Old Mystic, August 30, 2009
Song 2:8-13
Summary
The language of love, powerfully expressed in the book of Song of Solomon, is an invitation to enter into the joy of loving relationships which are a gift from a loving God. It encompasses the love that yearns for the same loving response from a lover/spouse and the deep ineffable love from God.
Sermon
When we look at the collection of poems in the book known as the Song of Solomon, we find a rich language of love, full of expressions that many may consider inconvenient for a non-mature church audience. Some of the words found are perhaps “too descriptive” of what the God given gift of sexual desire for a loved one is—more than many Christians’ level of tolerance was able to bear in public through many generations. Someone may have said: why are these explicit, fleshly, “so human” poems in the Scriptures?
But God speaks in many ways; so many that we cannot cease to be amazed. Yet, I’m not surprised by the message that describes the passion, commitment, and deep yearning of human love. I grant it; many may not enjoy the gift of a deep loving union with a spouse and over the centuries many marriages have been arranged out of convenience. Yet, love is always in the air. I am talking about serious, committed, responsible, genuine, love between lovers/spouses; a love that bounds two people together for life. And God bestows on us the gift of that divine yet human love in spite of our shortcomings, like our inability to faithfully keep our pledges of commitment to one another.
God reveals in the Scriptures with beautiful metaphors the language of love between lovers/spouses. Love is a gift from God and from this book we learn that the joy of that love implanted by God in our beings can and ought to be expressed with delight. I must confess here that my way of expressing the deep love I have for my wife very often lacks the richness of expression found in this book and in the vast array of romantic literature—if I ever remember that it is so good to just hear the sweet words “I love you.”
The Song of Solomon is a compelling message of the beauty, the pleasure, and the joy of lovers/spouses’ love. Our lectionary reading describes that joyous feeling: “The voice of my beloved! Look, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag… My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away… The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come.”
But the Scriptures are encompassing and love is at the center of God’s revelation. God is love and we are challenged to love God and our neighbor. For that reason and consequently for generations these love poems have also been interpreted as a love dialog between Christ and the church or, as in the case of the monastic movement in the Middle Ages, the mystic spiritual yearning of the human soul for the Divine. Bernard of Clairvaux, the 12th century abbot wrote about the encounter with the “beloved”:
I could not perceive the exact moment of his arrival. He did not enter
by the senses, but whence did he come? Perhaps he did not
enter at all…. But I found him closer to me that I to myself. How
can I perceive his presence within me? It is full of life and efficacy
and no sooner has he entered than my sluggish soul is awakened.
He moves, and warms, and wounds my heart, hard and stony and
sick though it be. It is solely by the movement of my heart that I
understand that he is there and I realize the power of his action.
(Sermon 74:6) (http://www.baylor.edu/christianethics/MysticismArticleTucker.pdf)
The language of love found in the poems of the Song of Solomon is an invitation to enter into loving relationships with God, with spouses/lovers and with everyone else. Remember the Beatles’ song “All You Need Is Love?”
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - It's easy.
All you need is love… (John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
The words may sound simplistic; life is not that easy most of the time and love is very often so hard to come by. Yet, it is the beginning of all good things. And, most importantly, it is a gift from God that we all need and must share.
Our poem today describes three aspects of a relationship: the desire, the encounter, and the subsequent feeling of joy. First, the desire to be loved is so central to our being human—made in the image of God, that is. Don’t we all yearn for that love? And that yearning is so evident in the passage when the bride describes with anticipation the coming of her beloved. She can hear his voice and in her imagination he is eagerly coming to her encounter “leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills.” She describes him as a “gazelle” or a “young stag.”
Do we have that kind of desire for God’s loving relationship? We may not know it but we do. God loves us! Isn’t it expressed strong and clear in Paul’s statement: “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else… [Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?” God desires our love! And we have that yearning though we don’t know very often how to express it. Wouldn’t be great to have the same freedom that the 12th century monks had to use this language to express it?
Second, the bride and the groom in the passage experience an encounter, what both deeply desire. It is beautifully expressed in the images of places that are associated with good times. Spring is there; flowers are blooming; the vines are blossom, and the trees are bearing fruit. The perfect environment for the invitation: “Arise, my love… and come away.” We all have places we love and special moments we remember. And they are always associated with someone. Whether the tulip gardens of Paris down the Champs Elysees, or Sophie’s Café in Exeter, RI, or the kitchen at the home, these places are special because I share them with the love of my life.
God can be encountered everywhere and anywhere. The church is one special place—and that’s perhaps why we love it so much—where we can encounter God. And through worship, and singing, and prayers, we have been provided with the tools to express our yearning for God’s love and to experience that encounter. What an opportunity to share Bernard’s experience: “He moves, and warms, and wounds my heart… It is solely by the movement of my heart that I understand that he is there and I realize the power of his action.”
Third, throughout our lectionary passage we can sense the joy in the words of the bride and the groom. “Arise, come away…” The images also convey that deep joy of sharing good things. The passionate love that springs from the poem describes the beautiful feeling that love brings to the human heart. Joy is an anticipation of heaven; it is the feeling that everything is right; it is a feeling of comfort and happiness that we want to experience for ever.
We cannot ignore the sufferings and setbacks we come across in life. Many experience joy very seldom. But even if we don’t find joy very often, those moments are glimpses of what God desires to give us. When we desire God and when we seek an encounter with him, our joy is without equal. May be it is God the one who is inviting us with the words, “Arise my love… and come away!”
The language of love may not be easy to employ for many. After all, Yankees from Connecticut are not the only ones who are reserved about their feelings! Passionate, bold, and extemporaneous Latinos/as may have a hard time too to use explicit words of love too. But we know the world needs it. Lovers/spouses need it. It is a gift from God, who desires us, and invites us to desire him with love because we have the yearning.
A House of Prayer
Old Mystic, August 23, 2009
Psalms 84
Summary
Church buildings, temples, sanctuaries, and meeting places where Christians gather for worship, are a powerful symbol, an invitation, and an opportunity to engage God in conversation, a dialogue in which God delights.
Sermon
As my son in law once said while preaching, many of us are church “junkies.” I count myself among those people who enjoy watching, visiting, walking through, and spending a quiet time of worship in almost any church building. When Liliana became the Executive Minister of the ABC of Rhode Island, we spent quite some time driving around the state, taking pictures of as many Baptist churches as we could, and enjoying the different styles and sizes as well as pondering the richness of the history associated with those buildings. Among them, I find the experience of seeing the steeple of the First Baptist Church in America exhilarating. There is only a brief moment when it can be seen among the skyscrapers while driving through downtown Providence northbound on I-95. But there it is, majestic, still standing; a powerful witness to Baptist presence in the state and in the continent since 1638.
But my heart leaps with joy when driving on Shewville Road I OMBC. It is not just the beauty of this place with the memorial garden and the lush green of the landscape, the trees, and the bright colors of the flowers. It is that deep sense that I want to be in this place because it feels like home and it is the place where we gather to have a conversation with God whether we are conscious about it or not. We have a longing for the house of God because we have a longing for the Living God.
When we look at the 84th Psalm, we find that that longing translates into a prayer. It is an opening of the heart, a confession, a song, a moment of praise, of adoration, and of pleading. It is a conversation with God that becomes special within the temple when the people of God gather but that at the same time it is an ongoing dialogue—a dialogue that should never stop. It is a deep longing: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
The temple was for the people of Israel a house of prayer; a powerful symbol of God’s presence and at the same time a dwelling place for the Lord. They knew that the beautiful building could not contain Him yet they believed that the very presence of God was there in the Holy of Holies when the gathered for worship and prayer. There was a conversation with God in spite of the fact that in those days only priests could enter that sacred space. A conversation like the one that took place many years before when King Solomon inaugurated the temple and prayed saying, ““But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God… that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house... Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.”
The psalmist engages in a conversation with God that is a model and an invitation for us to follow. It begins with an expression of his desire for the relationship. “My heart and my flesh sing for joy for the Living God.” And he recognizes that this is special when he is in the “courts of the Lord.” If in any way we feel like him; if in any way we experience that desire, that longing for God; if in any way we have that spiritual hunger and that longing for the relationship with the Living God, we may be wondering what has happened to the church in America. Shouldn’t this place be packed? After all, aren’t we in this place to sustain this conversation with God? Isn’t everything we do, worship, singing, giving, serving, hugging, smiling, crying, done before the eyes of God and in conversation with him?
Prayer is a dialogue with God and it is perhaps the greatest human experience. It is a conversation that makes us feel at home. The Psalmist illustrates this point by describing how “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars.” Our experience of conversation with God is like our conversations at the kitchen table with our loved ones. They convey the feeling of being home; the experience of the familiar. They are like comfort food, like the hug of our parents, our siblings, and our children.
For that reason perhaps, prayer gives us that sense of protection; a feeling that everything will be all right. “Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.” When we can sustain a relationship with the Living God and enjoy a conversation with him we have that sense of protection we couldn’t possibly find anywhere else. And what a significant role the church plays! When two or three are gathered in his name God is in their midst and His presence is special and conveys us that feeling of being home.
For the Psalmist, the conversation is also an opportunity to plea. “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! 9Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.” Asking in prayer is something that we have learned quite well. In fact, for many of us, that is pretty much what prayer is all about: asking. There is no question; Jesus teaches us to ask for the things we need to the Father in his name. And so we do. To pray, however, it is not just stopping for a moment and making a short phone call to pass on a laundry list. Prayer is an ongoing conversation that becomes communal when we gather, yet it is a personal relationship with the Living God.
When we walk daily with God, when we seek such a close relationship, when we experience his presence, our ongoing conversation with the Living God is part of our journey. We are not alone no matter how lonely we feel; He is with us all the time, even in the overwhelming silence we often suffer from Him. The pledge of the Psalmist is unwavering: “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Our personal journeys may take us to many different places. We may experience being on top of the mount of the transfiguration contemplating the beauty of Jesus Christ or we may go through the valley of shadow and death. Life has its ups and downs; its struggles and its victories. Whatever our journey may take us we always have the opportunity to stay in conversation with God and we can always come home to the House of Prayer.
Prayer is also a channel through which we praise God and when we have a continuous and open conversation with him, words come naturally and freely to express our praise and adoration saying out loud what He means to us. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor.” “Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.” God gave us the gift of language and words, and in many cases even the ability to speak more than one language. Yet we are so often short of words to worship God. When I feel that way I resort to Scriptures and, in order to offer some words of praise, I am going to plagiarize Paul when he said, writing to the Romans—though I have to paraphrase these words so they speak directly to God: “Dear Lord, For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us (me) from your love in Christ Jesus our (my) Lord. Receive all praise, O my God!”
We are a church, we are a community of encounter and of dialogue; we are a people in conversation with the Living God. We have this lovely place to gather at least once a week. But the opportunity to engage in conversation with God, to have an open dialogue with him, and to experience his presence is through prayer and that is a constant gift. Let’s talk to God and with God and may He speak to us.
Psalms 84
Summary
Church buildings, temples, sanctuaries, and meeting places where Christians gather for worship, are a powerful symbol, an invitation, and an opportunity to engage God in conversation, a dialogue in which God delights.
Sermon
As my son in law once said while preaching, many of us are church “junkies.” I count myself among those people who enjoy watching, visiting, walking through, and spending a quiet time of worship in almost any church building. When Liliana became the Executive Minister of the ABC of Rhode Island, we spent quite some time driving around the state, taking pictures of as many Baptist churches as we could, and enjoying the different styles and sizes as well as pondering the richness of the history associated with those buildings. Among them, I find the experience of seeing the steeple of the First Baptist Church in America exhilarating. There is only a brief moment when it can be seen among the skyscrapers while driving through downtown Providence northbound on I-95. But there it is, majestic, still standing; a powerful witness to Baptist presence in the state and in the continent since 1638.
But my heart leaps with joy when driving on Shewville Road I OMBC. It is not just the beauty of this place with the memorial garden and the lush green of the landscape, the trees, and the bright colors of the flowers. It is that deep sense that I want to be in this place because it feels like home and it is the place where we gather to have a conversation with God whether we are conscious about it or not. We have a longing for the house of God because we have a longing for the Living God.
When we look at the 84th Psalm, we find that that longing translates into a prayer. It is an opening of the heart, a confession, a song, a moment of praise, of adoration, and of pleading. It is a conversation with God that becomes special within the temple when the people of God gather but that at the same time it is an ongoing dialogue—a dialogue that should never stop. It is a deep longing: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! 2My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”
The temple was for the people of Israel a house of prayer; a powerful symbol of God’s presence and at the same time a dwelling place for the Lord. They knew that the beautiful building could not contain Him yet they believed that the very presence of God was there in the Holy of Holies when the gathered for worship and prayer. There was a conversation with God in spite of the fact that in those days only priests could enter that sacred space. A conversation like the one that took place many years before when King Solomon inaugurated the temple and prayed saying, ““But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Regard your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God… that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house... Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling place; heed and forgive.”
The psalmist engages in a conversation with God that is a model and an invitation for us to follow. It begins with an expression of his desire for the relationship. “My heart and my flesh sing for joy for the Living God.” And he recognizes that this is special when he is in the “courts of the Lord.” If in any way we feel like him; if in any way we experience that desire, that longing for God; if in any way we have that spiritual hunger and that longing for the relationship with the Living God, we may be wondering what has happened to the church in America. Shouldn’t this place be packed? After all, aren’t we in this place to sustain this conversation with God? Isn’t everything we do, worship, singing, giving, serving, hugging, smiling, crying, done before the eyes of God and in conversation with him?
Prayer is a dialogue with God and it is perhaps the greatest human experience. It is a conversation that makes us feel at home. The Psalmist illustrates this point by describing how “Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars.” Our experience of conversation with God is like our conversations at the kitchen table with our loved ones. They convey the feeling of being home; the experience of the familiar. They are like comfort food, like the hug of our parents, our siblings, and our children.
For that reason perhaps, prayer gives us that sense of protection; a feeling that everything will be all right. “Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.” When we can sustain a relationship with the Living God and enjoy a conversation with him we have that sense of protection we couldn’t possibly find anywhere else. And what a significant role the church plays! When two or three are gathered in his name God is in their midst and His presence is special and conveys us that feeling of being home.
For the Psalmist, the conversation is also an opportunity to plea. “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! 9Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed.” Asking in prayer is something that we have learned quite well. In fact, for many of us, that is pretty much what prayer is all about: asking. There is no question; Jesus teaches us to ask for the things we need to the Father in his name. And so we do. To pray, however, it is not just stopping for a moment and making a short phone call to pass on a laundry list. Prayer is an ongoing conversation that becomes communal when we gather, yet it is a personal relationship with the Living God.
When we walk daily with God, when we seek such a close relationship, when we experience his presence, our ongoing conversation with the Living God is part of our journey. We are not alone no matter how lonely we feel; He is with us all the time, even in the overwhelming silence we often suffer from Him. The pledge of the Psalmist is unwavering: “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” Our personal journeys may take us to many different places. We may experience being on top of the mount of the transfiguration contemplating the beauty of Jesus Christ or we may go through the valley of shadow and death. Life has its ups and downs; its struggles and its victories. Whatever our journey may take us we always have the opportunity to stay in conversation with God and we can always come home to the House of Prayer.
Prayer is also a channel through which we praise God and when we have a continuous and open conversation with him, words come naturally and freely to express our praise and adoration saying out loud what He means to us. “For the Lord God is a sun and shield; he bestows favor and honor.” “Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.” God gave us the gift of language and words, and in many cases even the ability to speak more than one language. Yet we are so often short of words to worship God. When I feel that way I resort to Scriptures and, in order to offer some words of praise, I am going to plagiarize Paul when he said, writing to the Romans—though I have to paraphrase these words so they speak directly to God: “Dear Lord, For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us (me) from your love in Christ Jesus our (my) Lord. Receive all praise, O my God!”
We are a church, we are a community of encounter and of dialogue; we are a people in conversation with the Living God. We have this lovely place to gather at least once a week. But the opportunity to engage in conversation with God, to have an open dialogue with him, and to experience his presence is through prayer and that is a constant gift. Let’s talk to God and with God and may He speak to us.
Just a Taste of Bread
Old Mystic, August 9, 2009
John 6:35-51
Summary
Jesus reminds us that God draws us to him to grant us the most precious gift we have: the gift of life in a personal, permanent, and eternal relationship with the Living God.
Sermon
“Just a taste of bread” was what my friend Alejandro and I used to say on those mornings when we used to walk together to the bakery to buy the daily bread that was always fresh and very often warm, just out of the oven! Our bread tasting, needless to say, would consume a good chunk of our purchase and our bags would have one or two loaves missing by the time we got back home. It was tasty, it was a great thing to share with a friend, it was a moment of joy—a wonderful experience that portrays the beauty of life. And I can’t help to relate life with coffee or mate (South American Green Tea) and bread. In fact I often joke about “bakery” being one of my favorite words in the English language and I share the wisdom of those who in the morning ask the question, is there life before coffee?
In the gospel of John Jesus uses several metaphors, the so called “I am,” to stimulate our imagination, to teach us, to speak to our hearts, and to draw us near to him. In our passage today, he said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” And he makes this statement amid a controversy with the “Jews,” as it is described in the passage, though his opponents were not defined by racial or cultural traits but by their traditional religious stance that was being challenged by Jesus. This controversy has the usual sour taste of religious conflicts and the typical judgment that follows rejection—in this case Jesus’ rejection. There are those who are in and there are those who are out. This approach, however, would lead us to miss the point.
Jesus is God’s gift of life and it is a gift to take, to receive, and to embrace. None of us ignores the significance of bread as a symbol of life and the nourishment that sustains life. Jesus Christ is our life! We can deal, if we so desire, with some of the theological issues in the text. The incarnation, faith and rejection, eternal life and the resurrection of the dead, the bread as sacrament, and/or predestination may be some of the implicit themes in our passage. My focus, however, is about life, existence, our daily experience of being alive. And, again, God gives us that precious gift of life in Jesus who is the Bread of life, the Living Bread, the Bread that came down from heaven. It is the experience of having a daily relationship with the Living God.
Jesus’ invitation to believe is not just an invitation to accept an objective truth that has been eternally established and has become a dogma. We need not see it so much as an invitation to be saved from eternal damnation of which we are spared by Jesus’ work at the cross, but more as an invitation to walk and breathe, to laugh and cry, to rejoice and suffer, to work and play—in a few words, to live with him, in him, and for him. If we can have just a taste of the Bread of Life, our lives will never be the same!
Today’s passage, I suggest, brings forth three points about a life of experiencing the Living God. First, God is the giver of life in Christ. Life is a gift from God. Jesus himself declares, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.” Jesus is sent as the gift of life for us by God. It is God’s will for us to enjoy the life He grants.
We can discover the abundance of that life looking into God’s work and revelation. The revelation unveiled to us in the life and example of Jesus through the scriptures but also in what God discloses in His creation. We can “discover” God’s precious gift of life in the simplicity of the good things we enjoy daily. Life is exposed in the beauty of the world, the love of family and friends, the joy we experience in small victories and the overcoming our weaknesses. We must also acknowledge that life is hard and often plagued with thorns; that we have to go through the valley of death. Yet the traces of God’s abundant life can always be found when we have that desire to walk with him in Jesus Christ.
When we feel alone, like going through a desert, let us be reminded that God is the one that draws us to Jesus and to the gift of life. If at a certain point in our lives we suffer loneliness, or we believe we have lost our sense of meaning, or we are uncertain about the future, then it is time to savor a warm piece of bread fresh from the oven and be reminded that even those precious small things in life are a gift from a God who is ever present even when we don’t feel it. He is present and he wants to draw us to life.
Second, Jesus as the Living Bread is what sustains our lives. This could be over spiritualized. We could say that it has to do with the build up of our spiritual lives and, to certain extent, it might be true. At the same time, faith, at a very basic level, is what keeps us getting out of our beds every morning. Even if that faith is just the conviction that the sun will continue warming, that the world will keep on turning, and that we will have enough strength to stand up, walk, and fulfill our daily duties. Life granted by God is a life of wholeness in Christ, confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, and is life abundant both spiritual and material. And by faith we can experience that life.
As we look at life on this earth, Paul reminds us that “For now we see in a mirror, dimly… now we know only in part.” Yet, faith, hope, and love abide. Yes, they still abide, they can sustain us, and they are the foundation of our peace. In the precious gift of life granted by God, in the relationship with Christ, in that ineffable experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit, we find joy every day. We may have just a taste of what is to come but it can certainly encourage us to enjoy the ride.
Third, Jesus’ metaphor about the Bread of Life, reminds us that life with God is for here and now, not just for the future. Jesus says, “All who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” There seems to be a conflict of continuity and discontinuity in this statement. To speak of eternal life may be understood as living for ever and many were expecting the coming of the Messiah to establish an eternal earthly kingdom. On the other hand, the resurrection on the last day reflects the discontinuity of life; it betrays the deep gulf between the here and now and a hopeful future we can only imagine. We all have to grapple with the inevitability of death; however, the gift of life, of a life in a close relationship with the Living God is an invitation to continuity.
Life has begun and we have to live it here and now. We may ask questions about the future, the uncertainties beneath death, or what lies ahead both for the just and the wicked. We can be utterly concerned about the future. The point is, however, that God wants to relate to us now. And like the daily bread that sustains our bodies, Jesus Christ wants to walk with us closely, inviting us to enjoy every moment, and to live in his abundance.
We are living in an age where everything is open for discussion; where claims about the "truth" can be constantly challenged—to the point that the word cannot and must not be written with a capital t anymore—and our Christian truths are just another competing force in a market of ideas. It is in this particular climate that experiencing the Living God will sustain us and empower us. The world will not be transformed simply by our proclamation, or our careful theological articulations. A serious, deep, and committed relationship with the Living God and with others will make the difference. It is not about recipes to bake bread, or poetic descriptions about its taste; it is about really smelling, tasting, and eating the Bread of Life.
John 6:35-51
Summary
Jesus reminds us that God draws us to him to grant us the most precious gift we have: the gift of life in a personal, permanent, and eternal relationship with the Living God.
Sermon
“Just a taste of bread” was what my friend Alejandro and I used to say on those mornings when we used to walk together to the bakery to buy the daily bread that was always fresh and very often warm, just out of the oven! Our bread tasting, needless to say, would consume a good chunk of our purchase and our bags would have one or two loaves missing by the time we got back home. It was tasty, it was a great thing to share with a friend, it was a moment of joy—a wonderful experience that portrays the beauty of life. And I can’t help to relate life with coffee or mate (South American Green Tea) and bread. In fact I often joke about “bakery” being one of my favorite words in the English language and I share the wisdom of those who in the morning ask the question, is there life before coffee?
In the gospel of John Jesus uses several metaphors, the so called “I am,” to stimulate our imagination, to teach us, to speak to our hearts, and to draw us near to him. In our passage today, he said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” And he makes this statement amid a controversy with the “Jews,” as it is described in the passage, though his opponents were not defined by racial or cultural traits but by their traditional religious stance that was being challenged by Jesus. This controversy has the usual sour taste of religious conflicts and the typical judgment that follows rejection—in this case Jesus’ rejection. There are those who are in and there are those who are out. This approach, however, would lead us to miss the point.
Jesus is God’s gift of life and it is a gift to take, to receive, and to embrace. None of us ignores the significance of bread as a symbol of life and the nourishment that sustains life. Jesus Christ is our life! We can deal, if we so desire, with some of the theological issues in the text. The incarnation, faith and rejection, eternal life and the resurrection of the dead, the bread as sacrament, and/or predestination may be some of the implicit themes in our passage. My focus, however, is about life, existence, our daily experience of being alive. And, again, God gives us that precious gift of life in Jesus who is the Bread of life, the Living Bread, the Bread that came down from heaven. It is the experience of having a daily relationship with the Living God.
Jesus’ invitation to believe is not just an invitation to accept an objective truth that has been eternally established and has become a dogma. We need not see it so much as an invitation to be saved from eternal damnation of which we are spared by Jesus’ work at the cross, but more as an invitation to walk and breathe, to laugh and cry, to rejoice and suffer, to work and play—in a few words, to live with him, in him, and for him. If we can have just a taste of the Bread of Life, our lives will never be the same!
Today’s passage, I suggest, brings forth three points about a life of experiencing the Living God. First, God is the giver of life in Christ. Life is a gift from God. Jesus himself declares, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.” Jesus is sent as the gift of life for us by God. It is God’s will for us to enjoy the life He grants.
We can discover the abundance of that life looking into God’s work and revelation. The revelation unveiled to us in the life and example of Jesus through the scriptures but also in what God discloses in His creation. We can “discover” God’s precious gift of life in the simplicity of the good things we enjoy daily. Life is exposed in the beauty of the world, the love of family and friends, the joy we experience in small victories and the overcoming our weaknesses. We must also acknowledge that life is hard and often plagued with thorns; that we have to go through the valley of death. Yet the traces of God’s abundant life can always be found when we have that desire to walk with him in Jesus Christ.
When we feel alone, like going through a desert, let us be reminded that God is the one that draws us to Jesus and to the gift of life. If at a certain point in our lives we suffer loneliness, or we believe we have lost our sense of meaning, or we are uncertain about the future, then it is time to savor a warm piece of bread fresh from the oven and be reminded that even those precious small things in life are a gift from a God who is ever present even when we don’t feel it. He is present and he wants to draw us to life.
Second, Jesus as the Living Bread is what sustains our lives. This could be over spiritualized. We could say that it has to do with the build up of our spiritual lives and, to certain extent, it might be true. At the same time, faith, at a very basic level, is what keeps us getting out of our beds every morning. Even if that faith is just the conviction that the sun will continue warming, that the world will keep on turning, and that we will have enough strength to stand up, walk, and fulfill our daily duties. Life granted by God is a life of wholeness in Christ, confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, and is life abundant both spiritual and material. And by faith we can experience that life.
As we look at life on this earth, Paul reminds us that “For now we see in a mirror, dimly… now we know only in part.” Yet, faith, hope, and love abide. Yes, they still abide, they can sustain us, and they are the foundation of our peace. In the precious gift of life granted by God, in the relationship with Christ, in that ineffable experience of the presence of the Holy Spirit, we find joy every day. We may have just a taste of what is to come but it can certainly encourage us to enjoy the ride.
Third, Jesus’ metaphor about the Bread of Life, reminds us that life with God is for here and now, not just for the future. Jesus says, “All who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” There seems to be a conflict of continuity and discontinuity in this statement. To speak of eternal life may be understood as living for ever and many were expecting the coming of the Messiah to establish an eternal earthly kingdom. On the other hand, the resurrection on the last day reflects the discontinuity of life; it betrays the deep gulf between the here and now and a hopeful future we can only imagine. We all have to grapple with the inevitability of death; however, the gift of life, of a life in a close relationship with the Living God is an invitation to continuity.
Life has begun and we have to live it here and now. We may ask questions about the future, the uncertainties beneath death, or what lies ahead both for the just and the wicked. We can be utterly concerned about the future. The point is, however, that God wants to relate to us now. And like the daily bread that sustains our bodies, Jesus Christ wants to walk with us closely, inviting us to enjoy every moment, and to live in his abundance.
We are living in an age where everything is open for discussion; where claims about the "truth" can be constantly challenged—to the point that the word cannot and must not be written with a capital t anymore—and our Christian truths are just another competing force in a market of ideas. It is in this particular climate that experiencing the Living God will sustain us and empower us. The world will not be transformed simply by our proclamation, or our careful theological articulations. A serious, deep, and committed relationship with the Living God and with others will make the difference. It is not about recipes to bake bread, or poetic descriptions about its taste; it is about really smelling, tasting, and eating the Bread of Life.
About the Ministry
Old Mystic, August 2, 2009
Ephesians 4:1-13
Summary
The church is a community of face-to-face relationships, with unity and diversity, and a body that thrives in God’s call to serve one another in love with Jesus Christ at its center.
Sermon
Sometimes I feel a little awkward when I keep on pointing to the basics regarding what the church is all about. It is that familiar feeling that raises the question: am I preaching to the choir? After all, most of us who week after week continue to faithfully gather for worship, we have been around for quite a while. Those who serve, however, the so called “professional,” known also as the clergy, upon careful observation and study, have learned that for many reasons some folks may be a little confused about what the church essentially is. Some people see the church as a place to go where they are going to be taught a spiritual lesson, or entertained by a good preacher accompanied by fairly good contemporary music—in some cases, or simply a social club where the main stakeholders are good in putting up a good fight in the very usual human struggle for power. The local church has been institutionalized, structured, and turned into a corporation to the point that many believe that it could not exist without capital campaigns, endowments, professional staff, huge buildings and, of course, good consumers of the religious goods offered.
Do I sound negative? I do not mean to. The highly organized church, after all, is in many ways faithful to God’s call and to its mission and purpose, and accomplishes a great deal for God’s kingdom. But I must also say that unfortunately when membership dwindles, when funds diminish, and when buildings become a money pit, good church folks turn to a survival mode and mostly concentrate on keeping the machine running. They are more concerned in saving the institution that in doing mission or, in the words of the writer to the Ephesians, “the work of ministry.”
The letter to the Ephesians powerfully portrays through familiar and simple metaphors the beauty of that community that the church is. What we call the local congregation is depicted as a household where relationships are compared to the face-to-face bonds of a family, with the diversity of a community where ethnic and cultural barriers have been overcome by Christ, and with the essential ties of peace and love. This union of God and human beings, this God intended relationship through Jesus Christ is what church is all about. The church is the people! Furthermore, the church is people that have joined God to do what God wants to do in the world. In today’s passage, ministry is at the center—or at least that is my choice of emphasis; the work of ministry.
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people… The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Jesus’ redeeming work was not to save us from work but to put us to work! We were freed and given gifts for ministry; the church is about the ministry and, even when the list of jobs mentioned in verse 11 seems to be focused on specialized clergy, the call is for everyone to do the work of ministry; it is all about the ministry. And when we uncover the meaning of the word ministry in this context the opportunities become wide open: the work of ministry means service; serving one another in any way we can, with creativity, and in love.
Saints are no saints; just regular folks, forgiven, in a process of growth, and being equipped to do the work. So we are called! First of all, we are called to serve in unity. “You have been called, [to lead a life] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We all know how difficult is to have unity among Christians in this day and age and how elusive it has been throughout history. We have even failed in agreeing on how we disagree. We have learned that when it comes to theological, ethical, and ideological differences we can build huge walls of separation. What we think, what we believe, our ideas and our dogmas become stumbling blocks rather than the expression of our faith. We are called to action; to do, not just to think or believe. And the premise is clear: the bond of unity is peace and living life loving, with patience, humility, and gentleness.
When we meet real people, with needs, weaknesses, and going through our same sufferings, we begin to find much in common. And then we can do the work of ministry—serve one another to meet our mutual needs. Ministry could be as simple as shaking a hand, or giving a hug, or saying just a few words of encouragement. And this takes place when God is at the center and we have that unity in the Spirit.
Second, the writer to the Ephesians outlines ministries that have been recognized and achieved great esteem in the church as a possession of specially called men and women yet they are primarily granted to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” We are here to be nurtured, ministered, encouraged, inspired, moved, and pastored, but we are being trained to do the same. And the list of things we can do cannot be limited to those posted in the letter; those are just trainers. When we talk about being trained to serve the possibilities are without limit. Every human gift is also divine; as God’s creation we can attribute all of our abilities as a gift from God. Therefore, we can also use them creatively to serve others.
Third, the call is also a call to thrive; to flourish as a congregation and as individuals by serving and building a loving community in the bond of peace. “Until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” A mature congregation, with mature members is a missional church; not necessarily a large church or a megachurch—the mission of the church continues to be advanced by a myriad of small congregations that go beyond their walls, having overcome a survival mode, and into the world to serve with imagination—meeting the needs of those around them. To know Christ is to serve and by serving we grow in him!
We thrive when we serve. And we are called to thrive. Those who are struggling to barely maintain the structures run the risk of missing the point. A small church can thrive through the work of ministry—serving on another and the community where it is inserted. It just takes folks who rooted in Jesus Christ, united in the bond of peace, in love, and with gentleness and patience bearing one another’s burdens, receive and accept the call to serve; to serve in their own way, with simplicity, and with humility.
Ephesians 4:1-13
Summary
The church is a community of face-to-face relationships, with unity and diversity, and a body that thrives in God’s call to serve one another in love with Jesus Christ at its center.
Sermon
Sometimes I feel a little awkward when I keep on pointing to the basics regarding what the church is all about. It is that familiar feeling that raises the question: am I preaching to the choir? After all, most of us who week after week continue to faithfully gather for worship, we have been around for quite a while. Those who serve, however, the so called “professional,” known also as the clergy, upon careful observation and study, have learned that for many reasons some folks may be a little confused about what the church essentially is. Some people see the church as a place to go where they are going to be taught a spiritual lesson, or entertained by a good preacher accompanied by fairly good contemporary music—in some cases, or simply a social club where the main stakeholders are good in putting up a good fight in the very usual human struggle for power. The local church has been institutionalized, structured, and turned into a corporation to the point that many believe that it could not exist without capital campaigns, endowments, professional staff, huge buildings and, of course, good consumers of the religious goods offered.
Do I sound negative? I do not mean to. The highly organized church, after all, is in many ways faithful to God’s call and to its mission and purpose, and accomplishes a great deal for God’s kingdom. But I must also say that unfortunately when membership dwindles, when funds diminish, and when buildings become a money pit, good church folks turn to a survival mode and mostly concentrate on keeping the machine running. They are more concerned in saving the institution that in doing mission or, in the words of the writer to the Ephesians, “the work of ministry.”
The letter to the Ephesians powerfully portrays through familiar and simple metaphors the beauty of that community that the church is. What we call the local congregation is depicted as a household where relationships are compared to the face-to-face bonds of a family, with the diversity of a community where ethnic and cultural barriers have been overcome by Christ, and with the essential ties of peace and love. This union of God and human beings, this God intended relationship through Jesus Christ is what church is all about. The church is the people! Furthermore, the church is people that have joined God to do what God wants to do in the world. In today’s passage, ministry is at the center—or at least that is my choice of emphasis; the work of ministry.
“When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people… The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” Jesus’ redeeming work was not to save us from work but to put us to work! We were freed and given gifts for ministry; the church is about the ministry and, even when the list of jobs mentioned in verse 11 seems to be focused on specialized clergy, the call is for everyone to do the work of ministry; it is all about the ministry. And when we uncover the meaning of the word ministry in this context the opportunities become wide open: the work of ministry means service; serving one another in any way we can, with creativity, and in love.
Saints are no saints; just regular folks, forgiven, in a process of growth, and being equipped to do the work. So we are called! First of all, we are called to serve in unity. “You have been called, [to lead a life] with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We all know how difficult is to have unity among Christians in this day and age and how elusive it has been throughout history. We have even failed in agreeing on how we disagree. We have learned that when it comes to theological, ethical, and ideological differences we can build huge walls of separation. What we think, what we believe, our ideas and our dogmas become stumbling blocks rather than the expression of our faith. We are called to action; to do, not just to think or believe. And the premise is clear: the bond of unity is peace and living life loving, with patience, humility, and gentleness.
When we meet real people, with needs, weaknesses, and going through our same sufferings, we begin to find much in common. And then we can do the work of ministry—serve one another to meet our mutual needs. Ministry could be as simple as shaking a hand, or giving a hug, or saying just a few words of encouragement. And this takes place when God is at the center and we have that unity in the Spirit.
Second, the writer to the Ephesians outlines ministries that have been recognized and achieved great esteem in the church as a possession of specially called men and women yet they are primarily granted to “equip the saints for the work of ministry.” We are here to be nurtured, ministered, encouraged, inspired, moved, and pastored, but we are being trained to do the same. And the list of things we can do cannot be limited to those posted in the letter; those are just trainers. When we talk about being trained to serve the possibilities are without limit. Every human gift is also divine; as God’s creation we can attribute all of our abilities as a gift from God. Therefore, we can also use them creatively to serve others.
Third, the call is also a call to thrive; to flourish as a congregation and as individuals by serving and building a loving community in the bond of peace. “Until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” A mature congregation, with mature members is a missional church; not necessarily a large church or a megachurch—the mission of the church continues to be advanced by a myriad of small congregations that go beyond their walls, having overcome a survival mode, and into the world to serve with imagination—meeting the needs of those around them. To know Christ is to serve and by serving we grow in him!
We thrive when we serve. And we are called to thrive. Those who are struggling to barely maintain the structures run the risk of missing the point. A small church can thrive through the work of ministry—serving on another and the community where it is inserted. It just takes folks who rooted in Jesus Christ, united in the bond of peace, in love, and with gentleness and patience bearing one another’s burdens, receive and accept the call to serve; to serve in their own way, with simplicity, and with humility.
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