The Bread of Life...

Sermon

Christ Church, St. Michaels Parish

10 Pentecost

John 6:35, 41-51

It seems difficult to believe, but I have now been with you here at Christ church for nine months….and what a nine months!

Arriving the day before Thanksgiving in 32 degree freezing rain fresh from our poolside condo in 90 degree Delray Beach….

Jumping into a new church family during the busiest seasons of the year…Advent and then Christmas…

Launching one of my favorite projects, the Bible Challenge….

Journeying to Cleveland with my husband for what turned out to be an incredibly complex surgical procedure requiring four months of recuperation and one additional surgical procedure….

And, three mission trips to Haiti – one in late January; one in May; and one just a few weeks ago in mid-July….

As of this moment, I think my head has stopped spinning, but I am not quite sure that my life will slow down all that much. There is a great deal going on here at Christ Church and in Bondeau, Haiti. New  fall and winter Christian education and formation classes; an incredibly rich Adult Forum program; Outreach Sundays, a new 2^nd Sunday of the month program to be launched just after Labor Day; new partnerships in the Bay 100 community intended to bring Christ Church into closer communion and collaboration with multiple organizations in our neighborhood, and an ever proliferating set of partners and projects in our newly adopted mission site Bondeau, Haiti.

Clearly, the coming year is an incredibly important time in the life of Christ Church as well as in the majority of churches in the United States. Nationwide congregations are shrinking, pledges diminishing accordingly, Sunday schools are being disbanded for alternative mid-week programs that bring families together into conversation about basic Christian beliefs and behaviors, and those committed to bringing the Gospel into the world are scratching their heads – struggling with the challenges of bringing church to the un-churched, or the “nones” as they are so often called.

The Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church is a committee that spent two years in discussions with thousands of Episcopalians about their hopes, dreams, ideas and concerns for the church and about the Church’s collective mission to serve Christ. They also studied how other churches and non-religious organizations have developed innovative approaches to pursuing their missions in a changing world.

At this year’s General Convention the Task Force presented their recommendations for changes in the Church’s structures, governance and administration to advance our Five Marks of Mission:

·        To Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

·        To teach, baptize and nurture new believers

·        To respond to human needs by loving service

·        To transform unjust structures, to challenge violence of every kind, and to pursue peace and reconciliation

·        To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

This excellent and extensive report – far too lengthy to discuss in detail –concludes, “Jesus sends us together into the places where ordinary life unfolds. We are sent to testify to God’s reign as we form and restore community by sharing in God’s peacemaking and healing. This begins with deep listening to neighbors, relying upon their hospitality rather than expecting them to find us on their terms. In today’s increasingly diverse world, we must learn how to “bear witness” to, and receive from those of different cultures, faiths and beliefs, “eating what is set before us.” For many churches now disconnected from neighbors, this will mean attempting small experiments in sharing God’s peace as we learn how to form Christian community and witness with those neighbors.” (TREC Report)

The Task Force endorses the overall goal of “renewing ways not only of speaking to the world, but also of being together, driven by the commitment to collaborate across structures that may have no connectivity today,” and with three specific objectives designed to meet that goal: 1) Restructuring the spiritual encounter; 2) Reimagining dioceses, Bishops, and General Convention; and 3) Restructuring assets in service of God’s mission in the future.

Challenging goals… very challenging.

So, yes, I believe with all my heart – that this is an incredibly important year – an incredibly important year for Christ Church and for the Church as a whole - a year in which we must continually renew our commitment to our Baptismal vows -  A year in which we must, with renewed courage, creativity, discipline and faith, engage in our role as Disciples of Christ – A year in which we must, in partnership with our community, reach out, go beyond our doors if we are to achieve our dream of bringing the compassion and love made manifest to us in Christ, to our neighbors here in the Bay Hundred area and any other places in the nation and the world to which we may be called.

If we are to be a vibrant and lively church we must work at it – work hard with energy and with discipline and in community - in partnership - with good will and with hearts that are filled with courage, compassion, forgiveness and love.

As the Apostle Paul said in his Letter to the Ephesians,  “…be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:10, 14-17)

Yes, it is a lot of hard and courageous work that we are called to do– especially with Paul’s exhortations ringing in our ears and egging us on.

Some people ask me, “How do you do it – how do you do so much and always seem so calm?”

My response is always the same, “I don’t even think about what is happening. Jesus is always in me and with me. I know that I will be fine.”

And this, of course, brings me to today’s Good News.  “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ ” (John 6:35)

A powerful statement made by Jesus to his followers so many years ago. A statement that transcends time and is as relevant today as it was then. A statement that provides us with the food - the peace, the love, the compassion, the strength and the faith - that we need to support us in our  work of re-imagining the Church, both here in St. Michaels and throughout the world. A fortifying statement as we put on the armor of God and go about the task of “renewing ways not only of speaking to the world, but also of being together, driven by the commitment to collaborate across structures that may have no connectivity today.”

Jesus is indeed the bread of life. He is our definitive disclosure of God in the world. He is the definitive model for our behavior. He is the definitive guidepost for our emotions. The sustenance, the nourishment, needed to keep us alive, spiritually and emotionally, as we traverse these challenging times of keeping our church alive and well – these challenging times of forming and restoring community by sharing in God’s peacemaking and healing.

Although I speak for myself only, in faith, I know that if we allow ourselves to feed on the bread that comes down from heaven, the true bread of life, we will be fed eternally – now and forever. We will be filled with faith and courage and love and we will be peaceful, effective and passionate disciples of Christ, who bring the Good News, the Gospel, to our community and to the world. 

We will become the bread of life for others - for the world. AMEN