Sunday 12 August 2018

Trinity 12 - Bread for Life

For audio version click - https://soundcloud.com/anne-le-bas/trinity-11


John 6.35, 41-51, Ephesians 4.25-5.2, 1 Kings 19.4-8


Bread for Life
Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus was probably written during his time under house arrest in Rome between approximately 60—62 AD.  Whilst he wasn’t free to move it seems he was allowed to work, receive visitors and send out letters.
I don’t know the answer to this question but if we were to receive a letter to the church in Seal, aimed at correcting and guiding us, what do you think would be the subject matter? There’s no doubt that a lot of great things happen as a result of us coming together as a church, but we also know that there’s always new things to work on or things we could do better, maybe even things we should stop doing.
As a means of communication letters still have a place today. Apart from novelty value which separates them from emails and texts there’s a sense that greater warmth and consideration goes into them and that the nature of sending a piece of paper doesn’t expect an immediate response. After all we often don’t know the time of delivery and can’t request a read receipt. The pace of a letter often feels right to convey important things.
To receive a letter from someone when forcibly separated, who is caring for their wellbeing when imprisoned must have been humbling for the church members in Ephesus, and yet reassuring.
If we received letters telling us that Seal church gets a bit cold in the winter we’d probably think ‘and what are we supposed to do about it’ so it makes sense that Paul writes about matters he knows the people can change for the better.
Parts of Paul’s letters will have been general in their teaching but part will also have been specific, based upon information received from his sources. We would imagine that there must have been some specific problem for Paul to write ‘thieves must give up stealing’ as surely people already knew this to be wrong. The point is that God given energy and skill is being misused and destroying trust in the community, an obvious better use of energy would be to do an honest day’s work and then share something earnt with those in greater need.
Having preached here regularly for almost 17 years now I often sense that I’m saying the same basic message over and again with little new to add, and this is almost certainly true as we see the love of God in Christ manifest itself in so many ways. Yet, hopefully much that we already know causes us to reflect in different contexts and things we know to be true and good become more easily recognisable in others.
The mutual support, sharing of insights and doubts enables us to learn and move forward but there’s also a time and place simply to say what we already know because it is good to hear it articulated and sometimes just to act in a way we know to be right. Some obvious things insult our intelligence such as a road sign in America which said ‘Caution road may be wet when it rains’ but being told that we are loved by God and that he wants us to love one another does need reinforcement as we don’t seem like we are always responding to this. There’s a sense of some of this in Paul’s letters. Sometimes something needs wholesale correction but often it’s about nudging people back onto the right course, reminding them how they should respond, minimising the words and actions that end up wasting time which could have been spent on far better things.
In a general sense Paul seems to be reminding the church body that they each belong to the other in that they share a common purpose and belief and that this should be reflected in their relationships and behaviour toward each other. One constant of a Christian life is to try and keep heading in the right direction. I’m reminded of this each time Anne asks godparents of those being baptised are you heading in the right direction, basically are you looking for good and light? None of us can ever live up to the standards we would like but as mature Christians it is for us to think about and on occasion even lead as to what that direction is rather than follow others unquestioningly. It’s for us to think whether we are making easy, lazy or even selfish choices at times.
Paul’s shows us that sound advice based upon an understanding of God doesn’t have to be complicated. As someone once said ‘last night I ate at an authentic family restaurant, every table had an argument going on.’ Paul knows that despite our best efforts we will argue and get fed up with each other at times, his advice is not to let these things fester, not to let the sun go down, without reflecting and seeking to resolve these things. Otherwise this makes room for disputes to escalate and plans for vengeance to be formed when God wants to see forgiveness and reconciliation.
When we start to join all these things together they offer potential for every one of us to give a glimpse of God’s grace to others.
Our 1st Kings reading for today will mean most to anyone who has ever felt that they have done all they can, that they are worn down, have reached the point of despair and are unsure whether they can carry on. Elijah is at an all-time low as he sits under a tree and asks God to let him die. He has defeated the false prophets of Baal but has been running for his life after the evil queen Jezebel ordered him to be killed.
God sends an angel to feed him bread baked on a stone and a jar of water, making himself real in Elijah’s time of deepest need. I’ve known it myself and others have told me of their sense that sometimes when we are at our saddest, our lowest there can be a sense that God is suffering with us, the food metaphor seems relevant again as he comes alongside and says ‘take, eat,’ it doesn’t necessarily make everything well again but it may be just enough sustenance at that time to continue on life’s journey when we felt like giving up.
The theme of food and feeding continues in John’s gospel where immediately before today’s reading we would find the account of Jesus feeding 5000 people. So straight after this he is now contrasting literal bread with spiritual nourishment for eternity, pointing out that the same God that provided manna in the wilderness for the Jews ancestors has made himself flesh in Jesus Christ.
Unsurprisingly this doesn’t go down well with the Judeans complaining like their ancestors did in the wilderness, refusing to accept what Jesus says because he is a known quantity to them, nothing like a great Messiah that fits their agenda, just a humble man whose family they know.
It’s the first of Jesus ‘I am ‘sayings “I am the bread of life.” Jesus makes it clear that he is offering eternal life with God as he contrasts bread that sustains us daily though eventually we still die, with bread which if we accept it, we will not die saying that ‘the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’  
When I was young I spent a couple of summers as a labourer and tea maker at the Buckingham Palace Garden Parties. I’d unload thousands of cakes from the lorries and make tea in huge vats which was then decanted into little silver tea pots for the guests on the other side. Sometime later I was invited as a guest and whilst I gratefully accepted I also knew that around 30,000 people attended each year. When I bumped into someone I knew, whilst he didn’t quite say it, I could tell that he wondered how someone like me had managed to secure an invitation, as if it devalued his own. The fact is that a wide spectrum of people attend such events so if anyone has a sense of privilege at being invited they are in for a disappointment.
It’s something we need to consider when we accept the bread of life. The invitation has been thrown out to all and we know full well that Jesus wasn’t too choosy who he ate with, dining with rich , poor, sinners and outcasts. There is no first class lounge or executive dining area. No doubt Paul has some of this in mind in his advice to the Ephesians, aimed at equipping church members to live in community with people they might not otherwise choose, something they had better get used to if they are serious about following Jesus.
Here’s one last thought about something we do often. We understand that Jesus offers us a life with him for eternity which we are already living, here, today, now, even though we may have to remind ourselves sometimes. One such opportunity to do this is as we share communion. It draws together our historical understanding of Jesus with all he has done for us and at the same time, fuses it together with the living presence of Christ crucified, the risen Christ. Christ from the past, Christ for today and Christ for the future, brought together in living bread.


Amen
Kevin Bright

12th August 2018





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