The Bread of Life John 6: 26-35
In 1848, in the Shaker community of Alfred, Maine, Elder Joseph Brackett penned the following words to "Simple Gifts".
'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
Along with our gospel lesson today, the message is short and simple. In the Gospel, one of the most unadorned, yet most promise-full teachings is given: Jesus explained to them and to us: “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry; no one who believes in me will be thirsty.” It doesn’t get any more unpretentious than that. Jesus, in His direct, way “cuts to the chase” for us, helps us set our priorities for our lives and the life of His church, including this church. That’s it, my friends—that’s all there is to it and hundreds of years later, we’re still looking for more, still trying to make the simplest teaching ever taught, theologically paradoxical, organizationally complex, and institutionally confounding. It reminds me of the very old story, you may have heard it, when the father and son are riding along in a car. The 5-Year-old child says, “Daddy, I get the part about our new baby being in mommy’s tummy, but I don’t understand how it got there.” Dad hmm’s and haws, tries various nonsensical explanations, until finally the boy says, “It’s ok, Daddy, you don’t have to make it up if you don’t know!” And it would sometimes seem that we are so uncomfortable with sharing the simple truth of it all, that we appear to be “making it up”.
The Shaker hymn links simplicity and freedom as special and unique gifts. This stripping away all the unnecessary trappings, both physical and spiritual, allows us to bask in the joy of what really matters. Our understanding of the true gift of simplicity and freedom leads us to the place where we ought to be…”the valley of love and delight”. I find myself wandering into the valley of love and delight and looking to see if “church” is found there--Church large or church small, and more importantly, this church? For many of us and for many good reasons, “church” carries a very complex negativity in our scarred emotional psyches. From those institutions of shaming and rejection, we turned away. But because of this church or some other welcoming community, we, nevertheless found this “valley of love and delight” when our focus stays on the simple, blessed message of Jesus.
My friends, this is such a time as requires simplicity—the truth found in this simple and clear statement of Jesus needs no doctrinal development, no theological extrapolation—it just is. In a world where hatred and discrimination against us and other disenfranchised people runs rampant, we miss what Jesus is saying to us—that He is the source and power of everything that we need to stand in the face of injustice—to create a sanctuary for all the hated, the “less than”, the different. He is the “bread of life”—all our hunger and thirst for self-acceptance and love by others is satisfied in Him. There are many of us, here in this room, who know the blessed truth of all that Jesus has to offer.
| What then, do we need to do? First, to share and embody the love of Jesus Christ, we must allow ourselves to experience it for ourselves. Are you among those still hungering and thirsting for more even after you have come to Jesus? Many of us are. I invite you to make the journey again, look for the places in your heart that you have closed off, that you keep private—somehow believing that those parts are immune to the movement of the Holy Spirit in every nook and cranny of your soul. And in this journey, I invite you to be simple—to seek simple truths-- in the teachings of Jesus. A foundational process is this and probably not, as some faith traditions would insist, a one-time event. I know for myself, that there is a constant seeking for more truth, but that subsequent seeking takes place in the midst of an essential ‘fullness’—a primitive, if you will, knowledge that everything that I need is satisfied by Him who is the Bread of Life. Secondly, when I speak of the urgency of the message, I am not speaking of the same urgency of the early church or even of contemporary preachers who preach that Jesus is coming back soon. We know that Paul and many early followers of Jesus believed that He was returning to the earth momentarily. This has absolutely no effect on the urgency of the message. What matters most is this: few of us came to this place without experiencing the doubt, fear, and shame that the rest of the world bequeathed to us. But we know the truth—Jesus said, I am the bread of life—the fullness of life-- I will feed you and my people will feed you, you will not hunger or thirst again—not for acceptance, or love, or belonging. The amazing thing to me (and I place myself squarely in the same place as all of us) is that we can know this fullness and peace and keep it to ourselves. The actions of Jesus’ early followers clearly demonstrate that His message was not meant for us to keep to ourselves. And yet we do. Much energy goes into conversations about church growth. And almost everyone has a different answer. Kinda reminds me of old minister story—Seems a traveling evangelist came into town. The preacher, upon arriving in a small town to be guest speaker at a local church, wanted to mail a letter to his family back home. He stopped a young boy on a bike and asked him where the post office was. The boy gave him directions, and the preacher thanked him. "If you come to church this evening," the preacher said, "I'll tell you how to get to heaven." "I don't think I'll be there," the boy said. "You don't even know your way to the post office." Sometimes it seems like we Christians “don’t even know our way to the post office” when it comes to building up the body of Christ. And we certainly don’t often agree. In spite of all the differences, most all church consultants agree that we must have a way for every person—oldtimer or newcomer—who walks through this door to become involved—a special place of belonging to increase opportunities for significant engagement in our mission. Whether those opportunities are ministry teams, Bible study and prayer groups or develop from a new incarnation of an old idea, we must explore ways to increase those opportunities for people to become meaningfully involved. This will mean that we will need to enter into multiple conversations around what that might look like at Open Circle today. We may borrow from the past as well as make bold strides into the future. What avenues, as yet unexplored, exist to bring this “body of Christ”—from trusting member or wary newcomer—to inclusive and embracing circles of welcome. One of the greatest teachers of simplicity in our own time, Mother Teresa, gave us this brief lesson on working together. She said, “You can do what I cannot do, I can do what you cannot do. Together we can do great things.” The message is simple, the call is loud, and the need is great. And, “together we can do great things!” We live in a time of turmoil, adversity, and challenge—it is time! Church developer, Dave Browning, challenges the church to engage in what he calls “what if” thinking. And, I want to challenge us to do these great things together, to move beyond “if only” thinking to “what if” celebrations of what God is willing to do in our midst. If only we had more people, more space, more money, more leaders turns into what if we allowed God to work all the miracles that are waiting for Open Circle MCC, here and now? What if we open ourselves to new ideas, or old ideas whose time has come again? What if we all become a part of those great things we can do together here at Open Circle and beyond. I want you to know I am prepared to do the work, lay the foundation, and share the news. I hope you are, too. Let us move boldly and proudly into the light of mission and welcome. Jesus is pointing the way, and He waits for us to follow. Amen and Amen! |
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