Welcome to this gorgeous morning!

And on this beautiful day:
We get to hear about our favorite topic:
SIN.
And FIRE.
And tearing, and breaking:
And worms and hell.
Lot’s of scary stuff.

But more precisely than that:
Three of today’s readings discuss the particular sin of selfishness and jealousy:
What I like to call:
The tale as old as time.

This tale:
This sin of selfishness and jealousy is even older than Moses.

But for today:
Let’s start there.

In today’s first lesson:
Moses is mad at the Israelites:
And he cries out to God Saying:
“Why have you treated ME: Your servant so badly?
That you lay the burden of all these people on me?”

He even goes so far to scream at God:
“If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once!”

We see Moses today, not as the brave, fearless leader we’ve come to remember
him as.
Instead, we see him as the real struggling human that he actually was.

Someone who is so frustrated, that he’s ready to totally give up.
And God’s response is pretty amazing.
God has Moses gather the elders:
So that the responsibility can be shared with others:
Not falling on Moses alone.

But that classic tale as old as time:
The sin of jealousy and selfishness takes over.

And these elders become jealous of one another:
Particularly of these two named Eldad and Medad.

The elders say of these two: “Who let them into our club?”
And Moses in his frustration basically says “Don’t be jealous!! We should want
everyone to be prophets of God!!”

God tries to spread out the work:
So that one person isn’t doing it alone:
And its met with anger:
Because some people don’t want OTHER people to be able to do God’s work.
Some people think that only THEY are good enough to do this work.

The sin of selfishness, (or even self-righteousness) It’s a tale as old as time.
And that’s not all.

In the New Testament reading today,

James let’s his readers (and us) know that God alone is the one who is ultimately in
charge.
The community he’s writing to were participating in that very same sin:
That tale as old as time.

They were planning their lives to suit themselves:
Regardless of how their lives affected others.

That same sense of selfishness continues long after Moses.
James says:
“Do not speak evil against one another…do not judge others.”

He warns them that riches will rot and that the poor will cry out against any of
those who would harm them.
Someone who knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it, commits a sin.
In vivid detail: James’ words should make us squirm:
Because he points to this real human reality that we have all experienced:
That tale as old as time:
The sin of selfishness.

And then finally:

When we think we’ve heard quite enough:
We hear Jesus speak some scary words:
About fire, and hell, cutting off body parts.

Today’s Gospel reading starts in a VERY similar way that the Old Testament story
ended.
A member of the “inner circle” or “the club”
Was upset because someone outside that circle was also able to use one of God’s
gifts,
And supposedly:
without the “right” credentials.

The tale as old as time:
Someone who is selfish and jealous of someone else (who is working for Good and
for God!)

Both Moses and Jesus were faced with the same problem:
Their followers just didn’t get it.
They didn’t get that what was offered to them:
Is offered to everyone.
That it wasn’t an exclusive club.

What the people in Moses’ time,
The people in James’ time,
And the people in Jesus’ time didn’t get:
was what it means to be a part of the “people of God.”

And that means shedding that tale as old as time:
The sin of selfishness and jealousy:
Looking toward God and neighbor:
And not toward yourself.

In last week’s Gospel,
Jesus picked up a little child and said,
“whoever welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me;
And anyone who welcomes me, welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

Today, it might strike us as a charming thing for Jesus to do when he uses a child
as an image:
In that age, though, it was remarkable.

In Jesus’ time, Children had no status at all.
They represented the lowest of the low:

Not only the materially poor:
But the spiritually poor as well.

And here Jesus was forcing the adults to rearrange their thinking.
He was forcing them to understand that unless they allowed themselves to go back
to being as simple and innocent as children:
Unless they began to accept ALL of God’s people as part of their community:
Unless they began to live as if they really understood that the kingdom of God was
in their midst,
They were in danger of falling into serious sin.

But we don’t really want to talk about sin, do we?
It’s distasteful to us:
So we tend to ignore it.
But… It’s PART of us:
It’s the Tale as old as time.

And if we ignore it, we’re kidding ourselves.
So what do we do?

What can we learn from the lessons we have heard today?

Moses, James, and Jesus were all dealing with a disgruntled and ungrateful people:
People engaged in the sins of pride, elitism, Selfishness, and jealousy.

We can, as Jesus says, “Become like little children.”
Children: who are certainly not perfect:
Who stumble along and make mistakes,
but are generally open enough to learn more about the world and how to walk
around in it.

You know:
Like preschoolers:
Who see a new kid at the park:
A kid who might look very different from them.
And say “Hi! Want to play with me?”

We too can become like little children:
We can flip the script on that tale as old as time:
Those human tendencies toward selfishness and jealousy:
And thereby create the kingdom of God that is already among us.
Where whoever wants to step through the doors are welcomed:
And the sins of selfishness and jealousy are swept away.

Let’s re-write the tale as old as time:
The tale that God first intended when the world was created:
Where all are welcome:
All are beloved:
And the human tendency toward pride, jealousy, and selfishness, fade away.
Amen.

Fr. Wilson encourages us to read the whole book of Mark in one sitting, its more powerful that way!

A number of years ago,
Nicolas Sparks wrote a book called the Notebook.
Its popularity increased as it was adapted for a movie.

The story is a love story:
About a couple—with the wife dealing with Alzheimer’s disease.
She lives in a care facility, and her husband visits her regularly:
Always with a notebook in hand.

The husband reads from his notebook:
A series of flashbacks:
From when they were young:
Reading their love story over and over again:
In the hopes that his wife will remember some of it.

Many can relate to this story.
The love story.
Or even those who have loved ones with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

The wife in the story does not remember who she is,
And so the husband reminds her over and over again.
He tells her who she is, and who they are together.

Their story is important, not only to her, but to him.
It gives them meaning and purpose in the midst of tragedy.

How often do we need to be reminded of our own stories?
As we continue to grow and change as people faced with a variety of
circumstances:
We can lose sight of our true selves:
And we need to be reminded of who we really are.

In today’s Gospel: We hear a lot of things that we hear in the season of lent:
Actually, this is the same story that we heard on the 2 nd Sunday of Lent this year.

Jesus tells his disciples that he must suffer.
Then he will be killed.
And after three days, rise from the dead.

Jesus knows his own story,
And he does not make excuses about it.
In fact, Mark tells us that:
“He said all this quite openly.”

Jesus understood his belonging in God’s story:
And all that that would mean.

Later, Jesus says to his disciples:

“If any want to become my followers,
Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
For those who want to save their life will lose it,
And those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save
it.
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”

Jesus is Basically asking:
“Why would people gain the whole world, but lose their lives?
What will people give in exchange for their lives?”

One biblical translation called “The message” puts it in this way:
What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you:
The REAL you?
What could you ever trade your soul for?”

Jesus wants to know our stories:
Wants our stories to be a part of HIS story.
And the answers to these questions reveal who we truly are:
And what we believe about our stories and identities.

The answers to those questions also reveal who we believe Jesus is.
Do we believe in the story that he tells?
The Jesus that Peter says is the Messiah?
Do we believe in the Jesus that will be rejected by so many:

And left to die on a cross, only to be resurrected?

Do we really believe all of these stories?
Do we believe in the ministry of suffering and self-sacrifice?

It’s a tough one.
Either Jesus is crazy:
A con man:
OR:
What he says is TRUE.

In your own life:
If Jesus were to look at you and ask,
“Who do you say that I am?”
How would you respond?
If someone were to ask you who you are:
What story would you tell?

One could interpret Jesus’ words today as saying:
“Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.
Don’t run from suffering. Follow me, and I’ll show you.”
“Don’t set your mind on merely human things:
Follow me: And I’ll show you the Divine things that are a part of you.”

This is a different message than what we hear from the world around us:
And even from our human nature that seeks to avoid pain at all costs.

God is calling us into a different way:
To be a part of a different story than the one the world is telling us.
The same is happening in the book of James today:
When James warns us about the words we speak:
How damaging our words can be if we’re not careful.

And that what we say: And HOW we say it:
Reflects our faith:
And ultimately, our very self.
What we say:
Reflects WHO we are.

God is asking us to offer our whole selves:
Our time, our talents, our treasures:
And especially our sufferings.
And to trust that we will be led into a more meaningful life than what we could
come up with ourselves.

Flannery O’Connor, An American writer put it this way:
“Just being who you are, not justifying or apologizing
it sounds so easy.
It’s a life work not to get caught in producing, performing, proving:

keeping accounts of indebtedness,
waiting for gratitude, reward, ambition:
manipulation, staggering self-pity.
but cultivating: the habit of being.”

It is cultivating a habit of being:
There’s that word again!
CULTIVATE.
It’s cultivating a habit of being:
That tells God’s story:
And Hearing it echo in our own.

It’s cultivating a habit of being:
That is able to just be:
To be where we are:
In all joy, in all suffering.

It’s cultivating a habit of being:
To be not only who we are called to be:
But to remember who we really ARE.

And like the couple in The Notebook,
May we remind each other of God’s story:
God’s LOVE story to us:

And to the whole entire world.
May we remember the love story that isn’t even over yet:
The story that is ongoing:

And even when we lose our way:
To have the courage to keep writing the story:
Bit by bit:
As we remember who we really are.
Amen.

Today we see a very determined mother.
An unnamed mother:
And an unnamed daughter:
Silent—nameless—faceless--
Like many of the suffering in this world.

And this woman:
This mother: would do anything:
Whatever it takes to help her sick child:

She even went so far as to break the taboos against women speaking to men in
public
And not only that:
But also of a GENTILE speaking to a rabbi and making a request.
This mother will get in someone’s face:
Even JESUS’ face: To help her child.

At this point in Mark’s story:
Jesus has been running around like crazy:
Feeding and healing people who are Jewish.

And when he gets to this town:

He’s got to be pretty tired.

Mark tells us he was trying to get away:
Trying to stay hidden.
He needed a break.

“Yet he could not escape notice.”
This woman seeks him out:
Begging him to help her daughter.
And his response to her is harsh:
As Jesus tries to brush her off, he says:
“Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw
it to the dogs.”

In Jesus’ time, Dogs were not beloved pets:
They were undomesticated, dirty scavengers.
Jesus is calling the Jews the children:
And he calls this woman:
This non-Jew:
A Dog.
A dirty, filthy insult.

It’s hard to imagine.
It doesn’t sound like Jesus.
It’s troubling.

And throughout the years:
People have come up with thousands of explanations:
Trying to put a positive spin on it.

Was Jesus just tired and cranky?
Was he testing this woman’s faith?
Is this where we see that Jesus really is HUMAN?
We could speculate ALL day about what’s up with Jesus in this story.
And regardless:
This story is uncomfortable.

There’s no way to really know what’s up with Jesus’ first words to this woman:
When he calls her a dog.

But Jesus calling the woman a dog is not the end of the story.
The woman doesn’t back off:
And Jesus doesn’t walk away from her.

This mother: Doesn’t miss a beat:
She does not care what Jesus says to her.
The insult doesn’t stop her.
She is NOT going to give up.
She will NOT take “No” for an answer.

And she sees the same discomfort at Jesus’ words that we see:
And so she gives it back to him.

“But sir,” She answers,
“even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

There’s enough bread for her daughter to at least have some crumbs.
It’s an interesting response:
And kind of a paradox, because It’s humble, yet biting…
She wont give up:
But she’ll settle for some crumbs.
And she knows that the crumbs are enough.

This mother is saying:
Give me a break. I may not be a Jew:
But I’ve heard a lot of stuff about you.
I know that there’s enough to go around.
And I only need a slight bit of crumbs… It’s really not much.

Jesus takes it.
And he’s impressed.
He marvels at her faith and courage.
In Matthew’s version of this story, Jesus even says:

“Woman, great is your faith.”

In Marks version: Jesus is impressed by her wise and witty response:
He replies: “For saying that,”
“You may go—the demon has left your daughter.”

There IS some Good News:
And that mother knows it.

Jesus might have spoken harshly to this woman:
But he also listened to her.
He listened and responded.
He took seriously what she had to say.

And all this is to say that:
God listens to us.
God takes what we have to say seriously.

Even if we “fight back”
Even if we’re angry.
Even if we don’t understand what God is doing:
Even if we can’t hear what God is saying.

It reminds me of when people get angry at God.

It happens all the time.
For any number of reasons:
Sickness, grief, loss, fear…
And sometimes, people feel guilty about being angry at God.
Sometimes, people think that they need to put on a sweet, adorable, precious
face before God.

But God can take it.
Just like Jesus took this woman fighting back--
And God WILL listen to all that is in our hearts--
Just as Jesus listened to this woman.

We can tell God what we think.
We can give God all of our fear, our anger.
We can be where we are.
It’s OK to be where we are—even before God.
God can take it all.

This story reminds us that there’s no need to be timid around God.
This woman basically told Jesus that it was time to broaden the scope of his
ministry:
To give it to everyone: Jew and Gentile alike.
Men and Women alike.
Happy and angry alike.
She tells him that Everyone has need.

And what does Jesus do?

He listens, and then does as she asked.
The daughter is healed.
And Jesus’ ministry begins to move beyond the Jews.

The next thing you now:
In the very next chapter of Mark:
Jesus literally feeds bread to four thousand people in Gentile territory:
They get much, much more than a few crumbs from underneath the table.
And there’s still enough.

Perhaps this mothers fighting back:
Asking for mere crumbs:
Allowed Jesus to open up the his healing, comfort, and mercy to the whole world.

This Gospel is going to all the ends of the earth now:
It’s going everywhere:
Even to the dogs.

But the dogs are no longer dogs.
The outsiders are no longer outsiders.
The Grace of God is not just for the sweet, adorable, and perfect:

But for everyone.
No partiality: No favoritism:
As James explains in today’s epistle.

What if we come to God:
With all that we are:
With our good and our bad.
What if we come to Jesus:
In all of our brokenness:
Instead of pretending to be perfect?

What if we answer God honestly:
Right where we are—wherever that is--
In Joy, in Anger, in all of our honesty.

What if we too, like this mother:
Refuse to take “no” for an answer?

God will listen.
God will meet us.
God CAN take it.

Amen.

In the early chapters of Genesis, God says to Abraham: “I will bless you, so that
you may be a blessing to others.

The first way that this blessing is known:
For most of us, in our human experience,
is in the embrace shared by a parent and child.
Can anything fill one’s heart more completely than an earnest exchange of hugs
with those just learning to offer them?

Little children are so intent in their first expressions of physical affection,
To be the recipient of such a hug just opens your heart.
Unconditionally.

But who is giving this blessing?
And Who is receiving the blessing in this exchange?

Perhaps it doesn’t really matter.

Because Real Love received is love that is shared.
And it’s as simple and profound as that.

As we grow and discover love in all its intimacy,

What a miraculous experience it can be!

As the heartbeat quickens,
The imagination anticipates even a passing encounter with the beloved:
The sound of their voice,
A smile crossing their face,
As they recognize your presence, or a casual touch.

For this:
Our hearts were made.
For this:
Our Love received is love that is shared.

Love received:
Is love to be shared.

The writer of the epistle of James builds on this.
And so does Jesus himself in today’s gospel.

The point that both James and Jesus are trying to make:
Is that:
Religious practices can get as complicated as interpersonal relationships.

Over time, we can become more concerned about “performing” the practices:

Going “through the motions”
And we may find ourselves further and further from the original fervor:
The original passion:
The longing we have for our beloveds.
When love received, is love shared.

When the Pharisees ask Jesus: “Why do you let your disciples eat without washing
their hands as the law requires?”

Jesus basically replies:
WHO CARES?
You are hypocrites if you only worry about clean hands, when you don’t even
have clean hearts!
When your hearts aren’t in it!
When your heart isn’t yearning to be delighted by God’s beloved embrace!
When your heart isn’t craving to give and receive love from others.

It’s what’s inside:
In the human heart: that matters.
It’s what comes from inside:
From the center of our hearts:
That will transform and quicken the heartbeat of our lives,
And the lives of those we encounter.

It’s what’s in our hearts:

That mirrors the call to the beloved:
That mirrors Gods love for each of us:
As the desperately beloved of God.

And the rest of it doesn’t matter all that much:
Unless it also nourishes that love dwelling in our hearts:
Unless it also kindles that fire of passion and longing:
Turning it into love shared.

Many many years ago,
When I was recently ordained:
I used to do a church service,
Once a month,
In a nursing home in DeSmet South Dakota.
You might know DeSmet South Dakota, from the Little House on the prairie
books!

Once a month,
We would worship in the nursing homes little chapel.

There were usually 3 people there. Five on a big day.
(Like… when my dad came to visit me and I brought him to work with me!)

And sometimes, in this little chapel:
I would remember to light the candles on the altar.

But more often than not, I would forget.

But I ALWAYS wore a stole.

And on one particular Sunday:
I was half way through the Eucharistic prayer:
At that part where Jesus says, “do this in remembrance of me”
And I realized:
I didn’t even have on a stole.
I didn’t even bring one.
I totally forgot.

At first, I was stressed out about it.
But then:
I realized:
It absolutely didn’t matter.
Not one bit.

Because what mattered:
Was what was in our hearts:
To be gathered together,
To worship the living God.

It didn’t matter if the candles were lit,

Or the priest was wearing the appropriate vestments,
Or the people responded with the right words
Or that we went through the motions.
Or that the disciples washed their hands.

What mattered was our LONGING.
Our desire:
But our longing:
The murmur in the center of our very being:
To be united to the God who calls us beloved.
To be united to each other:
Who we see as beloved:
Where love received is love shared.

What really matters is to love the beloved even when they seem un-loveable.
That’s what God does.

What really matters is to remember and notice:
The stirring in the heart:
For God:
And for the human family:

Just as we felt when our child took her first breath:
Or the moment of a first kiss with a beloved.

Or laying eyes on God’s created beaty.

But here’s the thing:
We hear a lot about love.
About how God is love.
About how God loves us.
And all of that is true.

Because the Gospel:
The story of Jesus:
Is indeed a love story:
A love story that is not yet over.
A love story, waiting to be finished.

God’s story: Is a love story that each of us will play a part in finishing:
If we are to remember those early murmurings:
Those early longings for the beloved.
The heart quickening thought of a first love.

To not merely go through the motions:
But to keep the fervor:
Knowing that God ALWAYS does.
Always calls us beloved.

Amen.

Good Morning!!

What a gorgeous and perfect day to worship and celebrate together
outside!

With Family, Friends, and even some of our beloved pets.

On this beautiful day, we’ll share TWO meals together:
The Eucharistic meal: here during our worship,

And a celebratory picnic meal after our service.

So it’s really fitting that we hear some words from Jesus today, about
eating, and drinking the living bread.

Jesus said “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever
eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of
the world is my flesh.”

Our lectionary has given us this “bread of life” discourse for the past three
weeks.

And in that time, We’ve heard a lot about Jesus flesh and blood.

Anyone walking into a Christian church for the first time in the last few
weeks would likely be disturbed:
If not slightly creeped out:
Or at the very least,
Confused by all of this bizarre talk.

And then there’s the flip side:
Some of us are so used to hearing this weird stuff,
That we stop actually HEARING it.

We’re used to hearing “On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took
bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it, gave it to his disciples
and said, “Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you.”

When we’re familiar with the larger story, and we hear Jesus words “I will
give my flesh for the life of the world.”
We know he’s alluding to his crucifixion:
His sacrificial death for all of us.

And even though it sounds weird,
we have some sense of what Jesus means when he says :
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life,
and I will raise them up on the last day,
for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”

We have SOME sense that all of this is an image for the Eucharist
For the celebration of communion:

The first of two meals that we’ll share together today.

But it’s also MORE than that.
And the meal we’ll share together at this table is just the beginning.

In fact, the words that we hear today, (and for the past three weeks) are
words that Jesus spoke in the FIRST year of his public ministry.

With these bread of life passages coming so early in Jesus’ ministry,
Johns Gospel makes clear that all of this business about flesh, blood,
Bread, and Eucharist isn’t just about the night before Jesus died.

It’s not just a remembrance of that night that Jesus sat with his friends and
told them to “do this in remembrance of me.”

Because Jesus was alluding to all of this way before the institution of the
first last supper.

These words, coming so early on in John’s gospel is a signal to us that the
flesh, blood, bread, and eucharist is about ALL of it:
Jesus’ whole life:
And not just the events of his last days.

Jesus’ WHOLE life institutes holy communion.
And real communion:
REAL Eucharist:

Is about much more than a tiny piece of bread and a little sip of wine once
a week.

Real communion is our whole lives:
And the WHOLE of our lives.

Jesus’ institution of Holy Communion isn’t confined to the night before he
died,
And our faith is not confined to Jesus’ death and resurrection either:
But in Jesus’ whole life.

From Bethlehem, to the sending of the Holy Spirit, and everything in
between.

The feedings, the miracles, the healings, the trial, the walk to the cross, the
empty tomb, and the appearances in the garden.

All of it.
Everything Jesus did:
Who Jesus was,
How Jesus acted,
Is a part of God’s revelation to us,
And Jesus’ invitation to “do this” in remembrance of me.

We are invited to take Jesus’ whole story and make it a part of our own.

God took not only a piece of bread and a sip of wine:

But God also took Jesus’ WHOLE life:
Blessed it: Broke it:
And gave it to us.

And in return, we don’t just show up for a piece of bread and a sip of wine
once a week.
We are to actually let the story of God’s love for us take us:
Bless us: Break us:
And give us back to the world.

And not just on Sunday morning.
But our whole lives,
And our whole selves.

So it makes sense that we would do things a little bit differently today.
Getting out of the building,
And worshipping together in the beauty of God’s creation.

And not only that:
But we’ll bless much more than bread and wine today.

Normally, we bless our pets in October:
Around the feast day of St. Francis.

But we’re doing things differently this year!
As a reminder of the Wholeness of God’s blessing:
We bring before our Lord today not just bread and wine,

Not just our selves, our souls, and our bodies,
But our pets,
And maybe even our special stuffed animals!

Or maybe there’s something else you’d like blessed today:
A piece of jewelry,
Or maybe even a rock from the church yard:
Bring anything you’d like forward,
To remind you of the wholeness that Jesus blesses us with.

Because Real communion, Real Eucharist:
Is about more than bread and wine.

It’s about the whole of life.
The wholeness of life:
All of it:
Blessed, Broken, and shared.

Amen.

Hunger and Satisfaction.
We find this tension in ourselves every single day.

People say that you shouldn’t go to the grocery store when you’re hungry.
You’ll end up buying things that you don’t need.
Things that wont actually satisfy your hunger.

Or: If I go out to dinner:
And eat an appetizer, salad, and the main course meal:
I usually feel worse:
Even if I was REALLY hungry.
When I over-fill: I can’t even function for the rest of the evening.
(I’ll have to remember this while I’m in door county this week!)

Shoveling it all in when you’re hungry wont actually satisfy you.
And you’ll just be hungry again…

We have a hard time stopping when we’re satisfied:
When we’re feeling Just right.
We have a hard time just sitting with “enough.”

We meet Jesus in today’s gospel just after he has fed the multitudes.

We pick up right where we left off last week:
The people were hungry, there was limited food:
And so Jesus turned a few loaves of bread:
And a few fish:
Into enough for thousands to eat.
For thousands to be filled.
There were even baskets full of leftovers.

Everyone had their fill of bread and fish.
They had the pleasure of eating enough.
They supposedly ate until they were satisfied:

Or at least satisfied for a brief time:
They had enough:
For a brief time.

Funny thing about “enough.”
Just what is “enough”?
“Enough” for us humans:
Is rarely enough.
We seem to always want more.

And even for the multitudes:
Eating that miraculous meal during Jesus’ time:

Enough wasn’t really enough.
Because the people weren’t merely hungry for food:

The people Jesus had fed wanted a guarantee that they would always have
enough.

Jesus’ provision of plentiful bread seemed to them something they wanted more
of.
They wanted Jesus to continually give them more.
So they pursued him.

They thought if they could have him, they could have bread –
limitless, wonderful, unending bread.
They thought, if they could just find Jesus: they would have enough.
But enough would never be enough:
People will always want more:
Yet not the “real more”
Not the more that will truly and actually satisfy.

Jesus fed hungry people.
He knew that people need to eat.
He told his followers to feed people:
real, physical, tangible, nutritious food.
But he also promised that he himself would be enough.

He didn’t want to be just a provider of physical bread.
To do miracles, so that people could eat a lot of food, from a little.
He wants to be our bread –
our sustenance, our nourishment, our daily strength, our source of satisfaction.

Physical food alone cannot satisfy our whole hunger.
The multitudes thought that they wanted unlimited food and drink:
They searched for Jesus—wanting him to give them more food:
And Jesus redirects their quest:
Telling them what they don’t really want to hear:
Yet it is an extreme word of Hope:

Jesus says: “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the
signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”
Its as if he’s saying: You just want more food: But that will never satisfy you!!

He goes on to say: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that
endures for eternal life.”

The people want the food:
And Jesus redirects them: by giving them himself.
His very self:
The only food that will ever really last:
The only food that will ever really satisfy.
The only food that we ever REALLY need.

Jesus is bread, but he wants to fill the hunger of our hearts and not just our
stomachs.
He wants to fill the gnawing, aching emptiness that we try to fill with lesser
things:
That emptiness that we try to fill with that appetizer, salad, and full course meal:
Or with junk food on a hungry trip to the grocery story.
Or with money:
Or with alcohol:
Or with big houses:
Or with big churches:
Or with power:
Or with worrying about having enough of anything.

None of those will ever be enough.
None of those will ever satisfy:
They will only possess us.

Jesus invites the multitudes,
And us:
To allow ourselves to fall into the hands of the one for whom we were made:
To be fully satisfied and fed by the only one who can truly feed and satisfy us.

Jesus is daily sustenance.
He is bread to be savored, gathered around.

Bread to inspire thanksgiving, to remind us of the wonder of life, to strengthen us.

We can contemplate him thoughtfully, chewing slowly, pondering:
But we will be satisfied: If we come to him:
Open to whatever he places in our outstretched hands.
And trusting that whatever He places there:
It will indeed be enough.

As a matter of fact:
The verb used in John’s gospel for believe:
Can also be translated as TRUST.
And I wish we read it as TRUST.

When Jesus urges the multitudes to strive for real satisfaction:
Through believing in God:
He’s also telling them to TRUST.
To TRUST that God is enough.
To TRUST that God alone can satisfy the hunger.
To TRUST that our abundant God has graciously given us everything we need:

And those other things:
That we cling to in hunger:
Are the things that will never satisfy as God does.

Jesus was taken, blessed, and broken.
He is to be shared.
He is enough to satisfy our every hunger:
He IS the bread of life: Whoever comes to him:
Whoever trusts in that truth: Will never be hungry.

Amen.

A crowd clamors after Jesus for healing.
The Great Physician is curing the sick and there are many in search of his healing
touch.
But there is something more going on here than a health clinic or even a faith
healing revival.

The Gospel of John tells us:
“A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing
for the sick.”
Notice that John tells us the crowd “saw the signs.”

In John’s gospel, miracles are signs that point beyond themselves.
The miracles are not important merely because someone is healed,
or because Jesus changes water to wine and so on.

The miracles are signs that point to the reality of who Jesus is:
They point to something much more than the miracles themselves.
And so the crowd gathers for healing:
But they keep following Jesus because of the signs:
Because the miracles, and the healing, point to something even bigger.

And Then Jesus provides a new sign.
He has been feeding them spiritually and now he will fill their stomachs as well.

He takes the small offering of bread and fish:
Gives thanks for them and distributes the food to the hungry multitude.
And there is enough bread for twelve basketfuls of leftovers.
As for the fish, we are told that everybody ate “as much as they wanted.”

This new sign points not simply to Jesus’ ability to perform miracles:
But how-- with Jesus we move from scarcity to abundance.

The people were in scarcity.
Philip told Jesus that there was not enough money to buy food as:
“Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”
Andrew told Jesus, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.
But what are they among so many people?”

The disciples look at the situation and see that there is not enough to go around.
Why spend what little money we have when even a mound of money would not
be enough?
Why take the little food the boy brought when it wouldn’t even be an appetizer
for Jesus and the disciples, much less a meal for a multitude?
Resources were scarce.
And people think: when there is not enough to go around:
it is not the time to share, but the time to hoard.

Even the disciples thought:
There’s not enough:

So we might as well quit…
We might as well leave.

Jesus has a different view of the situation.
Because Jesus operates out of abundance.
With Jesus: there is more than enough:
There’s more than anyone can even imagine: let alone want or need.
There’s enough bread to gather together twelve basketfuls of LEFTOVERS.

As the people gathered on the grassy hillside that day,
They held in their minds the stories of miraculous feedings in the past:
When during the Exodus: Pharaoh horded food:
Turning bread into bread of fear, scarcity, and slavery.

In the wilderness, the people were fed with manna, the bread of angels:
Bread that could not be horded: Bread that was just enough:
And would rot if someone tried to store it for even the next day.

The leaders and kings of the past only offered scarcity:
Hording riches in palaces that the average person could never enter.

And now: There’s Jesus on the hillside:
Not in a big palace:
Not in a fancy church:

But on the hillside:
In the midst of his own great creation:
freely offering abundance.

Jesus certainly offered free healthcare and free food.
And also a change from scarcity to abundance.
A sign: pointing to something much bigger:
That there would be more than enough for everyone.

Just after our reading for today, Jesus says,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because
you ate of the loaves and were filled.”

You saw. You ate. You felt. And you filled.

Jesus wants much more than to heal people who will later get sick again:
Or to feed people who will again hunger.
Jesus wants to give them more:
To fill in every single way.

In the coming weeks:
We will continue to read through John’s Gospel:
And we’ll hear a lot about bread:
A lot about how Jesus himself is the bread of life.

And for now:
We see the abundant God:
Who strives for something more:
Who strives to fully fill:
Who leads us out of scarcity into abundance:
Out of fear and into joy:
Away from Hording: Into a life completely satisfied.

The multitude, satisfied by the meal, desired to always have Jesus care for their
every need in this life.
Yet they didn’t understand that Jesus’ reign is much more than that:
Eternal, not bound by time or place.
And utterly abundant.

Much more than healing the sick, and feeding with physical food.
They did not yet know that Jesus himself IS, the Bread of life:
Jesus himself IS abundance.

With Jesus, we offer our very lives – ourselves, our souls, and our bodies as a
living sacrifice.
We offer the broken places that need healing.
We offer the sinful places of our lives that need repentance, forgiveness, and
redemption.
We offer our spiritual hunger and thirst and find spiritual food and living water in
abundance.

We come here:
Gathered together, to share the bread:
The body of Christ.
And yet we must keep our eyes open:
Looking for the signs:
NOTICING the signs of abundance, that point to something much more:

Rather than being afraid of potential scarcity:
Or hording up treasures that bring us little joy or health.

We find in Christ the Reign of God breaking into the here and now:
Making us strong and Holy as today’s collect says--
While Jesus continues to gives us our daily bread:
In ways that point to something more:
In ways that are far beyond our understanding:
Far beyond our earthly hopes and desires.
With baskets and baskets of abundant leftovers.

Amen.

You would think, given all of the images of sheep and shepherds today, that
It was Good Shepherd Sunday!
It feels like a replay of that Sunday in the Easter season, where we
consider Jesus the Good Shepherd.

Sheep or Shepherds are mentioned in THREE of our four readings today.

And in those three texts, we see that there can be good shepherds, and
bad shepherds.

The good shepherds are those who lovingly care for their sheep:
Those who lead the sheep to still waters,
And to rest in green pastures.

Good shepherds bring comfort,
And food,
And calm all fears.

Good shepherds provide safety and security.

Bad Shepherds,
Like those mentioned in our first lesson from Jeremiah,
Scatter, and even destroy their sheep.

Bad shepherds are inattentive,
They drive the sheep away, rather than draw them in.

And then there are the sheep that have no shepherd at all.
Not a good shepherd, and not a bad one:
But sheep who are wondering lost,
who might long for comfort, safety, and security.

In today’s gospel story,
There’s a great crowd:
That is just that.
Sheep without a shepherd.

And Jesus:
Who is not only a good shepherd:
But the GREATEST shepherd of all:
Saw that they were sheep without a shepherd,
and he had compassion for them.

I love the shepherd sheep image for a lot of reasons.
First, and most obviously, because there’s great comfort in knowing that
“The Lord is my shepherd.”

But we’re also not ONLY sheep of the great shepherd.

There are times in our lives, when we are also the shepherd of others.

There are times when we are a “good shepherd” offering comfort ,
compassion, and security.

And then there are times when we’ve been the “bad shepherd”:
inattentive, and pushing our sheep away.

There are even times that we feel like sheep without a shepherd.

The point is:
We’re all human.
We have good shepherd days,
We have bad shepherd days.
We have days when we feel lost without a shepherd,
And days where its much easier to trust our Lord and shepherd.

And no matter what day it is:
It’s okay.

Because the hard and beautiful truth if it all is that:
Being a Christian doesn’t mean that every pain or worry diminishes.

And that’s where the 23 rd Psalm really holds its power.

Hear the Psalm again:

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,

And leads me beside still waters.
He revives my soul,
And guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.

Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil,
For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me,
You have anointed my head with oil, and my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

This Psalm has power.
For a number of reasons.
But most significantly because it acknowledges the “valley of the shadow of
death.”

The valley of the shadow of death is real.

I can’t help but be astonished:
That we would get this famous Psalm this week:
When many of us are grieving the loss of Joe:
a member of our flock.

We prayed,
We kept vigil,

And we saw this week, that sorrow is real.
That the valley of the shadow of death is real.

We will all go through that valley.
Some of us many times,
Some of us fewer:
Yet we will all go through it at one time or another.

And when you’re in that dark valley,
It’s easy to feel like you’re all alone:
A sheep without a shepherd.

Even the most faithful among us, can feel lost and alone in the dark valley.

And that’s why we need the 23 rd Psalm.

There’s a famous Anglican theological principal that states “Praying shapes
believing.”

It comes from the Latin, “Lex orandi, Lex Credendi”,
Which literally means “the rule of prayer is the rule of belief.”

It means that our habits of prayer shape our beliefs.

We sometimes assume that it’s the other way around:
That we believe first,
And then our prayers come out of our believes.

But this primary principal of our theology in the Episcopal Church:
And in our prayerbook,
Tells us that we don’t HAVE to believe first.
And that our praying can shape our believing.

You don’t have to have your beliefs perfectly in order to pray to the
Greatest Shepherd of all.

You CAN be uncertain,
You CAN be unperfect.
You can feel utterly lost.
You can even feel like you might not believe.
And you can pray anyway.
Because our prayers shape our beliefs.

So if you’re feeling like a sheep without a shepherd:
It’s okay.
Pray the 23 rd Psalm.
Pray it like you believe it, even if you’re having a hard time believing it:
because our praying shapes our believing.

If you’re feeling pretty good because you’ve been a compassionate and
loving shepherd to others:
Pray the 23 rd Psalm:
Pray it to remember that the truest, kindest, most faithful shepherd is not
you:

But our Lord God, alone.
Pray it because our praying shapes our believing.

And if you’re feeling like you’ve been a bad shepherd?
Pushing people away--
Responding to your own wants above the needs of others:
Pray the 23 rd psalm:
Be led to the still waters that revive your soul,
And set you back on the right path:
Because our praying shapes our believing.

I invite you today,
To pray the 23 rd Psalm wherever you find yourself.
Whether you’re feeling smug about being a great disciple of Jesus,
Or feeling guilty because you know you’ve done wrong,
Whether you’re in a deep dark valley,
Or even feeling like a sheep without a shepherd,
Pray the 23 rd Psalm.
Because praying shapes believing.

Pray the 23 rd Psalm wherever you find yourself in the moment:
If you find yourself as a sheep,
Or you find yourself a shepherd, good or bad:

Pray to the Greatest shepherd of all:
No matter where you are.

And the more you do it:
The more your prayers will shape you:
Form you:
OOZE into you.

And maybe:
JUST MAYBE:
The next time you find yourself in the shadowed valley:
You’ll know that you’re never alone.

I invite you now to come as you are,
And pray the 23 rd Psalm with me one more time today:

“The Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not be in want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
And leads me beside still waters.

He revives my soul,
And guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I shall fear no evil,
For you are with me,
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of those who trouble me;
You have anointed my head with oil,

And my cup is running over.
Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Amen.