The Reading—1 Peter 2: 1-5
Therefore, get rid of all ill will and all deceit, pretense, envy, and slander. Instead, like a newborn baby, desire the pure milk of the word. Nourished by it, you will grow into salvation, since you have tasted that the Lord is good. Now you are coming to Him as to a living stone. Even though this stone was rejected by humans, from God’s perspective it is chosen, valuable. You yourselves are being built like living stones into a spiritual temple. You are being made into a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
The Gospel Reading: Mark 8: 14-21
Jesus’ disciples had forgotten to bring any bread, so they had only one loaf with them in the boat. He gave them strict orders: “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees as well as the yeast of Herod.” The disciples discussed this among themselves. “He said this because we have no bread.” Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “Why are you talking about the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you grasp what has happened? Don’t you understand? Are your hearts so resistant to what God is doing? Don’t you have eyes? Why can’t you hear? Don’t you remember? When I broke five loaves of bread for those five thousand people, how many baskets full of leftovers did you gather?’ They answered, “twelve”. And when I broke seven loaves of bread for those four thousand people, how many baskets full of leftovers did you gather?” They answered, “Seven”. Jesus said to them, “and you still don’t understand?”
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God, bring us to a place where we come as your people, loving what you command and desiring what you promise. May we look beyond the challenges of this world and fix our hearts and minds on you. May my words and all our thoughts bring you glory. Amen
Our Gospel lesson today ends with very sad words—“and still you don’t understand”. How sad and frustrated it must have made Jesus that those walking and working closest to him had such difficulties understanding his teachings. How sad he must be today that many of those who claim a special relationship with him are unable to see beyond their own prejudices and preferences to what Jesus was and is up to in this world. But, wait, I get ahead of myself.
June is historically PRIDE month in the US. And right now, as we are gathering to worship, literally hundreds of thousands of LGBT folks and their parents, children, and friends are gathering to march in NYC Pride. One day this week I allowed myself to skim through the online version of the Pride Guide and remember all the NYC Prides that I attended. I imagine many of you share those memories. It’s an amazing place to be—completely and totally so enveloped in the culture and heritage of pride in who and what we are that it’s almost possible—for a brief period of time—to see what the world could be like if discrimination were finished and all Christians stood up for what is right. As I was looking at the Pride Guide, the full-color magazine that is produced for the event, I ran across an ad that evoked a strange mix of feelings. The New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church ran this advertisement in this year’s Pride Guide: “The NY Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church welcomes all people including LGBT people. We want members of the LGBT community to know that we do not share our denomination’s belief that ‘homosexuality is inconsistent with Christian teachings’ and we are deeply sorry for the harm that this belief has caused. We are working within the United Methodist Church to change its prejudiced policies.” It is signed by 12 United Methodist Churches in the NYC area. I’m proud of those 12 churches and I think Jesus is, too.
And on this Pride Sunday I choose to take hope in what those 12 churches have done rather than get mired down in the hopelessness that comes with the thought “things will never change”. These 12 churches have chosen to take what Jesus said seriously, and their courage can lead the way for other churches and whole denominations. Courage such as this is in line with our Gospel lesson. The disciples, foolishly thinking that Jesus is chiding them for forgetting the bread miss his whole point about the Pharisees and Herod. We must not miss that point, not today, not any day. When speaking of Herod’s “leaven”, Jesus speaks volumes and I leave it to you to make your own connections. But, Herod and his followers were a political party. They opposed Jesus and his teachings, because they, unlike the disciples, did grasp the social and political aspects of what Jesus was saying. His message of radical acceptance and love for the neighbor did not fit with their political ambitions. Jesus is warning of the danger of using religious power to gain political power. Often aligned with the Sadducees and Pharisees, they were invested in keeping the status quo intact. The “leaven” of the Pharisees is even more obvious as Jesus often spoke against religious hypocrisy, and the damage that it does to the Kingdom of God’s justice and peace.
Nevertheless, the disciples can’t see beyond the everyday nature of bread. This story of Jesus and his disciples in the boat tells us much about what is behind the everyday. For in Jesus’ parables and teaching, the everyday examples always pointed to something deeper, something more profound for those who could see beyond mere words. Jesus calls us to just a place where we can energize the everyday by realizing its greater significance. And on this celebration of Pride, we find hope and promise by doing just that.
The “bread” of which Jesus speaks is that teaching which brings us in line with living our everyday life in consonance with God’s Kingdom. When in consonance, we are in right relationship with God, with others, with self, and with all of creation. The “leaven” of Herod and the Pharisees represents anything that is in dissonance or dilutes the message of God’s reign of justice. Even though Jesus reminded them of the miraculous multiplication of bread just a day ago, the disciples forget and are confused again. So what to do? How should we then seek the energy behind and within the everyday?
It is obvious that this sermon is not just about celebrating Pride Sunday. In some ways it is about the opposite. For, if the teachings of Christ were allowed to change the world, the need to celebrate Pride might well cease to exist other than to celebrate our heritage of struggle and progress. But our advertisement from the United Methodists in New York reminds us that we are not there yet. What is so hard about what Jesus calls us to; and, how in the world do we get there? In Peter’s letter to the Christian churches, he has much to share on these questions. The writer of these letters is believed to be Simon Peter, the same Peter who was a church planter, par excellence. His call to spiritual formation and growth is a clear path to energizing our everyday experience of Christ by exploring all that we are called to be. This brief passage is full of energy and forward movement into relationship. It begins with people who are estranged from God and ends, in just a few short lines, with people whose relationship with God is so special that Peter calls them and calls us, a “holy priesthood”. This short little call to discipleship says it all and says it powerfully.
We come to this passage from our everyday lives—those same lives that are about to be transformed by our participation in our own salvation. We begin with where we are—with those things we are to leave behind. Peter says, “get rid of it”—ill will (our inability to put the desires of others above our own), deceit and pretense (our failure to take seriously the nature of transformation), envy (our inability to celebrate the success and prosperity of others when we do not feel successful or prosperous), and slander (our constant need to put others down or simply fail to lift them up in the eyes of others). Peter calls us to a fresh start—like a newborn baby—we desire only the “pure milk”, Peter says, of the Word of God. Interestingly, Peter promises us that we will be nourished by the Word, by the hearing and practicing the Word; and, that in that nourishment we will grow into salvation. Peter is not talking to beginners in the faith, although beginners can certainly learn from all that Peter says. Peter is talking to those who have already “tasted that the Lord is good.” Peter is talking to those Christians, like us, who want more of God—who want to understand the deeper things of God—who want to energize their everyday relationship with God. We are coming to Christ as to a “living stone”, at once alive and capable of growth, and at the same time, solid and worthy of foundation. And, now, Peter is clear about whom he is talking. This Living Stone was rejected by humankind, but from God’s perspective the Stone, Christ, is chosen and to be treasured. Peter tells us that we are similar to this Living Stone, because as we are nourished by the Word, through God’s presence, we are “being built like living stones into a spiritual temple”.
We are not just everyday people—we are being made into a holy priesthood—holy ones whose very lives become living spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. As we seek to find the deeper message, a message that is hidden from those who have no desire to change or to grow, our everyday lives in Christ become energized, new. We are becoming a spiritual temple, made up of living stones, transformed by Christ himself. And, all these living stones make up the temple, the house of God. We are called together to be the house of God whether we meet in room, or house, or barn, or field. And we are never full-grown—our everyday lives constantly changing and transforming as we taste anew each moment of the goodness of God in word and sacrament. Our relationship with God and others is intricately and wonderfully composed of living stones, both individual and, together we become corporate—we are community in right relationship. And, this, my friends, is the in-breaking of God’s reign of justice. This is what will make it possible for all people in all places, and at all times, to lay claim to the call to be God’s spiritual temple.
And so on this day, Pride Sunday, I may reminisce about Pride Sundays in years gone by, years when HIV/AIDS forced itself upon us, years when laws were passed and years when we simply found ourselves at Pride because that’s where you went on the last Sunday in June, the real challenge is to stay focused on today by allowing, no, welcoming, God into this spiritual temple and committing ourselves to being the best representation of God’s kingdom here on earth. In this way, we can invite all those who hunger to taste of God’s transforming and sustaining Word; to a place of transformation, a people of power, and everyday lives so energized by God’s Holy Spirit that the message of God’s unconditional love cannot be missed. Amen and amen.
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