August 22, 2021 – 13th Sunday after Pentecost
The call of God’s love is constantly challenging us to let go of some of what we’ve become accustomed to, and to continually open ourselves to what the Living Bread is giving us now
Let us pray. Holy and gracious God, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us, in the many places we are gathered this day. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day; and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
I want to start this sermon with this opening statement. You and I live in a very secular society. The dominant culture in western countries is very secular. When I say that I don’t mean that it is evil, and to claim that something is secular does not mean that it is atheistic. It just means that God is not involved. The existence of the divine being is of no consequence. Think of the decisions being made in government, in the judicial system, in education. There may be spiritual and religious persons involved in those decisions, but the presence, the purpose, the will of God, is not thought about, talked about, or acted upon – at least not collectively in society.
One experience that made this abundantly clear for me was my visits to Rupert’s Land’s Companion Diocese of Central Buganda in Uganda. There, God and spirituality are very much part of everyday life. People pray publicly. Children are taught about God – they sing songs about God and God’s love for them and for the world. People are able to talk about their relationship with God, and their faith, freely and openly. This is not just my perception as an ordained minister in the Church. The teams of lay people who visited had the same experience. They realized the lack of this experience back here in Canada as well. So for all of us, this secular society in which we live “dulls” us spiritually. It lowers our expectations and pushes our consciousness of God’s presence, love and involvement in life to the corners – to the background.
Some of today’s Scripture readings and prayers really expose this to us as well. I think that most of us have a pretty good handle on ‘love’. We see ourselves as loving persons, at least most of the time. But look at the opening lines of today’s Collect Prayer: “Almighty God, we are taught by your word that all our doings without love are worth nothing. Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love …” We’re asking God for the gift of love, after admitting that some (if not many) of the actions and good deeds in our lives are not driven by love! This gift of love we’re referring to happens when the focus of our thoughts, words, and actions are entirely “on the other”. We may not even be conscious of our feelings at the time, because we are entirely focussed on the subject or object of that love.
Another example is in the first verse of today’s metrical Psalm 84. “My thirsty soul desires and longs within thy courts to be; my very heart and flesh cry out, O living God, for thee.” You and I might agree with these statements in our minds, but when have you, or do you, feel that kind of passion for the living God?
Or look at the Second Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians. The author is summing up the key message of the whole letter. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Note the references to “being strong in the Lord”, or “fighting against evil spiritual forces.” (and we’re not talking
about some Hollywood red-coloured fiend with horns!) This is serious stuff. Clearly the people of Ephesus must have known what the author was talking about or this piece would have made no sense to them. My point in all of this is to make us wake up and realize just how spiritually impoverished we are! We’re not bad people but we’ve lost the sense of expectation about God – about God’s involvement in our daily lives, and about the kind of Christian community God is calling us to become.
Much of what we’ve come to expect as “OK” about the way we are as Church – our priorities, our openness to and involvement with people outside our walls – other churches – other groups in need who are looking to us to experience God’s gift of love – will no longer do. God’s love is calling for more from us – to let go of some of the things that may be “near and dear to us” and to open ourselves to the living presence of God – to what God wants us to become – together – as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Look at today’s Gospel reading. This passage comes from a relatively early part of Jesus’ ministry. After recruiting his initial disciples, he’s gone on an initial preaching, teaching and healing tour in the northern part of Israel. He’s carried out amazing miracles – the feeding of the 5,000, walking on water, calming a storm. And now he returns to his home town of Capernaum. By now his following has increased exponentially. So Jesus starts to challenge them with deeper, more mature teaching which expands their horizons – pushing them to let go of some of the comfortable things they’ve become accustomed to. Jesus challenges their thinking about parts of their much-cherished Exodus experience. “Moses didn’t give you the manna in the wilderness – the bread from heaven. God gave it to you! And then he goes on say that God is doing it again through the gift of God’s Son, Jesus. Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.”, and goes on to explain this further. But some start to take offense: “Who does this guy think he is? We know what we’ve always believed here – who are you [Jesus] to challenge it?”
Think for a minute – what would our usual response be in this situation? We would back off – tone it down – wouldn’t want to offend the membership. But what does Jesus do? He presses it even harder! “I am the living bread that came down from heave. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever.” People start reacting negatively to this but Jesus lays it out even more succinctly. “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you.” And we begin to cringe and fear what’s going to happen next. “When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ’This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’” And what was the result? “Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” Do I think that Jesus is glad that a bunch of his disciples left him? No! But he will not sacrifice God’s truth and love. Ultimately his words and actions are motivated by God’s love – but some could not handle it – at least not yet.
So what is this Word saying to us – today – individually and for the community of All Saints? Firstly, we have to be much more conscious of God’s presence and involvement in our lives – shaking off the dulling and diminishing effect of living in a secular society. And secondly, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to realize that Christ is continually pushing us more deeply into the love and truth of God for us today. What was a priority in our life, our ministry, our worship, 30 years ago – 10 years ago – 2 years ago – may no longer be!
Does that mean we throw stuff out and change for the sake of change? Of course not! But it does mean that nothing is “off the table” – as we’d hear the Manitoba Public Health people say in talking about Covid restrictions. Nothing is “off the table” – everything “we’ve always done” here at All Saints has to be weighed against the call of God’s love and purpose for this community – today and in the future.
As we will pray near the end of today’s service: “Living God … Guide and direct us that we may please you in all tings.” This must be our guide – our desire – our passion – in all aspects of our ministry and mission as a Church. For this is what the Living Bread is nourishing us to be. Amen.
