Category: Homilies

Mark 7:24-37

Albert Einstein once said:

• There are two ways to live your life.
• One is as though nothing is a miracle.
• The other is as though everything is a miracle.

 

Yes…everything in life is a miracle…but we need to leave room for those rare instances that occur every once in a while.

• When something so extraordinary happens that there seems to be no other explanation than that God intervened.
• Intervened in a wonderful way.
• And something that was not supposed to happen…did happen.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Well…there would have been no miracle if it had not been for the deaf man’s friends bringing him to Jesus.

• The deaf man was afraid to approach Jesus…since it was difficult for him to speak.
• Most likely…he had become something of a recluse.
• So…we are glad for heaven’s accomplices to miracles.
• Those people who help in small and unspectacular ways.
• But in ways that open the door for great things to happen.
• These angels…unawares…asked Jesus to touch their friend.

 

Jesus took the man aside in private…away from the crowd.

• An empathic and sensitive thing to do.
• Crowds were a problem for this man…with his difficulty in communicating.
• Because of his deafness…he felt left out…never sure of what was going on.

 

So…Jesus put the man at ease.

• He took him alone…away from the crowd.
• Jesus healed the man’s sense of inferiority before he healed his body.
• We often need emotional healing before medicine or treatments even begin.

 

Then Jesus put his fingers into the deaf man’s ears.

• As a way of telling the man he understood where the problem was.
• And in doing this Jesus was accepting the man at the very point of his sense of rejection.
• No words could have done this.

 

And then Jesus spits on the ground.

• And he touched the man’s tongue.
• Jesus was saying…dramatically:
• “We will spit out this thing that binds your tongue.”

 

Then Jesus looked up to heaven and sighed. 

• A sigh is often a sign of weariness or of longing.
• What was in Jesus’ mind as he “sighed” while looking up to heaven?
• Well…Jesus was weary with the load of human need?
• Jesus was expressing his longing for God’s intervention in still another lamentable human case.
• He was also thinking of the Canaanite woman’s daughter he had just healed.

 

When Jesus made his comment referring to the woman as a dog…

• He was not speaking directly to the woman in distress.
• He was responding to his own Jewish disciples.
• Speaking out of their own narrowness and insensitivity.
• Remember…they had told him to send the woman away.
• They were steeped in the values of their own culture.
• To them Canaanites were dogs.
• They had yet to learn that with God no one is a dog.
• So…Jesus becomes…once again…their teacher.
• He mirrors back to them their own thinking…
• In a way that would allow them to hear just how terrible it sounded.

 

Jesus said: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs”.

• And the Canaanite woman responds:
• “Yes Lord…yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
• Even his leftovers are enough.
• Jesus is our last resort.
• He is the profligate one.
• He wastes his crumbs…his leftovers on us!
• And so…he sighs!!!
• And the woman’s little girl is healed.

 

And then Jesus spoke.

• “Be opened.”
• The man’s ears were opened…so he could hear.
• And his tongue was released…and he spoke plainly.

 

Jesus then ordered the healed man and his friends to tell no one.

• But of course…the more he ordered them…the more they proclaimed it.
• How could it have been otherwise?
• Especially for the man who had been healed.

 

Why did Jesus order silence?

• Because those who were opposed to him were becoming increasingly agitated.
• Jesus wanted to delay his arrest and trial until he had accomplished more of his earthly mission.
• But it was hard to silence people who had been the recipients and witnesses of something so wonderful.

 

Well…here’s an afterthought:

• I cannot count the number of times I have started to complain about something…
• Only to have my friend cut me off after two or three sentences with a well-intentioned but misguided…
• “I know exactly what you are going through.
• The same thing just happened to me.”
• Suddenly we are talking about the other’s ungrateful kid…
• The other’s lousy boss…leaky fuel line.
• And I am left nodding my head in all the right places.
• Feeling angry and ripped off…wondering if we have not all come down with a bad case of emotional attention disorder.

 

Nothing is more natural than trying to soothe an overwrought friend with assurances that they are not alone.

• But calamities resemble each other only from afar.
• Up close they are as unique as fingerprints.

 

What we all hope for…when we turn to a friend because we are feeling low or agitated or wildly happy…

• Is to find someone who sounds as if they have all the time in the world.
• Someone who does not rush us.
• We do not always want answers or advice.
• Sometimes we just want company.

 

“I am learning (in my old age) to follow the other person’s lead.

• To pay attention to body language…facial gestures…tone of voice.
• To hear what is left unsaid.
• To recall relevant details and make helpful associations and connections.
• This ability to be with someone in their pain and happiness is the cornerstone of genuine empathy.
• We must immerse ourselves in the other person’s experience.
• We must pay attention to the other person.
• We must listen to the other person.

 

Jesus restores the deaf man’s hearing with the word be opened.

• Our prayer is that we too…be given this gift of generous…selfless openness of heart and spirit.
• To bring healing and life to those who need the support…
• The affirmation and the peace that the simple act of listening can give.

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

A few years ago…I met a woman who told me about a big mess her congregation had gotten into.

• It seems the church council had voted to move the grand piano…
• Which sat in the front of the worship space.
• They voted to move it five inches.
• So that they could make room for some new handicap-accessible seating.
• I am not sure why the church council was voting on something like this.
• But they were.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Anyway…the council members agreed on a date and time for meeting at church to move the piano.

• Now…I am not sure why they were going to do this themselves…either.
• But apparently word got out that this was happening.
• The appointed time arrived.
• The church council members gathered in the sanctuary…dressed…I suppose…
• In appropriate clothing for piano moving and…
• Maybe…feeling a little bit scared.
• You know…like lightning was going to strike or something if they dared move anything in such a holy place.

 

But before they even had time to think about it…

• The director of music burst through the doors of the sanctuary and barreled up the aisle.
• She said not a word.
• But rather communicated her position clearly by hoisting up her generous frame and throwing herself across the top of the piano.
• We must guess that she was dressed for piano straddling.

 

At any rate…she flat out…do not-even-try-to-mess-with-me…

• Refused to come down off the piano until the church council agreed not to touch it.

 

Who…or what…was lord in that place…do you think?

• It is easy to get confused.
• Putting tradition or culture or “my” ideas or whatever…
• At the center of our life together as believers.
• But I wonder how many of our problems…at church…
• As well as in our own personal lives…
• Would be solved if we simply remembered that JESUS is Lord.
• No thing and no one else.

 

So…ritual is engrained in our lives.

• Just as it was heavily engrained in the lives of the folks during Jesus’ time on earth.

 

In our lesson for the day…the Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law had come from Jerusalem to “investigate” Jesus.

• On the outside these Pharisees personified respectability.
• On the inside…however…they were full of fear and envy.
• Really…they were growing in their hatred for Jesus.
• They looked for any excuse to smear him and his followers.

 

On this day…they observed some of Jesus’ disciples eating food without first washing their hands.

• This…of course…offended them.
• Understand…this was not about sanitation.
• There was no sign around saying employees must wash their hands.
• It was not about preventing germs.
• They knew nothing about germs then.
• Instead…this was about maintaining a religious tradition.

 

In fact…Mark pauses for a moment and explains to his Gentile audience living outside of Palestine…the Jewish practice of ceremonial washing.

• “Unclean” …the Greek word is koinais…
• As Mark explained it…
• Meant “ceremonially unwashed.”
• It was a technical term among Hebrews denoting whatever was contaminated according to their religious rituals.
• And…for that reason…was unfit to be called holy or devoted to God.
• Unclean could refer to practices or to people.

 

The most common ritual cleansing was the washing of one’s hands before eating food.

• Disregarding this regulation was considered a sin for a loyal Jew.
• We would say that these disciples were engaging in unsanitary behavior when they did not wash their hands before eating.
• In the Pharisees’ minds…though… Jesus’ disciples were indulging in sinful behavior when they did not wash their hands.

 

Let’s pause for a moment.

• We need to acknowledge here…that this tradition of ritual cleansing…
• Would have had a positive effect on the health of the Jewish people that observed it.
• Many of the Jewish ceremonial laws protected them from disease.
• And this was certainly one of those cases.
• But protecting their health was not why they washed their hands before eating.
• It was because they were keeping the tradition of their fathers and mothers.
• And Jesus’ disciples were not observing those traditions.

 

So…the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus:

• “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders…but eat with defiled hands?”
• Well…Jesus knew what this was all about.
• Jesus knew the Pharisees were not nearly as concerned about whether his disciples washed their hands as they were determined to find fault with his ministry.
• He makes no reference to his disciples’ apparent ungodly conduct.

 

Instead…he replies:

• “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites…
• As it is written: ‘These people honor me with their lips…
• But their hearts are far from me.
• They worship me in vain…
• Their teachings are merely human rules.’
• You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

 

Who we are…what we do…the kind of persons we are…begin within the heart.

• The place where God dwells.
• The evil we are capable of…the hurt we inflict on others…the degrading of the world that God created…begins within our hearts:
• When God is displaced by selfishness.
• When God is displaced by anger.
• When God is displaced by greed.
• When God is displaced by hatred.

 

Saint Paul insists that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

• So…it is right that we conclude with the words of the psalmist:
• “Create in me a clean heart…O God…and put a new and right spirit within me.”

John 6:56-69

Jesus had been invited to preach at the synagogue in Capernaum.

• By most accounts…the sermon was a flop.
• As soon as he finished speaking…the sideways glances began to fly.
• One person scowled…another ground his teeth…others stood shell-shocked by the vivid phrases that lingered in their ears.
• Several listeners were confused by what they had heard.
• The consensus was clear…the sermon was hard to swallow.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Jesus’ supporters agreed…several of them huddled outside…having one of those conversations that people sometimes have in the parking lot.

• Quiet complaints…muttered beneath the breath.
• When Jesus came near…he did not make things any better.
• He said his words are “spirit and life.”
• That did not smooth out the conflict.

 

Some grew uncomfortable and began to leave.

• Others stood around not knowing what to do…or whether they should leave.
• When Jesus asked about it…Simon Peter replied: “Lord…to whom can we go?”
• Peter meant that as a rhetorical question…but you and I know…there are many places for people to go.

 

In her memoir…poet Annie Dillard…says that she left the church as a teenager.

• On Sundays…her father dropped her off at the door and kept driving.
• The building reeked of affluence and pretension.
• By the time she was a teenager…she grew disturbed by the hypocrisy of what she saw.
• A barefoot Jesus depicted in a gold mosaic…the minister’s affected accent and parents who forced her to attend when they did not.
• Her anger simmered and she decided to quit.

 

One day…the church secretary called to make an appointment for the minister to meet with Annie.

• Her mother asked why and discovered the precocious teenager had written a letter to resign from the church.
• Both parents were appalled.
• Her father suggested she should have slipped away quietly…as many people do…making no fuss.

 

The meeting date arrived. Annie met with the tinselly minister.

• He listened for a while and said: “This is rather early for you to be quitting the church” …adding under his breath… “I suppose you’ll be back soon.”
• He figured there was nowhere else for her to go.

 

It was a naive position to hold…then and now.

• People have always been leaving churches.
• Sometimes they leave because of pretentious ministers.
• Others leave because of angry arguments with fellow Christians.
• Perhaps there was a disagreement over a political stance by a church leader.
• Or maybe something terrible happened that was never addressed.
• And sometimes they leave because it is the only day to catch up on sleep…the only available day to rest after a stressful week.
• Plenty of reasons…all too human reasons.

 

Ceaseless activity often masks a deep unsatisfied hunger at the heart of all our pursuits.

• If anything defines us as human beings…it is our hunger.
• We are creatures who received our lives from the hand of another.
• We do not have the capacity to fill our souls with what they need…we are incomplete.

 

So where do we go? What can fill our emptiness?

• Our culture would turn such questions into google searches.
• There are websites to meet every perceived human need.
• Our desires are marketed aggressively.
• We sift through empty words and wade through false promises.

 

Two decades of summers ago…I announced that in an upcoming Sunday our lay people would conduct worship.

• A church member was invited to preach.
• He was well respected by the congregation.
• He had a pleasant speaking voice and a calming presence.
• Best of all…he was incapable of saying no.

 

Sunday arrived on schedule…the congregation sang and moved through the liturgy.

• At sermon time…the man stood in silence…long enough to initiate a nervous rustle in the pews.
• Then he said: “I have never stood in a pulpit.
• Today I will read to you the words of Jesus from the Gospel of John.
• I will put them in the air and then sit down.”

He began: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

• Again…Jesus spoke to them…saying…I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.
• If you continue in my word…you are truly my disciples…and you will know the truth…and the truth will make you free.
• I am the good shepherd. I know my own…and my own know me…just as the Father knows me…and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
• I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me…even though they die…will live…and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?
• So…if I…your Lord and Teacher…have washed your feet…you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example…that you also should do as I have done to you.
• Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God…believe also in me.
• In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so…would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
• Peace…I leave with you…my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled…and do not let them be afraid.
• I am the vine…you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit…because apart from me you can do nothing.
• This is my commandment…that you love one another as I have loved you.
• No one has greater love than this…to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

 

He went on like that…reading out of his Bible.

• Then he sat down. Nobody moved.
• The congregation inhabited a silence that nobody felt the need to interrupt.
• There was a clear and abiding sense that Jesus had addressed them personally.

 

“Lord…where else are we going to go?”

• There are a lot of places we could go.
• There are a lot of other voices we could hear.
• But there is only One whose word gives life.
• It is the Christ…One who says:
• “Those who love me will keep my word…and my Father will love them…and we will come to them and make our home with them.”¹

 

Oh…and by-the-way.

• Remember teenaged Annie Dillard who walked out of her pastor’s office.
• And on her way down the hall…she heard him mutter to himself out loud:
• “She’ll be back!”
• Young Annie Dillard wheeled around…
• Went back into the office and said:
• “What did I hear you say?”

 

He said… “Oh…I said I presumed that you’ll probably be back.”

• And she said: “Look…this is my life.
• I live my life like I want to live my life.
• I’m not coming back!”

 

Well…Annie Dillard wrote in her life story:

• “As I write this…I’m 48 years old and I’m back.”

John 6:51-58

We mainline Christians snicker at many (of what we consider anyway) the goofy practices of other religions.

• For example…the Book of Mormon claims there were ancient civilizations in North America…and they believe Jesus Christ came to visit them.
• But it did not take long for me to stop snickering and say to myself:
• Yeah…but the thing is…we claim to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a man who lived 2,000 years ago.
• Who’s crazy now?  I mean…all religions are strange…we are just used to ours is all.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Every three years…the assigned readings during the summer include five weeks of working our way through the Gospel of John…chapter 6.

• And what is called the “Bread of Life Discourse.”
• In the last five weeks we have gone from the feeding of the 5,000 to Jesus walking on water in the middle of a storm at sea.
• A friend of mine says that Jesus walks on water during a storm at sea so often in the gospels that she started thinking it was less about being miraculous and more about just getting in some cardio.
• Anyhow…the crowd chased him down…demanding more bread.
• And then he says that he is the Bread of Life come down from heaven.
• Which angered the nice religious folks.
• And instead of backing off…he makes it even more strange by saying whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has eternal life.

 

Which is where we pick up today when some of his disciples say:

• “Jesus…that teaching is hard…who can accept it?”
• And many of them leave. And we do not really blame them.
• This teaching is hard…but Jesus had a lot of sayings that were hard.
• Such as: ” Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you”…”You who are without sin cast the first stone”…”Sell all you have and give it to the poor,”…”The first shall be last and the last shall be first”…”If you seek to save your life you will lose it.”

 

I really do understand the reaction of the disciples who say these teachings are hard.

• But here’s the thing.
• I think what unites us is not a doctrine.
• What unites us is a table…a table that is open to all…
• In which we receive this Bread of Life come down from heaven.
• The body and blood of Christ is what unites us and makes us a church.
• Hopefully not in a prideful see-how-inclusive-we-are way.
• But in a Lord-to-whom-shall-we-go? way.
• In a…You-have-the-words-of eternal-life way.

 

We all are welcomed each week with the news that we have an open table at St. Andrew for all.

• And that means that everyone without exception is invited to receive the bread and wine.
• Which for us is the body and blood of Christ.
• And we have grown so used to this that we do not realize how radical that is…given the history of Christian practice.

 

Think about it…consider the difference between Roman Catholicism…speaking in tongues Pentecostalism…polite Presbyterianism…emotional evangelicalism…intellectual Lutheranism.

• And for as much as we differ…the one thing most Christian traditions actually have in common is some form of holy communion.
• And here’s the irony…that the very thing we all seem to have in common is the thing that so often divides us.

 

A lot of ink and a lot of blood has been spilled in the history of the church over issues of who gets to take and serve communion.

• Sadly…Christians historical response to the gift of the Eucharist is to make sure that we understand it.
• Then to make sure we put boundaries around it.
• And then to make sure we enforce both the correct understanding and the correct boundaries.
• But on the night Jesus was betrayed he did not say:
• “This is my body broken for you…understand this in remembrance of me.”
• He did not say: “Accept this or defend this or boundary this in remembrance of me.”
• He just said: “DO this in remembrance of me.”
• It is a hard teaching.

 

That God would be made human and walk among us.

• That this Christ would offer his own flesh for the sake of the world.
• That he would do this knowing what scoundrels sat around his table the night he was betrayed.
• That he would do it anyway saying:
• Take and eat…this is my body broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

 

And when we feel congratulatory about our inclusivity…we might do well to remember:

• The 12 disciples who sat around that table included Judas the Betrayer and Peter the Denier.
• And the reason Judas and Peter make us cringe is that there is the Christ betrayer and the Christ denier in all of us.
• And it is precisely that part of us that Jesus seeks to make whole with his own broken body.
• This teaching is hard. Who can accept it?

 

It is hard to accept that our enemies receive the same forgiveness and grace and redemption that we do.

• But it is even harder to accept not just that God welcomes all.
• But that God welcomes all of me and all of you.
• Even that within us which we wish to hide.
• The part that cursed at our children this week.
• Or the part within us that suffers from depression or addiction and cannot admit it.
• Or the part of us that is too fearful to give our money away.

 

All the parts of us we wish Jesus had the good sense to not welcome to his table are invited to taste and see that the Lord is Good.

• All of who we are is welcomed to his table to see that the gifts of God are free and for all.
• This teaching is hard…who can accept it?

 

As your preacher…I am not asking that we accept it.

• I am only asking that we just do it.
• Because here at this table we bring our brokenness.
• Here we bring the most broken pieces of this world.
• And we receive…with no payment or worthiness on our part…the equally broken body of Jesus Christ.

 

So…we come and receive life and forgiveness and salvation with all the other broken saints and gleaming sinners.

• For this is what unites us in the love of a powerful God.

John 6:35, 41-51

“I am the bread of life” …Jesus said…not once but twice. “I am the bread of life”

• When was the last time we ate the bread of life?
• I am not asking about the Holy Eucharist because I do not think that is what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel.
• I am not denying that the eucharist is the bread of life.
• What I am saying is that the bread of life is the eucharist and more than the eucharist.
• What I am suggesting is that you and I are to become the bread of life…just like Jesus.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

I mean…just think about all the people…relationships…and experiences that have fed…nourished…and sustained our lives.

• Think about a time when someone else fed and nourished our lives.
• I mean…more than that…they fixed our supper.
• I am talking about the people that spend their time and their presence with us.
• They love us…they teach us…they care for us…they encourage us.
• And our lives are fed and nourished by them.
• Sometimes it is not even what they say or do…but just being in their presence is itself bread.
• And when we spend time with them…we simply feel well fed and full.

Recall someone who offered us wisdom or guidance…

• Who really listened to us…or spoke a word of hope or encouragement that nourished and sustained our lives.
• They were bread for us…or maybe there was someone who helped us discover meaning or purpose in our lives.
• Perhaps it was someone who said: “I forgive you” and we were strengthened to move forward.
• Maybe someone believed in us when we were not so sure about ourselves.
• Our lives are nourished and fed by others in thousands of ways.
• How have we been fed by the life of another?

I believe that is what Jesus is talking about when he speaks of himself as the bread of life.

• Throughout the gospels we see him feeding and nourishing life in so many ways and circumstances:
• Through his love…presence…guidance…and teaching.
• Through his healing…forgiveness…and mercy…
• Through his generosity…compassion…and wisdom.
• This is the bread that feeds the soul.

Those qualities are not unique to Jesus.

• They can be ours as well.
• It is a way Christ shares his life with us.
• We both eat that bread of life and we become it.
• We partake of the bread of someone else’s life and our life is nourished…our life is sustained…our life is strengthened.
• Who would that person be for us?
• What is her or his name?
• What did he or she do or say that fed our lives?

And when have we been bread in someone else’s life?

• When have we fed and nourished them?
• When have we sustained them?
• When have we strengthened them?
• We so often hear Jesus say: “I am the bread of life” and we assume he is the only loaf in the basket.
• I believe Jesus is teaching us…here…what bread of life looks like…
• So…we can find it in this world…and become that bread…and be that bread for another.

 

Oh…most of us…at one time or another…have been given a starter batch of sourdough.

• It holds the potential to become bread…to feed and nourish.
• I believe Jesus is the starter batch in us.
• Rather than making an exclusive claim about himself…
• Jesus is giving us the recipe to become as he is.
• To become the bread of life for the world.
• That is just how Christ works in the world.
• Something in us gets leavened…rises…and becomes bread.

 

The religious leaders and authorities…in today’s gospel…complain because Jesus said: “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

• The issue is not that they do not believe that God provides or that God feeds.
• The issue is that they know Jesus and his mom and dad.
• They know where he is from.
• He is the snot-nosed kid from Nazareth…
• And he could never be bread from heaven.
• You see…they have made Nazareth and heaven mutually exclusive.
• He could never be from heaven because he is from Nazareth.

Lucky for us we do not have that problem.

• Our problem is that we know Jesus is the Son of God come down from heaven.
• Believers…like us…are often so sure of Jesus’ heavenly origin that he could not possibly come from Nazareth…
• Or St. Petersburg…or Bradenton…or Clearwater…or Tampa.
• That is often the problem for believers like us.
• We know just enough that we cannot know anything more or consider that there could be more to know.

 

We have been in the sixth chapter of John’s gospel for the last three weeks now.

• It has been three weeks of feeding…three weeks of bread…
• And we have got two more to go.
• Something is going on here.
• Jesus begins with the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish.
• And then he said we have got to know the difference between food that perishes and food that endures for eternal life…between bread that is perishable and bread that is imperishable.
• And then…he takes off on this bread of life stuff:
• The bread that lasts…the bread that endures…the bread that never runs out…the bread that never gets stale or moldy.

The reality is that there is a lot of bread in this world.

• And if you look through the Bible you will find references to all sorts of bread:
• The bread of adversity…the bread of tears…the bread of affliction…the bread of mourning…the bread of wickedness…the bread of idleness…the bread of the stingy…and on and on.

 

When you get right down to it…there is only two kinds of bread:

• The bread of life that feeds and nourishes and sustains.
• And all the other bread that leaves us hungry and malnourished.
• What kind of bread are we eating today?
• Does it fill and nourish us?
• Or does it leave us hungry and malnourished?
• Is it sustaining and enduring?
• Or has it become hard and dry?

The bread we choose to eat says something about our appetite and what we hunger for.

• What is our hunger? What is our appetite?
• Do we need a change in diet?
• The old saying: “We are what we eat.”
• If we want life…we need to eat the bread of life.
• If we want to bring life to another…we need to be the bread of life.

John 6:24-35

Jesus is always concerned about feeding hungry people.

• In John…he reminds the crowd that their ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness.
• He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
• And then here in our reading today Jesus calls himself the bread of life and shifts the focus from physical to spiritual hunger.

 

But we need to remember that after the resurrection…Jesus cooks breakfast and asks his disciple Peter about his love for Jesus:

• “Yes…Lord” replies Peter… “you know that I love you.”
• Jesus says to him: “Feed my lambs.”
• When Jesus tells Peter to feed his lambs…he is not talking about fighting world hunger.
• But Jesus is saying that to love him involves more than words and emotions.
• If we are going to love the Christ of God…we need to do
• We need to put bread in the stomachs of hungry people.

 

Food is a necessity…as essential to life as air…water and shelter.

• Much of the world’s population…throughout history and today…have concerns about where their next meal will come from.
• Despite all the technology we have developed since biblical times…
• Providing bread for hungry people is still a constant challenge.
• We feed the lambs of Jesus whenever we find a way to put bread in empty stomachs (DayStar Life Center).

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Jesus is not satisfied…though…by simply giving fish and bread to a crowd of hungry people.

• He tells them that: “the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
• The crowd perceives that this is precious bread…so they say:
• “Sir…give us this bread always.”
• Jesus says to them: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry…and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

 

In the novel City of Peace…a Methodist pastor named Harley Camden is moved by his bishop to a tiny church in Occoquan, Virginia (Quantico).

• In that new community…he meets a couple named Youssef and Sofia…Coptic Christians from Egypt.
• The pastor is surprised that they are close friends with the Bayatis family.
• The Bayatises are Muslim immigrants from Iraq.
• “The Bayatises have become some of our closest friends here in Occoquan” Youssef tells Pastor Harley one night at dinner…
• “Mostly because we have shared so many meals.
• Back in Egypt…Christians and Muslims are getting together less and less…which has caused the animosity and violence to increase.”
• “Food is important to us” Sofia says.
• “Think of the many times that Jesus sat down to eat with people…
• Even tax collectors and sinners.
• Christian hospitality is very important to Youssef and me.”

 

“I do appreciate it” says Pastor Harley.

• “Think of how much better the world would be if people actually sat down and ate with each other.”
• Pastor Harley Camden is right.
• The world would be a better place if people made efforts to sit down and break bread with one another.
• Shared meals have physical benefits…
• But also emotional…mental and spiritual benefits.
• Throughout his ministry…Jesus showed the people around him that meals can feed the soul as well as the body.

 

Luke tells us that on the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus comes alongside two disciples…but they do not know who he is.

• Then…when he sits down to dinner with them…he takes bread…blesses it…breaks it and gives it to them.
• Then their eyes are opened…and they recognize him…and he vanishes from their sight.
• It is then that they realize their souls have been nourished by Jesus…the bread of life.

 

This story reminds us to feed the soul as well as the body.

• Such nourishment happened at Emmaus…when the eyes of the disciples were opened.
• Soul-feeding happens when the risen Christ nourishes us today…through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
• Whenever bread is broken…in a Communion meal…
• Or in an ordinary meal (our own monthly potluck) …
• We open our hearts to the presence of Christ.
• When we eat together…Jesus feeds us and fills us with his love.

 

The Emmaus story ends with the two disciples racing back to Jerusalem to share the news of their experience with the other disciples.

• They tell the others what happened on the road…and how Jesus “had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
• That is where they came face to face with the “true bread from heaven.”
• Their story teaches us how to welcome one another around a table…
• To strengthen our bonds with Jesus and with each other and to feed each other in body and in soul.

 

After lecturing at a Winnipeg university…Pastor Fred Craddock found himself stranded in a bus station during a surprise October snowstorm.

• Cold and wet…he finally found a seat at the depot’s café counter.
• A cranky…tired man in a greasy apron took his order.
• All they had was soup…one kind.
• So…Pastor Fred ordered the soup.
• The gray goop was the worst thing he had ever eaten.
• He wrapped his hands around the bowl…at least it kept his hands warm.

 

The door opened again…letting in the icy wind.

• “Close the door!” somebody yelled.
• In came a woman in a threadbare coat.
• She took a seat not far from the minister.
• The cranky man in the greasy apron went over to take her order.
• “Glass of water” she mumbled.
• He brought the water.
• “Now…what do you want?”
• “Just a glass of water and a chance to get warm.”
• “Look…I have customers that pay…what do you think this is…a church or something?
• If you’re not going to order…you’ve got to leave!”
• And he got real loud about it…so that everyone there could hear him.

 

So…she got up to leave.

• And almost as if rehearsed…everyone in that café got up and headed to the door.
• If she was going to have to leave…they were going…as well.

 

The man in the greasy apron saw this happening and blurted out:

• “All right…all right…she can stay.”
• Everyone sat down…and he brought her a bowl of soup.
• Pastor Fred asked the person sitting next to him: “Who is she?”
• “I never saw her in here before” …was the reply.

 

The place grew quiet…all that the minister heard was the sipping of that awful soup.

• The minister decided to try it again and put his spoon into the bowl.
• “You know” …the minister said later… “it really wasn’t bad.
• Everybody was eating the soup…and it was pretty good soup.
• I have no idea what kind of soup it was.
• I don’t know what was in it.
• But I do recall when I was eating it…it tasted a little bit like bread and wine.”

 

God’s compassion manages to transform the most horrible soup into the banquet of heaven.

• And a group of stranded travelers into a community.
• This is the “bread of heaven” that Jesus speaks of today.
• The food that will not perish.

John 6:1-21

Well…I know that the laws of Newtonian physics are not suddenly flexible if you just have enough faith.

• Atoms and molecules do not just transform randomly.
• It is more reasonable to believe that things are what they seem.
• Water stays water. Five loaves stay five loaves…and the dead stay dead.

 

I get it…and I have read all the rational explanations for what really happened at the feeding of the five thousand.

• Explanations I could offer to my non-believer friends…
• Without feeling like I must apologize for being so foolish as to believe in miracles.
• With a little effort I can easily explain away the feeding of the five thousand as little more than a wonderful picnic with a bunch of people.
• Since bread and fish did not just suddenly replicate themselves…
• What happened that day was obviously more like a big wilderness potluck.
• Where everybody felt so compelled to be good people after hearing Jesus preach…
• That they all opened their picnic baskets and gave parts of their fried chicken and potato salad to their neighbors.
• So that is why there was enough food to go around.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

But I decided not to preach that homily today.

• That Jesus wants us to be nice and share our lunch…
• Since we all learned that lesson already in kindergarten.

 

Not that thousands of people sharing with their neighbors is not miraculous…it is.

• It is just that there are six accounts of this miracle in the gospels.
• Six…and since there are only four gospels…that means that in two of them…a version of the story was told twice.
• So…it is just too important a story for it to only be about people sharing their lunches.

 

So…as crazy as it is…I believe in miracles…not because I think I am supposed to…

• But because I need to…I need to believe that God does what I cannot do.
• I mean…if God only acted in ways we can…we could all just be our own gods.
• And if history tells us anything…it is that we make terrible gods.

We have a God who can feed so many on so little.

• A God who created the universe out of nothing.
• A God who can put flesh on dry bones.
• A God who can put life into a dry womb.
• God does all of this out of nothing.
• Nothing is God’s favorite material to work with.
• God looks upon that which we dismiss as nothing…insignificant…worthless…
• And says: “Hah…now…that I can do something with”.

 

The resource that Jesus had in abundance…that day…was not the fried chicken and potato salad hidden under people’s tunics.

• The raw material that Jesus had was the need of humanity for a God that can do miracles.
• And this need is an endless resource.

 

You see…that day…the disciples forgot that they too were hungry.

• The disciples forget that it was their own personal need for bread…
• That qualified them to participate in the miracle of feeding thousands with nothing on hand.
• It was not their cooking skills.
• It was not their ability to guilt everyone into sharing.
• It was their own deep hunger which exactly matched the hunger of the crowd.

 

How often do we forget this?

• What we really have going for us is not homiletical ability.
• Or choral conducting expertise…or leadership training.
• It is our own personal need for a savior.
• A need identical in quality and quantity to those we minister.
• This need we have for Jesus…the need for forgiveness and love and mercy…has no limit.
• This is our nothing from which God creates real miracles.

 

Yet I so often forget this.

• I am easily overwhelmed by the hunger of the multitudes.
• And I look around trying to figure out what I have at my disposal that might feed them.
• And I keep coming up short.
• Short on compassion…short on skill…short on will.
• And I think of how God called me to this.
• And needs me to feed God’s people.
• So…I lean on my own resources.
• And when I do…I quickly see how little there is.
• A few loaves? A couple fish?
• It’s never enough.

 

Years ago…I went to a retreat at a Greek Byzantine Catholic monastery outside of town.

• I was matched up for spiritual direction with one of the brothers.
• I was hoping he would give me work to do.
• You see…the monastery was a working farm.
• Instead…he looked at me and said…
• I don’t think you should do anything while you are here.
• Just walk the farm knowing that God loves you totally apart from any work you do.
• I thought that sounded awful.
• How can the work I do be important if God loves me quite apart from the fact that I do it?

 

That’s the irony.

• The more important and transformative the work is that we do…
• The more we need to know that we are loved by God…
• With or without doing that work.

 

When Jesus looks out and asks where are these hungry people going to get food?

• He means that we all are the hungry people…and he is the bread.
• When I rely only on my strengths.
• When I think I have only my small stingy little heart from which to draw love for those I serve.
• When the water is rough…and storms are real and I am scared.
• Filled with fear of what is happening or not happening in the church.
• Filled with fear that I do not have what it takes to be a leader.
• Filled with fear that everyone will see nothing in me but my inadequacies.
• I have forgotten about Jesus.
• The one who makes something out of my nothing.
• The one who walks towards me in the storm.

 

That’s our guy.

• The Man of sorrows familiar with suffering.
• Friend of scoundrels and thieves.
• Forgiver of his own executioners.
• Resurrected on the third day.
• The lamb who was slain…the great defeater of death and griller of fish and savior of sinners.

 

We are all broken and hungry in need of a savior.

• So…together we come away with Christ to sit in the grass and be fed.
• We are loved entirely and completely by God with or without doing the ministry and work we do.

 

We just do not realize how tired and hungry we are until we go away to rest and reach again for the hem of Jesus’ garment.

• And then…hands extended…someone looks into our eyes and calls us by name and says:
• “Child of God…the Body of Christ Given for you.”
• And then we realize…we had no idea how hungry we really were.
• Thanks be to God.

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

“No Wi-Fi…no cell service…no problem.”

• That could be the motto for a growing vacation trend known as digital detox.
• There are those who are growing weary of the always-on…always connected madness of contemporary life.

 

Well…perched atop an Alaskan glacier six thousand feet above Denali National Park is a five-bedroom house accessible only by airplane or helicopter.

• Better remember all your groceries when you book the place.
• The nearest town is 50 miles away.

 

In the middle of Africa’s Kalahari Desert…in the nation of Botswana…is Jack’s Camp.

• In between wildlife-spotting safari excursions…guests sleep in tents.
• But it’s really a glamping experience.
• The roomy…Moroccan-style tents offer elegant furniture…
• With Persian rugs on the hardwood floorboards.
• The camp is located smack-dab in the middle of a wilderness area the size of Switzerland.
• But there is electricity from solar panels…
• But no air conditioning…no TV…no wi-fi…only electric fans.

 

Turn off a state highway in northern New Mexico and drive 14 miles down a rutted dirt road…

• And you will find yourself at Christ in the Desert Benedictine Monastery.
• Water comes from a well…and solar panels provide electricity for lighting.
• If you crave a break from your silent retreat…connecting to Spotify is a non-starter.
• But a short walk from the guest house is the chapel where you can listen to live Gregorian Chant to your heart’s content.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

In today’s reading Jesus invites his disciples to “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

• He and his disciples have been busy.
• Their little movement has been growing like crazy.
• Streams of would-be followers and curiosity-seekers are crowding in on them.
• The Greek word for “deserted place” here is
• A modern-day descendant of that word is “hermit.”
• Jesus’ disciples are craving their own off-the-grid hermit experience.
• The “grid” for them…on which they feel trapped…is not electronic…though.
• It is a rigid framework of responsibilities that threatens to overwhelm them.
• They feel they need some Sabbath time.
• And what better place to go than into the wilderness.

 

The wilderness is…in the Jewish tradition…the place where the deepest of spiritual encounters happen.

• Where does Moses discover the bush that is burning and receives God’s call? The wilderness.
• Where is Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai…the summit where God gives Moses the Ten Commandments? The wilderness.
• Where does Jonah flee…to argue with God about his call to preach in Nineveh? The wilderness.
• Where does Elijah flee Jezebel’s minions who are out to murder him? The wilderness.
• Where does John the Baptist dwell…clothing himself in animal skins and subsisting on locusts and wild honey? The wilderness.

 

Jewish spirituality is a desert spirituality.

• The people who walk away from the fleshpots of Egypt…straight through the Red Sea waters…
• Are led by God straight into the wilderness.
• Into a daily struggle for survival…where they learn the skills they need to live.
• And so…it is no surprise when Jesus invites his closest friends to go on retreat with him…it is to a deserted place…the wilderness.

 

When Jewish men wanted to get serious about their faith…they often left home and family behind.

• And went to live for a time in a cave…or a crude hut…living off the land as John the Baptist did.
• Day follows day…the struggle is to find something to eat or go hungry.
• Through such an experience you learn self-reliance and the mastery of your emotions.
• Deep in the wilderness…at last…you encounter the desert God.
• The one who speaks out of burning bushes and says: “I am who I am.”

 

Jesus began his ministry being tempted by the devil. In The wilderness.

• The wilderness is Jesus’ experience of testing…of trial.
• It is Messiah boot camp.
• Mark tells us the angels are there to serve him…
• And their role is that of drill instructor.
• It is that very sort of experience Jesus is offering his disciples…with his invitation to a deserted place.

 

Well…how does this all translate into today?

• OK…you do not need to be in the wilderness to have a wilderness experience.
• A wilderness experience can be any challenge or testing that takes us out of our comfort zone.
• A challenge or testing that causes us to wonder whether we have got what it takes to live through it.
• Live long enough…and we discover that life itself serves up wilderness experiences…whether we ask for them or not.

 

In his poem… “Choruses from the Rock” T.S. Eliot says this:

• You neglect and belittle the desert…
• The desert is not remote in southern tropics…
• The desert is not only around the corner…
• The desert is squeezed in the tube-train next to you…
• The desert is in the heart of your brother.

 

There’s something about the life of a believer that is…at its very best…

• To use the words of Henry David Thoreau from his book Walden…
• A matter of living deliberately.
• A matter of living deep and sucking out all the marrow of life.”

 

An ideal believer’s life is incongruent with that of our consumer culture.

• Which is to live a life of opulent ease…surrounded by material blessings.
• The quintessential disciple is one who has taken to heart the teachings of Jesus.
• Is one who knows how to live simply.
• Is one who lives close to the earth and strives to be satisfied with whatever life may bring.
• It is a person who values simplicity…rather than luxury.
• Who knows the joy that comes from sharing with others.
• Who knows the glory of a sunset is superior to the light show of Times Square.

 

Is life hard for us right now?

• Are our days filled with struggles?
• We all have times like this.
• Likely…the deserted place…the wilderness…where we find ourselves…is not a place of meaninglessness.
• It just may be the sort of deserted place where God is melting us and molding us…
• So that he may fill us and use us for his glorious work in the kingdom.
• We may feel…in such a time as this…we are off the grid.
• But…for sure…we are not off God’s grid…and never could be.

Mark 6:14-29

OK…so…Herod is the ruler of the region…and while vacationing in Rome he craves and covets his brother’s wife…who he then marries.

• John the Baptist…then suggests that maybe that is not OK.
• Now…Herod likes John…as much as anybody can like a wild bug-eating prophet.
• Who lives outdoors and speaks inconvenient truths.
• Truths like…it is not OK to marry your brother’s wife.
• Which…being the truth…when he spoke it…got him arrested…in the first place.

It also got John on the bad side of Herod’s new illegal wife Herodias.

• She did not like John.
• So…when Herod threw himself a big birthday party…
• His daughter-in-law…Salome…danced for him and all the other half-intoxicated generals and CEOs and celebrities who were there.

 

We don’t know the exact nature of her dance.

• But we do know that it pleased Herod enough that he offered to give her anything she wanted…
• Up to half of his kingdom.
• So…I do not think it was the Chicken dance.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

So…then Salome runs to her mom and asks: “What should I ask for?”

• And her mom says: “The head of John the Baptist.”
• Herod found this disturbing.
• He clearly did not want to do it…but it says that he went through with it.
• Why? Because of his oath and because he did not want to disappoint his dinner guests.
• So…by the final course of Herod’s birthday dinner John the Baptist’s head was on a platter.
• It is a gruesome tale.
• And what in the world is a preacher to preach about such a story?

 

I mean…What is the moral of the story?

• Looked at in a certain way…this story is not so far from us.
• It is still being played out today.
• In my life and maybe in yours…certainly on the American political stage.
• And elsewhere throughout the history of humanity before and after Herod.

 

It is easy to demonize Herod and dismiss this story as something awful that happened before things like the enlightenment and post-World War two war crimes tribunals.

• But if we do so too quickly…we might miss seeing how nothing really has changed much in 2,000 years.
• We live in an age as faithless and corrupt as Herod’s.
• People still quickly divorce someone simply because they fall in love with someone else’s wife or husband.
• And young girls are still made to be sexual objects for powerful men.
• After all…human trafficking is the biggest black-market operation in the world today.
• And I have done or said things that have hurt others just so I did not lose face with people I am trying to impress.

 

Do not get me wrong…what Herod did was despicable.

• There is no diminishing it.
• But besides being a villain…he is also a tragic figure.
• Because he knew better.
• Herod was not some soulless…bloodthirsty…godless devil.
• He knew it was wrong.
• He knew it was wrong and after it was done…he had a guilty conscience.
• Because later…when he hears about Jesus…
• Why else would Herod assume…of all things…
• That the most logical explanation for why there was a man in his region who healed people and cast out demons…
• Was that it must be the guy he beheaded who had come back from the grave.

 

That is a guilty person’s assumption…straight away.

• He had a guilty conscience…which means he knew better and he did it anyway.
• What is tragic is that Herod went to his grave with all of his violence and stupidity and sin on his conscience…
• Never once knowing that he and his illegal wife and her child Salome and John the Baptist all are beloved children of God.

 

What is tragic about Herod is how different he is from the prostitutes and demoniacs and tax collectors and Pharisees and centurians we meet in the Gospels.

• They encounter Jesus Christ and are freed from the bondage of their past.
• In the presence of Christ…they are given a glimpse of God’s larger story of love and mercy…
• And are shown who they really…truly are in the eyes of a loving God…and they are made new.

 

Their story is given a new ending and a new meaning.

• But Herod was trapped in his own story.
• A story that tortured him.
• A story from which he felt there was no escape.

 

And when our own stories begin to feel self-contained and inescapable…that is when things are tragic.

• At one time or another…we have all felt the same way.
• Unable to change the story of who we are.
• Unable to change our behavior or attitude or outlook.
• So caught up in the events around us.
• So caught up in the identity we have had for so long that it clings to us like a wet suit.

 

And if that is true and we were hoping to hear some good news today.

• I need to be the first to tell you:
• There is no good news in this story.
• I looked for it.
• But that is just the point.
• We are supposed to notice that this is the only story in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus is not mentioned.
• There is no Jesus.

 

So…if this story stood alone…

• There would be only sedition and sin and violence and bondage and political maneuvering and incest.
• The only thing that makes this story good is that it is not the end of the story.

 

So…while there is no good news in this story…

• And while there is no Jesus in this story.
• What is amazing is that the story of Herod’s birthday is immediately followed by the feeding of the 5,000.

 

The Godless black tunnel of Herod’s party is immediately followed by another party.

• A sacramental one in which there is no exploitation of children.
• Or killing of prophets.
• There is only Jesus…and thousands of people sitting on the green grass.
• And a few loaves…and a couple fish.
• And all are fed by what seemed like not enough.
• And there were still baskets of loaves and fishes left over to share.

 

They were living a new story.

• A story written by a God who desires that all are fed and all are loved.
• And none are exploited.
• And God offers us a reminder of this every week right here at this table.
• This table is the antidote to whatever version of Herod’s birthday party is playing out in our own lives and in the world around us.

 

We are not trapped.

• God is still writing the story and it is so much better than the one we would come up with.
• Thanks be to God.

Mark 6:1-13

There was book some years back with the interesting title:

• “All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten.”
• Published way back in 1986.
• Since Miss Susan was a kindergarten teacher…I thought I should read the book.
• Well…the book offered interesting life lessons that were not only true…
• But were simple and hopeful.
• The book reminded me that oftentimes we get in the way of ourselves…
• We get caught in the weeds…
• By making things too complicated.
• Robert Fulghum…the author… reminded me of some simple wisdom… like:
• Share everything. Play fair. Put things back where you found them.
• Take a nap every afternoon.
• And when you go out into the world…watch out for traffic…
• Hold hands…and stick together.

 

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

 

Well…This morning…I thought I would take inspiration from this book to offer some simple lessons from our gospel reading.

• Simple lessons on how Jesus wants us to live as his followers.
• You see…as Jesus got ready to send his apostles out on their first mission trip…
• He gave them some clear instructions written in our gospel reading for today.
• And from these instructions…I have singled out five simple lessons that we can hold onto as followers of Jesus.
• So…here goes.

 

Lesson 1 – Do not Be a Believer alone.

• Jesus has identified his twelve apostles…and now he is getting ready to send them out on a mission.
• And the first thing that he does is pair them up.
• Kind of like in kindergarten…or on a school field trip.
• Like Robert Fulghum’s rule:
• “Hold hands and stick together.”

 

Throughout Jesus’ ministry…when he calls disciples…the first thing he does is make us part of a community called the ekklesia…Greek meaning to call out…but Jesus spoke Aramaic…so he would have said ladoth…meaning to assemble or gather together. In English we say church.

• He calls us into this community because he knows that it is too hard to be a believer alone.
• We need each other…we are better together.
• For Jesus…there is no such thing as a lone-ranger believer.
• Life is too hard to go it alone.

 

Lesson 2 – Remember that Jesus Is the Boss.

• We read: “Jesus gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”
• Which means that when we go into the world…we go because Jesus has given us the authority to do so.
• Jesus is the boss.
• As he says in the Great Commission:
• “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go…therefore…and make disciples of all nations.”

 

Jesus is the boss…but he has put us in charge.

• So now we have the authority to go in his name.
• Jesus has entrusted us with his work.
• It is God’s work.
• It is our hands and feet.

 

I am the second oldest of four siblings.

• And when mom and dad left the house and left me in charge…
• I always reminded my two younger siblings that I was in charge…Mom and Dad said so.
• Which was fun…until we broke something.

 

As believers…we are something like the older children of the world.

• We have been put in charge.
• Jesus has given us authority over the powers and principalities of this world.
• And we embrace that.
• But we should also remember that we are not the parents.
• We are just in charge until the master returns.

 

Lesson 3 – Travel Light.

• The third lesson Jesus gives is this:
• “He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff…no bread…no bag…no money in their belts…
• But to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.”

 

I have been a cross-country walker for most of my life.

• So…when I would pack my backpack for a multi-day trip…I would make three piles.
• Necessities…things I must bring. (like rain gear or bug repellent).
• Things I might need. (like a first aid kit or Little Debbie Cakes).
• And things a probably would not need…but would come in handy. (like a deck of cards or a water-proof Bose blue-tooth speaker).
• Then I would eliminate the third pile altogether.
• And take only the things I might need and leave the rest behind.

 

In other words…we are to travel light.

• Why? Because traveling light means that we are trusting Jesus.
• Traveling light means that we have everything we need to serve our Lord.
• We do not need to read another book.
• We do not need to make more money.
• We do not need more time to solve whatever problems we face in our life right now.
• We do not need to do anything else before we go to serve our Lord.
• We have enough right now.
• We have everything we need…right now…to do what Jesus is asking.
• So…we can and should travel light.

 

Lesson 4 – Don’t Get Discouraged When You Fail.

 

So…we go on our mission with a caution:

• Not everyone will accept us.
• Not everyone will accept our message.
• There will be those who will refuse to hear us.
• What we can do though…is entrust the mission to God…and move on.

 

It is not our responsibility to successfully bring God’s kingdom to our world.

• As if we could.
• It is our task to enter a community…do as Jesus asks….
• And if not welcomed there…
• To shake the dust off our feet and move on.

 

So…what’s the lesson?

• Do not get discouraged when we fail.
• If the twelve apostles were told that they would sometimes fail…
• Then we should expect to fail…too.
• So…here is an acronym for fail:
• “Faith Active in Love.”
• When our faith is active in love…then we are serving our Lord.
• You see…failure in the eyes of the world might just be overwhelming success in the eyes of God.
• The cross proves that.

 

Lesson 5 – Don’t Be Afraid to Tell the Truth.

• When the apostles were sent out…it was to cast out demons and heal the sick.
• But it was also to proclaim:
• “Turn from your sin.
• Turn from your false hopes.
• Turn from your false gods.
• And turn…that is…re-turn…to the Lord.
• Our only God…and our only hope.

 

Our world is quick to offer its brand of gods and hopes.

• It always has and it always will.
• Always in the form of more stuff.
• Satan’s favorite word is more.
• More of this and more of that will make you ultimately fulfilled and happy.
• Our Lord’s favorite word is:
• Sola Gratia: by grace alone.
• As followers of Jesus…our mission is to proclaim that one source of hope.

 

This past Thursday we celebrated Independence Day.

• But the truth is that we are not independent.
• We might be independent from England.
• But we are very dependent on God.
• We are dependent on our Creator.
• We are dependent on the planet on which we live.
• We are dependent on our Lord Jesus…who came to rescue us from our brokenness.
• We are dependent on the Holy Spirit…who was given to go with us in the mission to which we are called.