of Jesus throughout the Christian Scriptures is issues of compassion, mercy, etc. The law is undoubtedly important, but so is what is in the heart, like attitudes and the qualities of generosity, love, mercy, forgiveness that temper the law.


Thanksgiving Prayer after the Communion
(Selected person or persons may offer the following thanksgivings.)
O God, you have bound us together for a time as priest and people to work for the advancement of your kingdom in this place: We give you humble and hearty thanks for the ministry which we have shared in these years now past. Amen.
We thank you for your patience with us despite our blindness and slowness of heart. We thank you for your forgiveness and mercy in the face of things in which we may have been slow to, or failed to accomplish. Amen.
Especially, we thank you for your never-failing presence with us through these years, and for the deeper knowledge of you and of each other, which we have attained. Amen.
We thank you for those who have been joined to this part of Christ’s family through Holy Baptism, Holy Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, and from other places. We thank you for opening our hearts and minds again and again to your Word, and for feeding us abundantly with the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of your Son. Amen.
Now, we pray, be with David who leaves, and with us who stay. Keep us faithful to our Lord, loyal to our commitments in this parish; and grant that all of us, by drawing ever nearer to you, may always be close to each other in the communion of your saints. All this we ask for the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
(The Congregation joins in saying the following prayer.)
Almighty God, we thank you for feeding us with the holy food of the Body and Blood of your Son, and for uniting us through him in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for raising up among us faithful servants of your Word and Sacraments. We thank you especially for the work of David among us, and the presence of his family. Grant that both he and we may serve you in the days ahead, and always rejoice in your glory, and come at length in to your heavenly kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(The priest offers the following blessing.)
May God, who has led us in the paths of justice and truth, lead us still, and keep us in his ways. Amen.
May God, whose Son has loved us and given himself for us, love us still, and establish us in peace. Amen.
May God whose Spirit unites us and fill our hearts with joy, illumine us still, and strengthen us for the years to come. Amen.
And the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
(The Recessional Hymn follows.)

Pentecost 10

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)


SEASON: Pentecost 10
PROPER: 15 B
ST. JOHN’S CHURCH
DATE: August 17, 2003

TEXT: John 6:53-59 – So 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.”

ISSUE: This passage is a continuation of John’s emphasis upon Jesus Christ as the Bread of Life, and very Eucharistic. The need to feed upon the body and blood of Christ is surely surreal, and poetic like. The very idea of consumption of flesh and blood surely got the attention of the listeners. But the impact is significant. To eat of the body and blood of Christ was to become the flesh and blood in the family of God through Jesus Christ, to participate in God’s way and wisdom. What grace is bestowed upon those who feed upon the bread of life.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last week, the Scripture reading emphasized the importance of Jesus as the Bread of Life. Unlike in our culture where bread is often eliminated from the diet, in the first century bread was the essence of life providing 50% of the peasants diet. Jesus as the Bread of Life implied that spiritually, to embrace the Jesus was the very essence of the spiritual life. The concept of Jesus as the giver of spiritual bread was an important theme in the early church, and that theme continues in today’s reading from John, and very dramatically so.
In today’s reading, John’s gospel account has Jesus saying, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” Perhaps our familiarity with the weekly Eucharist may diminish the impact of that statement. This statement is another one of those things that Jesus is supposed to have said, or at the very least was for John a profoundly outrageous comment he attributes to Jesus, which is made in the Capernaum synagogue. I’ve talked with you about how surreal some of Jesus’ parables were, like the men working in the vineyard and all getting the same wage, and even how mystically surreal the miracle of Jesus walking on water was. Now we have a very surreal and outrageous statement referring to the consumption of flesh and blood. How outrageous a statement it is, especially when it is suggested that Jesus made the statement in a Jewish synagogue. The concept of eating flesh or drinking blood for the Jews would have been appalling at the time, not to mention that it is not really very appealing to us either when you think about it. I’ve known young children who were reluctant to participate in the receiving of Holy Communion, because they had heard that it was eating flesh and drinking blood.
The Hebrew Scripture laws were very clear that the eating or drinking of blood of any kind was forbidden:
· In Genesis 9:4, Noah is given instruction after the flood ordeal as to what he can eat among fish, animals, and green plants, but “The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood.”
· Leviticus Law (17: 10,1214) writes “If an Israelite or any foreigner living in the community eats meat with blood still in it, the Lord will turn against him and no longer consider him one of his people.”
· Even in the New Testament Book of Acts 15:29 early Gentile Christians are told: “Eat no food that has been offered to idols; eat no blood . . .” The taboo hung on at least as it was related to Gentile pagan practices.
The early Christian church, according to historians, was often given a bad name for the idea has spread that this secret cult was slaughtering infants and drinking their blood at its ritual services. The very concept or thought of eating flesh and blood was repulsive to be Jews, Muslims, and atheists. Even today in a world that knows Hannibal the Cannibal Lecter in the movies the concept of eating the flesh and blood is comically tragic. For a time there was the doctrine of Transubstantiation that the bread and the wine at the Eucharist were in fact changed into the body and the blood of Christ. At the Reformation in England, the doctrine in the Church of England was changed to that of the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacrament, which did not attempt to define how the body and the blood of Christ was present. The doctrine was best expounded by a poem attributed to Elizabeth I, Queen of England:
“’Twas God the Word that spake it,
He took the Bread and Brake it;
And what the Word did make it,
That I believe, and take it.”
Needless to say the concept of eating flesh and blood is daring, and again, another one of those surreal scriptural things that needs sensible study and interpretation. What did the church mean – what is the meaning - by this very dramatic statement we find in John’s Gospel account?
In a time when the world was facing very difficult times, the Church and the life and ministry of Jesus was intent upon establishing and looking forward to the Kingdom, the Realm, the Domain of God. It is as difficult to say that we must eat the flesh and blood of Jesus as it is to say that God came down from heaven to live among us. But that very theological principle is at heart of our faith. Jesus was and is the Word of God that came among us, and people were called upon to also be born from above, to become citizens of the Kingdom of God. We refer to our children as our flesh and blood. To eat or partake of the body and the blood of Jesus Christ meant to see oneself in a very startling and surreal way as a participant in the family of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. They very concept is that of becoming the spiritual and the real flesh and blood with the Lord. What a statement of grace; the free gift of God is bestowed to his creation that we may be flesh and blood with Jesus.
It is imperative, I think, that to fully appreciate and understand the Scriptures, you really do have to appreciate the poetry, the surreal aspects of the scriptures that challenge the imagination and that gives lasting impacting dramatic insights. John’s gospel is particularly good at this poetic imagery. For instance, in the synoptic gospels Jesus has a last supper with his disciples, which is a Passover meal. He takes the bread, gives thanks to God, and breaks the bread, and shares it with his disciples. Then, he goes to be arrested and crucified. The Gospel account is quite different. The last supper in John is the day before the Passover. There is no breaking of bread or drinking of wine mentioned. What is mentioned is that Jesus washes his disciples’ feet. Here, the Lord becomes the peasant slave and example to his disciples, demanding them to do what he has done to them, be the servant of all. Jesus is the uncanny God that has come into the very depths of the world to assist in the human intimacy and refreshment. In John’s Gospel, the supper of impact is the Feeding of the 5,000, where there he picks up the bread, gives thanks, breaks it, and distributes it to the whole crowd of people in complete overflowing abundance. There comes the great revealing revelation, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!” And the further poetic revelation that Jesus is the Bread of Life is revealed.
One of the things I want to convey is that the Holy Bible and the rich stories and surreal wonders of our Scriptures are not a literalistic baseball bat to hit people over the head with to make them believe what you and I may believe and think. Rather it is a revelation of the glory of God gorgeously revealing the love, the intimacy, and the family and flesh and blood into which we are called.
For centuries and from Sunday to Sunday, many Christian people have gathered to participate in the Eucharist, Holy Communion, Mass, Divine Liturgy, Holy Communion, or Holy Mysteries. Call it what you will. Perhaps, we do become too familiar with the Service and forget its roots, meaning, and theology. It is indeed a feeding, a feeding upon the Bread of Life, which is Christ. It is the table of the Lord that we come to, with hands outstretch for spiritual feeding. Our human need that expresses we do not live by bread alone, but by the essence of the Lord as the Bread of Life, and we are really, truly participants into the Body, the Blood, the flesh and blood of the Holy God that washes our feet and accepts us into his Family and his Kingdom.
Whatever comes, however our lives may be shaken, challenged, distressed, troubled, threatened, whatever your sins, the table is always set, and the Family is always there.
“Come and eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, fear, loneliness, anxiety, and live, and walk in the way of insight,” says the Wisdom of God. (Paraphrase of Proverbs 9:6) Taste and see that the Lord is good. (Psalm 34)

PENTECOST 9

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 9
PROPER: 14 B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: August 10, 2003


TEXT: John 6:37-51 – “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” . . . . . . . . “I am the bread of life.” . . . . . . . . . “I 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.”

SEE ALSO: Deuteronomy 8:1-10 – “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”


ISSUE: We do not live by worldly bread alone, but through the awareness that Jesus Christ is the bread of life. In Jesus’ time, bread was of great importance to life. But the teachings of the early church emphasize the importance of Jesus as the bread of life, and of the importance of that spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ, Son of the living God. We need to have a spiritual life in which we pay close attention, as the bread of our life. That spiritual life carries us through the junk food and the difficult times of our lives.
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I have repeatedly mentioned how important the story of the Feeding of the Multitude must have been to the life of the early church. The story is repeated some six times in the four gospel accounts. And in the Gospel of John there is repeated reference to the fact that Jesus is the bread of life. We are still in our lectionary readings for this summer dealing with that issue. It is also significant, I think, that there are a number of references to Jesus eating with, and sharing meals with sinners, not to mention that some of Jesus’ well-known parables are related to feasting, wedding feasts in particular. His first miracle is at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and his last meal is a supper with his disciples. The fact that Jesus is so involved in the meals and feasting of people was significant to the early church.
In the continuation of our readings from the Gospel of John, the important phrase that Jesus is to have said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven,” and “I am the bread of life,” and “I am the bread living bread that came down from heaven” is a constant refrain in this reading from John once again. Whether Jesus actually said these things, we can’t be absolutely sure, but we can be sure that John’s writings and his early church saw Jesus as bread from heaven, nourishment from God. The “I am” statement placed on Jesus’ lips is the name of God, Yaweh, or in the Hebrew, “I am what I am.” Another possible translation is that God is the living bread, and Jesus, is God’s gift of the living bread and bread of life.
To the early Christians, this concept of Jesus as the bread of life was extraordinarily significant. The phrases today do not carry the impact that they did in the 1st Century A.D. To appreciate the passage, you have to understand the context and the importance of bread in the period these phrases were written. Today, bread may or may not be part of a meal. In fact, if you are on certain diets these days, you are inclined not to eat bread at all because of its high carbohydrate content. We have such a significantly large selection from the market that bread does not play the significant part in the diet that it once did. We have so many choices of fruits, vegetables, meats, and pastries that bread is a small part of our diet. In fact we can easily do without bread. To say that Jesus is the bread of life means for us that Jesus may be just a small part of our choices in and abundant life.
In ancient times, and in the 1st Century A.D. the place of bread in the diet was of significantly greater value. Among the peasantry of this period at least, if not more than fifty percent of a person’s calories came from bread. In more elite circles there were more choices, but the peasantry, and those with whom Jesus seemed to be closest were people whose diet was largely bread. (I understand that bread is still a significant part of the Middle Eastern people’s diet.) People of this period didn’t give up bread. It was the main staple of their life. Without it was starvation and malnutrition, and possibly death. You had to have bread. Without it you died. Thus, when Jesus said, I am the bread of life, the statement made people take notice. It meant that he was the staple of life, eternal life. He is the living staple life giving food from heaven. To do without him, is to die.
Not unlike the Gospel of John, the people become argumentative. Who does Jesus think that he is? They know he is only the son of Mary and Joseph of Nazareth. He is son of a carpenter who has not place or standing. He dares to grab at honor above his status and birth rank. Who does he think he is? Nothing good came or was supposed to come from Nazareth. He makes such a profound statement, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus makes no claim to have made himself the bread of life. It is the Father that sends people to him, the Father who sent him. And everyone that comes to him he will not drive away or cast out. Everyone who comes to him may feed upon the essential life giving bread of life. It’s not his doing, it is in fact the work of God that sends Jesus Christ into the world and gives him as the essential food for living. God the Father directs his people to the Christ.
It is also very helpful to understand that Jesus is loosely quoting in this passage the prophet Isaiah 54:13: “And they shall all be taught by God.” Actually: “All your sons shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the prosperity of your sons.” The bread is the important teaching of Jesus Christ. There is also the passage in the Hebrew Scripture this morning referring to the Hebrews wandering in the wilderness, “He humbled you be letting you hunger, then be feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by (material) bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” For the Gospel of John, Jesus is the Word, the Word of God, the teaching and the instruction of God that is the spiritual life giving bread of life with all the significance and importance that is implied in this passage
We must reclaim from this understanding of Bread, that in the Scriptures it is the thing essential to life, and especially to sinners and outcasts, and for all the disenfranchised and expendable people. God invites them all to come to him, and provides the life giving Word, Jesus Christ, as the essential food of their lives. Herein is also the turning point for the Christian life. We do not live by material possessions alone, and by the status that we claim for ourselves or by the status others give to us. We are all sinners; we all need God to live a truly meaningful full life. We may well think in our time, that we can live without bread, but we really cannot live meaningfully without God’s bread, God’s teaching, God’s Jesus Christ. One of the things we have lost in recent years is the ability to fast. It used to be that people would fast before receiving Holy Communion on Sunday mornings. People would fast in Lent, a season now barely observed by the modern Christian world. We’ve become somewhat obsessed with the need for material food and consumption, that seeking the bread of heaven takes a lesser place, and the fasting that taught us that fact is being lost. We are giving to the diet of junk food. There is a significantly important spiritual life that is a part of our human essence that becomes starved, and it should not be.
One of the most outstanding things about the life of Jesus Christ was his ability to be accepting of the human condition in terms of his association with all kinds of people: sinners. Clearly Jesus was dreadfully frustrated with a few, and they were those who thought that they were not sinners. It was the so-called righteous, hypocrites and self-righteous Pharisees. These rigid people were annoying to Jesus, whose lives were defined by rigid observance of the law but in Jesus you saw a more a very sensitive kind of person, expressing the sensitivity and mercy of God. He was the expression of the God of mercy, of compassion, of unique understanding of the human condition. He saw blessedness and honor in the poor and those who experienced great loss, who were sick and considered, cursed. Jesus seemed to relish hospitality toward all people, teaching parables of invitation to the unacceptable folk. The strictest of Jews, St. Paul, after a confrontation with Jesus expresses not a long sermon on rigid affirmation of the law, but of the essence of love.
In Paul’s writing in 1 Corinthians 13, he spells out the stuff of which Christ’s love is made:
v Love does not give up. It is patient as hell, and doesn’t pick up its marble and run away.
v Love cares more for others than just for one’s own self and needs, and way of thinking.
v Love doesn’t want and demand, what it doesn’t have, or can’t control.
v Love doesn’t strut, or boast. I doesn’t have a swelled head and see one’s self as a hot shot.
v Love doesn’t force itself on others.
v Love doesn’t fly off the handle in a fit of rage and uncontrolled language and actions.
v Love doesn’t keep score, and hold grudges against others with which to hit them over the head. It doesn’t revel in the losses of others.
v Love puts up with a hell of a lot of stuff, with which it doesn’t necessarily agree.
v Love always looks forward and keeps going; love keeps plugging along, and lets go of old grudges; it is not vengeful or hateful.
v Love trusts, is loyal and is committed to the belief that God is indeed in charge, and has everything ultimately under control. (See The Bible in Contemporary Language: The Message, Eugene Peterson)
These teachings on love are the spiritual bread, the spiritual essence of our lives. Without this kind of bread we spiritually starve to death as human beings who are in the image of God. If we don’t have this kind of love, it doesn’t matter how right we are, whether we speak with tongues of angels or ecstasy. If we don’t have this kind of spirit we have nothing, and are spiritually starving. We are bankrupt without love. We can do all kinds of good and righteous benevolent things, but without the bread of Christ’s love that does not count for anything. The Bread of Christ; the teachings of love are truly startling to the thinking of much of the world. Yet, it breaks the bondage of doing the same old things that lead to constant rivalry, hate, vengeance, anger, self-righteousness. The bread of life in love paves the way to newness, hope, and to the full glory of God. We cannot live as God’s own people, in the image of God without our participation in the essence of God.
In the scene of Jesus on the cross what we see is the bread of life in all its glory: incredibly patient, self-giving, non-anxious, non-boasting, non-reveling, not giving up, not giving in, but dying for the brokenness of the world. Jesus is faithfully bearing witness to the love and forgiveness of God that brings about new life, resurrection, and fullness of the meaning of life, dying for all, and for each one of us.
We do not live by bread alone, but by the teachings of Jesus Christ. These teachings are not just something you can do without. They are the spiritual sustenance and the continuing hope of our lives. A spiritual life of prayer, of knowledge of Scripture, of fasting from the world from time to time is truly of the essence of paving our way with Christ to the Kingdom of God.

PENTECOST 8

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 8
PROPER: 13 B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: August 3, 2003


TEXT: John 6:24-35 – 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 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.” . . . . . . 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 by thirsty.”

See also Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15

ISSUE: In this passage from John’s Gospel account, the people appear to be most interested in Jesus as a miracle worker in terms of his feeding the multitude. They have a fascination with his providing them with an abundance of bread. Yet Jesus attempts to re-direct their understanding, that he is the Bread of Life. He is the way to God, and he is the way of love and his message is hope and healing for the world. His miracle is a sign of something far more nourishing and life giving, a food that never perishes which is from God.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the past several weeks we have been involved in a sequence of several stories that are peculiar to both Mark and John’s accounts of the Gospel. Jesus feeds the 5,000 peasant folk. The crowds and the disciples are dismissed; the crowds return home full, and disciples are to return across the lake while Jesus goes up the mountain to pray. However, he sees the disciples straining against an adverse wind; he walks out on the water, steps into the boat with them and the sea is calmed. In the combination of these miraculous stories, I can’t help but see a kind of fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures being played out. The 23rd Psalm in particular. The crowds follow Jesus into green pastures where they are seated, and receive a bounty whereby their cup runneth over or at least their twelve baskets with an abundance of food. Jesus is truly the shepherd of a flock of folk who are like sheep without a shepherd. The disciples and the disciples return home beside stilled waters, and a new day dawns.
As the new day dawns in John’s Gospel, the crowds once again are in pursuit of Jesus and his whereabouts. Jesus senses that the crowd is now pursuing him in the hope of participating in another miracle that will provide them with more food. Jesus points out to them that they are more interested in sign or miracle than they are in the meaning of what the sign and miracle meant. “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.” We do get the impression that the crowd is somewhat dimwitted or at the very least not getting the point. They even become argumentative. “What shall we do to perform works of God?” they ask. What will Jesus do to authenticate his ministry, which is what was expected of a true prophet? Even Moses in the wilderness provided manna in the wilderness for a desperately hungry Israelite people.
The people are referring to the Exodus story that we read as the first reading this morning from Exodus. A complaining frightened band of Israelites were in the wilderness following Moses, and became hungry for food. A miraculous event occurs, migrating quail too tired to fly any further and weakened by their journey land in the wilderness, and are able to be easily picked up and consumed for dinner that night. So too there is in the morning what is called manna, or “bread” from heaven. Some scholars think it was sap-like droppings from tamarisk trees, or the excretions of some kind of beetle, that was white and sweet, which evaporated in the heat of the sun. Whether is was a “miracle” or a natural occurrence, the story indicated that food, even though it may not have been gourmet, or like the leeks and melons of Egypt, it was sufficiently nourish, and quenched their hunger. Jesus makes it clear that it was not Moses who provided for them, and that the miracle authenticated Moses’ ministry. IT was God that provided the nourishment. It was from and of God. Jesus is making the clear point that it is through God that the bread in the green pasture came, and that the bread of life was came through Jesus and his teaching and his relationship with them. It was in their relationship with him that they were fed and freely given a spiritual food that would give them eternal quality of life. It is the call to be faithful, to believe in, and maintain a relationship with him.
The crowd responds, “Sir give us this bread always.” Jesus responds, “I AM the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never by thirsty.” Be reminded that “I AM” is the Hebrew name for God. God is the Bread of Life, and Jesus Christ is the Word of what God speaks and has to say to the world. The point is that embracing, having faith in Jesus Christ is the way to God, and being in relationship with him, is to be in relationship with God. We are inclined to think of faith as modern Americans as a mere intellectual pursuit. We, as Christians, believe Jesus was and/or is. We believe there is a God. For us it is an act of the mind. For the Gospel of John, to be faithful meant something more than an act of the mind. It meant to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ, with God. Faith meant loyalty, commitment, and solidarity with Jesus Christ. It meant that Jesus was the Lord of you and this new community. You didn’t just walk out on it, and you certainly didn’t take you faith commitment lightly.
How many times have I mention that in the 1st century Middle Eastern Culture and even today, your family was everything. Walk out on your family and you were a dead duck. Remember the prodigal son who walks out on his family; he ends up in the pigsty. His only salvation is to get back to his family. Jesus was considered deviant at the time, because he had abandoned his family, but he established a community based on the premise that they were the children of God; God is Father, and with Christ his followers were sons and daughters. Loyalty, commitment, and solidarity of community with God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ was essential, and that’s what faith was and meant. Perhaps we should regroup today in our understanding of faithfulness. In John’s Gospel account, maintaining faithfulness was his community’s salvation, and ours today. Solidarity with the Bread of Life, with God, is the stuff of our preservation uncertainties of the world. That’s all we need, and you are spiritually full up and running over.
Today we are not particularly faithful in that sense of solidarity with God, with Jesus Christ and the family of God. We are very individualistic. We saw this some years ago, when the church changed the Prayer Book. “If they change the Prayer Book,” some people said, “I will leave the church!” And they did. “If they, the national church, give money to black civil rights groups, I’ll leave the church!” And they did. “If they ordain women to the priesthood, I’ll leave the church!” And they did. Now it’s:
“If they give consent to a practicing homosexual man to be consecrated bishop, I’ll leave the church.”
“If they give consent to same-sex unions, I’ll leave the Church.”
Leaving the church to start another branch is also a way of breaking-up, as in anger breaking something up to scare another person, or to inappropriately express anger.
What of our relationship with Jesus Christ, our commitment to him, and our solidarity with him, with the Father? What of our relationships with one another our fellows, and the people we have shared Eucharist with for years, sitting next to them in the pews Sunday after Sunday? What of our relationship with them and all the times we’ve shared coffee and doughnuts (the other sacrament) at Hospitality Hour week after week after week. What of the homosexual clergy and laity that for centuries have pledged their loyalty, solidarity, commitment to God, to Jesus Christ, to the family of God’s people down through the centuries? What of the secret sins people hide, in spite of their longing to remain in the community of God? Should we excommunicate people on the basis of activities of their private lives, when they desire a loyal relationship with Jesus Christ?
Interestingly enough, Jesus mingled with all types of folk, calling them to faith in God. Unity, loyalty, devotion, solidarity with that mission seems to be at the heart of our own faithful journey, leaving judgment with and to the Father.
Some of you today, or even during this sermon are probably already wondering what you will have for supper tonight. Did you remember to get one thing or another out of the freezer this morning? Remember that around the world there are millions of people who have another question: I wonder if I will eat at all today? We Americans are a very affluent, and sometimes a very self-righteous people. We are stuffed on our affluence. Sometimes that keeps us from worrying much about our relationship, faith, and solidarity with God. Yet, notice that it is finally being revealed that while we are bountifully nourished, we by and large are mal-nourish. The large majority of us (No pun intended there) are too large. The word is obese. And that obesity is killing us with heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and sluggishness. We diet, we exercise, and yet the pounds persist. Both old and young folk alike are too fat, the man in the pulpit as well. We are material gluttons. We love all you can eat buffets, big Macs, big gulps, whoppers; we love holiday sales of all kinds, and TV cable service that provides 250 channels, and every novel fad thing. How many telephones in your house, VCR’s, TV sets. Life can get so abundant and oh so cluttered. But all this stuff is not what gives us healthy lives, meaningful, full lives. If anything, too much of everything is to our detriment. Our present day world reminds me a little bit of a coffee commercial that appeared on TV awhile back. It shows a large cruise ship, and the steward announces that some wonder coffee is being served on the port side of the ship. Then, you see the cruise liner tilt over to the side as if the ship is about to sink. The ship is out of balance; it could capsize! We do have to be careful that we keep our lives balanced. We could be actually drowning in our obesity and affluence. We need the spiritual side of life as well. We need the spiritual bread that comes from God through Jesus Christ. It is the bread of love and forgiveness. It is the bread of acceptance, patience, understanding, and being non-judgmental. It is the bread that nourishes us for service and kindness, and involvement in the needs of other. It is the bread you give away sacrificially, and sometimes when you aren’t really sure it is the best thing in your opinion to do.
We do get so anxious, and Jesus said look around you. The lilies of the field don’t operate spinning wheels, but they are every bit as grand as Solomon in all his glory. The birds don’t gather into barns but are fed enough. Seek the food that lasts and fills the spirit, and maintain your loyalty, your relationship, and your commitment to the family of God. There are still a lot of storms and what we see as adverse winds, but Jesus Christ in time stills the waters.

PENTECOST 6

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: PENTECOST 6
PROPER: 11 B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: July 20, 2003


TEXT: Mark 6:30-44 – The Feed of the Five Thousand
“And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Those who had eaten the loaves numbered five thousand men.”

ISSUE: The story of the Feeding of the 5,000, seems to be a Gospel Refrain. It is repeated some six time, and is found in all four of the Gospel accounts. It is the Christian Scripture’s 23 Psalm. It recalls the leadership of Moses and Elijah. It fulfills the promise of God in Ezekiel and Isaiah. And it suggests that the disciples and the church will feed others, becoming shepherds like Peter. “Feed my sheep.” It is the perpetual ritual of the Holy Eucharist.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
How many times have I preached on or alluded to the Biblical Miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in the past forty years, I could hardly count. The Feeding of the 5,000 (or in some instances the 4,000) appears six times in the Christian Scriptures. The miraculous story appears in all four of the canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. You know how some hymns have a repeating refrain after each verse. It would appear that the miraculous story of the Feed of the Five Thousand is the gospels refrain since it appears with such frequency. The 5,000 Feeding was generally in Jewish territory, whereas The 4,000 Feeding was in Gentile territory, giving some indication of the church’s mission to all people. (Mark 8)
We know that miraculous meaningful feeding stories are not limited to the Christian Scriptures. The Hebrew Scriptures (O.T) has several important feeding stories. One of the first of these stories is in the Moses Saga after the escape from the oppressive Egyptians; the Hebrews are wandering in the wilderness under the leadership of Moses. Part of the epic story tells of a period of great hunger, and the complaint of the people before Moses, “We wish that the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meant and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death.” (Exodus 16:3) God, hearing the complaint, sends a flock of quail and the thin flaky manna from heaven to save Moses’ people. Jesus provides in the feeding story for his people in the wilderness, like Moses. His leadership becomes associated with one of the greatest of leaders.
Ancient Israel’s most favored and honored prophet was Elijah. There is a story of a miraculous feed by Elijah during a time of famine, when he is training other prophets. Elijah is brought 20 small loaves of barley bread. He tells his servant to distribute the loaves to the 100 prophets in training. The servant replies: “’Do you think this is enough for 100 men?’ So the servant set the food before them, and as the Lord had said, they all ate, and there was still some left over.” (2 Kings 4:42) Here you have Jesus miraculous feeding associated with the greatest prophet Elijah, and notice how many more Jesus can feed with even fewer barley loaves.
While I believe that these associations of Jesus with Moses and Elijah are certainly a part of the manifestation of the glory of Jesus, there is still another association that is also very highly likely. The construction of the Feeding of the 5,000, is also a fulfillment or likeness to the comfort given in the Twenty-third Psalm, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” And the story of the feeding makes Jesus shepherd-like.
v “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.”
Jesus said, just like Moses about the Hebrews, “They were like sheep without a shepherd. (Numbers 27:15 :”Moses prayed, ‘Lord God, source of all life, appoint, I pray, a man who can lead the people and can command them in battle so that your community will not be like sheep without a shepherd.’” Jesus becomes the shepherd, and feeds 5000 men not to mention women and children.
v “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.” And “He ordered them (the disciples) to get all the people to sit down in groups on the green grass.
Jesus has just crossed the Sea of Galilee, and the crowds follow him around the still waters of the lake to be with him, where they are seated in green grass pasture.
v “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil.”
The disciples say, “This is a deserted place (wilderness of evil spirits) and the hour is now very late (dark).” It is a deadly place to be.
v “You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me; you have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.”
And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and he divided the fish among them all. And all ate and were filled; and they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. Everyone had enough to eat and more because of the bounteous abundant care of the good shepherd.
The image of Jesus in the Feeding of the 5,000 of being likened to a shepherd is the Christian witness and follows up to the Hebrew prophets. Ezekiel (34:11f) declares that God himself will become the Shepherd of his people, since their leadership has failed to lead them. Isaiah proclaims in the name of the Lord, “I, the Sovereign Lord, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them in the same way as a shepherd takes care of this sheep that were scattered and are brought together again.”
The emphasis of this wonderful story, and the meaning of the refrain, is that in turning to, and following Jesus Christ, you find the shepherding that you need, and from the bounty of God everyone will get their belly full of his grace, unearned love and forgiveness! There comes an empowerment to live life fully spiritually, in the way that food gives life and strength to the body.
Notice that in the story, the disciples are urged to feed the multitude, and they see that as an impossible chore. Yet God in Christ feeds the crowd and them once again, and there is an abundance of food left over. Five thousand have been fed, and there are twelve baskets left over. Ever since the church of Christ ever began, it’s central act of ritual and worship is the Eucharist. It is the ritual of feeding. It is the essence of Jesus Christ abundantly provided that has come down through the ages, where faithful people gather to get their bellies full of the grace of God, and the empowerment to spread that food, the spiritual grace of God. For this very reason we meet weekly, at least, to be fed with the love of God, and to receive the empowerment of God to take his grace and be instruments, ambassadors, agents of the grace to the world.
In the great religions of the world, and especially in Judaism and Christianity, the most important rituals center on eating together. In Judaism, the greatest feast is the Passover, which is a meal commemorating the liberation of the Jews and their escape from death and the beginning of their journey to The Promised Land. In Christianity it is the Eucharistic meal, the feeding with and upon the Lord that gives to us a foretaste of the Messianic Banquet in the Realm or Kingdom of God, and being the children of God under the rule of the Good Shepherd. It keeps our bellies full of the essence of Jesus Christ in our lives and being, and not to be taken lightly. According to John’s gospel account not only are the disciples fed at the Last Supper, they are taught to be servants to one another and in the world through the footwashing.
In the time of Jesus one of the most important things that people did together was to eat together. Nearly every meal was an important ritual. Meals were not rushed. They were an occasion for community, and for hospitality. There were, of course their cultural quirks in that men and women did not eat together and that people of the same class ate together. However, Jesus ate with women (Mary and Martha), sinners, outcasts, tax collectors, the least and the last. All people eating together without class distinction characterized the Feeding of the 5,000. Jesus himself rose above those quirks of the culture. The feeding was a time of prayer, breaking the bread, sharing, and fulfillment.
If there is anything we might learn from this story, other than it provides us with the understanding of the abundance of God’s grace, it is the importance of feeding together in the presence of Christ. We are now living in a world where people and families say they are too busy to spend time around the table with one another: too busy or pre-occupied to spend time to say a blessing and to break bread together around the dining room, or kitchen table, too busy to spend time at the Lord’s table on Sunday morning, too busy to spend time at the Hospitality hour. Eating and feeding together is dreadfully important to fellowship and family in the development of love, grace, and empowering support. One of the things peculiar to Alcoholics Anonymous is their fellowship and their sacrament of doughnuts and coffee, the bread and wine of A.A. Their bellies are filled and the empowerment of being a community together under their Higher Power has healing power.
Never underestimate that Jesus Christ leads us to our Higher Power. Never underestimate that Christ is our Shepherd, who makes our bellies full and our cups running over with His grace, and empowerment.
At the end of St. John’s gospel there is another refrain that comes from the Good Shepherd to his disciple and apostle Peter. Jesus says to Peter, “Do you love me? . . . . Feed my sheep. . . . . . Feed my lambs. . . . . . . Feed my sheep!”

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ADDENDUM: It would be good to add to this sermon that the 5,000 sitting in groups of 50’s and 100’s may be related to David’s army and Jesus as the commander in David’s line See Chronicles 13:1, 26:26, 27:1, 28: 1.